Looking around, I realized I was not on a trajectory headed for great things. Or even one that would allow me to provide for a wife and two kids. I decided I needed to go back to school before the kids were old enough to know we were poor.
I applied to BYU as a transfer student and this time they decided to let me in. (Let’s just say that hadn’t been so generous when I applied as a B- student out of high school.) We sold our house MUCH quicker than we’d anticipated (clearly underpriced it) and we moved out in February 1999.
As I drove out of town for the last time, I thought it would be a cold day in, well, in Las Vegas before I ever came back to Las Vegas. There really wasn’t much I liked about Vegas. It was hot. Really hot. Africa hot. As a fat guy, I don’t do heat. As a skinny guy I didn’t do heat, either. I have never been a partier, so the Vegas lifestyle didn’t hold much for me. I figured I had come to Vegas solely to meet Clorinda and get married, and having done that, I was free to leave for good.
Sometimes, God has other plans.
I pushed really hard in school to get done. I did my junior and senior years of college in about 14 months. I majored in sociology, which I loved but which also meant I was qualified to either (a) go to graduate school or (b) get a job at the GAP. Since the GAP wouldn’t have me, I decided to go to law school. I did law school in two and one-half years, and graduated in December 2002. While graduating early had its perks, one of those was not employment. The legal industry tends to hire on an academic year, so most places were looking to hire in April and for employees to start in July or August. BYU was fully prepared to kick me to the curb (how’s that for gratitude for all those tuition dollars?) and I needed a job.
Through a series of events, I learned that five new judges had been elected in Clark County in November 2002, all of whom would presumably be looking for law clerks. I applied with all five, was interviewed by three, and was ultimately won in a game of chance by Judge Valerie Adair. On the Monday morning after Thanksgiving, I arrived at school and opened my laptop where I was greeted with an email offering me a job as a judicial law clerk.
Somewhere, God was laughing at me. Well, probably not, but he was letting me know that, for whatever reason, I needed to be in Las Vegas.
Clorinda didn’t (and doesn’t) have the same issues that I had with Las Vegas, and she had already picked out a house for us to buy (go back and re-read my entry about marrying her. There’s a pattern here…). I started work mid December, closed on the house about December 18, and we moved in on Christmas Day, 2002.
Our first day of church was in the Craig Ranch Ward. Steve Hitchcock was the Bishop, Danny York was his First Counselor and Dave Gunnell was his Second Counselor. There was a guy named Mike Montandon in the ward, and Bishop Hitchcock called me Brother Fontandon for about six months. But that’s OK, there are few people I’d rather be confused with than Mike Montandon. Craig Ranch was a whole new experience for us. We had just come from BYU, where our ward consisted of a small section of a large married-student apartment complex. Everyone was about the same age and were either newly married or had been married for a few years and had a kid or two or three. Everyone was active in church, everyone was in school (at least one of the spouses was), and nobody had any money because we were all starving students. It was a pretty homogenous group.
Craig Ranch was different. Craig Ranch had young couples with no kids and old empty-nester couples. It had large families, blended families, and single-parent families. It had life-long members of the Church and recent converts. It had professionals and blue collared workers and students and retirees. It had active members and partially active and less-active and inactive members of the Church. But, like the BYU 102nd Ward, it had wonderful people. We came to love it very quickly.
Almost as soon as we had started to recognize people and learn their names and who was married to whom, the Stake Presidency determined that some changes needed to be made in Ward boundaries in the Stake. (For those of you not LDS, Mormons organize congregations a little differently from many other churches. It is done geographically, approved by the First Presidency of the Church (the President of the Church and his two counselors). An individual congregation is a “ward.” A “stake” is a group of wards, usually 8-10, and is presided over by a Stake Presidency (again, a President and two counselors).)
In May, 2003, we (and our neighbors) were moved from the Craig Ranch Ward to the Shadow Creek Ward. The Stake moved another chunk of people from the Hidden Canyon Ward into Craig Ranch.
The change was abrupt, but it was not terribly hard for us. We had only been in Craig Ranch for 5 months at that point and hadn’t made many strong friendships. Most of those we had made lived in our neighborhood, so they were moving with us. Dave Gunnell became the new Bishop of the Shadow Creek Ward, with Nolan McClain as his First Counselor and Adam Murray as his Second Counselor. About a year later, the Murrays moved to Idaho and Bishop Gunnell called Chris Adams to be his new Second Counselor.
I was asked to teach Sunday School (which I loved) and early morning seminary (which I also loved). (Another aside: seminary is also different in the LDS church. It is a religion class for high-school aged students held each day before school. The course of study rotates between Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Church History. I was teaching Old Testament. [Real wrath-of-God type stuff! Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!] I took the same classes 25+ years ago at the Hawaii Kai chapel right down Lunalilo Home Road from Kaiser High School.)
My sociology degree proved helpful in this new ward. Shadow Creek was demographically different from Craig Ranch. Although there was still a diversity of ages, etc., the Shadow Creek demographic was definitely a younger married crowd. Most of the people were close in age to us, or a little younger, and there were kids everywhere. There were more white collar workers and students in Shadow Creek than there had been in Craig Ranch, but not as many older, established families. It was fun for us and for our kids.
I did the seminary thing for one year, and was still teaching Sunday School about two years later. North Las Vegas had experienced a huge real estate boom, and what had been a ward of about 400 people two years earlier had grown to over 1000 members. We filled the chapel, the entire cultural hall (Mormon-speak for gymnasium), and out into the foyers. Bishop Gunnell could not keep track of all of the members, and the Stake President determined it was time to split Shadow Creek and create a new ward, the Sierra Ranch Ward.
Because Bishop Gunnell resided in the boundaries of the new Sierra Ranch Ward, he was called to be the Bishop there. Shadow Creek got a new bishop, Ed Blackham. He called Phil Christensen as his First Counselor and Paul Braithwaite as the Second Counselor. He also called Cody Noble to be the Elders Quorum President (and another aside: the Elders Quorum, together with the High Priest Group, is the men’s organization in the church.) Cody, probably not thinking straight, asked for me to be his First Counselor, and Cody Hughes to be the Second Counselor.
I didn’t really know Cody Noble. I knew Cody Hughes—he was a dental student at UNLV and we had enjoyed a long adversarial relationship as to which profession was the higher calling, lawyers or dentists. I guess I’m an anti-dentite. Anyway, Cody Noble was also an attorney, but he had moved in during the boom and was just one of the masses that I had not yet gotten to know. He became one of my dearest friends and remains so today. As for Cody Hughes, well, he helped me to soften my stance a bit on dentists (I’ll actually go to a dentist now and then). I love that guy, too, although I don’t see him nearly enough.
I served with the Codys for about twenty months. We were sitting in Stake Conference in February 2007 and the Stake Presidency announced that Paul Braithwaite had been called to a Stake calling. Immediately I knew that I would be called to replace Paul in the Bishopric, and that prompting proved correct. Brother Christensen was also released, and Lance Bohne was called to be Bishop Blackham’s First Counselor at the same time.
Three short months later, while sitting in a training meeting for Bishoprics, the Stake President announced that more changes were coming to the Stake. Some wards had continued to grow, while others were shrinking. He announced that a special meeting would be held about ten days later for four wards, including the Shadow Creek and Craig Ranch Wards. Driving home that night I had a lot of questions, not the least of which was why? Why had I been called to be in the bishopric for only 3 months? It did not make any sense to me. It soon would.
At the meeting, my neighborhood, which had previously been cut-out and moved to Shadow Creek, was moved back to Craig Ranch. Craig Ranch also received an entirely new Bishopric. Mark Brown was called to be the Bishop. Mike Avance was the First Counselor. And some bum named
Much of Craig Ranch had changed since I’d attended there four years earlier. Demographically, it still looked the same, but a lot of the familiar faces had moved out and new ones had taken their place. It was odd to sit up on the stand at church and look out over a congregation where I only knew a few of the people.
There was a lot of excitement, mingled with frustration and maybe a little resentment, with the changes to Craig Ranch. I think some people were hurt that nobody in the new Bishopric was from the “old” part of Craig Ranch, but the vast majority of the people were warm and welcoming. My kids quickly made new friends, and our little family soon felt right at home in Craig Ranch.
I loved the new calling. I got to work with the Primary and with the Young Men and Young Women. We had secret handshakes and special greetings and goofy nicknames for each other. (It was there that I was nicknamed “Gibby” by some thoughtful young women. “That’s Brother Gibby to you,” I would respond. I had no idea what “Gibby” meant until one day that my girls were watching iCarly on TV and some fat dorky kid was named Gibby. Thanks a bunch Sidney, Shelby, and Nicole!) There were Young Women’s recognition nights and Eagle Scout courts of honor. There were youth conferences in Panaca and service projects at retirement homes. There were ward talent shows and Christmas parties.
It wasn’t all fun and games. There was a lot of ministering. Many nights spent in members’ homes, offering simple words of encouragement, giving blessings, or simply listening and sharing comfort. There were talks and lessons and testimonies. Craig Ranch had become our home.
In 2010, Bishop Brown was transferred to San Antonio and the bishopric was released. My old name-nemesis Mike Montandon was called to be the bishop, and he called Nolan McClain and Whitney Te’o to be his counselors. Mike is a big man (about 6’5”) with an even bigger personality. He loves to tell stories and has one for seemingly every situation. He has a great capacity to love and lead people and was a great choice to succeed Bishop Brown as the Bishop.
I was called to serve in the Young Men, which was a great change. I loved those boys, one of which was Clayton. But that change lasted only a short while. In February 2011 I was called to serve in the Stake Young Men's organization, meaning that much of my time was spent with Young Men leaders from other wards. I served with Andrew Webb, who was the president, and Boyd Nelson, the First Counselor. I learned much from these two great men, and had some remarkable opportunities to serve. In September 2012, Andrew was transferred to New Mexico and Boyd was called to the Bishopric of his ward, and I was left without a calling.
That lasted only a short time. I was soon teaching Sunday School in the Gospel Principles class (a class for new and returning members and those investigating the Church). I absolutely loved the class. Teaching simple truths and watching as people grasp them and accept them was such a source of joy for me. I was also teaching in High Priest Group, working with the young men as a Scout Committee Chair, and working at the Temple. I was plenty busy.
In June 2013, Brother McClain grabbed me and asked me to serve as the Ward Mission Leader. I would work directly with the full time missionaries (you’ve seen them—the ones with white shirts, conservative ties, and black name tags that ride around on bikes and talk to everyone they see). I readily accepted the call and immersed myself in the work. I was blessed to work with 17 missionaries over about 28 months. More than that, I was able to work with incredible individuals and families that were being taught by the missionaries. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It was the best calling I had had since I had worn the name tag 23-25 years ago (Oklahoma, O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!).
In September I was released and received a new calling on the Stake High Council. Clorinda had been called in the end of July to serve as the Relief Society President (yet another aside: the Relief Society is the women’s group in the Church.) We were both really busy in our new callings.
All the while the ward continued to be our family. New members moved in and others moved out. The new ones became fast friends and the old ones would come back for special occasions. So many eternal friendships. And then everything changed.
On Sunday we had a regional broadcast from Salt Lake. After the broadcast concluded, President Turner from the Stake Presidency read a letter inviting all members of the Stake to attend a meeting at the Stake Center that evening at 6:00 where all ward boundaries in the Stake would be realigned. High Councilors and Bishops were asked to come at 4:00 for an early meeting.
At about 4:10, President Stewart began sharing the new boundaries with the High Council and Bishops. The first thing from his mouth was that the Shadow Creek and Craig Ranch wards would be dissolved and would cease to exist.
Wait. What?
I don’t think I heard that right.
Be dissolved?
Cease to exist?
What?
I’m not sure who snuck that 2x4 into the room, but I felt it crushing my face. Proverbially, of course. I didn’t follow much more in the meeting. My mind was somewhere else. I was sitting directly behind Bishop Montandon, who had received the news only minutes before in a separate meeting with President Stewart. I think he and I were lost in very similar emotions as we learned that the ward in which we had each invested so much was no more. It was a blur.
The 6:00 meeting was more of the same. I had responsibilities associated with my calling, so I just kind of blocked the emotions and did what I needed to do. Kathryn and Clorinda were hit really hard by the news, and Marien (who learned about it via text message) was distraught. We had grown up in Craig Ranch and Shadow Creek, and they no longer existed. We had given our all in both wards, but increasingly so in Craig Ranch, and now both wards were gone. It felt like all of our efforts were for naught. We were being separated from the lion’s share of the ward and being moved to the Civic Center Ward. The others were moved into Hidden Canyon. There were a lot of questions.
Yesterday I read a talk from Elder M. Russell Ballard given at October’s General Conference entitled “God is at the Helm”. He spoke of holding fast to the “old ship Zion”, stealing a phrase from Brigham Young. Elder Ballard talked about how we can deal with difficult questions or circumstances in our lives:
“Looking for human weakness in others is rather easy. However, we make a serious mistake by noticing only the human nature of one another and then failing to see God’s hand working through those He has called.
“Focusing on how the Lord inspires His chosen leaders and how He moves the Saints to do remarkable and extraordinary things despite their humanity is one way that we hold on to the gospel of Jesus Christ and stay safely aboard the Old Ship Zion.”Later, describing the heartache he and his family endured when three of his grandchildren passed, he taught that we must “[hold] on to the gospel truths with both hands.” When we do, “[o]ur questions [will be] answered with comfort and assurance through the Atonement of the Savior.”
Then, last night at High Council, we had a missionary report from Megan Knowles, who just returned from New Mexico. She talked for a bit about working in Winslow Arizona [such a fine sight to see] and how she and her companion had really built up the area and had several people preparing for baptism, when she was suddenly transferred. She said initially she resented the change, but she came to know that it was not about her or her efforts, it was the work of the Lord and it was his kingdom.
And then I really understood. Craig Ranch and Shadow Creek were my homes, but they were just divisions of the greater whole. The Kingdom of God on Earth is my home. My efforts were not all for naught. But I am going to miss Craig Ranch. A lot.
I’m going to miss the Woodin boys shaking my hand each week and sitting behind me in Sacrament meeting, I’ll especially miss Jefferson’s random, unintentionally hilarious comments (“Mom, did you throw away my massive collection of cups?!”). I will miss watching the Harms act like newlyweds, only 50+ years too late. I will miss the hugs from Victoria and the singing-hellos from Dani. I won’t miss Josh’s fish handshakes. I’ll miss the Rosses and their three crazy-cute-cookie-cutter daughters. I’ll miss chicken-on-the-hill and pig-in-the-park. I’ll miss Breakfast-for-Christmas parties and YM/YW service dinners. I will miss Relief Society service auctions. I’ll miss Cherien Fontandon. I’ll miss the awesome discussions in High Priest Group. I’ll miss occasionally butting heads with, well, you know. I’ll miss Steve Heath’s rockstar image and Darlene being his groupie. I’ll miss the Halls and the Endsleys (but I expect an invitation to the Temple for both of your families!). I’ll miss new families like the Jacksons and the Blacks, and old timers like the Brooks and the Brooks. I’ll miss my hair-twin John Moore and his Ute-wife Janie. I won’t miss Wade Blake constantly telling me I’m the next bishop (‘cause I’m not!), but I will miss his sweet wife and family. I’ll miss Josh and Sabrina and Mitzi, although I suspect I won’t miss Sabrina that much since she’s always at my house. I’ll miss learning from Jim Olive and I’ll miss Mike Montandon’s “I was doing something stupid when” stories. I’ll miss checking off each week that someone makes a comment about me over the pulpit.
I didn’t list you, please know that I will miss you too. You are my family and I love you. I've just gone on too long... Happy Trails Craig Ranch and Shadow Creek. See you in the funny papers.
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