Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING NEWS: Europe East Area Presidency Changes

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Saturday, February 11, 2017

BREAKING NEWS: Europe East Area Presidency Changes

A comment on my blog tipped me off to the information I had been seeking about what changes had taken place with the Europe East Area Presidency as a result of the release in early December and subsequent death of Elder Bruce D. Porter. As I had expected, Elder James B. Martino, who served as Elder Porter's First Counselor, succeeded him as the new area president. Elder Larry S. Kacher, Elder Porter's second counselor, is the new First Counselor. But what blew me away is that the new second counselor is an Area Seventy, Alexey V. Samaykin. As I observed in response to the comment that shared this news, I am not sure of how long it has been since we last had an area seventy serve as an area presidency member. In the days of President Hinckley, it was not that uncommon to have several Area Presidencies comprised either mostly or entirely of area seventies But that role has shifted again of late to General Authority seventies, presumably enabling  area seventies to focus more fully on their local occupations and Church service. I know that when an area seventy has served in recent years as an area presidency member, it is almost always a temporary assignment, lasting only until the annual area presidency changes happen in August. I fully anticipate the same being true for the assignment of Elder Samaykin. But time will tell. In the meantime, I am grateful to have learned of this and to have now been able to report it after waiting so long to do so. I welcome any feedback. Wonderful news!
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2 comments:

  1. ScottSFebruary 11, 2017 at 11:53 AM

    I replied to your questions back on our original conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. James G. StokesFebruary 11, 2017 at 5:25 PM

    Perfect. Thanks for mentioning that. I appreciate your attention to this detail. I will look at that in just a few minutes. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete

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