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Show Gary Doxey Called to Serve as Seventy For LDS Church 't ;a ; m - byAngie Walker Gary B. Doxey of Pleasant Grove was sustained as a Seventy Sev-enty in the April General Conference Con-ference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "I feel very excited to have an opportunity to serve and I am grateful to be in a position to answer the call. I had no expectations expec-tations that something like this would happen," said Elder Doxey. Dox-ey. "A member of the Presidency Presiden-cy of the Seventy asked to meet with me and my wife and that's how it happened," he added. Debbie, his wife, shared her feelings about her husband's new calling. "I think it's wonderful. won-derful. Gary just loves to serve. Service is one of the best things he does. He feels so strongly about service and the responsibility responsi-bility we have to serve and do what we are asked. It's marvelous marvel-ous to be married to someone who always puts the Lord first." When asked what he has done in his life to prepare him for this he replied, "The best thing I have ever done in my life is to marry Debbie. I have to blame her for almost everything good that has happened to me. I have to blame my mom and dad for everything that happened to me before I got married. If we are happy, it's their fault," he stated. Being an Eagle Scout, Elder Doxey said Scouting had a big impact on his life. "I enjoyed Scouting. That was another one of those growing experiences. It was a good preparation for my mission as a young man," he admitted. When Elder Doxey was nineteen, he was called to serve in the Chili Santiago South Mission, Mis-sion, where he served faithfully from 1975 to 1977. Following Follow-ing his mission, he met Debbie Burnett of Salt Lake and they were sealed April 10, 1987 in the Salt Lake Temple. Together Togeth-er they have six children, four boys and two girls. They range in age from 22 to 12 years old. In 1994 they moved to Pleasant Grove. Elder Doxey graduated from Highland High in Salt Lake. He is a professor at the BYU Law School and teaches history. He earned his Bachelor's Bache-lor's Degree at BYU in History, a Juris Doctorate in Law, and then received a scholarship to attend Cambridge University in England where he earned a PhD in History. Gary is the associate associ-ate director at a center at the law school which works on international interna-tional religious freedom issues. In July 2006 Gary answered an-swered the call to serve as the mission president in Mexico City for three years. Over that period of time, he was responsible respon-sible for about 500 missionaries. missionar-ies. He spoke of his experience, "It was exciting. About three-fourths three-fourths of the missionaries were native Mexicans. That was fun to become a part of their lives for those three years. There are very few experiences in life that can shape a person like a mission. mis-sion. To be able to be a part of helping to shape those missionaries mission-aries was a great experience." Elder Gary B. Doxey. ' Prior to his present calling, call-ing, Elder Doxey hud served as a bishop and as a counselor to Duane F. Atkinson in the Grove Creek Stake presidency. This " " was a highlight for him because "Doxey" continued on Page 3 "Doxey" continued from Page 1 classical guitar and enjoys reading the Book of Mormon Mor-mon in different languages. His love for languages facilitated fa-cilitated his studies and led to his academic career. of all the wonderful people with and whom he served. One of his favorite callings, call-ings, however, was serving with his wife in the nursery. "There is no calling where you can nap, march, dance, have snacks and play with toys," he said with a smile. As a Seventy Elder Doxey Dox-ey is called to assist the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Seventy are presided over by the seven presidents of the Seventy and they get their assignments through the seven sev-en presidents as directed by the Quorum of the Twelve. Gary is an Area Seventy assigned as-signed to the Utah South Area which includes the Point of the Mountain South. Some of his responsibilities include presiding over stake conferences, reorganizing stakes, coordinating and supervising su-pervising area projects. Elder El-der Doxey also works with stake presidents regionally in coordinating councils to discuss mutual needs and interests. in-terests. First and foremost Elder El-der Doxey enjoys being with his family. In his spare time he likes going for walks in the hills, biking, and taking tak-ing naps. Elder Doxey loves |