"President Ballard would like to speak with you and your wife."

Gary was golfing on a beautiful fall day with two of our boys when he got a call on his cell phone. He recognized the pre-fix, and thought it might be the Provo MTC, so he picked up.

It wasn't the MTC.

"President Ballard would like to speak with you and your wife."

Gary can blame his golf score on that short phone call. Not to be stingy with the stress, he immediately called me. 

A few days later we had a zoom call with President M. Russell Ballard.

We've had many ask us about this process, and that's one of the reasons we thought it may be beneficial to share some of our experiences. In lots of ways it's similar to a young missionary's journey to serve, but there are also considerable differences. A first and significant one is that we did not fill out mission papers. We have always planned on and looked forward to serving a mission together when Gary retired. But that is a ways off. This is not a job we applied for. In President Ballard's words, "You have been recommended to be considered to serve."

It was a fairly short conversation.  President Ballard was warm and personable and kind. He appeared to be referencing a file on his desk and knew quite a bit about us already, but asked us specifically about our health and our children, as well as our parents.  He then asked us a question or two related to our self-reliance. 

He did mention that these particular kind of interviews were done by a member of the quorum of the twelve, and that official mission calls for mission leaders were extended by President Russell M. Nelson, thru his two counselors, President Oaks and President Eyring.

I don't remember breathing much, but I do recall how tense Gary was and how tightly he squeezed my hand. 

As we concluded, President Ballard asked us not to mention our phone call with him to anyone...that this was not an official invitation or call to serve...just an exploratory visit, to find the right people to serve in the right place at the right time, and that we may not hear from them again. 

Don't worry, we won't tell.

For the rest of the night we just sat together and stared out the window into our backyard. Then we rummaged through the pantry and refrigerator to find anything that wasn't good for us, as we inventoried all the reasons they wouldn't call again. 

"You're right. They won't call."