As Gerald J. Cardon drove through the snow-covered streets of Fargo, N.D., recently, he recalled his first impression of the city when he visited it several years earlier.
He had just started working for an international manufacturing company based in Fargo, and was visiting the headquarters for the first time."I remember the weather was much worse than today," said Pres. Cardon while driving in a snow storm. "It was twice as cold, and the wind was blowing. I made the comment to the people I was with that I would never live in Fargo."
Now he lives in Fargo and loves it. In 1988 he was called as president of the Fargo North Dakota Stake. He and his wife, Marza, and their seven children have been here three years and have found it to be "a great place to rear a family."
"Most of the people who have been transferred here have fallen in love with the area," said Pres. Brad Leeser, who moved from Oklahoma City, Okla. He serves as second counselor in the stake presidency and was recently released as bishop of the Fargo Ward. "They like the clean air, the low crime rate and the high quality of the education system."
With a population of more than 61,000, Fargo is the largest city in this sparsely populated state. It's located on the banks of the Red River, which separates North Dakota from the western border of Minn-esota. Fargo's remote location, weather and population lend credence to it being "a far place to go."
But long distances are something people get used to around here, especially Church members. The Fargo Ward covers as much area as many stakes, with one family, the Ulvestads, driving 70 miles one way to attend Church meetings and youth activities.
Church members are few in numbers in this area, but that's not surprising, since relatively few people live in this part of the Northern Plains. The summers are hot and the winters are cold, with temperatures and wind chill dropping far below zero.
But the severe weather and small numbers seem to draw the members closer together, said Pres. Cardon. And that made the decision to move from Brussels, Belgium, where he managed his company's European operations, to Fargo a lot easier, he said.
"With the Church, you never feel like a stranger in a strange land," he related. "I think once we found out there was a good ward in Fargo, we didn't mind battling the elements as long as we had access to the warmth we've found in the Church."
As soon as the Cardons arrived in Fargo, the members made them feel at home. One member of the ward, Lawrence T. Dahl, telephoned the Cardons after the city's first blizzard of the winter simply "to see if we survived," Pres. Cardon said. "When I said, Yes,' he replied,Now, you're officially members of the community.'
"You feel good about living somewhere when you get involved with the Church and the community," Pres. Cardon said. "We feel good about Fargo. You just learn to put on a little bit thicker coat in the winter."
Non-member neighbors are just as warm and friendly as the people in the Church, he added. They're descendants of Scandinavian immigrants and have maintained their strong, God-fearing, religious traditions. This heritage makes missionary work difficult, but also results in devoted Latter-day Saints when these people do convert to the restored gospel.
"There's good blood of Israel here," said Keith Blomquist, stake mission president. "I've never lived in a place where people are as church-going as the people who live here."
The Church had only a handful of members in Fargo until the 1950s. Fargo Ward member Dorothy Hanks remembers when her sister, Frances, joined the Church in 1943, only about five to 10 people were attending meetings in the basement of the YWCA building. The missionaries faced great trials and antagonism. "If they got one baptism on their mission, they were happy," Frances said.
Frances later moved to Utah and married Jay Curfew, but she kept working on bringing her family into the Church. After her father, who was in poor health, retired, Frances persuaded her parents to move to Utah. A year later he died. When Dorothy attended the funeral, she was impressed with the way Church members assisted her sister and mother with the arrangements. Frances gave her sister copies of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and Book of Mormon.
"After I got home, I read both books and prayed about them," Dorothy said. "Then I called the missionaries."
She and two of her children were baptized in 1969. Later, her mother, her brother, her husband and two more of her children also joined the Church. In 1969, the Church had a thriving branch of 200 members and a meetinghouse constructed in 1958. In the late 1970s, a new stake center was completed and it now serves the 1,925 members of the Fargo stake.
Prospects for growth are good because the number of baptisms have increased each of the past three years and most are staying active. The youths also are taking part in missionary efforts. Jared Cardon, the stake president's son, brought a classmate, Zeb Olson, into his home to live for awhile. The influence of the Cardons led to Zeb's baptism and, later, the conversion of his mother and brother, Atticus.
Former stake president Howard M. Hennebry explained that great things are yet to happen because the Church is still young in Fargo. The stake and wards are still maturing in the Church. The stake has a ward in Fargo, two in Grand Forks, one each in Bemidji, Minn., and Aberdeen, S.D., and branches in Cass Lake, Minn.; Clearbrook, Minn.; Detroit Lakes, Minn.; Jamestown, N.D.; Lake Region, N.D.; and Sisseton, S.D. Travel from one end of the stake's boundaries to the other, a distance of about 400 miles, takes seven hours.
The Fargo North Dakota Stake was created Aug. 7, 1977, and marked a major milestone in the Church. North Dakota was the last state in the United States to have a stake headquarters established within its boundaries. John R. Price was called as the first president and directed the Church's transition from a district to a stake. Hennebry was called in 1981.
"I worked to help the stake mature," Hennebry said. "We're doing more missionary work and better missionary work. And we're seeing missionary activity among the young people.
"I think the stake is poised for growth."
When he was called as stake president, 60 percent of the stake's youths were being lost to inactivity, Hennebry said. A Cub Scout program was started, creating a feeder system to the Scout program, and, more important, parents began accepting responsibility for making the Church youth programs work.
Since then, in Fargo, the youth program has been one of the strengths of the ward.
The improvement in the youth programs in Fargo and throughout the stake is one reason why Hennebry predicts a bright future for the Church here.
Emphasis on public communications has led to almost a virtual elimination of negative stories in the news media in the area, Hennebry said. The perception of the Church is improving.
But continued development of the stake will depend greatly on the current generation of LDS youths and converts, Church leaders said.
"In the 3 1/2 years I've been here," Blomquist said, "I've seen more and more people, businessmen and upper management, move into the areas and provide a stable base for the Church to grow. I really feel the Lord is now telling us it's time to accept the challenge and obtain leadership from those born and raised here."
