The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn’t exactly a small outfit, so when someone gets a personal meeting with one of the top leaders, it’s something they remember. While I was attending DLI over 20 years ago, my best friend joined the Church. The day I baptized my friend, President Faust, who at the time was an Apostle, called the two of us up at the end of the Priesthood session of the stake conference to talk to us. The obituary’s description of his manner is spot-on.
My condolences go to his family and all those who loved him.
I’m sorry to hear of your loss. Bishops in my church don’t serve for life, but when my diocese’s last bishop retired, I was really bummed. Bishop Smalley was/is a cool guy.
What language did you study at DLI? I did Korean, spent thirteen months overseas.
Bishops in my church don’t serve for life, either; nor, technically, do the counselors in the First Presidency. I think the best comparison to another denomination for Pres. Faust’s position would be as a senior Cardinal.
I studied Vietnamese with an emphasis on the Hanoi dialect. I dropped out of the follow-on course at Goodfellow, though. Dropping out of that was the best thing that happened to me. Luckily, I still get to use the lingo. Here’s something funny, I wanted to take the advanced course in Korean but the military wouldn’t approve a bonus for that! That’s why I went with Vietnamese.
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He really hasn’t been well for quite a while, either. I think its been two years now that he’s given his conference addresses from his seat, rather than the podium. I always liked him - he seemed the easiest-going of the First Presidency.
Who do you think will be the new Apostle, Monty? I think they will be young, like Bednar, and possibly East Asian or South American. Its a shame, but I don’t think we have enough long-time leaders from Africa yet to put in.
I must admit I got just a bit of a chuckle at the name. I’d feel sorry for him actually. I’m from Topeka, Kansas, the place Fred Phelps calls home, and I know there are at least two other families in Topeka named Phelps. It’s common, but notorious here. Everyone wants to know if you are related to the Phelps family.