1982—Mission Presidency

Bruce and Christine

…Previous Church assignment: Counselor to Mission President Richard B Tempest

It’s 2020, now, and I run into Bruce and Christine Olsen at the Bountiful Temple, now and again. He conducted, with great love and dignity, one of our occasional family sealing sessions, a while ago. He always mentions to whoever’s around that I served as his counselor in the New England Mission Presidency in 1982, and he usually drops some nice compliments about the historical tourism I provided in those days. Including once to a stellar group of visiting mission presidents and General Authorities, including the amazingly-articulate Neal Maxwell of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

Bruce hired a tour-bus for that occasion and handed me the microphone so that I could deliver my spiel at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge. Then the whole group had lunch at the Concord Inn, and I may have extended my tourguidery role into Porter Rockwell anecdotes of questionable appropriateness. Bruce still remembers all that most graciously.

And I make it a point to remind him of the difficulty I’ve experienced in forgiving him for releasing me as his counselor in 1982, after only a year of service together. I’m unaware of any rule limiting counselors to five years, or three mission presidents’ terms of office, or anything like that, but I wept salt tears at the transition, and would that I might have retained the position, with its duties and delights, for a whole lot more years and presidents.