Stake Presidency

In mid-July, I had returned from visiting a ward in Vestavia Hills. I came into the Leeds Ward building looking for my family and had talked or greeted a few people on the way. I may have gone back to the primary to look for Wendy and then came back toward the chapel. I remember the Bishop's door opening and someone came out and President Slezak was in there. He saw me and motioned me to come in for a small discussion (I thought). Well, it turned out to be a discussion about me. He mentioned that he was thinking about changing out the counselors in the Stake Presidency since President Church had served in that capacity for 8 years and President Norris had served for 6 years. He was talking to the Area President about this and they said, "No" and that you usually finish with the same counselors that you begin with. President Slezak was thinking in the future about how it would be nice to finish with counselors that would be fairly new but experienced in the Stake Presidency and that the new Presidency might be one of the new counselors as the President and the other counselor still functioning as one of the counselors and then he would have to call just another counselor to replace himself. This way you wouldn't be starting from scratch. He also mentioned that he had asked Elder Alba about this but went back to ask Elder Johnson. Elder Johnson was the Stake President of the Bessemer Stake. He said that he was thinking about doing the same thing with his counselors but was released and called into the Area Presidency. Elder Johnson told him to back to the Presiding Bishopric and seek approval and that he would support it. The Presiding Bishopric did approve the request and her we stand.

Anyway, from this conversation, he told me that he had been thinking of me as a counselor among about 15 other brethren made up of high councilors and bishops. So that thought was in my mind for several weeks. I had thought about telling Wendy but what if I wasn't called? So I didn't mention it to her. After some weeks had passed Stake Conference was getting near. I thought that if I was going to be called then it would need to be in the next two week time frame. We had a High Council meeting on August 8th and that is the day that I received a phone call from President Slezak. He mentioned that he needed to speak with me after the High Council meeting that night so stick around and to make sure my wife was going to be free. At this point, I didn't know what to do about contacting Wendy. I could have called her near that time but I had access to the family calendar so I knew that she was going to be at home. So I decided to not call her because I knew that she would start asking me why. Throughout the meeting I was looking at where Wendy was on Life360, a stalking app. After the meeting was over, I hung around talking to some of the high councilors, clerks and secretaries and waited for the president to be done. Once he was done, he invited me in. We sat down and talked about how he did receive permission from the Area Presidency to make the changes and he wanted to extend me the call to be the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. At this point, I felt overwhelmed but willing to do what the Lord needs me to do. He then asked me to call my wife on video call. I then called her on Duo (a google video call app). She answered the call but was on her way with Katherine to go walking at the park, which I didn't think she would be doing at the time. She asked Katherine to exit the van and President Slezak talked to her and asked her if she would support me in this calling and she said that she would.

We had to wait a week and a half for Stake Conference. During that time I wanted to tell my family since they were not going to be at conference. Wendy didn't think that I should tell them until after it happened. I knew Dad would be in the hospital during that time so I wanted to tell him before he had to go under the knife. I told him Tuesday or Wednesday of that week leading up to Stake Conference. He was ecstatic about the call and so happy for me. When I told my brothers later on, they were happy for me, too.

Of Course, we kept this a secret from the kids. We thought of Jamie and her being in another stake. Wendy told me to just invite her to Stake Conference and see if she comes. If she doesn't, then we did extend the invitation. One day, I did invite her to come to Stake Conference and she said that she probably had to play the piano in sacrament. Fast Forward to that Sunday, she accidentally turned her alarm off an slept in. By the time, she woke up, it was too late to go to her branch and too late to go to the Stake Center, but she did receive a text from Katherine of what happened.

As time got closer, I wondered if the other counselors knew if they were getting released and when did they know. I did find out that the Stake Clerk, Stake Exec Secretary and Assistant Stake Exec. Secretary found out on Saturday night after all sessions were over. That night I realized that this was going to happen very quickly and the Stake Business was the first things to happen. I got really nervous then. I couldn't remember if I would have to be on the stand at that time or later on. I guess I was just so nervous.

Sunday morning came. I was very nervous. We got luck and were able to sit in the pews and Brother Jeff Mann was sitting next to us. When the business started I had to make sure the kids were not sitting in my lap so that I could stand and be sustained. I figured all eyes were on me and surprised that I got this call - because I still was. Robbie Norris was called as the first counselor and I was called as the second counselor. We were invited to come and sit on the stand. Once we got up there, the speakers were set for the bearing of our testimonies. President Church, President David Norris, President Robbie Norris, myself and President Slezak.

After the meeting, I attended a Family History Consultants meeting with Elder Foster then we went to the High Council Room to do the settings apart. In attendance for my family was Becky and Paul, Leroy and Glenda and my family except for Jamie. President Robbie Norris was set apart first by Elder Foster and President Slezak. I was set apart by Elder Foster, President Slezak and Robbie Norris. Some of the words mentioned in the blessing part was that I was kind and gentle, that Angels would protect my family and that I would need to seek balance in my life. It was an awesome occasion to experience. I was anxious to go to work and to help wherever I was needed.

This is my second time being a counselor. I was a counselor in the Elders Quorum with Chris Hansen a long time ago. Steve Parillo was also a counselor. I was a ward clerk a few times so that is kind of like a counselor to the Bishop, but not really.

I have a lot of studying ahead of me to understand the Handbook #1 and #2 again, but it will be well worth it and hopefully I can do a good job and have the spirit with me at all times.

Family

This is the first post that I have done in a while. I was looking at my blog and noticed my family's picture and we have grown so much. There are so many things to say but can't say them all in one little post. It would take so many posts to catch up.

There are so many events that have happened since last year -

Jamie moved out of the house in to the apartment above the storage units where we used to live when we were first married. She is feeling free as a bird. So free that she has decided to serve a mission. She is working on her papers and other preparations. We are excited for her.

Katherine is doing even better in school since she has stopped going to public school and is doing home school. She loves having her free time, running errands for Mom and watching her younger siblings and babysitting for other young couples. She was given the opportunity to go on a 2 week vacation with her Aunt Becky and will then go to Girl's Camp shortly following time.

Ethan also, is enjoying his time away from public school and home schooling. He goes to public school part time because he is playing basketball for the school. We have recently started playing basketball at a local baptist church and he is doing great. We did this to help him learn to play with other bruisers. So far it is working out great. He will also be leaving to Boy Scout Camp (sorry but I am sticking with BOY in this name) in the second week of June and will return the next week for YLT. He and his cousin will be attending this so he won't be alone.

Jeffery just finished baseball. He is our most distracted child. He loves playing just about anything - Legos, cars, riding bikes, shooting BB gun, playing baseball, ... what's next. He did a good job during baseball season. He showed a lot of improvement as he went along. He is still trying to get used to his growing body. I am training him on the riding lawn mower now and he is getting better at it every time.

Julie is our drama queen. At her age she is crying a lot and playing mom. She loves to play life with her younger brother. Sometimes she act as the daughter and he will be Dad. They love playing together and miss each other when they are apart. They love playing in the basement, even when it is at the expense of my tools. They have a tricycle, a scooter and large plastic Tikes truck. I am not really sure what you call it. I'll attach a picture of it so that you can see what it looks like.

Nathan is our rough-houser. He loves to wrestle and fight, even if he has a broken thumb (another story). He also gets easily distracted by playing cars, Legos or eating foods that he is not supposed to be eating. He is a sweet little boy. I hate to see these years go by so quick.

Wendy is very busy too. Running errands to the doctor for every kid, getting groceries, taking children to Home school events or taking Ethan to and from school and many other miscellaneous things that she does for the family. She is often found posting inspirational stories or quotes to Facebook. Anyway, now we are caught up, but I still want to post some pictures and other posts here to show what we have done or where we have gone. So I will try to keep in touch.