When Dieter F. Uchtdorf arrived in West Texas at Webb Air Force Base in March 1961 as a 20-year-old member of the German Air Force sent to the U.S. to train as a fighter pilot, one of the first things he did was look for a unit of the Church. His search didn't take him far: The Big Spring Branch met in a building on the military base.
The "couple of handfuls" of members welcomed him and he joined in all branch activities, including one major pursuit — building a chapel.
After he graduated at the top of his class in 1962, he returned to Frankfurt, never expecting to see again any of the Big Spring Branch members or the chapel he helped build. But he did. On Feb. 27, almost 50 years to the day when he first arrived in Big Spring, he resumed his role in helping "build the Church" in this West Texas city as he rededicated the chapel and dedicated the recently completed final phase of the Big Spring Ward meetinghouse.
In a conversation with the Church News, President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, said it was a very emotional experience to "walk down memory lane" as he returned to Big Spring. His wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, went with him on what he described as "a sentimental journey."
"We landed on runway 17," he said of their arrival on Feb. 26. "It was like returning home. I had taxied down that runway and taken off numerous times during my training there."
Upon landing, he was reunited with Robert Allen, president of the Big Spring Branch in the early 1960s and into whose home he had been welcomed many times and which he described as "a place of refuge, a place of security," and Carl Swainston, who had been a counselor in the branch presidency. In company with others, they toured the Hangar 25 Museum, which was filled with planes of the type President Uchtdorf flew during training as a pilot. The museum included photos of Webb AFB when it was active, some of which were of young Dieter Uchtdorf at the base.
Later, while visiting the ward meetinghouse, he viewed other photos, some of which documented the construction of the chapel. "I spent most of my free time there," he said. "My friends in the military went different places. I had a place to go, not only on weekends, but also during the week."
He described the original meetinghouse they built as "just a small chapel with some tiny rooms." To return after 50 years and see a large meetinghouse with a cultural hall was amazing, he said. The tiny branch he knew has become a strong ward.
When he was there as a young man, all of Texas was part of one mission, and the nearest temple was in Mesa, Ariz. Now, Big Spring is part of the Odessa Texas Stake, and there are temples in Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio and Houston, Texas. The growth of the Church in Big Spring, he said, reflects the growth of the worldwide Church.
In his conversation with the Church News, President Uchtdorf said, "I bear witness that the Church grows worldwide. We sometimes speak only about the faraway places, but within the continental United States we see significant growth."
A reporter for a Texas newspaper who spoke with him by telephone prior to his return to Big Spring asked President Uchtdorf to make a statement about his memories there. He said, "In Big Spring I learned to fly a jet and how to hunt rattlesnakes. I learned to love West Texas — dust storms, tumbleweeds and all — and I learned to love the many diverse people there. They have been and will forever be Lone Stars, or better, guiding stars for me."
He told the Church News, "I remember the support, the help, the example the people of this branch provided for me. The kindness and the radiance of goodness they had will never be forgotten. I was called to teach a class in the branch. I struggled to say anything in English in a religious environment because I had learned English in Germany to become a pilot, not a preacher. The kindness, the graciousness, the generosity of these members will be forever cherished."
President Uchtdorf sees significance in the name of the town and its LDS ward, noting that the meetinghouse is located just a few yards from the spring for which the town was named.
He shared this excerpt from the dedicatory prayer he offered: "The name of this city in this natural dry and arid part of Thy creation has its origin in a spring of water, refreshing to all who found and drank from it. Today, we present this house of worship unto Thee that those who will enter will find a divine, even a big spring of living water in the teachings of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ and in the fellowship offered to everyone who seeks to find it."
For the community, he said, the meetinghouse will be "a place of friendship, of openness, of welcome, a place of refuge, a place of wholesome entertainment, a place of defense for our young people, a place of welcome for people of any race, religion or socioeconomic circumstance."
