A VIEW FROM THE CHURCH OFFICE BUILDING

I visit Utah fairly frequently because Stephen's family lives there and because my kids go to college at BYU. But I very rarely stay in Salt Lake City. This time, I traveled with my Portland friend, Tracey, and we stayed with our Salt Lake City friend, Patti, who lives just up the hill from Temple Square, by the capitol building. I could look out her window at the twinkling lights of the city of the center of Mormondom. It was a unique and exhiliarating trip.

I spent the weekend with people who work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patti works on church internet projects, Matt works in real estate, and Jennifer works with big-money donors to the humanitarian fund. I talked with the managing editor of the Ensign magazine on the observation deck of the Church Office Building. I met several people in the Curriculum department and was given a copy of the brand new manual for 2010. Tracey, a business coach, had a meeting with church executives to discuss leadership training for church employees. It was eye-opening and incredibly exciting to see how the Lord is working at the top administrative levels of His church to provide what we need. Sure, there are corporate challenges, but the whole atmosphere in the Church Office Building is unlike any you experience in any other office building. It felt like they have captured the essence of how to be in the world, and yet not of it.

Of course, there is even more important and exciting work going on in the ecclesiastical branch of church leadership. But what I experienced this weekend was a peek at the nitty-gritty, our grand theology put into practice for the benefit of not only church members, but all the world's people, all of whom we recognize and love as family.

Tomorrow I will tell you about Brother and Sister King, the first church converts of Pakistan.