Bishop Alan Andrus
Where were born/did you grow up?
Born in Provo, Ut. I grew up in Eugene, Oregon and moved to Provo in 8th grade.
What do you remember most from your youth?
Having fun with my family. Sports.
When did you join the church?
I have been a member of the church my whole life.What was your family like growing up?
I was the oldest of 10. We had an active, happy family.
If you served a mission, where did you serve?
Hong Kong.
What was most memorable about your mission?
Baptisms, teaching the gospel, feeling the spirit.
How did you meet your wife, Kahna?
I was at a BYU football game and her sister brought her up to meet me.
What do you remember most about that first meeting/proposal/wedding?
I thought I could possibly marry her some day. She seemed to be the whole package. I was smitten.
What best describes your wife?
Sunshine.
What do you hope for, as a Father?
That my children dedicate themselves to following God.
What is your occupation?
Real estate development-building high-rise condominiums in Mexico.
How did you choose that...or did it choose you?
My old missionary friend's family was selling their company. I saw an opportunity and jumped on it.
How do you achieve balance, or what are you doing to try to achieve balance?
Constantly take inventory on whether I am keeping family, work, and calling in balance.
You all have relatively large families, what are some things you've learned from being the protector?
How to forget my needs and focus on others, how to compromise. Empathy.
What one word best describes you/your life?
Blessed.
1st Counselor Stan Bastian
Where were born/did you grow up?
I was born October 11, 1963, in Colville, WA. I also grew up in Colville, a small town (population approximately 4,500) in the Northeast corner of Washington state, only 40 miles from the Canadian border. My father was a funeral director/mortician, so I grew up living in the "Bastian Funeral Home," along with my seven sisters and one brother (I was the first boy born to my parents after five girls!). The funeral home was big and even had its own chapel for holding funerals. As a boy, I helped out at the funeral home by taking care of the lawns and grounds. When I was 16 years old and had my driver's license, and if my father was out of town, I would go pick up the bodies of the deceased by myself and bring them back to the funeral home. I would put the bodies on the elevator, take them down to the basement, and put them in the embalming room. We always treated the deceased with great respect because we knew that that dead person was someone's father, or mother, or sister, etc., and they deserved the reverence of a loved one.
What do you remember most from your youth?
I remember being extremely happy as a young boy and youth, probably because I was spoiled by my five older sisters. I remember riding my bike everywhere, especially to the community pool and to Fonk's candy store, and not having to tell my parents where I was going because there really was no danger in that small town. I was very involved in sports, particularly baseball, golf, football, and basketball. In high school, I received varsity letters in golf (4 years), football, and basketball. When I was a junior, we won the state high school golf championship. I carded a few even par 72 rounds back in the day, but I could never manage to break par for 18 holes. Ah, those were the days! I am now happy to break 90 . . .
What was your family like growing up?
My dad was so elated to finally have a son after five daughters, that I ruled as family "king" for quite a few years. I remember fishing in lakes and streams with my dad and learning to work in our family garden. In that day and age (1950s and 60s), the prophet had asked the members of the Church to have gardens, so my father bought 20 acres outside of town where we planted two gardens and kept a dozen head of polled Hereford cattle to keep our freezer constantly full of beef. It was a very rare occasion when my mother didn't prepare a big beef roast for Sunday dinner after Church.
Growing up in the funeral home gave us all a keen respect for our mortality, because there was always a body or two down in the basement of the funeral home being prepared for their funeral and burial. Being around death can be very grave because there are always people coming to the funeral home who are mourning, but despite that, our home was one of laughter, joking, and happiness. My father was a big joker/prankster, and he was known around town as a fun-loving man. Everyone liked "Mr. Bastian," and he was able to raise the spirits of even those who had suffered the loss of a loved one. He explained the Plan of Salvation to hundreds and hundreds of people, so knowing God's plan helped ease their sense of loss. Some even joined the church. All our childhood friends loved coming to our house because there was a great feeling there, even though it was a funeral home!
If you served a mission, where did you serve?
I served in the Spain Barcelona Mission from 1983-85. The most memorable thing about my mission was knowing that I had given my all to the Lord during my time in Spain. I had to learn Spanish and then learn to forget all fear about approaching people whom I did not know. Being fearless was difficult at first, but then you could actually see that you were helping people see God's plan for them, and it became easier.
How did you meet your wife?
After graduating from BYU in 1989, I moved to Orange County (California) to find a job. What I found on the first Sunday that I attended the Huntington Beach Singles Ward was a pretty girl (you should have seen her then, wow!) standing in the Cultural Hall chatting with some other girls. That same girl turned around and caught me checking her out . . . oops, busted! I was slightly embarrassed, but I brushed it off. That day had been Fast Sunday, so there was a singles "Break Fast" dinner going on in the Cultural Hall. I went and found a seat at a table across the room to eat. Ten minutes later this same girl sits down across from me and we talked for about two hours. We were married exactly three months later in the Seattle Temple.
What do you remember most about that first meeting/proposal/wedding?
I remember this open, engaging person who was very easy to converse with. Bonnie was very inquisitive and asked many questions (sometimes too many questions . . . we're still working on that). I found her fascinating because this girl had climbed mountains, jumped from airplanes (sky dived), was scuba certified, had traveled all over Asia and Central America, and had served a mission in Madrid, Spain. She was also totally and absolutely spontaneous. This was someone to have adventures with. There is so much about Bonnie that nobody knows, and I've got stories to tell . . .
What best describes your wife?
Bonnie has the best sense of spontaneity of anyone I have ever known, and I love her for it. This "spontaneity" is not in the sense of saying something funny or spontaneous, but in the sense that she has an adventurous spirit. Example: Last year, out of the blue, she called me up at work and asked me if I wanted to take the kids to Guatemala. I thought to myself, "To Guatemala? Why Guatemala?", but I said, "Um, sure." So she bought us five plane tickets to Guatemala City. She saw a good deal ($168 round trip) and she thought we should take advantage of it! In the old days, Bonnie would drop everything at the drop of a hat to go have fun. You now see a docile mother of eight, but you should hear some of the daring things she undertook before marriage and motherhood. As a result, she lets me dream and undertake adventures.
What do you hope for, as a Father?
As a father, I hope that my children will loyally accept my teachings and adhere to the admonitions and prayers that Bonnie and I offer in their behalf. I love my children and want to be with them forever, and that opportunity is conditional upon faithfulness and obedience to our Heavenly Father's will.
How do you achieve balance, or what are you doing to try to achieve balance?
I try to achieve balance by including my children in the adventures I undertake, like climbing mountains. If I can't take along one or all of my boys (Shaye and Alana, your turns will come soon . . .), then I don't really want to go. I want to share great experiences with them, whether it is talking in the car or climbing to the summit of a very high and dangerous mountain.
What one word best describes you/your life?
The word that best describes my life is "fun." Keeping the commandments is fun because then you have no regrets or feelings of guilt. I think it will be fun to go back and live with my Heavenly parents. I also married a fun girl!
2nd Counselor Todd Dudley
Where were born/did you grow up?
What do you remember most from your youth?When did you join the church? What was your family like growing up?
I was born in Provo while my dad was finishing BYU--actually working a couple jobs while my mom, who had graduated earlier, finished his course assignments so he could graduate. We were so poor that I slept in a drawer, although somehow we had enough for my dad to have a Corvette and a motorcycle, which he loved to ride with my mom, leaving her black and blue more often than not. I have three sisters, which prepared me for my five daughters. We had a hypersensitive but very sweet dog, who once hid under the bed in a jealous fit when we dog sat for a night for the neighbors. And she was probably the most even tempered individual in the house.
We moved around a lot (eight times) while my dad was establishing his career. Although it was very unsettling for me growing up, I did make many friends whom I still hold dear. We settled down for several years outside of Atlanta, where I got to spend almost all of high school. I played high school football (short but fast with big legs) and fortunately had begun high school outside of Milwaukee, where we won nearly all of our football games. Because once I moved to Georgia, our team was zero for three years. But we never gave up! Just think of the life lessons that came from that, which my kids have heard dozens of times. Besides sports, my other main interests were and are primarily music, listening and playing. I was recruited to play in a local band, "A Few Kids with Bicycles," probably more for my ultra-cool mullet than for my keyboard playing ability. (Unlike today, the mullet was considered a chick magnet, at least in suburban Atlanta . . .)
If you served a mission, where did you serve?
What was most memorable about your mission?
I served in Guadalajara, Mexico from 1988-1990. The main things that I took away from my mission were a love for the scriptures that I gained for the first time in the MTC, a love for the Mexican people, and several unwelcome organisms that took years to get rid of--specifically, typhoid fever and asciriasis. Oh, I also took home the obligatory picture of me in stall with guitar. But the mission left quite an impression, so much so that I subsequently worked in the MTC for three years, teaching both in the classrooms and to larger groups in Sunday classes.
How did you meet your wife?
What do you remember most about that first meeting/proposal/wedding?
What best describes your wife?
I first saw my wife in a photo directory (“The Shopping List”) at our BYU Singles Ward. Wow! When I saw her for the first time later that day in the laundry room, I said, “You're Kim, right?” She said, “Yes, and you’re Todd.” I had to beat out all her other suitors, but I moved faster and lived closer, so I won! I knew she was great, but I had no idea just how great. She has so many fabulous qualities that you've either experienced first hand or soon will. We have fun reminiscing about those first years of marriage. Kim's been working on the marriage for nearly 16 years now, while for me it's been the for the last 13 or so--I spent the first few years thinking, "She married a prize." I will always be grateful for her patience and will continue to pray that she experiences some type of memory loss that involves those years . . .
What is your occupation?
How did you choose that...or did it choose you?
When Kim and I met I was going to teach seminary, when we married I was going to law school, teach history at college, or international business. I was a humanities major with emphases in philosophy and Spanish literature, although if they had offered a major/minor/emphasis in religion I certainly would have qualified (39 credits!). In fact, I would probably still be taking classes at BYU if you could get paid for it--I literally took classes from every college on campus, except engineering. My new brother-in-law is a physician, and he and I have very similar personalities. So I decided to give medicine a try. We did medical school in Wisconsin, where my parents had relocated. I decided to go into radiology and did residency and a fellowship in pediatric radiology at Duke in North Carolina. After completing training (15 years including BYU) we took our first real job, here in Sacramento, where I work for Radiological Associates of Sacramento, spending most of my time at Sutter Memorial Hospital. It's a good thing I enjoy it, because I'd be doing it even if I hated it, with all the debt we've accumulated. (Note: it's been a lot of years since training, so I've lost my edge when it comes to examining anything except x-rays, CT, MR, or ultrasound . . . )
How do you achieve balance, or what are you doing to try to achieve balance?
What do you hope for, as a Father?
You all have relatively large families, what are some things you've learned from being the protector?
For me, balance is really a myth which presupposes equal time given to everything--in my mind, certain aspects of life should be given priority at different times. My goal as a Father is to live in such a way that I have the Spirit with me so that I can know where I most need to devote my precious time. Overall, Kim and I have our family as our main priority. Early on, Kim made the decision to devote her efforts to raising our children, especially in light of the demands of my career choice. Although I often wish I had more schedule flexibility to spend more time with my family, I am grateful for a loving, supportive, devoted wife who takes up the slack left by my absence.
What one word best describes you/your life?
The word I would choose to describe my life is blessed.
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