Today, June 7th, John was set apart as our Branch President. Our sacrament meeting was very sweet. Our previous branch President, Alan Nicol, and his family are moving back to MI next week. We met them five years ago on the airplane when both of our families were moving to Shanghai at the same time. We will miss them. Both John and I bore our testimonies. John talked about not knowing why he was called but that there are things that he does know. He knows that God lives and loves us, that Jesus is the Christ and the Atonement works. I talked about having faith in Christ. I shared that last night during our family scripture reading James read with great expression Enos verse 7: “And I said Lord, how is it done?” When he read this, I knew Enos’ answer was the same answer that I needed to hear about some things I had been thinking about. I just needed to keep exercising my faith. I also shared some examples of how we feel the Holy Ghost. I shared that when John told the kids last week that he was asked to be the next Branch President Tessa said, “Really? Wow. The other day I had a picture in my mind that Dad was going to be the next Branch President.” They Holy Ghost had even prepared Tessa for this new calling.
Here are John's thoughts:
"Saturday, May 30, I spent a few hours at the church while the district presidency interviewed candidates to be the Jinqiao branch president. I was supporting the logistics for the first two hours, while Creed Miller covered the second two hours. That evening as Laurel and I went out, I commented that we knew it was not me since they had not called me back. What a surprise the next morning when I got to district presidency meeting to find that they had not called anyone yet! As I sat in sacrament meeting, the impression came to me that I was going to be called. So an hour later when Pres. Dyer called Laurel and me into his office I felt somewhat prepared for the call. Even then, I was nearly overcome with emotion as he extended the call and told me, "this is your time." I felt so humbled and nearly inadequate, but also at peace that the call came from the lord. How grateful I am to have confidence that he will make up the difference for my shortcomings if I just rely on him."
John's counselors are Sadikin Budiman (from Indonesia) and Ben Morgan (from California, opening the Disney here).
Work has been super intense and exciting for John lately. This week the CEO is coming in from MI, and John gets to present to him some of the things he has been working on.
"One of my work projects this year is "Smart Mobility." Ford has been very public about our intention to be a leader in the mobility space, and it is one of my objectives to figure out what that means for us in China. Most people don't really know what "mobility" means--I guess I would describe it as the future of transportation. This broadly means how future vehicle ownership might evolve given increasing connectivity and self-driving technologies. It also includes emerging business models for transportation services, like Uber.For the first couple months of the year, the cross-functional team I was working with really struggled to make sense of the topic because it was so broad. But over the last month or two we have developed a framework and analysis that has really accelerated our efforts. I feel so energized by the progress we are making and really sense that we are making a difference. We are receiving very positive feedback on our work and are getting opportunities to share with the highest levels of the company. What a blessing to have a job that I am passionate about and to feel like this is where I am supposed to be right now!"
