Monday Sep 16 FHE at Clusters-talk about Bednar

Monday we communicated with Sipho Duma, our public affairs director about Elder Bednar's visit and the possibility of him attending to take notes that we can put on Mormon Newsroom. The Minister of Health and the Station Owner of Ukhozi FM will both be there for an hour with Elder Bednar and we want to somehow make a story out of it, so Sipho seems the best choice. He has actually been working directly with Dominic Tshabalala, our National PA Director to set up the meeting, so it is only fair that he be the one who attends the meeting.  We are waiting for out boss, Sean Donnelly to get back in town in order to get the 'okay' on this idea.

Elder Kyle talked to our Swaziland National PA Director, Jerome Shongwe about setting up a meeting with us and the District President when we get to Swaziland. We need to talk to him about Public affairs and get him on board with supporting Jerome and understanding the purpose of public affairs. We also told him to invite opinion leaders that will help with our Church getting into the Council of Churches and someone from the Department of Immigration, so we can introduce the positive impact our Church is having on Swaziland. Elder Kyle spent some time speaking with Humanitarian Services, Elder Eggett, while we were in Joburg and got some written information about the water projects that we are doing in Swaziland. This will be a good thing to bring up at our meeting next week.

That evening we had Family Home Evening at Elder and Sister Cluster's flat. Everyone was there, including President and Sister Zackrison. Elder Cluster gathered some history and Elder Bednar and printed it out so we could all take turns reading about him personally and professionally. We learned the basics, like:

David A. Bednar was ordained and set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 7, 2004. Prior to his call to the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Bednar served as an Area Seventy, Area Authority Seventy, regional representative, twice as a stake president, and as a bishop.

Elder Bednar was born on June 15, 1952, in Oakland, California. He served as a full-time missionary in Southern Germany and then attended Brigham Young University, where he received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. He also received a doctoral degree in organizational behavior from Purdue University.

 After completing his education, Elder Bednar was a professor of business management at Texas Tech University and at the University of Arkansas. He then served as the president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (formerly Ricks College) from 1997-2004.

When asked "What do you know today that you didn't know before you were called to be an Apostle?"  He said that as he visits members all over the world, it is so much more clear that Heavenly Father loves all of us individually. He always knew it, but it is so much more clear to him now. He realizes that the reason he travels all over the world is to find people the Lord wants to bless. Once he was asked to go to a stake that was being reorganized. He thought that was what he was there to do until he met an 18-year-old woman that needed to speak with him and realized that was why he was there, to help her.

Elder Bednar married Susan Kae Robinson in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975, and they are the parents of three sons. When Sister Bednar was asked how did you deal with your husband becoming an Apostle, she said that when he was a Stake President in Arkansas, she had three little boys and his stake was very big, so he traveled a lot and his duties were very demanding. She said that at first she supported him, but not cheerfully. She was often home alone with the boys when they were sick and having problems and she would grumble about it and feel sorry for herself. One day, she decided that she needed to really support him with all her heart, might, mind and strength and she prayed and read scriptures and it became a great experience for her. Her advice to other sisters who are struggling with being home alone with their children while their husband is about the Lord's business is to seek the Lord's help, study the scriptures and ask Him for a change of heart and He will help get you through it and then will bless you for your change of heart.

It was fun learning things about this Apostle and his family and will help us feel more close to him when he comes here to visit next month.