Twice Removed from Barack!!!

The principle of “six degrees of separation” refers to the idea that everyone is approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth.  If that is the case, I am now just TWO steps away from Barack Obama!!!

When the plight of the desert tortoise was a huge issue in Washington County a number of years ago, I was hired to serve as the administrative assistant to Steve Snow, then-chairman of the much-maligned Washington County Habitat Conservation Planning Committee before he was called to the Church's First Quorum of Seventy.  In April 2012 General Conference, he was given additional responsibility when he was sustained as the Church Historian.

When we were in Guyana, I found a wonderful handwritten (by several missionary couples) history of the Church in "the land of many waters" (time period of 1988 to 1993) in a dresser drawer.  Knowing Steve is now the Church Historian, I brought this historical treasure home with me, intent on delivering it to him at his office in Salt Lake City, but I can’t travel out of the county until early September because of my eye.  As luck would have it, I ran into Elder Snow at Target here in St. George (he’s one of our homeboys) where I told him about my find.  He was excited and offered to stop by the house and pick it up before he and his wife returned to Salt Lake City.  In our family room, we visited briefly about his new assignment and how they were enjoying life in the big city.  That was last week!

Today there was a story on the KSL-TV website indicating "Elder Steven Snow of the First Quorum of the Seventy was appointed to be a member of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  According to the White House, the advisory council "brings together leaders and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations in order to make recommendations to government on how to improve partnerships."

So, if the theory of 6 degrees of separation is valid, Barack and I now have a friend-in-common.  Dang, it really is a small world!!!