This weekend was Stake Conference for my Stake--the California, Los Angeles Stake. We had a visiting General Authority--Elder Joseph W. Sitati. He spoke the previous weekend in General Conference, so it was particularly cool to get to meet him up close and personal.
I attended both the Saturday night adult session as well as the Sunday morning general session. Elder Sitati was a humble, intelligent, articulate man who has clearly lead his life by the Spirit. It was amazing to me how much this man knows about the Gospel after having been a member for just 23 years and having joined the Church prior to the government having recognized the Church in Kenya. There is no question that this man has been chosen of God to be a leader in the Church and, particularly, on the African continent!
On Saturday night, he opened the meeting up to questions from the audience. He was presented with some of the strangest questions; but, no matter how strange the question, he was able to make a very logical jump to a central Gospel principal. The piece of counsel that he gave us that has stuck with me is that after a meeting such as General Conference or Stake Conference, we should ask ourselves the following two questions: " What did I learn today?" and, "What am I going to do about it?" This has really stuck with me, so I've started re-watching General Conference and have chosen one principal from Stake Conference to really try to implement in my life. I'm going to take it one step at a time in hopes that I can create a new habit and will not be overwhelmed by the magnitude of possible things to act upon from Stake Conference. I will then try to do the same thing with a principal from General Conference.
To go along with this post, I thought I'd share a few things about Elder Sitati...
Born on May 16, 1952, in Bungoma, Kenya, to Nathan and Lenah Sitati, Elder Sitati was 34 when a business associate invited him, his wife, Gladys Nangoni, and their five children to attend church in his home. The family had become disillusioned with organized religion but felt something special with this small group of Latter-day Saints. So they returned week after week. Six months later, in 1986, the family joined the Church.
“Even before we were baptized they asked us to give talks and to teach in church,” he says. He felt compelled to know that what he was saying in front of his children was correct. Slowly he came to recognize the Spirit, and staying connected with the Spirit has been a constant goal.
Elder Sitati earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nairobi in 1975; he also holds a diploma in accounting and finance. He worked in several positions with a global oil and gas company. More recently he served as the Church’s international director of Public Affairs in Africa.
Elder and Sister Sitati were married in July 1976 and sealed in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple in December 1991. They reside in Nairobi, Kenya.
At the time of his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Sitati was serving as president of the Nigeria Calabar Mission. Before that, he served as a counselor in both a branch and mission presidency and as a branch president, district president, stake president, and Area Seventy.
