We had stake conference this weekend. It was a little sad for me because I'm so used to attending stake conference with my family and all of us sitting together. But I am grateful for an amazing, loving ward who has taken us in so quickly...I went to the adult session by myself last night (Brie had a basketball game) and was quickly invited to sit with several different ward members. One of the things that I really loved was looking around seeing entire pews in the chapel filled with members from our ward...I love that these people like each other and want to sit together and make a point of inviting other ward members to sit with them as they arrive. :-)
I sang with the choir, although my cold/sinus infection seems to be flaring up again and I really wasn't sure I felt up to it. But I did, and I'm glad that I did. I've made a lovely friend in another ward through singing with the stake choir and it's always nice to see her. Anyway, due to the size of our stake (11 or 12 units in four buildings), the stake center just won't hold everyone and so the meeting today was broadcast to all of the buildings in the stake (and online) and people watched from their regular meetinghouse. It was odd to be at the stake center and not look out and see my Mom and Dad, Mark, Alyssa, Brie, and my sister Erin and her family in the congregation...it was strange to sing with a different choir director than I'm used to (actually, it was strange to sing at all since I'm usually behind the piano!)...and it was interesting to watch the proceedings as someone who doesn't know anyone and therefore doesn't feel "invested" in who is called to various callings.
And so on to the point...our stake presidency was released and a new stake presidency was called today. Elder Piper and Elder Matthew Eyring were here to handle the business of the conference. I don't really know anyone in the stake yet and so I didn't have any thoughts as to who might be in the new stake presidency (had this been our stake in Georgia I would have been guessing!). One thing that I found interesting is that the entire new stake presidency (and the former stake president) are all from the same ward. I've never seen that happen before. And the thing is, there are probably at least 50 men in the stake who would be amazing stake presidents...this stake is just that strong. It's really neat to experience that.
And now I'm really on to the point of this blog post...it really is a small world, especially in the church. As the new stake president came up to take a seat on the stand, I realized that I recognized him. When his wife was called up to bear her testimony, I *knew* that I recognized them. But I've never spoken to them before. I only ever saw/heard them once before...at the parents' orientation luncheon at BYU in August. They were seated, with their adult son who has a disability, one person away from me at the table. In a room full of thousands of parents, my soon-to-be stake president and his wife and son were seated one person away from me. Of course, I didn't know at the time that he would be our stake president. I was involved in converation with the people directly next to me and heard this gentleman say he was from Virginia. My ears perked up because we had just moved to Virginia three weeks earlier. I didn't hear what city they were from, but I distinctly remember him say they were from Virginia. I wanted to have a chance to talk to him and find out where they were from but wasn't able to. At the end of the luncheon, his adult son said hi to me and shook my hand. I could tell he had a disability and smiled and shook his hand and said hi back to him, at which point hsi parents said it was time to leave and they turned and left. I distinctly remember thinking how unusual it was that his wife was so much taller than he was -- he is very short and she is very tall, and I remember how gently and lovingly they guided their son. For some reason, this couple and their son stuck in the back of my mind over the last few months.
And so today, when he and his wife came to the stand, I immediately knew I had seen them before and remembered the events of that parents' orientation luncheon. In a room full of thousands of parents, I was sitting by my soon-to-be-stake president. And in a stake full of people I haven't met yet, our new stake president is someone that I have encountered before, halfway across the country, on a college campus with approximately 26,000 people.
Yes, it is a small world. A very small world. The mission president's wife spoke in the adult session of stake conference last night and said that there are no coincidences in the gospel -- that people are brought into our lives at specific times for specific reasons. I have to think that there was a reason that I encountered President Hicks and his wife and their son four or so months ago at BYU in a room full of thousands of other parents, and there has to be a reason that I distinctly remember them.
A random occurrence? Maybe. Maybe not. But at that moment, in that stake center this morning, in a room full of people that I don't know and who don't know me, it was strangely comforting to know that I had encountered this man before and that I had been impressed by how he interacted with his son...it made me feel that I wasn't so alone in that moment.
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