Until We Meet Again

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/9/5/21424548/covid-19-birmingham-temple-president-mormon-latter-day-saint-pandemic

So - there I was on a Friday evening last January sitting in the back of the locker room in the Birmingham Alabama Temple as it filled with missionaries waiting for the 6:00 endowment session. Having arrived in the mission just two days before, Karen and I knew less than 10 people in the entire state. We hadn’t even been to church yet. Being new and not entirely sure what to expect, we went into the temple early and were dressed and ready to go with plenty of time to spare.

The Birmingham Temple is relatively small. It might be described as compact. As there is no chapel in which to wait for an upcoming session, the locker room was a bit crowded with waiting missionaries and other temple patrons. As I looked for an out of the way place in the locker room where I could wait I noticed two chairs in the back of the room.  One was already occupied and in a moment I was sitting in the other.

The gentleman in the other chair was about my age with a haircut similar to mine. We talked for a bit, the normal stuff you talk about when getting to know someone, and eventually swapped names. He said his name was Gary Pettus. Not being the quickest horse on the racetrack it took me a minute to process and then I asked if he was President Pettus, the temple president. I learned that indeed he was.

In the following weeks, before the temple was closed in March due to Covid-19, Karen and I had several opportunities to work with President and Sister Pettus in the temple. We grew to love them in a very short time. It was President Pettus who set us apart as ordinance workers in the Birmingham Temple in support of the Alabama Birmingham Mission Vision which includes temple and family history work as an integral part of missionary work.

The thing that makes this memory special to me is that before I knew President Pettus as a temple president I got to know him first as Gary Pettus – a really nice guy who made me feel welcome in his part of the world.

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One of the many reasons we are grateful to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is because we have the privilege and opportunity to work with people like President and Sister Pettus.  Our prayers are with the their family during these challenging times.