"Unto whom much is given . . . " Part III

In 1997 a new ward was started in the Peoria Stake, the name of it was Sundance. A ward was made by cutting a square mile off of two distinguished wards and combining them to make this new ward. A friend of mine (who remained in one of the distinguished wards) joked that they took the "riff-raff" of both wards and combined them to make the new ward. Two halves of the ward existed and the gap that existed between them was quickly melded by the youth coming together in the stake road show. A man whose background I still know very little about was called to be Bishop. He surrounded himself with others that were new to their callings. We were an awkward ward as we got to know one another; however, the friendliness was amazing. Bishop Pehrson was our newly called Bishop and he seemed to throw out all previous traditions that seemed to be followed in the church. The Church Handbook of Instruction was his only guide that he prescribed too, never trusting any one's input until it was confirmed in the handbook. Things were always handled differently when the Sundance ward was in charge of things like Stake Baptisms - for once they followed the handbook. Tradition spoke louder to the other wards and so it seemed that we were the ward out of sync. I watched from afar as a Young Men's leader of how things were done - always peculiarly. Eventually I was in the "inner-circle" joining in the PEC meetings weekly. I watched the accountability that was dished out to the leaders - not only were assignments made but reports were constantly being asked for in a follow up fashion. Failure was allowed; embarrassment for not completing the assignments was felt. Stewardship was expected and the principles laid out in the handbook were the expectations. I watched those around me as they grew stronger in their leadership skills. I watched as people became comfortable in the way the handbook directed. I was amazed at how many issues were sidestepped as the handbook was the format we followed. Later I watched one of the counselors of Bishop Pehrson become a Bishop of the same ward. He had been led by correct principles and continued to follow them. The new Bishop, though I had seen him falter at other times in his callings, seemed to be incapable of failure as he continued the practice of following the handbook. Later I became one of his counselors and got to see the intensity of his love and his desire to serve the Lord . . . still using the handbook as his guide. We still needed lots of training, we were always being corrected by leadership - but we were always looking at doing the right things for the right reasons. I do believe that the character of a man must be great to break with tradition and rely on his inspired understanding of the true principles. Bucking a system that should not be, to implement that which always should have been. Accountability, stewardship, growth, the allowance for failure and the expectation to improve - this is all that I attribute to Dean Pehrson, the original Bishop of the Sundance Ward in the Peoria Stake. The man is an amazing example to me of how to be a leader, how to fulfill any calling that is given to you.

Today I am a Ward Mission Leader; it is such a foreign thing to me. I knew nothing of it except for my exposure as a full time missionary. I knew little to nothing of my new ward and felt amazingly overwhelmed. The first thing I did was ask for the handbook, I got online and got trained, found all the info I could. I got in contact with the High Councilman over the mission efforts in the stake. I tried to grasp what I was supposed to do and received constant redirection when I mistakenly misunderstood something. I am still in this struggle to improve and learn my calling but I can say that I am much better prepared because of the example of Dean Pehrson. I'm grateful for such a man that would be more interested in serving his Lord and his God then in worrying what traditions that had been laid out before he was called. In doing this he was truly able to be a better servant to the ward members in his administration and as an example to all those that would notice.

Andrew "I noticed" Brown

Conservative listening to Liberal Media

I don't care what your political affiliation is; but I do believe that being informed is a must. To be informed you need to know more than one side of a subject and not think the handful of media you listen to (because you agree with what they say) is the only truth. I'm not trying to say that media is the only way to get your news but it is what most people are exposed to and discuss around the water cooler. So, that said, I'm a conservative and my candidate didn't make it past the primaries so now I'm rooting for John McCain and I’m in awe of his selection of Palin.

I made the mistake of only listening to Fox news and 550 and 960 AM radio for the week after the first Palin speech. I thought we were unstoppable and that everybody was as smitten with the Republican ticket as I was. It wasn't until 2 days ago I changed my radio station to 1480 and went to a bunch of liberal news sites (Time, ABC, CBS etc) and found an alternative approach.

I was educated on how the liberals feel that McCain is running a much more negative campaign then Obama (89 to 11%) by readers. I found that Palin is the only person of interest to the liberals, they have stopped talking about McCain, their focus is on comparing Obama to Palin (why would you compare the top of your ticket to the bottom of the oppositions ticket?). I was also educated on how talk show radio hosts get more cynical and resort to name calling when they are being beaten by the opposition. Lately the liberals have resorted to a lot of name calling, have gotten very cynical, and are obviously stunned at the amazing swing in votes that Governor Palin has generated for the McCain ticket.

McCain was inspired to choose Palin, she represents a lot of what I'm interested in and the ideals I value. I know that there is more to know about her than the little bit that has been brought forward to date. I am trying to not get caught up in how "evil" Obama is as I believe that he's got some amazing talents and does want to serve this country as his ideals guide him - I just believe that the ideals of McCain are better suited to represent me and my country.

The vilifications of candidates is a bit much and the fanatics of either party take things too far many times (Obama is for infanticide (birthed baby killings)? no he's not but you could twist his voting record that way - Palin is a former Mayor of a small town of 9,000 . . . um yeah, but she is now a Governor of the largest geographical state with more natural resources than any other state). I don't appreciate the twists from either side and we need to encourage people not to just vote but to not be distracted by peripheral non issues and realize when a distortion is presented. This reminds me of my favorite comic; Brian Regan does a bit on a political distortion of a politician that has a platform of tazering 7 year olds.

I want undistorted facts and will start challenging those that offer distortions as if they are unbiased truths; I want good folks to be persuaded to be candidates that will represent the people in government; I want a media outlet that will call all of the other media and candidates out when distortions are made (liberal or conservative); I want conservative values to win this election. Go Palin! er, I mean McCain.

Andrew "no distortions please" Brown

"Unto whom much is given . . ." part II

I'm trying to make some order of individuals that I write about it and have decided to do it by association to who I have written about so far. With that in mind I wanted to share some of my experiences with Bill Alexander.

Bill is a man's-man. There is no one that can doubt the manliness of Bill. He's a former Air Force vet that has so much manliness that others grow into men just from association. So it only makes sense that he would serve as a young men's advisor. I had him as an advisor when I was a Deacon; he served with Doug Baker then and also with the Teachers Quorum later on in my life. As a Deacon I remember Bill mostly giving lessons - we were always really reverent on the days he taught, probably because we figured he'd discipline us really well if we broke the silence. He spoke quietly which forced us to have to be quiet if we were going to hear and you didn't want to get caught not paying attention. Bill's son Justin came into the quorum 2 months after I joined. In our earlier years Justin and I weren't friends at all, associates at best until after the week long activity at camp Whiting.

Back to Bill, he married an amazing woman, Karen, who was always so kind and positive towards us boys and so supportive of anything her husband and sons did. I had joined a summer track club in my 7th grade and because I was so lousy at so many things track related they made me a hurdler. What this means is that I wasn’t a good sprinter or a distance runner; with hurdling they could get me working on my "form" so I had something I could improve in. Since it was a summer league I didn't have to be that good to go to competitions and so I would typically go to anything I could. My parents were pretty busy with trying to make a living and raising all of my sisters; because Bill had both of his youngest boys on the same track club he'd usually give me a ride to everything. I honestly was so grateful for all of his efforts to make sure I had a ride and was made to feel welcomed to everything – I started to feel like I was abusing the relationship as no one had ever been so kind to me before. As I attempted to not take advantage of him in my adolescent way I told him I wouldn't be going to the next track meet. This seemed to trouble him and he tried to find out why until I finally broke down under his sincerity and admitted that I had no reason not to go. I was always appreciative of his nonjudgmental support in my success (and failures at attempting to succeed). Later on in high school with some amazing coaches and a lot (and I mean A LOT) of practice I got more competitive and actually won a lot of races. Bill was usually in the stands supporting his son(s) and would take me under his wing and give advice and talk “shop” with me.

At camp Whiting Bill would set a nice pace and make sure that no one would fall behind. He practiced shadow leadership (along with Doug) and really let us kids learn from making mistakes.

My first activity as a Priest was a Grand Canyon New Years Eve campout. I had flown home from baptizing my brother Alex in Oklahoma, packed, and then we went straight up to the canyon. Incidentally jet-lag caught up with me as I was waiting at Dan’s house . . . when I woke up I found that many of the Christmas tree decorations were now hanging on me – I was out!. The trip was awesome, we spent several days down there . . . it was the trip out that I remembered Bill and his steadiness. I was so competitive then, I had to be the first one out. Having an amazing athlete like Justin around made it that much more challenging. I soon faded behind Justin and soon Bill would pass me. He walked so slow I couldn’t believe it; yet he continued to “leap frog” me every time I had to stop from pure exhaustion. I hadn’t considered that he may be hurting too; I just had to beat him and anyone else (I had already given up on ever catching Justin). Bill taught me the importance of knowing your limitations and then respond accordingly. I did end up beating him out, but I was also taught a lesson that saved my life when hiking out of the North Rim (Thunder River) in Oct 2004. I have always been grateful for this lesson. Don’t be in such a hurry that you miss out on the beauty and grandeur of the Grand Canyon, covered in all the glory of the white snow (some yellow snow too left by other hikers . . . ok we contributed too). Same thing in life – don’t be in such a hurry to miss out on the situation that you are in. In fact before my mission on my last Havasupai trip I stayed back with my buddy Bubba (Eric Dillard) and we talked, played cards and took our time getting out – it was one of the most enjoyable hikes I have ever been on in my life . . . and we still left at the same time – when the last hiker got out. I have done a lot of amazing hikes in my life with Scouts (as a youth and an adult), with my Aunt Rachel’s GCC hiking classes, and all are more enjoyable because Bill taught by example. I enjoy hiking more now then I ever could due to his example.

Bill taught me tons of stuff about being a man, being strong, not always having to speak even when you have a strong opinion on something and knowing when to run . . . if you know Bill you don’t picture him running from much but there was this time (and Dan Pennell loves to tell this story) that Bill was hiking in the Superstition Mountains and he got treed by a Bear. Up to that time I assumed that Bill was the type to go ahead and wrestle a bear down and beat him with his bare hands. A man’s gotta know his limitations!

Today Bill continues to be a mans-man, I love to hear his stories of tales and adventures – he has tons of them. He is a true friend, a leader, an example and most importantly he has the spiritual side: a testimony of Jesus Christ and the importance the gospel in our every day lives and the happiness it will bring. Thanks Bill – you are amazing!!

Andrew “wants to be a mans-man too” Brown