I love being in God's creation. And it really is almost a spiritual experience for me to be up there. And it really is exhilarating.

Skiing is probably, for me, that's the closest thing I think I can come to to finding out what the limits are that are still within bounds. I've been patrolling now for 18 years. I've been an LDS bishop now 22 months. Bishop Lowder is a really fun bishop. He knows how to, like, connect with the youth. We've got three left over from when we did this before that we didn't have time to get to. He's not just my bishop, you know. He's more of a friend, and someone that you can really get to trust, really get to know. It really is one of the greatest things to go out and do something they like to do. And particularly Nelson, who skis up there every Saturday. He comes up and finds me almost every week. We'll take one run together. And it's been a real nice bonding thing for us.

There are many similarities to what a patrolman does each day they patrol and what a bishop does on Sundays. For our patrolling, we start out every day with what the resort terms "buffing out your area." And what that entails is, first and foremost, setting up the boundaries, making sure the ropes that are put up the first of the season are maintained on a daily basis.

It's enticing to go to the back areas that are marked off, because there's fresh snow that hasn't been skied in. There's nobody there. It's just by yourself. And you want to get that good snow. The good snow is just beyond the boundary. If you don't play in the safe areas, you get in trouble in those areas. Because there's so many things that aren't really what they seem. The warning signs we post and the boundaries we set are sometimes ignored. But the problem is, underneath that fresh layer of snow in the out-of-bounds area you have rock bands that might only be a few inches under there. You have tree stumps that have just barely been buried, that could hook a ski underneath the snow that you'd have no idea that they're under there.

Whenever somebody is injured and we get a call, either on the radio or on the phone, we involve the whole team, sending one person to first check the person out and then calling back to the rest of the team to bring whatever equipment is needed. Is it OK if I check this out here? A full assessment is done on the hill of what's the injury possibly and what equipment's needed to safely stabilize, pack, and transport. Let's have you come this way a little bit. You're a tall one. The comparison between the work we do in patrolling and what a bishop would do within his ward, particularly with the youth, is clearly establishing boundaries in both senses and identifying those things they can do to prevent the injuries in the first place. But once an injury has taken place, help guiding them back and understand that there's always hope. If I make a mistake and I'd have to go to my bishop, I feel he wouldn't rail on me; he wouldn't get on my case. He would take it in a manner of calmness and he'd sit me down. And he'd be really understanding of what I have to say to him and give me a sense of forgiveness, I guess.

But it's true that not many people get to have that relationship with their bishop, that they get to ski with them. Nelson's a great skier. He is fearless about the terrain features. But also remember that, because they're in bounds, they were built by people who use those features professionally, making those jumps features so that they're the right angles, both on the takeoff and the landing, so they don't throw you in the back seat as you're taking off. And as you land, you aren't landing flat, but that you come down on an angle and it's a softer landing. And if you happen to fall, you slide rather than landing hard impact. In bounds, like, Nelson was going off the cool jumps and doing all these cool tricks and having a blast. And it looked like he was having such a fun time. But it was all inbounds and legal. In real life when you're out there and we're enticed by things in the world, if we follow what the world is doing, we're going to find that we're in unprotected areas. If on the other hand, we stay within the guidelines that the Brethren have given us in modern-day revelation and through the scriptures, listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, as we're taught to do, if we're doing those things on a daily basis, then we stay within the bounds. And we find that we didn't miss out on anything. And we had more freedom and more enjoyment by staying within the bounds the Lord has set, just like people do skiing when they stay in bounds. Ski safely but get to do some pretty incredible things.

The offices of bishop and branch president and counselors are sacred in this Church. The men who hold those offices are respected by the Lord, inspired by His Spirit, and given the powers of discernment necessary to their office. Thank heaven for faithful and inspired bishops and branch presidents and their counselors.