Greetings Wardens and Brethren,
Please join me in welcoming our newest Entered Apprentices. I am excited to announce that the officers and I along with RW Stephan Saraidarian, W Anthony Amaral, W David Sousa, and W Mark Lomastro filling in for various roles, over the course of two nights initiated 10 new Entered Apprentices, a large and diverse group of men, who I have no doubt will become excellent Master Masons and future leaders of the lodge. The officers and Past Masters all did a phenomenal job in executing a degree I am certainly proud to have been a part of and one, I’m sure our candidates will never forget.
Throughout our preparation we were forced to pivot many times, due to several obstacles that were placed in our way, including a very last-minute illness for one of our officers. Any one of these obstacles could have delayed the degree, but with just three days’ notice before our Special Communication, three separate Past Masters stepped in to fill the void, learning the extensive lectures, the floor work and even the Oath and Obligation. At the Annual Communication, I thanked the Past Masters for showing me the path to the East and how to be a leader. Thank you all, once again, for leading by example and showing us all how it should be done.
This is what brotherhood; our brotherhood is all about. Brothers stepping up to help brothers. We could have pushed the degree back, we could have asked for a courtesy degree from another lodge, but a few good men stepped up and made sure we were able to put together an Entered Apprentice Degree that we all could be proud of. I’ve been thinking about this over the past week and it inspires me to do more, and I hope it also inspires you. We all could do a little more for our brothers and our lodge, just a little extra effort; reach out to a brother you haven’t seen in lodge; participate in lodge events, charities, or meetings; come to our Pot Luck Dinners; or offer a kind word and an ear to listen to a brother in distress. My hope is that we all can just give a little more to each other and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood for the betterment of us all.
Be well my brothers!
Robert C Frank
Worshipful Master
Jenks lodge No. 24