A few thoughts on my husband as Bishop

I didn't do a blog post about my husband becoming a Bishop back in June, 2008. It is sacred and private. I can express some of my feelings here and now, and say that I know it was an inspired calling, one that was humbly accepted. 

Serving the Lord in any capacity is an honor, but to serve as Bishop is huge and it comes with great responsibility. It was prayed about and a confirmation of that calling came in the most beautiful setting imaginable. I was sure that my husband would do his very best to lead and care for the ward. We called his parents in Australia who are not members of the Church and they were happy even though they don't know much about the Church or about a calling as huge as this one. My family who are members of the Church were, of course, happy and they knew what it would entail. 

With that said, it was hard to keep the news to ourselves until it was official, but we did it. We had our poker faces on and marched along doing our regular duties for a few days. That Saturday morning, I gave a ride home to a couple of sisters that were with me at a stake activity. A conversation ensued with regard to who would be called as Bishop and a few names were tossed around. One sister finally said, "They will probably end up bringing him in from another ward or stake because there is no one here in this ward that is qualified." I must confess that I felt a little heartbroken, but I quickly set those feelings aside and replaced them with a deep sense of reverence for what would take place the very next day at Church. My husband was ordained and sustained as Bishop of our ward and quickly went to work with his two counselors, Brother VDG and Brother Yau. 

There was, of course, a learning curve and guidance from the Stake leadership at first, but he learned quickly and worked hard these past few years. His testimony and mine has increased exponentially, and we grew to deeply love the members of our ward. 

I won't go into it too much, but I can list a few interesting moments. He also became Justice of the Peace, so that meant that he had the authority to perform a civil marriage in the State of New York. He actually had the opportunity to marry a couple at Church. He was asked to preside and conduct a funeral service that was held at Church, too. Then, there were the many phone calls and e-mails from not only the Bishopric, but from members of the Church everywhere, some from halfway around the world. 

Whenever there was a phone call that required him to put on his Bishopric hat, he immediately slipped away to the bedroom, bathroom or the hallway of our building and there he would stay for anywhere from a half an hour to an hour, often times missing or pushing back a family activity. He would also sometimes have to leave us to see someone urgently. Needless to say, we always needed to make adjustments for these kinds of calls. Sundays were very long since he held a couple of meetings before Church services and numerous interviews immediately after. I would often sit alone during Sacrament Meeting. In fact, I haven't sat next to my husband during Sacrament Meeting in over four years. Many times I did sit together with the wife of one of his counselors who has three children, even though it was challenging to keep all the children somewhat reverent during the service. Equally as challenging was getting to Church  on Sunday morning. (Honestly, I don't know how single mothers manage without the extra help from their husband.) It also took a little while for me to get used to the vagueness of his communications with me concerning anything relating to his duties as Bishop, like when he got phone calls. I thought the secrecy was kind of funny, but I understood that confidentiality was of the utmost importance and I respected it. He would sometimes get a look on his face and I knew that the Bishop wheels in his head were turning. I took it to mean that he was thinking about a family in the ward, a member in particular or members for specific callings. 

Once a month, he had his interview with the Stake President. My husband has a deep respect for that man. He admires not only his excellent leadership qualities, but his deep love of Jesus Christ and his strong testimony of the Gospel. Then, there was the Bishopric training meetings every couple of months. He loved going to these and would come home just brimming with excitement over what he learned. These meetings in addition to everything else made his whole Sunday full of Church-related stuff. My husband was a very busy but happy man serving in this capacity. 

Now, fast forward two years to the present time. When my husband informed the Stake President of our plans to buy a house, he quickly and humorously reminded my husband of the five-year commitment of his calling, but he assured my husband that family came first and that there would be plenty of opportunities to serve in the Church wherever we moved. He really didn't want us to leave the stake and several times suggested that we look in certain neighborhoods within the stake. We really combed through them. Sadly, these were not affordable for us. Then, we had no other choice but to expanded our search. When we told him we had found a house in a different borough of NYC altogether, he was so disappointed, but I think he was happy for us, even though he and his wife are both perplexed with our choice of living in that part of town. You can tell they really love it here in Brooklyn. (We love Brooklyn, too! There is no other place like it, but that is a post for another day.) We always try to assure him that we are indeed moving into a lovely neighborhood. We will just have to invite them over, so they can see for themselves. 

The ward is a lot smaller, but we are sure there will be plenty to do to keep us busy. We look forward to these new opportunities to serve the Lord in that part of His vineyard.