Report on the General Women's Meeting

Hello, all! Just posting about the latest in Church and personal news. On a personal note, we are still working towards moving day on Wednesday. Today was our last Sunday in our current ward. It was a very emotional experience for me. I was surprised that Amy and I were again not released from our callings today. I did find out, however, that our ward clerk, Brother Kurt Walker, who was one of the two I had trained to substitute for me in recording the Sacrament Meeting (the other was the Executive Secretary, Logan Day, who is a good friend of Joanna and Lyle and was my home teaching companion for a time while in the ward), had been asked to take over my duties in recording and editing the Sacrament Meetings and burning them on to disks for the homebound. So I turned over the recording device and the wires with it to him today. Tonight if time allows, or tomorrow, I will be contacting Brother Walker via e-mail and turning over to him all my files of Sacrament Meetings and all the notes to the homebound members that I have written. He will stop by and pick up the other supplies (CDs and CD sleeves) sometime this week. Going to Elders' Quorum was very difficult today. I commented a lot during my last meeting with these good friends. And I volunteered to give the closing prayer, invoking the blessings of the Lord upon these good brethren. And so passed our final Sunday in our current ward. Our first Sunday in the new ward will be the week after general conference. In the meantime, moving day is Wednesday. My parents have pledged to help as much as they are able to. Amy's brother Troy has consented to help, as has my brother Neal, and both are bringing trucks on Wednesday to help us move the big stuff. Neal will bring his wife Sammi to help as well, and he even said his little daughter Sage, whom they will pick up midday Wednesday, was good at helping with moving things. I am grateful they are raising her to be a helpful young lady, but I can't help wondering how much help a 2 or 3 year old can be. No offense intended, of course. We may even be able to move some of the smaller stuff into our new place on Tuesday night. But Wednesday's the big moving day. My Elders' Quorum is on call to help us if we need them. We hope to be able to move everything that needs moving on Wednesday with only one trip, but that remains to be seen.

That being said, it's time for a brief Church News update. The General Women's meeting was held last night, as I said. I touched briefly on that meeting in my last post but wanted to give a more detailed summary of who spoke and what was said. The Deseret News gave a good report on the meeting. You can read that at this link. In summary, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary General President, talked about discovering the divine identity and purpose each individual has. Linda S. Reeves, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, spoke about recognizing and claiming the blessings that come from the making and keeping of sacred covenants, through baptism, the Sacrament, and temple worship. Sister Carole F. McConkie, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, spoke of the righteous cause for which we are here on earth to serve. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a parable of a young lady visiting her great aunt and discovering the reasons for her aunt's happiness. The Church website gave excellent summaries of these address, which can be found by following this link.

Now all that remains is to wait for this next weekend. I am always excited about General Conference, but this go round I am especially anticipating it not just to see how right my predictions for changes in general church leadership and the speaking order I put together are, but also to hear the messages from all those who will speak, especially our 15 prophets, seers, and revelators, three of whom will be newly called to their positions. And that's aside from any other major announcements, such as more temples or other items like unto that. I will be particularly looking forward to President Monson's remarks, whether he speaks just a couple of times or gives his traditional four addresses. You can be sure to count on my report of all general conference proceedings here on this blog as time and circumstances allow. In the meantime, this week will mark a move for us. And that will include finding a new pharmacy. I will keep you updated on all the good stuff as time and circumstances allow me to do so. Until I write again, all the best!

Personal/Church News

I am posting today for some very exciting reasons. First, regarding our personal lives, we signed the papers and handed over the money for the trailer in Orem on Friday. So, effective Tuesday night after the current occupant vacates it, we will be able to starting moving in. We may not get much done then, however, so the major day to move stuff will be Wednesday.

Amy's brother Troy has agreed to help us, as he is the only one of Amy's brothers who is physically able to handle moving stuff. He will bring a truck with a trailer so we can have that to move stuff in. I have also spoken to my parents, who will do what they can. At my mom's suggestion, I checked with my brother Neal to see if he would be available to help us move some of the heavy stuff on Wednesday. He said we could count on his and his wife Sammi's help on that day. He will also be checking at work this week to see if he can rustle us up any spare boxes they have lying around, and he will be bringing his in-law's truck to help cart stuff. I told him we had been thinking of renting a U-Haul moving truck, but he said, "James, you know you can count on us to be there, and I'm sure I can get my in-laws to lend us their truck, so why would you go to the expense of renting a U-Haul?" I am grateful for his support. I'm glad we have people nearby who can help us.

In so many ways though, I can't help feeling very guilty about the fact that I physically can't handle helping to move some of the bigger, heavier stuff. Deep down, I know it's not my fault I'm unable to assist my own family in moving our stuff. It's just the hand I was dealt. But a little voice in my head keeps screaming at me that I should be able to help out and that it is my fault I am not able to. I guess I just have to learn that it really is something that's out of my control. But it's times like this I wish I had been born healthy and strong and that I could do more and take the load and dependency off the backs of those who will have to do what I am not able to. Don't worry about me getting to feel too guilty, however. None of my family or Amy's family holds it against me that I have to rely on them to do things I cannot. And because I am not able to do them, I should be grateful there are those who can assist us with things like this.

All going well, this will be our last Sunday in the American Fork 21st Ward, American Fork East Stake, and our first Sunday in the new ward will be October 11. It was harder than I thought it would be to let everyone in the ward know. I couldn't hold back the tears as I made the announcement last Sunday. Some stopped us after Church to say how much they would miss us. We will miss this stake as well. But I take comfort in knowing that, ASAP, we will be back in this stake, perhaps with a couple or a few children in tow. That's not an announcement, by the way. We are actually hoping that we might have better success starting our family in a place that's ours, where the only noisy neighbors are outside our trailer.

We are very excited to be moving in to our new place, which with we can do whatever we want, as long as we don't violate the park rules. We found out that the park management are Hispanic. It will be interesting to see what the cultural makeup of the park is.

In the meantime, on the Church News front, I failed to mention that Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was in Philadelphia last week at the World Meeting of Families, attended by many of the world's religions. Elder Christofferson, with the help of two LDS families in the area, gave a presentation on the importance of the family, and why the Church supports traditional marriage and families. He did very well, from what I've read about it. For more on what he and the families said, please see this article.

When I read about that, I thought, that must be the reason Elder Scott's funeral was scheduled for Monday. The other 11 apostles surely want Elder Christofferson back so he can speak at Elder Scott's funeral (Elder Scott was Elder Christofferson's mission president).

I think I am correct in what I wrote in the previous post about who will likely speak at Elder Scott's funeral. But either way, we'll find out on Monday.

Here's an interesting tidbit of temple news. Yesterday (Saturday), site clearing was held for the Rio de Janeiro Temple site. That temple has not had a groundbreaking date officially announced, but if they are doing that, then an announcement about a near future groundbreaking is imminent. And also, it appears that the temple to be built in Port-au-Prince Haiti is in the design process. Not sure how close they are to announcing a site for that temple, but it is something. No other noticeable activity in temple construction is happening.

The General Women's meeting happened tonight. I watched it live. It was a great meeting. Amy missed half of it because she was out doing errands, but we are going to rewatch it probably tomorrow. All of the speakers I had projected spoke, except that Sister McConkie and Sister Reeves were flip-flopped from the order I had predicted. Additionally. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke instead of President Thomas S. Monson.

President Monson looked all  right tonight, but many feel he's at the beginning of the end of his life. I certainly hope not. I have been hoping that he will live a good long time. Whether he does or not, we can rest assured that the Lord's pattern of succession is such that the Church will always have the leadership of apostles and prophets. The Lord can build up the Church faster than Satan can tear it down. And we have the scriptural promise that the fulness of the everlasting gospel will never again be taken from the earth.

The bigger question in my mind is, how many times, if at all, will President Monson speak to us next weekend? I'm hoping he'll be able to give his traditional 4 talks, but, if nothing else, I anticipate he will at least speak twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

I am hoping he will be well enough to announce and lead off in the sustaining of President Russell Marion Nelson as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the three new apostles, whomever they may be. If he can't, though, I'm sure they'll either move the Sustaining of Church Officers to the Saturday morning session to end the speculation, or have either President Eyring or President Uchtdorf lead off in sustaining the changes to the Quorum of the Twelve's leadership and membership at the commencement of the Saturday Morning Session. We will have to see.

If nothing else, I hope President Monson can at least speak during the Saturday Priesthood and Sunday Morning sessions to give his keynote addresses. I will keep you posted on all that good stuff as I hear about it.

Well, the hour is late, and I must be getting up in a few hours to make it to our 11 am Church block, so I will close now. Until I post again, all the best!

Funeral of Elder Richard Gordon Scott announced/Three New Apostles

The LDS Church announced today that funeral services honoring the life of Elder Richard Gordon Scott would be held Monday September 28. I have pondered who the speakers might be, and I think I have a fairly good idea. President Henry B. Eyring is likely going to be asked to conduct the funeral, as he conducted the funerals for both Elder L. Tom Perry and President Boyd K. Packer. Michael W. Scott, a son of Elder Scott, seems to be the designated spokesperson for the Scott family, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was asked to represent the family at the funeral. Other speakers might be President Russell M. Nelson (since it's common to have the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak at the funeral of his fellow apostles, though obviously that didn't happen with funeral services for either Elder Perry or President Packer), Elder D. Todd Christofferson (who was one of Elder Scott's missionaries), and President Thomas S. Monson. I won't be surprised, of course, if other apostles or First Presidency members are asked to speak, but it seems to be a fairly sensible guess.

My team leader at work, John Thomas, and I were discussing general conference earlier this week. I told him of my predictions, and he said he'd love to follow along. So I got him a copy of them. But Elder Scott died before I could get that to John, so I had to redo my predictions, including the three new apostles, whomever they might be. John talked to me a bit about why I enjoyed making such predictions, and that led to him asking who I thought would be the new apostles. I told him I felt they would all be younger men and that at least one of them would be international. I'm kind of hoping all three will be from foreign countries, but that remains to be seen.

My purpose in telling you all about this is that I have come to a decision. I said earlier I would not be posting any additional speculation or guesses about who the new apostles might be. However, I have had some feelings on the matter that I just had to share.

Before Elder Scott's passing, I had pondered the two apostolic vacancies, and two particular brethren came to mind: Bishop Gerald Causse of the Presiding Bishopric, and Elder Michael John U. Teh of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Both of them are younger, and, in Elder Teh's case, I have a precedent for believing he will one day become an apostle, whether or not it happens this time.

As I prayed prior to the April 2008 General Conference, I had a distinct feeling that Elder Teh would be called as the new apostle. Obviously that didn't happen, but I never have quite been able to shake off the feeling that he will be called this time.

As I pondered additionally who might be called to fill the third vacancy, the name of Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy came to mind. If I'm right, we will get three international apostles who are all under 60.

John asked me if I thought we might get a black apostle this time, as there are two black brethren serving as members of the First Quorum of the Seventy (Elder Joseph W. Sitati, and Elder Edward Dube). I said I didn't think the Church was ready for a black apostle.

If the three men mentioned above are called, Elder Soares would be the first Brazilian apostle and the first from South America, Bishop Causse would be the first French apostle, and Elder Teh would be the first Filipino apostle. Each of them would be historically significant, and any of them might one day subsequently preside over the Church.

I want to make this next declaration very clear: These are just my own thoughts, and should not be taken as gospel truth. While I don't know why the Lord would reveal to me who the new apostles will be before He tells President Monson is beyond me. But feelings like this are not unprecedented in my life.

When the bishop of my ward that had seen me through my Aaronic Priesthood years and interviewed me for my ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood was released, I had a distinct feeling about who the new counselors in the bishopric would be, and I was right. After leaving that ward when I transferred to the Singles' Ward, and several years after my marriage, that ward bishopric was going to be again reorganized. Again, I had a feeling that a particular brother would be called as the First Counselor in the new bishopric, and so it was.

To prove that I am by no means infallible, I will also say that when I knew the General Primary Presidency was going to be released in 2010, I had a feeling that Mary N. Cook, then serving as First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, would be called to be the new Primary General President. Obviously, that didn't happen. And the fact that Elder Teh was not called to the apostleship when I thought he would be says volumes about how reliable my inspiration can be. But the more I think about it, the more these three above named brethren make sense as the new apostles. Now all that remains is to wait a week and a half and see just how right (or wrong) I am about my feelings regarding the identity of the new apostles. Since I recognize my own infallibility, I will by no means be surprised whether or not the above named brethren are called. And whoever the new apostles are, they will have my whole-hearted sustaining vote and prayers. I just wanted to get my feelings on the matter down while I was thinking about it. Time will tell just how right (or wrong) I am. Hope you enjoyed this post. Can't wait for Conference. More to come on the outcome of my predictions as well as the new apostles when such information becomes available. Until I write again, all the best!