Elder Hallstrom Fireside

February 10, 2015

Elder Donald L. Hallstrom was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1, 2000. At the time of his call, he was serving as a member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy in the North America West Area. He was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on April 4, 2009.

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Elder Patrick Kearon was sustained a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 3, 2010, at the age of 48. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy in the Europe Area. He is currently serving as President of the Europe Area Presidency.

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Elder Hallstrom, accompanied by Elder Kearon, presented a fireside to the missionaries currently serving in the vicinity of Rome.  It is always an honor to have a visiting authority shake their hands and speak to the missionaries.  It's an experience they remember forever.

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(Awesome story:  As Elder Hallstrom was speaking to the missionaries, he asked if anyone knew the first word in the Doctrine and Covenants.  It was very quiet and no one raised a hand until one shy missionary hesitantly raised his hand and said "Hearken".  He was right.  No one else knew the answer, but he did.  When I spoke to him after the conference, he said he had a seminary teacher who spent a whole class period just talking about the first word in the Doctrine and Covenants.  He has lots of notes written on that page in his scriptures.  Kudos to that seminary teacher who will probably never know the impact he had on this young man's life.)