Matthew and Lisa Richardson characterize themselves as "intentional people."
"We try to do things with a purpose, with an outcome in mind," said Brother Richardson, who was sustained last April as second counselor in the new Sunday School general presidency.
That stems in large measure to each having made a youthful determination to follow the Lord's direction. But they have found that sometimes that direction means altering plans, goals, aspirations and timetables.
They met as students at BYU, he just off his mission to Denmark and she an aspiring member of the Cougarettes drill team. They discovered similarities about each other, each having been born at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, delivered by the same physician, although he grew up in nearby Murray and she in Seattle, Wash.
"We shared a deep love for President Spencer W. Kimball," Brother Richardson said. "The reason for that is he was the prophet of our youth, when we needed a prophet the most."
His eyes moist with tears he jokingly attributed to hay fever, Brother Richardson recalled sitting as a 13-year-old with his father in a general priesthood meeting and hearing President Kimball counsel youth to make decisions in the present that would guide them through their lives. "For whatever reason, that spoke to my heart," he said. He decided then to serve a mission, keep the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity and generally to always be true to gospel standards.
When Sister Richardson was little, her grandparents took her to the Salt Lake Tabernacle for general conference, where she met President Kimball. "I was wearing these little white gloves, and I got to shake the prophet's hand," she said. She wouldn't touch anything thereafter until she had carefully turned the gloves inside out, saying she didn't want President Kimball "to come off."
"I remember hearing that story and thinking here is someone with the same affinity and deep love and was affected by a prophet," Brother Richardson said.
"These are men that aren't hard to love," Sister Richardson added.
Despite being goal-oriented from his youth, Brother Richardson affirmed, "I look back on my life as it has unfolded and I think I would be a sad man if it went according to my original plan. Some of the things in my life that I hold most dear and have been the greatest blessings have been things which were not expected and actually, I believe, at the Lord's direction." Through experience, he has learned to "plan, and then be open."
Called to serve a mission in Denmark, where his ancestors had joined the Church, he had dreams of converting multitudes, despite being warned that convert baptism were difficult to obtain there.
Though not able to "Ammonize" the mission in terms of converts, he loved the culture, the people and the Church members there. One of the books he has written, The Christus Legacy, published by Deseret Book Co., stems in part from that appreciation. While on his mission he saw the original sculpture "The Christus," by Bertil Thorvaldsenat the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen. In the book he relates how the sculpture became the basis for the famous statue in the South Visitors Center on Temple Square and other Church visitors centers.
Coming home from Denmark he was ready to resume his timetable, which included attending medical school and getting married sometime later in his college career. "What happened is I met Lisa on the first day of school."
They were married by the following summer. Soon afterward, his missionary friends who taught at the Missionary Training Center with him persuaded him to take an introductory course designed for aspiring seminary teachers. He got a part-time job teaching seminary and fell in love with the profession. It channeled him into a career in Church education, culminating with his professorship in Church history and doctrine at BYU, where he was associate dean of religious instruction.
"We make plans, and we work as hard as we can," Brother Richardson said, "Then the Lord says, 'I've got something better for you, if you'll come.'"
Four children blessed the Richardson home, although not according to timetable. As "intentional" parents they formulated the Richardson family motto: "Reverence, respect, responsibility, resourcefulness, resolve."
They also formed traditions such as "Mickey Mouse Pancake Day," which is Saturday, when Brother Richardson makes the cakes in the shape of the iconic Disney character.
One day one of their sons, realizing that pancake day had been the previous day expressed disappointment about it being Sunday. The parents realized they had not yet adequately taught the importance of the Sabbath. That led to the adoption of a family constitution, defining who they are and emphasizing gospel standards and service. It has strengthened their resolve, like their pioneer forebears, to handle occasional adversities "with class and with style," Sister Richardson said.
It also reflects their admiration for Lord's anointed.
"When we were set apart for this most recent calling, we were in a room with men we love the most," he said. "We were in the presence of those who have had profound impacts upon us throughout our lives."
"President Monson has an amazing love for the gospel," she said. Brother Richardson added, "He wants the members to be taught well, I think, so we take that quite seriously: How can we fill the shoes of the Master teacher?"
Referring to the Latin root for education, which means "to draw out," he applied it to gospel teaching: "It is to draw people out of the world, out of sorrow, out of despair. Whether in the developing or the developed areas of the Church, good teaching draws us out."
