Conference: Happy to host
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During the Sunday afternoon session of general conference, Linda Horsely sat in a chair positioned just the outside the Empire Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building across the plaza from Temple Square, where several dozen people watched as conference was projected onto a large screen in the front of the room. Fifty feet down the hall, her husband, David Horsely, stood at attention in the northeast corner of the JSMB lobby.
Brother and Sister Horsely volunteering as hosts in the JSMB isn't unusual — rather, it's the "when" and "how" that weren't normal. They've been hosting in the building for nine years now. But their normal shift is on Friday nights and they usually get to serve together at the same station. Because of conference, though, they worked an extra shift Sunday afternoon and had to fill stations alone instead of as a couple.
According to Brother Horsely, semi-retired from real-estate investment and living in the South Jordan Utah Country Park Stake, being a host at the building is a three-year calling.
"Once you do something like this, they pretty well don't give you [a calling]," he said. We're getting ready to re-up for our next [three years]."
Sister Horsely savors the human interaction that comes with hosting.
"I think the feeling that's here in the Joseph Smith building is just something special," she said. "It's such a special feeling. People from all over the world come and it's neat to get to be here, welcome them and help. We love helping. We really love that part of it."
For his part, Brother Horsely says his favorite part of hosting "is serving my Lord." When asked what question he most frequently gets asked in his capacity as a volunteer host, he chuckles. That's a slam-dunk.
"They want to know where the rest rooms are."
