A Has Been

In his declining years my father was fond of saying, “I’m a has been. I has been a better man.” Similarly it occurs to me that I has been a lot of things in the nearly 56 years of my church membership.

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Choice

I am struck by the faithfulness of three very young men who were called in their youth as prophets of God. Joseph (who was sold into Egypt), Nephi, and Joseph Smith were all just boys when they began having manifestations which ultimately positioned them to become powerful leaders. All three thereafter experienced terrific hardships which might have discouraged and broken lesser men, yet there is no indication that any of them ever faltered, murmured, or complained. Instead of succumbing to their troubles (which they could easily have done), they chose to believe that their situations had a purpose, and that things would work out. Their optimism and steadfastness seem almost super-human.

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Visiting General Authorities

Yesterday (5 December 2021) was a good day. Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the quorum of the twelve came to La Grande to hold a special stake conference. The last time that an apostle visited our stake was 33 years ago, in 1988. It was special to be here for this conference.

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Fuller Family Connections

Jim has asked me to write about the Fuller connection to my conversion story. I first became acquainted with him in Don Hunt’s French class in the 8th grade. Jim became my best friend in high school. He and I did many things together. He came out to my farm at Haines, but I was more often at his house on 17th Street. I became well acquainted with both Grandma Tanner, and with Grandma Burris, who lived in the house next door.

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Instruments in the Hands of God

There is a phrase repeated a dozen times in the Book of Mormon that needs to be explored. It was first used by Lehi who said that Nephi had been “an instrument in the hands of God” in bringing them to the land of promise. (2 Nephi 1:24). Lehi used the phrase again as he prophesied of the calling of Joseph Smith. (2 Nephi 3:24). The phrase, “instruments in the hands of God” was picked up and used by Alma and other prophets.

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Patriarch

I have spent my adult life preparing for the next church event. I’ve either been thinking about the upcoming lesson or church talk that I was to give, or planning and preparing for an activity. There has always been something. When one was over and done with, there were the next ones to get ready for.

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Calling His First Stake President

All of the Authorities who are here tonight could testify that in the reorganization of stakes they have had remarkable and inspiring experiences. I recall being assigned to reorganize a stake about 40 years ago.

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Not Her Calling?

While we do not ask to be released from a calling, if our circumstances change it is quite in order for us to counsel with those who have issued the call and then let the decision rest with them. Nor should we feel rejected when we are released by the same authority and with the same inspiration by which we were called.

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Issuing Calls the Proper Way

Leaders must learn how to issue calls. When I was a young man, I heard Elder Spencer W. Kimball speak in a stake conference. He said that as a new stake president in Arizona, he left his office in the bank to call a man to be stake leader of the young men.

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Responsibilities of Shepherds

When I was a very small boy, my father found a lamb all alone out in the desert. The herd of sheep to which its mother belonged had moved on, and somehow the lamb got separated from its mother, and the shepherd must not have known that it was lost.

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Feed My Sheep

Since recently returning from a three-year Church assignment in Africa and becoming reacquainted with our twenty-three grandchildren, Sister Lindsay and I have often been requested on such visits to tell these grandchildren a bedtime story that is, first, true; second, exciting; and third, one they have never heard before.

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Hole-in-the-Rock

The quarterly conference of the Parowan Stake in December 1879 witnessed the call of forty-nine men and their families to a new mission. The call came from President John Taylor and the Twelve through Elder Erastus Snow.

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Called By the Lord

While I was serving as stake president, my counselors and I invited a certain brother for an interview where we presented to him his calling to be the president of the stake Young Men organization. This man had not been fully active.

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Calling Necessitated Sacrifice

A few years ago in Japan, a stake was being organized from a mission district. In the course of an interview, the district president stated that he would shortly be moving to another where he had accepted a promotion with his company to become the manager of their largest branch.

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A Ray of Light, But No Window

Some years ago, President Lee, directed by inspiration and revelation, called Dewitt J. Paul to serve as patriarch in one of the eastern stakes of the Church.

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The Lord Opens a Way

May I share with you something of a personal and sacred testimony?
Nearly forty years ago I was on a mission in England. I had been called to labor in the European Mission office in London under President Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve, then president of the European Mission.

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No Counsel to Give

The day of your release will teach you a great lesson. On the day I was released as a bishop, one of the ward members came to my home afterwards and said: “I know you are no longer my bishop, but could we talk just one more time?

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Patriarch Without Hands

Years ago, President Spencer W. Kimball shared with President Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, and me an experience he had in the appointment of a patriarch for the Shreveport Louisiana Stake of the Church.

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Bishop’s Wife’s Sacrifice

A wonderful sister recently said to a dear friend: “I want to tell you about the moment I ceased resenting my husband’s time and sacrifice as a bishop.

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Here Am I; Send Me

At least once a year, in ward conference, members of the Church have the opportunity to sustain their ward and stake leaders. As we raise our hands to sustain our bishoprics and stake presidencies we are saying, in effect, “I believe these men have been called by the Lord, and that they are the Lord’s authorized representatives. I support them, and I will strive to do the things they ask me to do.”

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The Purpose of Meetings

What is the purpose of stake priesthood leadership meetings? More particularly, what is the reasoning behind stake priesthood leadership meeting on stake conference weekend? The meeting happens twice a year, right in the middle of a busy Saturday afternoon. Everyone with anything at all to do must choose between 10 other worthy projects and attendance at priesthood leadership.

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Get The Spirit

On a Saturday evening in March, Brother Quebbeman, the stake executive secretary, called to inform me that President Chadwick wanted to come see me Sunday at 3:00.

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Wrought Upon

Some people get “wrought up” about things. As I started another reading of the Book of Mormon several days ago, I noticed a related phrase I’d never tuned into before,

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Self-Estimation

In the talk Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave in the Priesthood session of the October 2014 general conference, he cited an interesting study:

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You Feared

Oliver Cowdery sat on the other side of the table from Joseph Smith, and recorded the words that Joseph spoke as he read the golden plates.

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Tested, Tried and Stretched

In the conference just past (October 2014), Elder Richard G. Scott spoke about our being “tested, tried, and stretched.” As he said “stretched,” he held his fists close to one another, and pulled them apart as if stretching an object between them.

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Traction

David A. Bednar told the story of his friend who bought a pickup, took it up in the snowy mountains to get a load of firewood, and promptly got stuck. He was unable to extricate the pickup from where it was stuck in the snow.

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