At the morning session of stake conference our Stake Presidency was released. President Eric Beaver had served for eight years. We met Eric in 2002 when on assignment in Laie for Property Reserve Inc. Eric is president of Hawaiian Reserve Inc. and I was asked to spend a day with him and tour the Church's holdings in Laie and to check out additional property being considered for purchase adjacent to Laie. Elder Donald Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy presided at the conference. He was born and raised in Hawaii - lived here 50 years until called as Seventy - and enjoyed "coming home." We were told there is a danger of being "active" in the Church but "less-active" in the gospel. Also, we live in a world that can cause us to forget who we really are. Lastly, we need to balance the "things" of life so we don't squeeze out those things that are essential. For example, it may be more important to have family time for dinner and conversation, and/or study the scriptures together as a family, than to involve our children in worthwhile, but time-consuming activities such as dance or sports.
The new stake president is Aaron Shumway, the son of the former president of BYUH who is now serving as a temple president in Tonga.