We we warned when we came out here all about those Aloof Distant Clannish UTAH Mormons. We were told that there was this HUGE waiting list to work at the Salt Lake Temple. Bishops have so many members in their ward that they have to make up callings.....
NOT!
I flew to Utah to work from the new office for a week and take some time to find a place to live out here. I found this place on a mountainside just south of the 215 loop, on a bench that overlooks the valley. It was determined that this place was part of the Brighton 3rd Ward, Salt Lake City Brighton Stake....I was concerned that there would be no one there to help me move in.
Turns out I had an ICD implanted just a week prior to my drive across the plains...so with one arm in a sling, I could drive, but not toss boxes around. I had called and talked to one of the bishop's counselors a couple of weeks before..There were 15 High Priests there to unpack the truck. I was impressed. Each of them had a handshake and a smile for me. Its been like coming home.
They have welcomed us with open arms.
We live at the South end of the Salt Lake Temple district, and we knew that our friends, Mike and Barbara Barker worked there on Tuesday Night, so we attended a session on a Tuesday evening, when they were scheduled. I found out at least part of why Heavenly Father wanted us here.
In the prayer that is part of the endowment session, the brother was pleading with the Lord for Ordinance Workers, particularly MALE Ordinance workers. This time I did not need a hammer over the head....I just said...YES, Father...got it..and went and got the paperwork to have our local priesthood leaders submit for the calling.
When we went to visit our bishop, he extended a calling for us to work with the 30 plus singles in the ward...another cherished illusion down the drain. Its a big stake initiative, not a made up calling.
With Ruth's arthritic hips and knees, working in the temple is a challenge for her. I am having the time of my life. I fancied myself an actor at one point in my life, and actually made a little (well, very little) money as an actor before doing radio. I believe I have found a series of roles that are not just roles of a lifetime, but of an eternity. I qualifed for a very minor part my last week of work, and was told that I would be presenting (we don't act or perform in the temple, we teach) that role on Saturday Afternoons for the month of October.
What a great blessing to be able to finally give a return on a talent that He gave me! I feel unworthy, but am grateful for the experience.
Whew! What a 10 months it has been. In the words of one of my heroes, Inigo Montoya,
let me review, no it is too much. Let me sum up.
After getting off to a busy start on the blog...life got weird. Politically, things were not really to my liking, but at the time, not a whole lot to do about it. Personally, being back at the temple was wonderful, and my job was going along just fine...Little did I know what Heavenly Father had in store.
Having been invited to come meet with the High Priests as of my 50th birthday, my bishop called me in and interviewed me for advancement from Elder to High Priest. It was kind of funny, I did not hear another thing for months, and figured someone had come to their senses and had stopped the process. (Turns out some one lost the paperwork!)
Meanwhile on the job, while my team was not getting cut, there seemed to be a high attrition rate and they were not being replaced...meaning, cutbacks. I went to the annual IT Department off-site in Overland Park Kansas having the occasional thought out of nowhere of what it might be like to go work at our new division's headquarters.
As part of that off-site meeting, it was decided that the company would put a member of the support team on site at the divisional headquarters in Salt Lake City. Well, I had taken vacation for the rest of the week, so we were visiting with friends in Kansas City and they made the decision seem easy...I did not want to become one of those Utah Mormons, did I? HECK NO!!!
Meanwhile we went back to St. Louis, and I had to renew my temple recommend, but for some reason, the Stake President (from our ward) wanted to do the interview. At the end of the question and answer period, he leaned back and asked if Bishop Blair had talked with me about becoming a High Priest. I told him he had, but I figured that somewhere along the way the process had gotten bogged down. A couple of phone calls later, the paperwork was found, he clapped me on the shoulder and said that interview would be the same questions anyway, and we would call that good. They would sustain me at Stake Conference, and we could arrange for the ordination anytime after that.
At the Saturday Evening Session of Stake Conference, Ruth and I sat next to the stake patriarch and his bride. We got to talking about job opportunities. He said he had advised a son in a situation somewhat similar to mine, the it was not wise for older workers to refuse transfers, and make himself less valuable to his company. The Holy Ghost nearly hit me over the head to get me to listen. Turns out that patriarch is the New St. Louis Temple President as of November 1st. :)
But but but I HAD a plan...Ruth and I would continue to live and work in St. Louis until the Kansas City Temple was ready for dedication...uhhhhhhh...no.
Turns out that my best bud in whole wide world, Phil Beem would be coming from Independence to St. Louis on the Tuesday after conference, he would be available to do the ordination (he is bishop of Independence First Ward). He and his sweetie came to our house on the Monday Night, and we went over and attended the temple together the next day. Phil and I did two sessions. Without going into sacred detail, I left the temple that day knowing that the Lord wanted me in Salt Lake City. Just what He needed...another Mormon in the valley.
I talked to my boss, and he was floored that I would consider it, but saw the advantages to having a veteran take the position as opposed to hiring a local and attempting to train remotely. The deal was struck...we would review the situation in a couple of years to see whether I could come back to KC....you know, pretty much in time for the temple dedication? (Still have to see on that one)
With the wonderful assistance of the Chesterfield First Ward, the apartment was somehow packed into a truck and I drove across the plains the last week of May, and moved into our apartment in Cottonwood Heights, Utah on May 30th. I started work at my new location on the first.
Life and the Lord have a funny way of changing our plans.
