The new Church presidency was announced this morning. It was no surprise that Thomas S. Monson is the new president. Henry B. Eyring was called as the 1st Counselor, no big shock there. However, I did not see Dieter F. Uchtdorf getting called as the 2nd Counselor.
Don't get me wrong, I fully support and sustain his appointment as counselor. It just never crossed my mind as a possibility, seeing as how he has only been an apostle since October 2004. I guess that's probably one of the reasons no one asked me first. Is it wrong to admit that I was cheering for Elder Bednar?
I guess I was just as surprised when Pres. Uchtdorf was called to be an apostle, I hadn't really even heard of him before that time. No pun intended, but he seemed to fly in under the radar. He quickly became one of my favorites though (not to suggest that there is a Q12 that I don't like, I have favorites and then strong favorites).
We have to wait until the April General Conference to find out who will fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. I'm not even going to speculate because I have a track record of 0%. I'll just be pleasantly surprised with whoever is called. I'm looking forward to hearing from Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf twice at each conference now, which also means that President Monson will now be speaking three times/ conference. This is exciting for me. I could listen to them read the ingredients off a cereal box.
I've always enjoyed listening to Pres. Eyring. He came to our stake conference in Lethbridge before my mission, at the time he was a member of the Quorum of the 70. He was the last speaker and went to the pulpit without any papers or notes and talked about each topic from the preceeding speakers and expanded on what they had said, adding supporting anecdotes from his own experience.
Some people have sports stars, singers, or actors as heros. My heros wear suits and ties and are called to be special witnesses of Christ. In my book, it doesn't get much cooler than that.
