In the fall of 2003, LaVell and Patti Edwards were serving a church public affairs mission in New York City and I had just been released as bishop of my New Jersey LDS ward and called to be the public affairs director for the Philadelphia region.
Truth is, none of us really knew what we were doing, but our new callings brought us together and that was good enough for me.
Part of their responsibility was training public affairs directors in the Northeast, so I quickly signed up and added a stake fireside to the training, meaning I'd have them in my home for an entire weekend.