General Update

From Paul:

Provisional Cycle 4

This week we took some time away from home to accomplish two things:

1)      To get a break from our routine and enjoy some different scenery.

2)      To allow painters to paint the vaulted ceiling rooms in our home.

This was a pleasant time, as Doris was still on the 200 mg per day dose of Chemo Pill #2. The cabin in which we stayed did not have internet access – no WiFi – thus we relied only only our phones for data. This reduced our interactions with our family to only phone calls, as the data pipeline was insufficient for any video calls. We enjoyed quietude, beautiful surroundings with some fall color starting to show, and spotted some wildlife. Upon our return from our trip, Doris contacted St. Luke’s Cancer Institute. She was directed to increase her dose of Chemo Pill #2 to 400 mg beginning on Saturday. Today is the second day, and we are working to adapt to the effects of this new dosage. Tomorrow she will need to labs to confirm that the tumor lysis is being managed by the dose changes.

We learned yesterday just before midnight that the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson, passed away just after 10:00 PM MDT.

I was listening to the post-game commentary of the BYU football game, when the host paused briefly and shared the news in a most respectful, even reverential way.

I don’t usually stay tuned into the post-game show that long but felt a need to listen to the rest of it today while I was getting dinner ready. There were many references to President Nelson. I am sure I echo the sentiments of many when I express myself that he will be missed, and my certainty that his successor will be a blessing in our lives as well. The pattern that has been established during this time is known as the apostolic interregnum. This is a time when the governance, decision-making, inspiration, and revelation for the entire church is directed to be received by the surviving apostles, known as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It is true that there are now currently 14 apostles, because the members of the first presidency are also apostles. Each member of the first presidency is known by the title of “President”. The quorum has a president as well, who currently is President Dallin H. Oaks, who was serving in the first presidency until the passing of President Nelson. When the president dies, the first presidency is dissolved, and the leadership responsibilities are transferred to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles under the President of the Quorum of the Twelve. At the appropriate time determined by inspiration received by the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, those currently serving as apostles in this quorum, will meet and reorganize the first presidency. The proposal will be offered from the quorum that the first presidency will be organized. That organizing will consist of proposing that President of the Quorum of the Twelve be the President of The Church. That means that President Dallin H. Oaks will be the next President, Prophet, Seer and Revelator of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. President Oaks will then nominate those whom the Lord has directed to be his counselors in the first presidency. By holy ordinance, the first presidency will receive the ordination in their respective roles.

President Jeffrey R. Holland is currently serving as acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles. If he is not designated as a counselor in the newly organized first presidency, he will become the president of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles. 

This process has strong precedence. However, the duration of the apostolic interregnum is not prescribed, and has varied in duration between a few days, to over three years.

On Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, the semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints may include the sustaining of the new first presidency of The Church, but it may not. The most recent transitions have waited until the funeral of the deceased prophet, after which the meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will occur.

Regardless of when we learn of whom the Lord will call to constitute the members of the first presidency, we will be witness to the revelations of the Lord in this matter.

I never met President Nelson in person, but I have been impressed with his life, his service and his focus on what the Lord wanted to have accomplished. On the other hand, I have met President Dallin H. Oaks and I shook his hand on that occasion. At the time I met him, he was serving as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, and the place where I met him was in Phoenix, Arizona at a stake conference at which he presided. He has a precise style of speaking in an official capacity, owing largely to his legal background. On the occasion of his attending our stake conference we enjoyed his personality and personalization of the teachings he shared with us. We will be in good hands with President Oaks. He was serving as the president of Brigham Young University when I started my college studies. Incidentally, both President Nelson and President Oaks were sustained as apostles on the same day, but President Oaks was serving as a Utah state supreme court justice at the time, and he needed to fulfill some of those obligations before assuming his new responsibility. Therefore, President Nelson was ordained before President Oaks, and as such was the senior apostle.

This transition occurs without campaigning, lobbying for position, debates, or power struggles of any kind. It is the Lord’s way. The Lord allows members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to serve through the end of their mortal lives. If their mortal lives end before they are in the position as the senior surviving apostle, they will not become the prophet and president of The Church.

From Doris:

Hanging in There

Years ago I called my father and unloaded my burdens on him.  I remember telling him I was at the end of my rope.  His counsel then has replayed through my mind countless times in the years since.

“Then tie a knot and hang on.”

Each time I have dealt with a difficult challenge and have been asked how I am doing, I have replied, “I’m hanging in there.”  Those words remind me that I have tied a knot at the end of my rope and am doing my best.  Cancer has bluntly reminded me that my best is not enough.  I have to hang on to the strength of the Lord, not my self-made knot.

This week my friend Jennifer sent me the following message.  It made me smile.

“You might not be thriving but you’re still showing up like a dandelion in a sidewalk…resilient, persistent, determined.”

To those words I will add 

BECAUSE OF THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD.