Called as Mission President at 28 — Before He Even Knew
Phil and Donna were in Samoa teaching at a Church school when congratulatory telegrams began arriving. First his mother, then a cousin: 'Congratulations, President.' He had no idea what they meant. After six weeks of delayed mail due to a Pan-American Airlines strike, letters finally arrived including a call from the First Presidency to preside over the Samoa Mission. Phil was 28. Donna was 27. They came home for ten weeks, attended the mission presidents' seminar with all 61 mission presidents in the world at the time, were set apart, and returned July 1 to lead the mission. Phil said simply: 'We should have been afraid, but I wasn’t.'
Key Lessons
- • Sometimes responsibility arrives before confidence — and that may be the point.
- • The call to lead often comes before we feel ready.
- • Innocence and faith can carry people through things that knowledge alone would make frightening.
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While serving at the Freiburg Germany Temple, Phil and Donna witnessed Ukrainian Saints arriving by the busload. Most were new members of the Church in Ukraine — a community that had only recently emerged from the Soviet era. They had no idea what to expect in the temple. They came afraid. Over four or five days — moving through baptisms for their ancestors, endowments, and sealings — Phil watched something change in them. 'By the time they left, there were tears and hugs.' He says it quietly but repeatedly: 'They were changed.' A community now scattered by war, this story preserves their early devotional life.
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After two missions to Ukraine — first in Kyiv, then returning to the same city, same apartment, same assignment — Phil and Donna built deep friendships. Years later, Russia’s invasion scattered the Ukrainian Saints: friends in Germany, Hungary, Portugal, the United States. One friend stands out: Svetlana, a schoolteacher who became a dear friend when Phil and Donna taught English at a local elementary school. The schools have been destroyed. Svetlana is still there — still in Ukraine — teaching her students online.
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