...Except From a Vending Machine

When I was a missionary, we had a Stake President who was descended from the Mormon pioneers. He was fond of saying, “The wagon train to Zion rolls forward. People come and people go, but the wagon train rolls on.” His words have had particular meaning for me these past few of weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last Sunday evening. His funeral was held in Salt Lake City yesterday. More than 21,000 people were present for the service in the Conference Center, and many more watched the live broadcast of the funeral. President Hinckley has led the Church for 13 years. Now, the presidency will be reorganized and a new man will take the reins. That announcement comes tomorrow; the only real mystery is who will serve in the First Presidency as counselors to President Thomas S. Monson.

President Monson has served with President Hinckley for a long time. His dedication is unquestionable, his testimony of the Gospel beyond reproach. But he has a different leadership style. He won't be a carbon copy of President Hinckley—and he shouldn't be. He has his own work to do and his own strengths to help him accomplish it. People may not have the same feelings, or at least not the same depth of feeling, for President Monson as they did for President Hinckley. But that doesn't matter. It's not a popularity contest. It's about who has the experience and the inspiration to lead the Church. And that's President Monson. The wagon train rolls forward.

We've also had a change a little closer to home. On January 13th, we were told at the end of our Sacrament service that there was to be a special meeting for all stake members that evening,and that the meeting we'd just finished would be the last time we'd meet in our building. At that evening's meeting, it was revealed that two of the seven wards in our stake were being discontinued, that all five remaining wards were having their boundaries changed, and that our building (the Texas Street building) was going to be closed and eventually demolished. Our Bishopric was released, and a new one was called in its place. And while our ward wasn't losing any of its members (a fear that many of us had since the announcement that morning), we were gaining over half the membership of the old 4th ward in the realignment.

So the new Bishopric met with all the auxiliary leaders in the ward the following Thursday night. Since I've been serving as the Sunday School President for the past year or so, I was one of those in attendance. We talked a lot about the people that we'd just gained and about what we'd need to do to accommodate all of them. I'd also scouted out the new building where we were now going to be meeting, so I had some recommendations about where to hold various classes and so forth.

It's been a real challenge for the past three weeks. We have two very large Gospel Doctrine classes now, and the youth classes now have about three to four times as many people in them as we had before the combination. I've had to reorganize the teaching schedule, and we'll probably have to call at least six new teachers in the next few weeks. But so far, things have run smoothly. Our teachers have adjusted to the larger classes splendidly, and I've been getting great comments about how good the classes (and the teachers) have been. The transition, at least for my organization, has been pretty smooth. It hasn't come without some hard work and prayer, mind you, but it's been okay. The wagon train rolls on.

Change really is inevitable.^* Circumstances change, people come and people go. But I learned another lesson as a missionary. It was at the funeral of one of the ward members where I was serving. He was a great leader and teacher and well-loved and respected in the community. His funeral drew over 800 people. One of the speakers at the service made this comment: “Roger is gone now, and things will never be the same without him. But if things can't be the same, that means that they can either be worse, or they can be better.” I've never forgotten that. Some people, including me a lot of the time, fear change. Change is bad, we feel. But really, it's up to us. Change isn't inherently good or bad. It's just different. What we do with change is what makes it bad or good.

That's true in the Church as much as it is anywhere else. The wagon train rolls on. We ultimately have to decide if we stay with it, or if we go our own way.

As for me, I think things are going to be just fine.

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^* Except, as the saying goes, from a vending machine.