Fold My Laundry Please

I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon, reading a book and cuddling with Aurora, when my cell phone beeped letting me know I had a text message.  Any sort of communication received on my cell phone means it’s from Andrew.  No one else has the number, or at least they don’t use it.  Normally, he texts me when he has a moment or two of boredom at work, so I opened the message smiling in anticipation of some witty quip.  What I read was, "I heard President Faust died."  Nothing else.  And in the blink of an eye, the face of an entire religion has changed.  It doesn’t take much to rearrange your world, does it?

I immediately jumped on the internet and found that Andrew was correct.  President Faust had died due to "causes incident to age" earlier that morning.  He was 87 years old and was surrounded by friends and family at the end.  I quickly sent back a reply to Andrew with these facts, and then continued on to search the internet for mention of his death somewhere other than the newsroom page of LDS.org.   Sadly, I found nothing.  I even turned on NPR and waited for the news to come on.  Again, nothing was mentioned about him.  Not that I really expected to find anything.  Despite being recognized for various achievements by our government and the governments of other countries, President Faust’s name was only spoken of often by those within the church.

For those of you who don’t know, James E. Faust was the second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The First Presidency is the ruling head of the LDS faith.  It consists of three members, President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet, seer, and revelator; President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor; and, up until yesterday, President James E. Faust, second counselor. 

When I heard of President Faust’s death, I was of course sad.  But I was also curious.  You see, I became a member of the church in July of 1993.  I was 18 years old, had been baptized, and then promptly went off to college.  I no longer had church friends nearby to accompany me to church each Sunday or to answer my questions.  I felt fairly alone, and therefore ignored the church for the next seven or so years.  President Faust was sustained as second counselor in 1995, that is to say, during my self-imposed exile.  Because of this, I have absolutely no idea what happens when a member of the First Presidency passes on.  How do they choose a new counselor?  What process do they go through to sustain him?  What does this do to all of the church positions below the First Presidency?  So many questions!  The problem is that the curiosity vastly overshadows any sadness I might feel, which causes guilt.  I was raised Catholic, so the guilt really isn’t an option for me, is it?  It’s gonna happen whether it’s warranted or not.

I tried to think of a talk given by President Faust that stood out to me so that I could include a quote or two from him.  But no specific talks would come to me.  Again, more guilt.  I’ve seen him speak several times and all I can remember from those talks is his warm smile, his quick sense of humor, and his easy way of speaking.  I thought about looking up quotes online, but then decided that would be cheating.  So I guess I’ll just have to keep that smile in my memory and offer my heartfelt condolences to his remaining family members (his wife and their five children, 25 grandchildren, and 28 great-grandchildren).