Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

I had a special experience last Wednesday January 4. The Conditional Use Permit for the Payson River Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came before the Payson City Council for formal approval. It is not often in one’s life that one can be involved in such a historic event for Payson.

The whole project was presented to us. There appeared to be no dissent of any material kind. I was privileged to make the motion for the approval of the Site Plan. Additionally, I also made the motion for the approval of a Deferral Agreement. The vote was unanimous on all four motions made by the council. I am so excited to see this edifice built in our city. It will be a great addition to the church and to the city of Payson.

Today was a beautiful day. You would have never guessed it based on the weather. You would never have guessed it by whether the sun was shining or not. It was beautiful in a much different way.

Today was the groundbreaking service for the Payson Utah Temple. It rained all day Thursday, and even more and harder on Friday. One could hope that the heavens would have dried out after two days of soaking rain, but when I got up on Saturday morning the streets were wet and the skies were not blue. We had clouds, and rain, and not very nice weather for a groundbreaking ceremony that was to take place on a former wheat field.

We arrived at the site of the ground breaking and the rain kept on coming. In fact, I would swear that the rain was increasing rather than decreasing. The weather didn’t dampen our spirits however and we all waited patiently for the service to begin, knowing that in at least 26 Stake Centers in the central part of the state the majority of the members of the church had the opportunity to watch the service in dryness.

During the prayer, the supplicant pleaded with the Lord to temper the elements, and at that time, the rain stopped and only consisted of an occasional drizzle. It was a miracle. The service itself warmed the hearts of us all. The thought of a temple of the Lord being erected on this site was hear warming in the extreme.

Elder Oaks of the Twelve delivered an excellent talk and then used his Priesthood to dedicate and consecrate the ground to the building of a temple to the Lord. It was a spiritual feast for all of us that were in attendance. After his prayer, then the meeting ended and the breaking of the ground started to occur. First, the 4 general authorities in attendance turned over shovels of earth. That was followed by 26 Stake Presidents in attendance. My dear friend and associate President Wayne Pullan, whom I served with as a counselor when he was Bishop of the Page Ward that participated.

A personal experience of delight came when Elder Oaks invited the city officials, one of which I am, to come up and turn shovels of dirt and participate in the ground breaking. It was a neat experience to be able to participate in such a sacred ceremony, and do it as an official of Payson City. This will be a highlight of my service on the Payson City Council and as a member of the church. I look forward to the time, in 2.5 years, when the temple is finished and dedicated and I can walk its hallowed halls and participate in ordinances for the dead.

Finally, deacons were asked to come up and we also had many others, including my daughter Julie, who took the opportunity to get up and turn a shovel full of earth. It was a day to remember. It was a beautiful day.

I love to speculate. That is one thing that most of us seem to do a lot. Next Sunday we will have a new Stake President. I have made my list, checked it twice, of all the candidates that I think would do an excellent job. Whoever the Lord calls will do an excellent job, but the candidate who rises to the top of my list is the most unlikely individual to be called. That has been proven by historical accuracy. For someone out there in our stake, the kiss of death is descending upon them. Maybe they are going to be lucky.

This last week was exciting. On Monday, while sitting at work making calls, I heard a ringtone on my phone that indicated a new message was there. I quickly looked, and to my surprise, an announcement from my church that they are building a brand new temple in Payson, only 1.8 miles from my house. Hallelujah. Things like that are always exciting. It will make a big difference for Payson. Well, the rest of the week has been taken up by work, meetings with City Officials and the council, and visiting family. A very busy week.

Today I was released as the 2nd Counselor in the Page Ward Bishopric. I had served in that position for almost 4 years. When you serve in a position like that for as long as I have, you come to feel a huge loss when the situation is changed. I enjoyed serving with some fine men and women in the Page Ward. I now find myself without a calling. I am sure that will change soon, but it is an unusual feeling for me. I praise the Lord for the opportunity that has been mine to serve with such wonderful men.

A lot of years ago we lived in student housing at the University of Utah. It was our second encounter with student housing, in a place called the East University Village. While living in that student housing complex we lived in a branch of our church called the University 2nd Branch. It was a branch consisting of primarily graduate students and their families. We were all young, all pretty much in the same boat, and we pretty much were all poor.

Well, approximately 2 months ago I was contacted by a member of that branch about attending a Branch reunion, 30 years after the Branch President, George Pingree, was released. Being the curious sort, I convinced Bonnie we should go. Man, what an experience. First, we were the only ones from the years 1977 to 1978 at the reunion. Second, most of the people who were there were long time members of the branch, us being there only one year.

It was a different experience. We knew no one, and no one knew us. The one thing that was interesting was one lady came up to us, called us friends, and then realized that she never knew us. There was some interesting backpedaling going on. I thought we would know somebody, but we knew no one. This was the first time since we have gone to reunions that we came up with a big zero. It was good seeing our old Branch President (they had no clue who we were) but that was it.

Well, finally I get to be around when they divide or realign a stake, when I am and older guy and can remember what happens. The stake here is going to be divided, since we have been growing so quickly and as a result, we are going to have 3 stakes made into 4. They have said that no boundaries of wards will change, but the number and type of units in our stake will change. We are going to pick up the single’s ward, and maybe a couple of wards from one of the other stakes, and then loose a whole lot of wards.

This should be really interesting to watch. I won’t be involved in anything of course, but it will be interesting to watch none the less. I will report on May 18 when all shall be revealed.