OAKLAND, Calif. — Fifty-five years ago, a young 12-year-old boy named David sat with his mother in the balcony of the 1,600-seat auditorium of the Interstake Center, attending the dedication services of the adjacent Oakland Temple. He afterward stood outside the temple in hopes of meeting President David O. McKay, then the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who presided over the dedication.
Saturday night, that same David — now Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — returned to the same Interstake Center auditorium for a temple-related event. This time, however, he sat on the stand, joining President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, in speaking to close to 3,000 youth attending a special devotional the night before the June 16 rededication of the Oakland California Temple.
In addition to the leaders and their wives greeting some of the devotional attendees prior to the meeting, Elder Bednar and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, got an earlier start. Arriving ahead of a 3 p.m. temple walk-through, they used the extra time to visit the youth already lining up, including the first few who had been there since 8:30 a.m., more than 10 hours before the devotional’s 7 p.m. start.