Happy Anniversary to Us

By Rodger Dean Duncan

October 1967

Today is our 48th wedding anniversary. Yowza!

On this day in 1967 we were certainly not thinking about missions. In fact, on this day only two years ago we weren't thinking about a mission. But we are so very grateful that we made ourselves available for service. This experience has been (and still is) a lifetime highlight.

So how did we celebrate our big day? We visited our friendly chiropractor. Went grocery shopping. Then drove over to the stake center to visit with our (younger) missionary friends on their P-Day (P is for preparation). Rean took snacks (as she does virtually every week), and we took photos (with Kermit, of course) of all the missionaries who are being transferred. This evening we will drive down to Temple to enjoy a family home evening with a group of our good friends. We really know how to party, don't we?

P-Day with Kermit and friends

Over the years, we have celebrated our anniversary in a wide range of ways. Two especially memorable anniversaries were sharing dinner with our son Baylor at a fine restaurant in Prague (Czech Republic), and eating dinner in the cafeteria of North Kansas City Hospital. The latter was because our first grandson, Duncan, was born on our 35th anniversary. After enjoying our first face-to-face with him in the maternity ward, we decided to celebrate the day in the hospital cafeteria.

We love October 12.

Fireside

Last night we did a fireside for leaders of three congregations in Temple, Texas, about 45 minutes south of here. The chapel was nearly full and I was asked to speak for 90 minutes. The requested topic was leadership as a covenant, not just as an assignment. As always, I told a lot of stories to illustrate key points. Some of what I covered included stewardship delegation, use of SMART Goals, use of mind mapping, appropriate collaboration as a ward council, how to manage ward "culture," how to foster commitment to purpose, and other issues related to effective leadership. The feedback was very positive (we've received more than a dozen emails just this morning), and the stake president said the training was especially helpful. We regard that effort as one of those "this is why we were called to serve in Waco" moments.

Stake Conference

This past weekend was also stake conference. On Saturday, I was asked to speak at stake priesthood leadership meeting. Then in the afternoon, Rean and I did a Train-the-Trainer session for all the people who will lead break-out sessions of the December 5 LeaderSHOP we're spearheading for about 450 leaders in the stake. It was a very productive day.

On Saturday night, President and Sister Ames, and their son Jacob, spent the night with us at our apartment. A good time was had by all.