{"id":21920,"date":"2015-07-04T11:53:40","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T17:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=21920"},"modified":"2015-07-04T11:53:40","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T17:53:40","slug":"personal-encounters-with-elder-packer-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/07\/personal-encounters-with-elder-packer-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Personal Encounters with Elder Packer (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
I had my office at the time in what was then called the Jesse Knight Humanities Building, directly adjacent to the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building in which then-provost Bruce Hafen\u2019s office was located. In other words, the walk between the two buildings wasn\u2019t very long.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many years before, when I was still an undergraduate student at BYU, I had served on a committee with Bruce Hafen. \u00a0At that time, I think he was some sort of assistant to the University\u2019s president \u2014 not yet the president of Ricks College, the dean of the BYU law school, the prominent Mormon writer, the General Authority, or the president of the St. George Temple that he would eventually become.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t think that he would remember me from that experience \u2014 I have no reason to believe that he does now; I scarcely distinguished myself \u2014 and, so, I was a bit surprised when, rather early in my teaching career at BYU, while he was serving as the University\u2019s provost, he called to ask whether I could come over to his office at some point to meet with him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Parenthetical note: \u00a0Brother Hafen once sponsored a kind of unofficial competition for the best effort to define the word provost<\/em>. \u00a0The winning entry was \u201csuperlative adjective:<\/em> most like Provo.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, when I came over to his office, we spent a half hour more or less shooting the breeze. \u00a0What were my interests? \u00a0What was I working on? \u00a0What was I doing in the Church? \u00a0How did I like teaching at BYU? \u00a0And so forth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I became increasingly puzzled as things went on. \u00a0Bruce Hafen was a very busy man, effectively the chief operating officer of BYU. \u00a0There were lots of new faculty every year. \u00a0Surely he couldn\u2019t spend this much time with every recent hire. \u00a0I hadn\u2019t even quite finished my dissertation yet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re probably wondering what this is about,\u201d he commented after roughly thirty minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I am,\u201d I responded, honestly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cElder Boyd K. Packer wants somebody down at BYU that he can talk with about the Middle East. \u00a0Somebody he can trust. \u00a0And I think you\u2019ve passed the test.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t realized that I was being tested, of course, but I was relieved that I\u2019d made the grade.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brother Hafen explained to me that Elder Packer would very likely\u00a0call me at some point within the next several weeks. \u00a0Probably after General Conference, which was approaching. \u00a0He would be too busy before then with conference-related preparations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was somewhat astonished by the conversation, but walked back to my office afterwards. \u00a0An old friend from graduate school, someone who has become a fairly well-known name in Mormon studies or Mormon history<\/a> since then and who leans leftward (even more now than then) both\u00a0politically and theologically, was visiting from out of state. \u00a0When I arrived at my office, he was standing by the door.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We went in and sat down. \u00a0I hadn\u2019t yet had a chance to tell him what I\u2019d just been doing \u2014 I don\u2019t think I was planning to do so, in any case \u2014 when the phone rang.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I answered, and then muffling the receiver, indicated to my friend that this was an important call that I was going to need to take, and that it might require a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is it?\u201d he asked, laughing. \u00a0\u201cBoyd K. Packer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u00a0And he laughed again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, as a matter of fact, it was.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elder Packer hadn\u2019t exactly waited several weeks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from San Diego, California<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Many years before, when I was still an undergraduate student at BYU, I had served on a committee with Bruce Hafen. \u00a0At that time, I think he was some sort of assistant to the University\u2019s president \u2014 not yet the president of Ricks College, the dean of the BYU law school, the prominent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPersonal Encounters with Elder Packer (Part 2)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Many years before, when I was still an undergraduate student at BYU, I had served on a committee with Bruce Hafen. \u00a0At that time, I think he\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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