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or click the link in the show notes. So

1:26

my name is Kurt Frankum and I am

1:28

the founder and executive director of

1:31

Leading Saints and obviously the host

1:33

of the Leading Saints Podcast. Now I started

1:35

Leading Saints back in two thousand

1:38

ten. It was just a hobby blog and

1:40

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We became 501C3 nonprofit

1:52

organization, and we've been growing ever

1:54

since. And now I get the opportunity of an

1:56

of interviewing and talking with remarkable

1:59

people all over the world. Now,

2:01

this is a segment we do on the leading saints

2:03

podcast called How I Lead,

2:05

and we'd reach out to everyday leaders. They're

2:07

not experts, gurus, authors,

2:09

LDS, they're just everyday leaders

2:11

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2:14

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2:16

How is it that you lead? And they go through

2:18

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2:20

be in a book, that should be behind a PhD.

2:22

They're they're usually that good. And

2:25

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2:27

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2:29

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2:31

I know what I'm trying to do, but what's the other

2:33

guy do what's working for him. And so that's

2:35

why everyone's there. So we publish

2:37

these How I Lead segments to share.

3:03

Alright. This is an epic episode. We're headed

3:06

down to Central America to

3:08

Honduras to talk with Carla

3:10

Fonseca. How are you, Carla? Great.

3:12

Thank you for having me. Yeah.

3:14

This is cool. I guess, you you

3:17

emailed me a while ago. You

3:19

were not looking to be interviewed by any means.

3:22

Mhmm. But you were telling me a little about your

3:24

experience in Honduras as as a leader.

3:26

And

3:27

a few emails back and forth, and

3:29

here we are doing an interview. Are you

3:31

are you ready for this?

3:34

I'm a little bit nervous. I know you have a lot

3:36

of audience. So what I'll do

3:38

my best. Oh, cool. Well, I'm

3:40

really excited to learn about the church in Honduras

3:42

in in your personal experience. And so

3:44

are you born and raised in Honduras? I

3:46

was born and raised here. Yes.

3:49

Nice. And did you just learn English

3:51

just growing up in school? Or I

3:53

actually know, but my parents enroll me

3:55

in English classes in Dallas and Little Go.

3:57

I think it may have been, like, eight or nine, and

4:00

then III

4:02

mean, I guess I have a gift for it because

4:04

it turned out to be

4:06

good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's

4:08

great. Well, cool. I'm excited that that

4:11

they did that so that we can have this conversation

4:13

today. Now I Spanish

4:15

to some degree, but ever since

4:17

my mission, I lost quite a bit of it. So

4:19

we better stick with English for for the

4:21

so Fair. So

4:24

now The other thing I wanna ask you

4:26

about is how did you come across

4:28

leading saints? And how long have you been

4:30

listening? I've been listening for almost

4:32

two years. There is an influencer

4:35

I follow on Instagram. And

4:37

in one of her stories, she

4:39

mentioned your podcast and haven't

4:41

listened to the So so

4:43

concentrate. I and I'm a bit

4:46

focused listener, so I I looked you

4:48

up, and I loved it.

4:50

And and I've been hooked. Okay.

4:52

Questions?

4:53

Yes. Nice. So

4:55

tell us a little bit about just

4:58

the church where you live as

5:00

far as the the demographics,

5:03

what it's like going to church? I mean, all those

5:05

things. Well,

5:08

I'm not very familiar with the

5:11

entire story. I

5:13

know that my parents who

5:15

were backside when I was

5:17

three or four, I can

5:19

remember. I I was really young.

5:22

They were among, like,

5:27

among the pioneers, maybe

5:29

they would advertise when

5:32

the shirt was relatively new.

5:34

So I guess that would make the shirt, like,

5:37

fifty or sixty years old. Here

5:39

in Honduras. And

5:41

I live in the second largest city

5:43

in Honduras, which is San Pedro Sulet,

5:45

but this is where the

5:47

the missionaries first came and they came

5:50

to Honduras. And

5:54

we have about six states

5:56

in the metropolitan area and

5:59

others in the towns

6:01

around. We are the

6:03

the industrial capital. So there's

6:06

a lot of members

6:08

here in town. Our tempo

6:11

is being built then it's supposed to

6:13

be finished next year. So

6:15

we're hoping early twenty twenty four,

6:18

we'll have our own tempo. Right now,

6:20

we have to travel to drive four

6:22

hours to get to the temple

6:24

in the capital city in terms

6:26

of file. Mhmm. Wow.

6:28

Did you expect to get a second temple there? Was

6:30

that quite a surprise? Oh, that's quite a

6:32

surprise. And I

6:34

can't even If I start remembering

6:36

what it was like when we heard the announcement

6:38

in general conference, I'm gonna start

6:41

crying out. We were so excited,

6:43

and we really try not to

6:45

flee for joy because

6:48

President Nelson did tell us to hold

6:50

back, but we wanted to so

6:52

bad. Yeah. Yeah. Were

6:54

were you in a in a chapel listening the

6:56

conference at the

6:56

time? Or are you at home? Yeah. But

6:59

we still wanted to be open

7:01

Nice. Well, I say if you're a home, you can

7:03

cheer as long as you want. So

7:05

Oh, I've been screaming ever since now.

7:08

That's good. Awesome. So

7:10

how long will it take you to get to the temple once

7:12

the new temple is built?

7:13

I'll drive for, like, ten minutes,

7:15

maybe fifteen. So we're not really

7:17

excited. Wow. What a blessing.

7:20

That's cool. Nice.

7:21

Nice. Now, if I remember right, you were just

7:24

recently released as your word primary

7:26

president. Is that right? I haven't yet.

7:28

Oh, okay. I

7:30

attend a very small word,

7:33

and it's not my word. We

7:36

just found out in August that

7:38

I am two blocks away from

7:40

the ward boundaries. So

7:42

-- Oh, really? -- that could be released. I

7:45

have to keep my units. But this is

7:47

a small word. And basically,

7:49

the entire presidency, but

7:51

for one of my counselors, has to

7:53

be released as well.

7:55

So we haven't found

7:58

a replacement yet.

8:00

Interesting. Okay. But I

8:03

will be moving back to my

8:05

word in in January because I

8:07

need my temporary recommendation. And

8:09

and -- I see. -- you have to go.

8:11

And it pains me and it

8:13

hurts so

8:13

much. It hurts so bad, but

8:16

I'll go where you want me to go.

8:18

Right? So Yeah. Yeah.

8:21

And and maybe just talk

8:23

about your the dynamics

8:25

of your word there. I mean, is

8:27

where have you been over a a large primary

8:29

or what anything notable about

8:31

the the word?

8:32

Like I said, it's a very small

8:35

word. So it's it's

8:37

a it's a huge

8:39

geographic area. It goes

8:41

even to the border with our neighbor

8:43

in country in Guatemala, but

8:47

most of the membership is

8:49

it's in the mountain. So

8:52

we are in the suburbs very

8:54

close to the mountains. And then

8:56

there are a lot

8:58

of I

9:01

don't know even settlements

9:04

urban settlements in the mountain

9:06

that started out illegally and

9:08

with time have become you

9:10

know, recognized as as

9:12

settlements. So most of our

9:14

membership is up there. And

9:17

me and a very small

9:19

percentage of the of the

9:21

members in our work live in the

9:23

suburbs just under the

9:25

mountains. And I

9:28

lived in in in Denver for a

9:30

while. So, actually, the

9:32

mountains here do remind me a lot of

9:34

the Rockies. So but that's

9:36

that's just to give you an idea of how it

9:38

looks and and and so we

9:40

have to go up the mountain to visit the

9:42

most of the members. So Our

9:45

primer is very small in

9:47

our goods on our good Sundays.

9:49

We have, like, two dozen kids.

9:51

Mhmm. But of those two dozen,

9:53

only two or three, including my

9:55

son. I I down

9:57

here, and the rest of them

9:59

are up there in in the

10:00

mountain. And I Yeah.

10:03

That's how it goes. Mhmm. And

10:05

was this your your first go

10:07

at being a primary president? Yes. I

10:09

mean, I've been a member of my entire life, and

10:11

I've been serving and calling service since

10:13

I came back from my

10:14

mission. Then I have never worked

10:16

in primary before until I was called

10:18

last year. Oh, wow.

10:20

That's great. And

10:22

and then anything, is

10:24

there a story to how you were called

10:26

or what you remember from

10:27

that? Is it surprising? Yes. Oh,

10:29

there's a star here. Yeah.

10:31

Let's hear it. So if I had at the

10:33

time last at this time last year, I

10:36

had to stay going. So I still

10:38

do. But

10:41

for reasons out of their control, we

10:43

didn't have a primary precedent in

10:46

in the world after we came back from

10:48

the pandemic. And

10:50

so but I I just

10:52

didn't care. To

10:55

be honest, I didn't. I

10:57

figured my son was being taken care of

10:59

by whoever was in charge. But

11:04

one day I went and I noticed that they were

11:06

doing nothing and they only had one sister

11:08

looking over all of them. And they were just

11:10

like coloring on the

11:12

floor and stuff. And so

11:14

I asked the bishop if I could

11:16

help the primary with the

11:18

music. I'm a self learned

11:20

musician. And so I

11:22

said, ah, can I help? And you say, yeah,

11:24

please. And so I said, I'm

11:26

helping with the music. However, I've

11:28

never of my stuff that's very

11:30

crafty or creative, so I

11:32

don't really do things with my

11:34

hands. And so And I it

11:36

was an assignment, so I wasn't really

11:38

putting my heart into it. I I read

11:40

the handbook in a hurry, and

11:42

I was doing

11:45

a very poor job of teaching

11:47

the music. But, hey, at least I

11:49

thought I was doing my part. And

11:53

a couple of times the

11:55

bishop asked me if I wanted to be the

11:57

primary president. And I said, well,

11:59

not only did I not want to, I

12:01

I had an excuse. I said, I have to

12:03

stay calling since I can't. They

12:07

call someone else. And

12:09

she called to her two counselors with

12:11

two recent comers, like months,

12:14

months old comers. And

12:17

so It happened a a few

12:19

times that nobody would come

12:21

and it was just me. And

12:23

I had no idea how to handle primary.

12:26

I couldn't I I never hot. I

12:28

never seen a primary class other

12:30

than when I was in primary. Right?

12:32

That was so long ago.

12:34

And the

12:36

bishop kept asking me, do you want to be

12:38

the president? And so I felt like

12:40

this. This is my son we're talking

12:42

about and I don't want him to be

12:44

having this primary

12:46

experience. It can be so fun.

12:48

Primary can be great. So I

12:50

talk to the state presidency.

12:53

State president included and I

12:55

told them what the situation was and I

12:57

asked to be released from one of

12:59

those callings. I mean, They're

13:02

not leadership colleagues per se.

13:04

We I'm I'm the self

13:06

reliant specialist and the

13:08

history specialist. So can

13:10

you release for me from one of them? And I

13:12

can so I can take on the primary in

13:14

the ward. And they

13:17

say, okay. We're going to cancel.

13:21

Together and see what we decide

13:23

and yeah. They decided not

13:25

to. Wow.

13:27

So So more more responsibility

13:29

to your load there. And I still

13:31

I still felt like the primary

13:33

needed help. So I, in

13:35

December, not end of the

13:37

end of November last year, I went to

13:39

the Bishop and said, you know what? If you

13:42

still meet me as primary president, just

13:44

go ahead and call me And

13:46

and I could see the hope and the joy in his

13:48

thighs. Can I call you on my chest? You

13:50

can't. And

13:52

and I'll see how I

13:54

deal with all of the loads. Right?

13:57

And I was called and I

13:59

was by myself

14:01

in oh, through

14:03

December, And mid

14:05

January, I call we we

14:07

finally call one of our camps

14:09

one of my counselors, and the

14:11

week after we called the second one.

14:13

And In June,

14:16

July, we finally call a

14:18

secretary, and

14:20

and it's been just the four of

14:22

us. But Wow.

14:24

But yeah. That's the

14:26

story. So

14:27

was there to Colin Council's what now,

14:30

were there very many options? Or did

14:32

you have to take the same role as

14:34

yours? And again, that's why I haven't been

14:36

released yet because there

14:38

are no options. And It's just

14:40

one of my counselors who lives in the

14:42

area, and she is bound

14:44

to be the primary president, but

14:46

they cannot finally one else to

14:48

support her. You know, a lot

14:50

of the sisters and even the

14:52

brothers are not really excited

14:54

about working in primary. And

14:56

so it's very hard to find someone

14:58

who can and who will, who

15:00

can prime my hand. And

15:02

I'm actually a a little concerned because I

15:04

have to live in a couple of weeks and And

15:07

I don't want to I don't want to leave her

15:09

alone, but I I don't have

15:11

a choice. Yeah. Now

15:13

these are just some of the the realities. Right?

15:15

The messiness of sometimes church

15:17

leadership when we're a laid leadership and --

15:19

Mhmm. -- and, you know, we just need

15:21

people to step up and help or or maybe,

15:23

you know, like you said, it's a small ward.

15:25

Right? And and there's just not enough human

15:28

resources to sometimes feel

15:30

the callings like maybe they do in

15:32

in the

15:32

Utah. You know. Like, you know,

15:34

because of where we live. And,

15:37

again, I I explained to you how

15:39

how most of the membership lives

15:42

they don't have a lot of

15:44

education. And so

15:47

most people believe that that

15:51

that hinders them from performing

15:54

in a calling as they get to

15:56

us. So most of the

15:58

sisters that go to our work

16:00

who have colleagues, but they don't.

16:03

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah.

16:05

That's tough. And, you know, we

16:08

we just plow forward and

16:10

and hope that the Lord provides

16:11

away. It's nothing. So

16:14

Well, as as we do in these How I Lead

16:16

episodes, I asked you to maybe send me

16:18

a few principles that we could reflect

16:20

on that have helped you in your service. And so let's go through

16:22

those and and I'd love to hear any

16:24

stories or experiences or examples that

16:26

come into mind as we go through this. So the first

16:28

one is seek help from others.

16:30

And we sort of touched on that

16:32

already, but what else would you add to

16:34

that? Well, like I said, I've never worked in

16:36

primary before. So when

16:38

I finally get the colleague and I

16:40

felt the authority, the mantle

16:42

on me, I felt the

16:44

pressure to perform this

16:46

time. So I knew I had to

16:48

do a good job. And and I went to

16:50

the handbook, and I read it cover to

16:52

cover the park about primary.

16:54

But I still felt like I

16:57

needed more. So I

16:59

logged in Facebook

17:01

and started searching

17:03

for primary groups. In

17:06

Spanish and in English. And

17:08

I research I spent days

17:10

researching, and I love and I

17:13

joined so many groups I can't even keep

17:15

count. And not just

17:17

for for primary leaders

17:19

and presidents, I also

17:21

look for music leaders. Because

17:24

I tell you, I I've been a

17:26

a member of the Churchman Thala, so I

17:28

went through the whole primary

17:31

program I can't remember

17:33

one single lesson, but I do

17:35

remember the music,

17:37

like, all of the songs. Like,

17:39

I know that primary sound book cover cover and

17:42

there's no and I

17:44

didn't learn it as an adult. I learned it

17:46

as a child. So I

17:48

encourage the importance of music for

17:50

children. And so I

17:52

and I knew I had to do a good job

17:54

if I wanted them to learn. So I found

17:56

this amazing group. And if there

17:58

are music leaders in the in

18:00

the audience, they they will

18:03

know, it will recognize the lean

18:05

chocolate dance. And so I

18:07

follow her and I studied her medicine. Oh,

18:09

yeah. She has science behind

18:12

it. And it's amazing. You should interview

18:14

her

18:14

fine. Yeah. No. It's she's

18:17

been recommended a few times. She's on

18:19

my list. So Charlotte,

18:21

if you're listening, let's let's make

18:23

this happen. So

18:24

You're you're you're all the way down

18:26

in Honduras. She's amazing.

18:28

We don't have the resources to

18:30

buy her books. She has a book. We don't have the resources

18:32

or whatever, but I I double on all

18:35

of her free and online

18:37

content. And Well, Carla, I

18:39

will make sure leading saints has some resources,

18:41

and we exist

18:42

to help leaders. So we will get you what

18:44

you need. Thank you. Thank you.

18:46

So III

18:48

just log in to Facebook page. She has a YouTube

18:51

channel. I I do powered

18:53

everything, and I I'm still

18:55

perfecting the method. But

18:58

I've been implementing it since

19:00

since January. And it

19:02

it has helped my children love

19:05

music time. And so

19:08

I'm glad I've been I've

19:10

been getting

19:12

help from mothers, not

19:14

nuggets here in Honduras or in Latin America,

19:16

but also in the United States.

19:19

And then I also had

19:21

to ask my residency to come

19:23

and help. And you don't know me,

19:25

but I'm I'm

19:28

very proud to be proud.

19:30

So I don't like asking

19:32

for help and I boasting myself

19:35

reliance. So for me to

19:37

ask the state presidency to come and

19:39

help me because I had no idea what

19:41

I was doing, that took a

19:43

lot of effort. But I did. And -- Yeah.

19:45

-- and they will come almost every

19:48

Sunday. They would teach my lessons

19:50

so I could see how to teach a

19:52

a primary lesson. They

19:54

would take over music time so I could

19:56

see how to do it properly

19:58

because I wasn't doing it right.

20:00

And they were with me the

20:02

first month and part of

20:04

the second even as as

20:07

our counselors started

20:09

as we started working together as

20:11

a presidency because my

20:14

counsel didn't have

20:16

primary experience either.

20:18

So Yeah. We were all new

20:20

to it. And so we

20:22

were able to pull

20:24

forward and we took it step by

20:27

step after or that. So

20:29

the whole primary was just

20:31

non existent, the program

20:33

itself. So we started

20:35

it at one step at a time. And I don't know

20:37

if this could I didn't list

20:39

it as a principle, but that's

20:41

how it worked for us. And that's how

20:43

I used it in my my

20:46

field. I'm an engineer, so I take on

20:48

projects, and that's how we do it. We

20:50

do step by step, we define

20:52

priorities, and and that's how we

20:54

went. So we first started dividing the kids

20:56

into two groups, seniors and

20:58

juniors. We decided we

21:00

didn't have resources to

21:03

to open the nursery. So we

21:05

have the nursery together with the

21:08

junior primary. And it's a little

21:10

distracting, but at least it's is better than having

21:12

them all together. And so we

21:14

started writing. And so I would teach

21:16

me, you see, one of my counselors would

21:18

would teach junior and the other

21:20

which is senior primary. So

21:23

we're not only the presidency, we're also

21:25

the teachers. And then

21:27

we we brought after that after

21:29

that had been settled, we

21:31

started with children in

21:33

youth program. So we

21:36

prepared to launch it. We had to learn

21:38

again how the program

21:40

worked. And so, again, we started

21:42

researching and finding out what others

21:44

were doing. And and asking

21:46

people online because no one

21:48

in our world had a lot of experience with

21:51

primary. So we had to ask outside

21:53

And again, our sleep

21:56

residency was very helpful. And

21:58

we launched the program in

22:00

April, and we had our first activities

22:03

day in May. And

22:05

we were so nervous and

22:07

excited at the same time because

22:09

we had never done this.

22:11

And and and we did

22:13

family history related activity

22:16

and all of the children came

22:19

and it was a huge success. We

22:21

I mean, seriously, the world

22:23

was excited because this was the first time

22:25

that the primary ever health and

22:28

activity. And so and we invited

22:30

all of the kids, not just the

22:32

the senior primary. We also invited the

22:34

young ones, and we had activities for

22:36

them in another room. But we

22:38

were working family history with with

22:40

the old ones. And

22:43

and that's how we went. And

22:45

so We were

22:48

there were only three of

22:49

us, but in reality, we were not alone.

22:51

We were getting a lot of help

22:54

from others. Yeah.

22:56

Wow. I mean, yeah, you're you're handling it all.

22:58

Right? Not just being in the privacy, but you're all

23:00

the primary teachers as well. You know? So and

23:02

I just love that concept of You realize you

23:04

needed help, and so you went online and looked for

23:06

some resources, found some Facebook groups, Charlotte

23:09

Downs, you just found leading Zanes,

23:11

you've and then also turned locally to the

23:13

local

23:13

leaders, making sure that you got some help there.

23:15

Yes. Sometimes harder it's easy to

23:17

say that, but sometimes it's hard to ask

23:20

for that It

23:20

is. It is. Yeah.

23:23

Yeah. Alright. Next principle is

23:25

work together with the word counts

23:27

This is always intriguing as how

23:30

organizations work with their word council

23:32

to find

23:32

success. So how did that experience go

23:35

for you? One thing that is very unique to our

23:37

work. And I I'm saying to my

23:39

work, but it's probably new general

23:41

than than I believe it

23:43

to be that we have a lot of

23:45

kids that come to

23:47

church alone. So

23:50

they either walk from their homes

23:52

or take a bus and they get to

23:54

church. And I mean, they were having so much

23:56

fun that they would come even if their parents

23:58

didn't. And we also had some

24:00

friends Now that's how they call

24:02

it today when they're not members of the church and neither other

24:04

parents, but they were having so much fun that

24:06

they were coming to

24:09

to the meetings by themselves. They would

24:11

come into the activities by

24:14

themselves. And so we

24:17

had there's there was only three of us

24:19

for a time, and so they

24:21

didn't even have someone to sit in

24:23

Sacramento with. And I had

24:25

my son and and and my family

24:27

with me, but I would take a couple of them

24:29

and my my cousins to

24:31

take others. And And

24:33

and then we had to start asking

24:36

every week and that work cancel

24:38

others to help us. And then

24:40

we had issues with one

24:42

of our kids who

24:44

got beaten up and added and

24:46

added activity by some kids who

24:49

were not on our list and

24:51

who we really really know. And

24:53

so his mother was, of course,

24:55

very upset and she stopped

24:58

bringing them to church. And

25:00

these were the kids some of the kids that would

25:02

come by themselves, but they

25:04

wouldn't come. Anyway, I mean,

25:06

I guess she she wouldn't let them come to

25:09

church. And so we

25:11

we we

25:14

brought up the issue many, many

25:16

times in the work council meetings

25:18

and we asked the

25:20

relief society to help us

25:22

with the sister. We asked the

25:25

missionaries to visit the family as

25:27

much as they could. We asked the

25:29

elders for them to

25:31

visit them as much as

25:33

they could. And so

25:35

at one point, they were getting a

25:37

lot of this and not just from us but

25:39

from everyone in our council. And

25:43

and eventually after and

25:45

he was actually the word

25:48

family history consultant who

25:50

eventually brought the kids that

25:52

she organized the family history

25:54

activity. Then she brought

25:56

those kids back. There were three of

25:58

them. So she brought them back to

26:00

an activity. And we were so excited

26:02

to see them once again after a month

26:04

of not being a

26:06

church. And and

26:08

funny thing is or not funny, actually, two

26:10

weeks after the after they came back

26:12

to church, their house

26:15

burned down. There was no one

26:17

at home, so no one got

26:19

hurt. But again, Board

26:21

Council Emergency Meeting, and

26:24

everyone just got together and we because

26:26

we were thinking of the children, of course, there's

26:28

three children LDS. In

26:30

that family, but we also had to think

26:33

about bringing them back

26:35

up, you know. And

26:37

so And and,

26:39

again, I told you that these

26:41

members don't have a lot.

26:45

A lot of financial resources,

26:47

but the whole work council

26:49

just came together and

26:52

they were giving out

26:54

of what letter they have.

26:56

And this family came back.

26:58

They wouldn't they the

27:00

kids wouldn't come for another month

27:03

because they had no clothes they

27:05

felt bad about coming to shirts

27:07

and shorts and t shirts. So

27:09

again, we got together and figure out

27:11

how to get them shirts and pants

27:14

so they could come and

27:16

they're back. Two of those kids

27:18

are moving on to young men.

27:21

Next, month, and

27:23

we're very excited. We

27:26

feel as a presidency

27:28

that they have very strong

27:30

and sweet spirits. So

27:33

we wonder if all of these happenings

27:36

are just

27:39

trials or the adversary's attempts

27:42

to to hold them

27:44

back because they're gonna be

27:46

I mean, I was looking at

27:48

them yesterday at church. And I'm

27:50

like, are is this going to

27:52

be our future bishop?

27:55

Mhmm. Because he's been going through so

27:57

much, and yet he

27:59

continues to persevere and he's

28:01

an amazing boy and so

28:03

are his siblings. And

28:05

So we are so grateful

28:08

that we can always go to

28:10

the ward council and

28:12

ask for the things that we need for the

28:14

children. I mean, the children they

28:16

they need they need their

28:18

parents to to function well.

28:21

And so and that's why we

28:23

need the help of we actually, as

28:25

a primary, we need to work with and work

28:27

cancel. We cannot work by ourselves. It's not

28:30

gonna work no matter how many times we

28:32

visit the kids by ourselves. We

28:34

need to also visit the parents. And

28:36

and and that's why we work together

28:38

with

28:38

them. Yeah. No. What

28:41

a great example. And you know,

28:43

just the because you're gonna see things as a

28:45

primary president, you know, maybe

28:47

issues or concerns with a

28:49

particular family and then just sort of

28:51

rally the word council around that family and

28:53

and, you know, look you know, with hindsight,

28:55

it it worked out beautifully and and

28:57

there were such as support

28:58

there. And and now though, They're hopefully

29:00

finding encouragement in the gospel because of that. Yeah.

29:02

And this is just one example. I'm giving you

29:04

a story. I like to to tell my

29:06

experiences and stories. But, yeah, I

29:09

mean, the countless things

29:11

that they have come that that they

29:13

have come forward to help us with the

29:15

children. It's just amazing and

29:18

and we're very glad to belong to

29:20

it and to have that that

29:22

group of leaders working together

29:24

for the betterment of the entire

29:26

membership. Mhmm.

29:27

Anything else with in relation to working with

29:30

the word council that would be

29:32

worth mentioning? There

29:34

are a lot there are always a lot of negotiations

29:37

going on, but, you know, we love them.

29:39

Sure. We are very type

29:42

work. Really counsel

29:44

meetings feel more like family

29:46

counsel. Sometimes we make a lot of

29:48

jokes and we just feel like

29:51

seamlessly. Like, this is family

29:53

just meeting together. I mean, we're just meeting

29:55

lunch sometimes. We do meet after

29:58

after

29:58

meeting. So it's actually, it's it's

30:01

around noon when we meet. But

30:04

Nice. Nice. Alright. Third principle

30:06

is visualize the potential in

30:08

the children

30:09

tell me more about that. I I

30:11

started doing this when I was serving

30:13

my mission. And whenever I

30:15

and I started doing this, like, six

30:17

months into it, I

30:20

would feel a little disappointed

30:22

with some of our

30:23

investigators. We call them investigators, but

30:25

then I know they don't call them

30:27

that anymore. Georgia. And

30:29

so I started someone

30:33

probably one of my companions mentioned

30:35

is that seeing them like,

30:37

that what they can be instead of what they are

30:39

now. And so I started and then

30:41

worked for the rest of my mission, and then I

30:43

just couldn't get it out of my head.

30:47

But I would start teaching someone

30:49

and I I serve my mission in

30:51

Guatemala. So again, another poor

30:53

country and so the people that we were teaching were,

30:57

you know, you've heard the

30:59

stories, trunks on the street,

31:01

homeless people, etcetera,

31:04

etcetera. And and I started

31:06

seeing them in white on their back to

31:08

school day day. And

31:11

and it worked it it helped

31:14

me have so much faith in the

31:16

process and and to

31:18

invite the spirit into my

31:20

efforts to teach these people

31:23

and I forgotten about

31:26

that. Mhmm. And as I

31:28

was starting to teach the

31:30

children, I had to admit, I

31:32

didn't really feel a lot for them as as as I

31:34

started serving in my colleague.

31:36

But the feeling and, I guess, the

31:38

mental of the calling

31:40

started opening my heart and I started

31:43

seeing these kids in the future and I

31:45

don't have to look that far

31:47

ahead. I can see eight

31:49

months eight years ahead and see

31:51

this all of this kid says

31:54

missionaries. And -- Yeah. -- as our

31:56

leaders in the future, and I

31:58

I really truly do see

32:00

them. Like I said, like

32:01

I mentioned about this kid,

32:04

he's I I love

32:06

that kid with all my heart

32:08

that boy who was beaten

32:10

up at at a church

32:12

activity. And then a month later, his

32:14

house was burned down. Did

32:16

he continue to be there so

32:18

much energy and so much

32:20

love for the Costco. And

32:23

I I can't stop seeing

32:25

him, like, a future priest

32:27

with a a powerful

32:29

priest with

32:29

leader. Yeah. What that's

32:31

inspiring. That's really cool. I'm just

32:34

really glad that I had

32:36

I had a year to touch his

32:38

heart, and I pray

32:40

that I need an impact.

32:43

However, small and less, I pray that I do.

32:45

And and and this is one of

32:47

them. We have over twenty children,

32:49

and I love them more equally.

32:52

And and and

32:54

yes, I remember before I went on my

32:56

mission, I got my petrochemical blessing

32:58

a few days before.

33:01

And the patrons said you're going to meet

33:03

some very important people on your mission. So

33:05

I was very excited. I'm like, oh,

33:08

I might going to meet a president or someone

33:11

Oh, boy. I

33:13

I didn't. I didn't. And

33:15

so when I came back from my mission, I

33:17

realized, you know what? People that I met and I

33:19

taught are very important. And I

33:21

have come to realize now after sixteen

33:24

months of serving as primary

33:27

president, that those

33:29

kids, however, all they

33:31

are, even the three year olds,

33:33

they are incredibly important.

33:36

And And

33:38

we are glad that

33:42

particularly in my case, I have

33:44

a bishop who sees their

33:46

importance as well. The bishops are

33:48

usually canceled to focus on the

33:50

youth. However, our bishop always

33:52

tells me I focus on the children

33:54

the youth because they are the future. It's

33:56

not just the youth and had to look

33:59

after the children as well, and I love

34:01

him for that. So

34:03

I I love them, like, be shifted things

34:05

that way too that they are important. They

34:07

are very important. And

34:11

That's how it

34:13

went. Yeah. Wow, Carla. This has been

34:15

so fun to to chat with you and

34:17

and to be inspired hired by some

34:19

of these principles in the way that you've lied. Well, I hope some

34:21

some thing in the universe takes me to Honduras

34:24

and I'd love to visit

34:26

that beautiful

34:27

land. I've heard great things, and I'm sure the food is

34:30

phenomenal. So I love I

34:31

love the business

34:34

sometimes. Cool. Well, last question I have

34:36

for you, Carlos, is you reflect on your time

34:38

as a leader how is being a leader

34:40

helped you become a better follower of

34:42

Jesus

34:42

Christ. It has helped me understand,

34:44

like I said before,

34:47

that everyone is

34:48

important. And

34:51

if you had asked me

34:53

this last

34:55

December, I mean, we don't have to go

34:58

that I

35:00

wouldn't have given my thought to the primary

35:03

kids. But after after

35:05

all of this, I realized

35:07

that everyone is important even

35:10

even and especially those who

35:12

are so little that they need us

35:14

to advocate for

35:16

them. So

35:19

station

35:21

or or serving children

35:24

and and

35:26

and pretty much that every other group which has been experience

35:28

so far has taught me that

35:30

love

35:31

is the most

35:33

important thing. So

35:36

if I serve with love, I serve the

35:38

best and and I become more

35:40

and more like I said. And

35:51

that concludes this Hawaii lead interview. Hope

35:53

you enjoyed it. And I would ask

35:55

you, could you take a

35:58

minute and drop this link in an

36:00

email, on social media, in a text, wherever it makes most sense and share

36:02

it with somebody who could relate to this

36:04

this experience. And this

36:07

is how we we develop as

36:09

leaders just hearing what the other guy trying some things out, testing,

36:12

adjusting for your area,

36:14

and that's that's

36:16

where great leadership's discovered. Right? So we would love to have you

36:19

share this with somebody in this

36:21

calling or a related calling.

36:24

And that would be great. And also, if you know somebody,

36:26

any type of leader, who would be a

36:28

fantastic guest on the Hawaii lead segment,

36:31

reach out to us. Go to leading faith dot org

36:33

slash contact. Maybe send this

36:36

individual an email letting them know that you're going

36:38

to be suggesting their name for this interview. We'll reach out

36:40

to them and see if we can

36:42

line them up. So again, go to leading saints dot

36:44

org slash contact, and there

36:46

you can and all the

36:48

information, and let us know. And maybe they will

36:50

be on a future How I Lead segment on

36:52

the Leading

36:54

Saints podcast. And remember,

36:56

to get on the email newsletter list simply go to leading saints dot org slash

36:58

fourteen.

37:07

It came as a result of the

37:10

position of leadership, which

37:12

was in posed upon

37:14

us by the God of

37:16

heaven who brought forth a

37:18

restoration of the gospel

37:20

of Jesus

37:21

Christ. And when the decoration

37:23

was made concerning the own

37:26

and only true and living church

37:28

upon the face

37:29

of earth. We were immediately put in a

37:31

position of loneliness. The loneliness

37:34

of leadership from which

37:37

we cannot shrink nor run away

37:39

and to which we must face up

37:42

with boldness and courage

37:46

and ability.