This is our before picture.
We will see how much Mark ages with this calling. I am not expecting anything like the pictures you see of Presidents when they take office and when they leave but we will for sure take an after one too.
Back when my Mom was visiting for Lydia's birthday, Mark, who was serving as the Stake Executive Secretary at the time was asked by President Carter to set up an appointment for us to meet with him. Going into the meeting Mark was pretty sure he was going to be extended the call to be Bishop. He had been at the Stake Presidency meetings where they talked not about who to call but about the need to release the current bishop who had passed 5 years in November. I was trying my best to think of simple stake callings we could be called to do together and keep our other callings. Not this time. Having never done this before I was surprised that I needed to have a worthiness interview as well. I am pretty sure I was there when he was asked to serve as a counselor in Colorado Springs but I was not interviewed myself. We went into the office together and chatted for a few minutes. Then Mark left for my interview and vice versa. We finished the appointment together with Mark accepting the assignment. This was January 24th.
As my Mom was still here visiting she was the first person we told. She was more of a congratulations person. It's kind of a funny thing to say to someone in this situation. I know people mean, "It's awesome that you are seen as someone who can do this" or "You are a great person and will do a great job." I know it is meant as a compliment, it is just funny and odd to me. I mean you are about to begin a fairly stressful at times, time consuming, probably lose some sleep over venture for the next 5 years or so. It's like, "congratulations your life just got more complicated." That being said, I am grateful for their support and kindness. Whether they said congratulations or I'm sorry it was well meant in every situation. There are a lot of strong, helpful wiling people in our ward and I am grateful for them all. Mark called his Mom that night, she was the first person he told. She immediately made plans to fly out here for that Sunday which was a nice bonus visit for us. We love it when Sue comes to visit. Mark's niece Hannah in Lynchburg currently came up for the day too. It was nice to have some family here. Mark also talked to his brother Steve shortly after who had some great advice for Mark. My first thoughts were for Mark himself, he is 35 so fairly young and it's a big responsibility. And then for Lydia who is quite attached to Mark. She spends at least half of Sacrament meeting on his lap. It's funny, a day or 2 before Lydia was born Mark was called to the 18th ward bishopric and this calling game a day after her 5th birthday. Jared will of course miss Mark but I think it will affect Lydia more. But I know they will both be just fine! We all will be. It's just an adjustment.
The first person I told outside of family was my friend Tara. Since she is no longer here but knows the area and people here it was nice to talk to her about it. I told her that I was glad that the call came here in Charlottesville a place we love and are happy to commit to for 5 more years. She kindly pointed out that the calling is not only a reflection of Mark's character but mine too, such a great friend. I miss her. I will be honest, when I am getting a new calling and it is not going to affect lots of people I don't worry too much about telling close friends even in the area/ward. Rebellious I know. But I felt I did a very good job not giving this away. Lots of people told us on Sunday that Mark was their guess for who would be called as they all knew Bishop Papin would be released soon. We really like the Papin's and are glad they can have a bit more time together. The Sunday before he got sustained we told Jared and Lydia. We talked about what a Bishop does and asked what they knew about the Bishop and then told them. We were worried they might say something about their Dad becoming Bishop so felt we better wait to tell them. It was almost a month between the calling and sustaining.
I think Mark's choice of counselors was possibly more surprising to people. They are both fairly new to the ward, one lived in Charlottesville but just move into our ward this summer and the other has been here about a year I think. Funny story: Since Mark was the executive secretary he actually called the men he picked to schedule their appointments with President Carter. He didn't tell them why President Carter wanted to meet with them just set up the appointment. Even funnier and more interesting was that they accepted the calls to serve as counselors and didn't even ask who the Bishop was going to be! President Carter said they didn't ask so he didn't tell them!! I was really surprised when Brother Struble said in his testimony Sunday that "he guessed wrong!" I totally thought he knew but neither he or Brother Kwon asked, they just said yes which is a good demonstration of their faith! Brother Struble figured since Mark had only been the secretary since July he wasn't being switched. Also funny, Bishop Papin served as the Executive Secretary before he got called as Bishop same as Mark.
Three other funny stories:
Thursday night I was at the church for a RS activity. As I left I saw Bishop Papin getting into his car. We happened to be parked by each other so I said to him "How are you feeing about this weekend?" He got a big grin on his face and said "Great!" I bet! He later told Mark that he didn't know who the new Bishop was going to be, no one had told him just asked him about some names in December and Mark was one of them. But after I said that he knew it was Mark. I actually figured he had been told Mark was being called but maybe not? I wasn't trying to give it away, I think it's something I would have known since Mark was the Secretary, that the change was happening this week but whoops.
When I got to RS a friend who is the Stake RS President stopped to talk to me. She said that she was in the Staunton Ward for their Ward conference at 9:00 and they released Mark and called one of the current counselors to that calling so she started to get suspicious.
Another counselor in the Stake RS Presidency who I knew in the 1st ward also stopped to chat and she said to me " I love that skirt, keep wearing it as the Bishop's wife." I know this was a compliment but I wasn't sure what she meant by it. She definitely has a more liberal view of things so I wasn't sure if she liked it because it was a little bold (nothing crazy because I'm not fashionable or crazy) just bright red and not short but not long either. Or if she meant it was just a classy skirt fitting for a Bishops wife? It's actually my favorite skirt so I will keep wearing it!
We really appreciate all the kind words from friends and ward members and hope this transition goes well. I know Mark will do an excellent job and am ready to support him however I can. I wonder how many blog articles I could find about being the "Bishops wife/family".....
*February 20, 2017
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