Dear Blog Brothers and Sisters,
Today was an interesting day. After spending nine years as President Mike Price's counselor in the stake presidency of the Altoona Pennsylvania Stake, I was officially released. I have known this was coming since the beginning. There was a time when I was called that I thought it was 10 years away because when we were called into the stake presidency I thought it would be a 10 year calling. Then several years ago, President Price asked to speak to me as in an interview and I thought I was getting released. A few years later when I hadn't been released, I found out that it was a 9 year calling for him and that that would be when my time in the presidency would end.
As I have served there have been many times when I have dreaded this event, meaning my release. The following is a list of the reasons why I have dreaded the eventuality of my release. I have also listed them as things I will miss.
I love the people in our stake. As I byproduct of this love I have often felt sad and overwhelmed and worried for them. I have loved serving them but with it has come lots of concern and not a small measure of stress because I was so worried about them. Many of them have lots of troubles and I have worried and suffered with them. There are so many of them that are seriously ill - Edrie Cross has such bad scoliosis and osteoporosis that her spine is a weaving curve in both lateral and horizontal directions and she is on more pain meds than most of us could tolerate and still be breathing. Some of them are so financially destitute that I haven't known how they survive - One branch President raises toy dogs for a living and he chops his own wood for fuel and he grows tomatoes to sell and to can and he is in his 60s and drives a van that is a miracle because it still runs. Some of them come from such difficult situations - one is a strong spiritual woman but she lives with a man who will not marry her but whom she loves and so they cannot have a marital relationship because she is trying to keep the commandments and this has been going on for years. Some of them have troubled kids - Steve with Jacob who is at Penn State and is very handsome and smart but who at age 14 said he did not want to be a missionary or active in the church and now is not. Some of them are just not devoted and they do not fully live the gospel and it causes them great trouble in their lives and the lives of their families - of the 3400 members in the stake only about 1000 attend church each Sunday. As a stake presidency member I have visited different branches and wards each week, rarely being in my own unit and I have been able to talk to these members, try to encourage them and always let them know that I love them and that more importantly, while my love is imperfect, their Savior Jesus Christ loves them perfectly, he knows them perfectly and their problems and He is mindful of them. I know that now that I am released I will not be free to roam the stake and visit like I have for the past 9 years. I know that I will have another calling, most likely a ward calling and I will need to stay in my ward and do my duty there. And while I accept this willingly, the idea of not seeing all my friends from the last 9 years and 13 units in the stake has and does make me sad.
Another thing I have loved is preaching the gospel. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but I love the gospel so much I understand how Alma feels when he says: "oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of my heart, that I might go forth with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people, yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. But behold I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hat allowed unto me. I have loved sharing the gospel weekly, some times twice a week with people in temple recommend interviews, in meetings on Sundays, in training meetings, in youth lessons, in Unit and stake conferences. I have loved sharing the spiritual experiences of my life and the lives of others to try and inspire and encourage others. I have often literally felt the spirit burning in my heart and trying to burst out of me prompting me to share some thought or experience that seemed to be something that would help people feel closer to the Lord or his servants and that would help them be more devoted to Jesus who I love so much. I love Him so much that sometimes I cry I am so touched by what I feel for Him and what I know he has done for me, our family and my extended family and all the people I know at church who have lived His gospel and been favored by Him. Sometimes I have had so many touching experiences in a week where I saw the hand of the Lord in my life or in the life of another that I have shared different experiences with different groups in the same day or week. While all of this will still occur, and I will still feel it, I will not have the currently very frequent opportunity to share it with all of my dear friends in the Altoona Stake and that thought makes me sad.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to help plan and prepare for ways to build up the saints and the kingdom of God on the earth. As I type that I get emotional because that is what I have come to know better than I did before my calling, what the Church of Jesus Christ is. It is God's kingdom, with him as the King and us as his servants and helpers. We have planned 18 stake conferences, 102 branch and ward conferences and so many other meetings and training sessions and marriage seminars and youth conferences and stake priesthood meetings and hometeaching conferences and while it has been a difficult thing to have all the meetings required to plan these meetings, (432) stake presidency meetings, it has been a great opportunity and I have really enjoyed it. Many times I have dreaded or cursed (not with swear words) our 730 am conference call but I have often (not always) come away from it feeling more in tune or more useful to God, especially after I did whatever my assignments were. And to be honest I had lots of assignments. Every week I would have a list of 5-15 things to do, people to call on the phone or to a calling, places to visit, people to minister to and I would try to remember to do it and sometimes I would be successful and sometimes I would not get my stuff done. I always felt guilty the next Saturday if I did not get my tasks done and I had to account for it in our next meeting. We got so much done! I have to say, each of our meetings whether a small training meeting or a stake conference have been attended by the blessing of the Spirit of the Lord. While often our attendance was less than we would have liked, the spirit was so strong, it would often bring me to tears.
I have to say this now, as I type out what I can think to say I worry I expose myself and the limitations of what I think or thought was important vs what the Lord thinks or thought was important.
Another thing I will miss and so obviously I enjoyed was the way I saw God guiding me around to do what he wanted me to do. I have had the thought on several occasions, that I needed to go to a unit for the entire week preceding that Sunday. I have wondered why and I have not questioned it. Often I have not even consciously recognized that the Spirit was telling me to do something, as I just thought it was a thought. Then when I showed up on that Sunday in that unit, there was no speaker, or the high councilor did not show up or the Branch President was sick or there was someone who was in need of something I could do for them and I knew why I had been told to go there. I have met with someone for a temple recommend and been able to counsel them on some problem or a family issue. As I type this it sounds so insignificant as just words but when it has happened I have been amazed at what the Lord has done in having me go somewhere to someone or some unit in need. I always try to do what the spirit prompts met to do, but I think where there is great need, there are often special promptings and I just have noticed it more in this calling.
Another thing I will miss are the ways I see God helping met to do my calling and take care of the responsibilities I have and still manage all of the demands of my job. Often, I have gone to church, or church meetings and been on call. I have accomplished everything I needed to do and been done with all of that, and then been called to take care of something at the hospital that would have been completely disruptive to me taking care of my calling. One specific instance I remember, I had a ward conference in Johnstown which is a long ways from the hospital. I did the pre conference ward council training, then spoke in sacrament meeting, then taught the youth class and did temple recommend interviews or some other meeting or interview. Then I went on visits with Bishop Miller for a couple of hours around his far flung unit. At one point he had another visit and I felt an urgent need to go home and round at the hospital. As I was driving to the hospital and was about 10 minutes away, I was called to come do a Cesarean section for an urgent need and I was literally already almost there as opposed to being uncomfortably further away. There have been many times I have gotten all through my responsibilities for my calling and only then been called to spend the rest of the day at the hospital. I have rarely minded that even though I was then stuck at the hospital which I do not usually enjoy on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
I am dreading not seeing my friends all over the stake: Bill Wetzel the coolest retired policeman I know who used to do funny traffic stops on branch members to give them a thrill and a laugh, James Glade and his wife who reminds me of President Rupper and who have troubling times with their kids, Jan Hintze who always keeps me in line when I mess anything up or misstate it so I keep with the church program, Glenda Wetzel, Sis Hintze, Bro and Sis Showers, Ray and Colleen Hansen, President Walton, Bro Aboussou, Steve Verchick, Bro Holliday (who makes excellent salads), Blair (who cannot sleep) and Sis Wissinger ( a blind woman who sings beautifully and is one of the most faithful people in her callings in the stake), Sis Marie Sipes who raised Adam (who I helped get on a mission for about 6-8 months) who at one point was thought to be a threat to the branch she got so mad during church at Pres Morrison, the Hipps - Jeff and his wife, Doc Hanawalt the beekeeper and wood bowl maker and His sweet wife Cathy who is Jeff Hipps mom, Les Atherton and his wife Connie (an 80 plus year old who hand hoes his acres of corn because he doesn't have money for chemical weed control), Bro Carles who helped his wife mature her colostomy stoma all by himself even though he has no medical knowledge and was overwhelmed by it but he kept working on it and got her to a healthier place, Jere and Edrie Cross my dear friends who have treated me like family and Jere who I run with every day for about 8 years, Gary and Jen Miller related to Jere and Edrie who have always been nice to me and been my friends, Bob and Linda Anderson - he was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer and has survived about a year longer than they thought possible but is a tough old marine who loves government intrigue and Linda served as our stake relief society president. Steve Cratty who didn't always get everything done per the plan but who always treated me so well and like a friend. Robin and Cindy an Ty Quillon who are just so nice an friendly and always easy going and faithful members, Richard and Memory Hark who are dear friends all the time I have known them and who today told me they feel like I am their brother and the feeling is reciprocated, Jeff Harris who has always just been a good stake exec sec and who is always so friendly and happy and his wife Candice who I think is painfully shy but who always supports her husband. Chuck Merenda and his new wife and his three exceptional kids who he raised all by himself. Ray and Sis Carter, she is now married to President Thompson and who was always so sweet and dressed so cutely at the age of like 80. Bishop Prine and his wife Kenna, Andrew and Sookie Cross and Dane and Gina their kids, Kyle Gochonour just a great kid, Sis Kinser who lost her husband years ago and has 4 kids, one of which is active even though she is devoted, Lynn and Kelli Smith who I met on a stake presidency visit and who are now very active and their cute daughters. Sharon and Buster Cook - Buster can't hear anymore and drives a new mustang and she teaches great lessons but is pretty hard on others. Jay and his wife and their daughters who supports his kids in school music. James Hite and his great wife who was a harsh bishop but who is the salt of the earth. Derek Hatfield and his wife who basically support the entire Indiana branch without any support from the members, who have 5 kids and who are kind of alone in the backwoods of PA but who are super righteous and an example. Mike and Heather Price and their 5 great daughters who I love like a brother, and Heather loves Def Leppard and movies like the Terminator when she was a kid. Thad and Suzanne Wayne who are raising 3 rambunctious boys, one of whom was only a dream of Suzanne's when I met them and talked to her about pregnancy problems and now, who I hold when I go home teaching because he is so crazy and stresses his parents out but who is so cute and named Tanner. The Kendall's in my own ward so I will see them but who I will miss when we leave and move away in 20 days. The Huffs, who have 4 kids about our kids ages but though being great and super spiritual people are losing their kids to the world. The Staceys Bill and Linda who are so sweet and always have been so nice to us but are getting old and whose health is degenerating. Oak and Sis Norton, he was the stake patriarch and I did her cancer surgery. They are so sweet and have always been fans of Larisa and the kids and me in the stake presidency. Rhett Jefferies and his wife, Craig and Suzette Done and their 9 kids, Ben Burgess, Bishop and Carmen Chatterly just because they are so smiley and nice, Mark Edwards and his wife. I love them so much I had a dream about them about a week ago having a baby boy who spoke celestial secrets and who when I asked him (the baby) his name he said "my name is Moroni". There are so many others. I would look at the stake list but I would just go on and on and I have already been typing a long time now. I just love all these people and so many more and I will miss visiting them. There are so many more, I know their names and their faces and I won't get to see them with my release now but especially when we move.
I will miss some cool experiences I have had because of my calling. Meeting lots of general authorities - Richard G Scott, one of my favorites and Elder Walton who actually spent time with the kids and took pictures with my old Allis Chalmers D17, Elder Daniel Dunnigan and Elder Weatherford Clayton this weekend, Allain F. Allard from Canada, Elder C Scott Grow, Elder Gary E Stevenson and Elder Hallstrom last fall, Richard Hinckley son of the prophet (who seemed to not be a fan of me for some reason) and many others. Some have seemed so loving and interested in me and sometimes if Larisa was around her, some have seemed very businesslike but I have learned from all of them one thing or another.
So this weekend. We had interviews starting at 730 on Saturday after meeting with Elder Dunnigan and Clayton from 7-730. All I was asked was who I would recommend for stake president by Elder Dunnigan and I said Tracy Kendall and when they asked me if he had vision I said his vision was to do his duty which I felt with all the direction we get in coordinating council and other things would be a great characteristic for a new stake president. I also recommended Bishop Quillon and Gerry Hanscom. Then without a pause I was out. I stayed around for an hour or so and then I had to round at the hospital and so I left while further interviews were going on. I also went running at Penn State Altoona to pass the time. I went to the hospital and rounded on my one patient and cleaned up and then I went back to the church. When I got there a bunch of guys were sitting in the foyer as we were supposed to be within 30 min of the church. It had the distinct feeling of the waiting room of a labor and delivery ward with the expectant dads waiting for the baby to be born. I actually said "all we need is some smokes" to be funny. Everyone was so tense no one really laughed but I am still laughing right now about it. I often find myself funnier than others find me I am afraid. The time passed really fast though and by the time priesthood leadership meeting rolled around I was caught by surprise. 5 minutes before I realized I had not ordered the pizza for between the sessions. So I quickly called Dominoes and ordered and paid for the pizza and then ran in to the meeting. Elder Clayton and Dunnigan were still interviewing so we started without them and we got through most of the first half of the meeting before they got there. Sadly they missed my talk but thankfully they missed Pres Hark and my duet of Brightly Beams. Just before the meeting I thought they had called Charles Holland back so I thought he was the stake president. He wasn't in the meeting so I thought he was praying about counselors. I was good with that. Interestingly enough though, though I did not want to think it and I did not say it, as I thought about who I knew who would have "vision" for the stake, the only name I thought of was the person who became the stake president. That is my witness that God let me know beforehand who it should be, but I have to admit I was reluctant to admit it to myself because while I know he is a great man and called of God, I am not a fan.
Anyway, we had the priesthood leadership session, we then had dinner made by Kelli Smith and the sisters from the Altoona ward and it was chicken cordon bleu and this tasty strawberry drink and salad and fruit and delicious desserts. Unfortunately the meal started so late we did not get to eat it all. Then we had the adult session, I conducted and it was great! Sis Stombaugh told her story, btw I love her and Allan. She told how she decided to join the church after attending for 8 years without being a member. President Hark spoke but for some reason I was distracted during his talk. President Price was in and out and I was distracted by Bishop Jefferies and Bishop Quillon being talked to in the audience. Glo and Mommy played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and it was so beautiful. Unfortunately Elder Clayton and Elder Dunnigan didn't hear them either. Elder Dunnigan is a softie and he gave some sweet talks. Elder Clayton called people up during his talks to answer questions and to sing and it was fun.
The next day we had a meeting with Elder Clayton and Elder Dunnigan to be released and to debrief after 9 years. They had our wives tell what they had learned and then each of us said what we had learned. Larisa said she saw God's plan being more powerful than the thoughts of man. That what he wants happens even when it seems impossible to us humans. I wholeheartedly agree. Memory said if there was one word to describe our presidency it was Love, which Mommy said at our dinner a few weeks ago. President Price said he learned the worth of a soul and power of Christ to change us. I said I have learned the way God helps us accomplish his work even when our lives are seemingly in direct conflict with the things he wants us to do. President Hark said he has about the Savior.
Then we went in to the meeting. I had the sustaining conference list and it said our names crossed out and then the new presidency's names - Matt Parkinson, Robin Quillon and Charles Holland. I was worried I would read the new names instead of our old names because they were written over our names. Thankfully when I did the sustaining I did not let the cat out of the bag. President hark and I bore our testimonies and I thought mine was not exactly great but I as usual did the best that I could. When Matt Parkinson got up, he told the story of when he was called into the bishopric and then he was walking off the stand and my Mo went up to him and took his hand and said "it will be ok". He said for those of the stake who were surprised by him being the stake president, "it will be ok". Good old Mo got a shout out again.
I was so touched by all the people who said thank you and goodbye. I hugged now Pres Holland and said I was sorry for causing him grief and he said it was ok. I was pretty weepy. I hugged Richard and everybody I felt close to and then it was over. The new stake presidency was being set apart, the Hollands were going to take the visiting authorities to the airport and for a visit at their home and we left.
The end of an ERA.
Today was an interesting day. After spending nine years as President Mike Price's counselor in the stake presidency of the Altoona Pennsylvania Stake, I was officially released. I have known this was coming since the beginning. There was a time when I was called that I thought it was 10 years away because when we were called into the stake presidency I thought it would be a 10 year calling. Then several years ago, President Price asked to speak to me as in an interview and I thought I was getting released. A few years later when I hadn't been released, I found out that it was a 9 year calling for him and that that would be when my time in the presidency would end.
As I have served there have been many times when I have dreaded this event, meaning my release. The following is a list of the reasons why I have dreaded the eventuality of my release. I have also listed them as things I will miss.
I love the people in our stake. As I byproduct of this love I have often felt sad and overwhelmed and worried for them. I have loved serving them but with it has come lots of concern and not a small measure of stress because I was so worried about them. Many of them have lots of troubles and I have worried and suffered with them. There are so many of them that are seriously ill - Edrie Cross has such bad scoliosis and osteoporosis that her spine is a weaving curve in both lateral and horizontal directions and she is on more pain meds than most of us could tolerate and still be breathing. Some of them are so financially destitute that I haven't known how they survive - One branch President raises toy dogs for a living and he chops his own wood for fuel and he grows tomatoes to sell and to can and he is in his 60s and drives a van that is a miracle because it still runs. Some of them come from such difficult situations - one is a strong spiritual woman but she lives with a man who will not marry her but whom she loves and so they cannot have a marital relationship because she is trying to keep the commandments and this has been going on for years. Some of them have troubled kids - Steve with Jacob who is at Penn State and is very handsome and smart but who at age 14 said he did not want to be a missionary or active in the church and now is not. Some of them are just not devoted and they do not fully live the gospel and it causes them great trouble in their lives and the lives of their families - of the 3400 members in the stake only about 1000 attend church each Sunday. As a stake presidency member I have visited different branches and wards each week, rarely being in my own unit and I have been able to talk to these members, try to encourage them and always let them know that I love them and that more importantly, while my love is imperfect, their Savior Jesus Christ loves them perfectly, he knows them perfectly and their problems and He is mindful of them. I know that now that I am released I will not be free to roam the stake and visit like I have for the past 9 years. I know that I will have another calling, most likely a ward calling and I will need to stay in my ward and do my duty there. And while I accept this willingly, the idea of not seeing all my friends from the last 9 years and 13 units in the stake has and does make me sad.
Another thing I have loved is preaching the gospel. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but I love the gospel so much I understand how Alma feels when he says: "oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of my heart, that I might go forth with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people, yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. But behold I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hat allowed unto me. I have loved sharing the gospel weekly, some times twice a week with people in temple recommend interviews, in meetings on Sundays, in training meetings, in youth lessons, in Unit and stake conferences. I have loved sharing the spiritual experiences of my life and the lives of others to try and inspire and encourage others. I have often literally felt the spirit burning in my heart and trying to burst out of me prompting me to share some thought or experience that seemed to be something that would help people feel closer to the Lord or his servants and that would help them be more devoted to Jesus who I love so much. I love Him so much that sometimes I cry I am so touched by what I feel for Him and what I know he has done for me, our family and my extended family and all the people I know at church who have lived His gospel and been favored by Him. Sometimes I have had so many touching experiences in a week where I saw the hand of the Lord in my life or in the life of another that I have shared different experiences with different groups in the same day or week. While all of this will still occur, and I will still feel it, I will not have the currently very frequent opportunity to share it with all of my dear friends in the Altoona Stake and that thought makes me sad.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to help plan and prepare for ways to build up the saints and the kingdom of God on the earth. As I type that I get emotional because that is what I have come to know better than I did before my calling, what the Church of Jesus Christ is. It is God's kingdom, with him as the King and us as his servants and helpers. We have planned 18 stake conferences, 102 branch and ward conferences and so many other meetings and training sessions and marriage seminars and youth conferences and stake priesthood meetings and hometeaching conferences and while it has been a difficult thing to have all the meetings required to plan these meetings, (432) stake presidency meetings, it has been a great opportunity and I have really enjoyed it. Many times I have dreaded or cursed (not with swear words) our 730 am conference call but I have often (not always) come away from it feeling more in tune or more useful to God, especially after I did whatever my assignments were. And to be honest I had lots of assignments. Every week I would have a list of 5-15 things to do, people to call on the phone or to a calling, places to visit, people to minister to and I would try to remember to do it and sometimes I would be successful and sometimes I would not get my stuff done. I always felt guilty the next Saturday if I did not get my tasks done and I had to account for it in our next meeting. We got so much done! I have to say, each of our meetings whether a small training meeting or a stake conference have been attended by the blessing of the Spirit of the Lord. While often our attendance was less than we would have liked, the spirit was so strong, it would often bring me to tears.
I have to say this now, as I type out what I can think to say I worry I expose myself and the limitations of what I think or thought was important vs what the Lord thinks or thought was important.
Another thing I will miss and so obviously I enjoyed was the way I saw God guiding me around to do what he wanted me to do. I have had the thought on several occasions, that I needed to go to a unit for the entire week preceding that Sunday. I have wondered why and I have not questioned it. Often I have not even consciously recognized that the Spirit was telling me to do something, as I just thought it was a thought. Then when I showed up on that Sunday in that unit, there was no speaker, or the high councilor did not show up or the Branch President was sick or there was someone who was in need of something I could do for them and I knew why I had been told to go there. I have met with someone for a temple recommend and been able to counsel them on some problem or a family issue. As I type this it sounds so insignificant as just words but when it has happened I have been amazed at what the Lord has done in having me go somewhere to someone or some unit in need. I always try to do what the spirit prompts met to do, but I think where there is great need, there are often special promptings and I just have noticed it more in this calling.
Another thing I will miss are the ways I see God helping met to do my calling and take care of the responsibilities I have and still manage all of the demands of my job. Often, I have gone to church, or church meetings and been on call. I have accomplished everything I needed to do and been done with all of that, and then been called to take care of something at the hospital that would have been completely disruptive to me taking care of my calling. One specific instance I remember, I had a ward conference in Johnstown which is a long ways from the hospital. I did the pre conference ward council training, then spoke in sacrament meeting, then taught the youth class and did temple recommend interviews or some other meeting or interview. Then I went on visits with Bishop Miller for a couple of hours around his far flung unit. At one point he had another visit and I felt an urgent need to go home and round at the hospital. As I was driving to the hospital and was about 10 minutes away, I was called to come do a Cesarean section for an urgent need and I was literally already almost there as opposed to being uncomfortably further away. There have been many times I have gotten all through my responsibilities for my calling and only then been called to spend the rest of the day at the hospital. I have rarely minded that even though I was then stuck at the hospital which I do not usually enjoy on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
I am dreading not seeing my friends all over the stake: Bill Wetzel the coolest retired policeman I know who used to do funny traffic stops on branch members to give them a thrill and a laugh, James Glade and his wife who reminds me of President Rupper and who have troubling times with their kids, Jan Hintze who always keeps me in line when I mess anything up or misstate it so I keep with the church program, Glenda Wetzel, Sis Hintze, Bro and Sis Showers, Ray and Colleen Hansen, President Walton, Bro Aboussou, Steve Verchick, Bro Holliday (who makes excellent salads), Blair (who cannot sleep) and Sis Wissinger ( a blind woman who sings beautifully and is one of the most faithful people in her callings in the stake), Sis Marie Sipes who raised Adam (who I helped get on a mission for about 6-8 months) who at one point was thought to be a threat to the branch she got so mad during church at Pres Morrison, the Hipps - Jeff and his wife, Doc Hanawalt the beekeeper and wood bowl maker and His sweet wife Cathy who is Jeff Hipps mom, Les Atherton and his wife Connie (an 80 plus year old who hand hoes his acres of corn because he doesn't have money for chemical weed control), Bro Carles who helped his wife mature her colostomy stoma all by himself even though he has no medical knowledge and was overwhelmed by it but he kept working on it and got her to a healthier place, Jere and Edrie Cross my dear friends who have treated me like family and Jere who I run with every day for about 8 years, Gary and Jen Miller related to Jere and Edrie who have always been nice to me and been my friends, Bob and Linda Anderson - he was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer and has survived about a year longer than they thought possible but is a tough old marine who loves government intrigue and Linda served as our stake relief society president. Steve Cratty who didn't always get everything done per the plan but who always treated me so well and like a friend. Robin and Cindy an Ty Quillon who are just so nice an friendly and always easy going and faithful members, Richard and Memory Hark who are dear friends all the time I have known them and who today told me they feel like I am their brother and the feeling is reciprocated, Jeff Harris who has always just been a good stake exec sec and who is always so friendly and happy and his wife Candice who I think is painfully shy but who always supports her husband. Chuck Merenda and his new wife and his three exceptional kids who he raised all by himself. Ray and Sis Carter, she is now married to President Thompson and who was always so sweet and dressed so cutely at the age of like 80. Bishop Prine and his wife Kenna, Andrew and Sookie Cross and Dane and Gina their kids, Kyle Gochonour just a great kid, Sis Kinser who lost her husband years ago and has 4 kids, one of which is active even though she is devoted, Lynn and Kelli Smith who I met on a stake presidency visit and who are now very active and their cute daughters. Sharon and Buster Cook - Buster can't hear anymore and drives a new mustang and she teaches great lessons but is pretty hard on others. Jay and his wife and their daughters who supports his kids in school music. James Hite and his great wife who was a harsh bishop but who is the salt of the earth. Derek Hatfield and his wife who basically support the entire Indiana branch without any support from the members, who have 5 kids and who are kind of alone in the backwoods of PA but who are super righteous and an example. Mike and Heather Price and their 5 great daughters who I love like a brother, and Heather loves Def Leppard and movies like the Terminator when she was a kid. Thad and Suzanne Wayne who are raising 3 rambunctious boys, one of whom was only a dream of Suzanne's when I met them and talked to her about pregnancy problems and now, who I hold when I go home teaching because he is so crazy and stresses his parents out but who is so cute and named Tanner. The Kendall's in my own ward so I will see them but who I will miss when we leave and move away in 20 days. The Huffs, who have 4 kids about our kids ages but though being great and super spiritual people are losing their kids to the world. The Staceys Bill and Linda who are so sweet and always have been so nice to us but are getting old and whose health is degenerating. Oak and Sis Norton, he was the stake patriarch and I did her cancer surgery. They are so sweet and have always been fans of Larisa and the kids and me in the stake presidency. Rhett Jefferies and his wife, Craig and Suzette Done and their 9 kids, Ben Burgess, Bishop and Carmen Chatterly just because they are so smiley and nice, Mark Edwards and his wife. I love them so much I had a dream about them about a week ago having a baby boy who spoke celestial secrets and who when I asked him (the baby) his name he said "my name is Moroni". There are so many others. I would look at the stake list but I would just go on and on and I have already been typing a long time now. I just love all these people and so many more and I will miss visiting them. There are so many more, I know their names and their faces and I won't get to see them with my release now but especially when we move.
I will miss some cool experiences I have had because of my calling. Meeting lots of general authorities - Richard G Scott, one of my favorites and Elder Walton who actually spent time with the kids and took pictures with my old Allis Chalmers D17, Elder Daniel Dunnigan and Elder Weatherford Clayton this weekend, Allain F. Allard from Canada, Elder C Scott Grow, Elder Gary E Stevenson and Elder Hallstrom last fall, Richard Hinckley son of the prophet (who seemed to not be a fan of me for some reason) and many others. Some have seemed so loving and interested in me and sometimes if Larisa was around her, some have seemed very businesslike but I have learned from all of them one thing or another.
So this weekend. We had interviews starting at 730 on Saturday after meeting with Elder Dunnigan and Clayton from 7-730. All I was asked was who I would recommend for stake president by Elder Dunnigan and I said Tracy Kendall and when they asked me if he had vision I said his vision was to do his duty which I felt with all the direction we get in coordinating council and other things would be a great characteristic for a new stake president. I also recommended Bishop Quillon and Gerry Hanscom. Then without a pause I was out. I stayed around for an hour or so and then I had to round at the hospital and so I left while further interviews were going on. I also went running at Penn State Altoona to pass the time. I went to the hospital and rounded on my one patient and cleaned up and then I went back to the church. When I got there a bunch of guys were sitting in the foyer as we were supposed to be within 30 min of the church. It had the distinct feeling of the waiting room of a labor and delivery ward with the expectant dads waiting for the baby to be born. I actually said "all we need is some smokes" to be funny. Everyone was so tense no one really laughed but I am still laughing right now about it. I often find myself funnier than others find me I am afraid. The time passed really fast though and by the time priesthood leadership meeting rolled around I was caught by surprise. 5 minutes before I realized I had not ordered the pizza for between the sessions. So I quickly called Dominoes and ordered and paid for the pizza and then ran in to the meeting. Elder Clayton and Dunnigan were still interviewing so we started without them and we got through most of the first half of the meeting before they got there. Sadly they missed my talk but thankfully they missed Pres Hark and my duet of Brightly Beams. Just before the meeting I thought they had called Charles Holland back so I thought he was the stake president. He wasn't in the meeting so I thought he was praying about counselors. I was good with that. Interestingly enough though, though I did not want to think it and I did not say it, as I thought about who I knew who would have "vision" for the stake, the only name I thought of was the person who became the stake president. That is my witness that God let me know beforehand who it should be, but I have to admit I was reluctant to admit it to myself because while I know he is a great man and called of God, I am not a fan.
Anyway, we had the priesthood leadership session, we then had dinner made by Kelli Smith and the sisters from the Altoona ward and it was chicken cordon bleu and this tasty strawberry drink and salad and fruit and delicious desserts. Unfortunately the meal started so late we did not get to eat it all. Then we had the adult session, I conducted and it was great! Sis Stombaugh told her story, btw I love her and Allan. She told how she decided to join the church after attending for 8 years without being a member. President Hark spoke but for some reason I was distracted during his talk. President Price was in and out and I was distracted by Bishop Jefferies and Bishop Quillon being talked to in the audience. Glo and Mommy played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and it was so beautiful. Unfortunately Elder Clayton and Elder Dunnigan didn't hear them either. Elder Dunnigan is a softie and he gave some sweet talks. Elder Clayton called people up during his talks to answer questions and to sing and it was fun.
The next day we had a meeting with Elder Clayton and Elder Dunnigan to be released and to debrief after 9 years. They had our wives tell what they had learned and then each of us said what we had learned. Larisa said she saw God's plan being more powerful than the thoughts of man. That what he wants happens even when it seems impossible to us humans. I wholeheartedly agree. Memory said if there was one word to describe our presidency it was Love, which Mommy said at our dinner a few weeks ago. President Price said he learned the worth of a soul and power of Christ to change us. I said I have learned the way God helps us accomplish his work even when our lives are seemingly in direct conflict with the things he wants us to do. President Hark said he has about the Savior.
Then we went in to the meeting. I had the sustaining conference list and it said our names crossed out and then the new presidency's names - Matt Parkinson, Robin Quillon and Charles Holland. I was worried I would read the new names instead of our old names because they were written over our names. Thankfully when I did the sustaining I did not let the cat out of the bag. President hark and I bore our testimonies and I thought mine was not exactly great but I as usual did the best that I could. When Matt Parkinson got up, he told the story of when he was called into the bishopric and then he was walking off the stand and my Mo went up to him and took his hand and said "it will be ok". He said for those of the stake who were surprised by him being the stake president, "it will be ok". Good old Mo got a shout out again.
I was so touched by all the people who said thank you and goodbye. I hugged now Pres Holland and said I was sorry for causing him grief and he said it was ok. I was pretty weepy. I hugged Richard and everybody I felt close to and then it was over. The new stake presidency was being set apart, the Hollands were going to take the visiting authorities to the airport and for a visit at their home and we left.
The end of an ERA.
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