July 5th, 2025, 7am MDT
Elder James E. Evanson and his wife, Sister Jody Evanson, were the protagonists who raised five children in 2007.
One night, as he and his wife passed each other in the hallways of their home in Lethbridge, Alberta, Sister Evanson cried out, “How busy are we?” before they let their children go back and forth between different sporting events.
The following Saturday, Elder Evanson was invited to interview the visiting officer, who had organized a new stake presidency, as a member of the High Council.
On the morning of the interview, Elder Evanson kneeled down to prayer before going out to various activities, including coaching two of his son’s football games. After the prayer, Elder Evanson asked his wife.
Sister Evanson said she snorted with a laugh. “There’s no way,” she said.
Following the first football match, Elder Evanson traded his hoodie for a suit coat and sat with the late Elder Richard G. Scott, the 12 Apostles and Elder Randy D. Funk.
Elder Evanson called the interview a “sweet little experience.” After just five to ten minutes he headed for his next soccer match. However, on the bystanders of the football field, he called and asked to come back to the stake center.
Standing in front of the open door of his minivan, Elder Evanson recalled, “I felt this crushed weight coming to me, which I knew I was being called.”
When Elder Scott called, Elder Evanson protested. “But I have never become a bishop,” he said.
“I’m not there either,” replied Elder Scott.
“I’m too young,” Elder Evanson said. He was in his mid-30s at the time.
Elder Funk explained that he was called when he was even younger, Elder Evanson recalled.
Finally, Elder Evanson asked, “Are you alright?”
Elder Scott saw him and asked, “As an apostle, will you support me?”
Elder Evanson immediately replied “Yes.” Both Elder Scott’s questions and new responsibility.
But during his first few months as a stake president, “I felt that my Heavenly Father had made a terrible mistake,” Elder Evanson said.
He was a child on a farm in a small town in southern Alberta. He was younger than anyone on the High Council.
Approximately six months after being called as stake president, he and his wife went on a trip to Israel. While sitting alone in an olive grove in the traditional place of the garden of Gethsemane, he unfolded to him that some of those ancient trees might have been there, on the night the Savior took to himself in all his pain, sin, weakness and abilities.
The recognition was humble. Still, Elder Evanson thought, “I cannot do what I asked him to do. I am not enough.”
After that, “I know you’re not enough, but I am. So, stop doing anything worrying about what you can’t do and make up for all the differences.”
The lesson “changed my whole life,” Elder Evanson said.
It also makes it easy to say yes to other calls that elicit similar sentiments as mission leaders and regional 70s and, more recently, as general authority. Elder Evanson was one of the 16 new presidents’ 70s that lasted at the April 2025 General Assembly.
He doesn’t know how he will become a general authority, Elder Evanson told the church news. “But what I know is that if I do what I can, if I do my best, if I give my will, and if I give everything I have, that heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will make up everything else.”
Get a firm testimony
As Elder Evanson looks back on his life, he said that he has two experiences that lead to his heart and offers him a firm testimony of His Jesus Christ and His Gospel.
One was his experience as a stake president. The other happened when he was a boy.
Elder Evanson grew up on a small sugar beet farm near the village of Burnwell. The village had around 400 people when Elder Evanson was in high school in 1986. “I grew up hoeing beets, planting corn and running pipes,” he recalled.
“The Savior can help any of us do what he asks us to do.”
– Elder James E. Evanson
His parents – Dale Eugene and Phyllis Tanner Evanson, both come from multi-generational Latter-day Saint families whose ancestors joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early days of the restoration. They exemplify the principles of hard work, integrity, humility, obedience and service for their eight children. He grew up in a family where the gospel was “taught and alive,” he said.
When he was only ten years old, he read all 16 volumes of the family illustrated Mormon book and Church History Stories, noting that Joseph Smith was far older than him when he kneeled in the sacred grove.
Sneaking up the gravel road in front of the farm, Evanson’s young elder kneeled on a small grove of trees and asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet, if the Book of Mormon was true, and if he was indeed there.
“I had no vision,” Elder Evanson said. “But to this day, even when I am still talking about it, I get the exact same sentiment of the spirit, like I was ten years old, reminding me that God answered my prayers. At that time I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, Joseph was a prophet, and Jesus Christ was my Savior.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ppgviaujk
Serve the Lord
Elder Evanson played basketball and soccer in middle and high school, but “never exercised.” The good thing about coming from a small town is that “anyone who appears can join the team.” he said with a laugh.
After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Alberta for a year before being called on the Arizona Tempe Mission. Elder Evanson, already with strong testimony, wanted to reach the mission field. “I just wanted to go out there and share the gospel.”
Looking back, “My mission to me was, during that time, an opportunity to give my whole soul to my Heavenly Father,” Elder Evanson said. “I gave you everything I could. I was wearing myself, and if you give yourself to your Heavenly Father, and if you give him everything, he gives him more in return – you’ve learned more than you deserve. Blessings really flow.
After his mission, Elder Evanson carried peas and sugar beets on his grandfather’s farm and registered at his local university in Lethbridge.
Elder Evanson described himself as “a very shy child,” even after practice talking to strangers about his mission. However, through a case of false identity, he has a conversation with Jody Khalil Zobel in a local laboratory building and discovers that they are in the same biology class. The next morning he arrived early in class and asked her to go on a date the same night.
Early in their courtship, Sister Evanson said she recognized his goodness. She felt the nijge from the spirit, saying, “I’ll find happiness here.”
They married on December 20, 1989 at Salt Lake Temple. “I wake up every morning and make sure she still thinks it’s a good idea,” Elder Evanson said.
Their lives were quickly flooded with toddlers, homework and sports practices, and they were always served in churches. Over the years, Elder Evanson served as quorum chairman of the elders, ward, young male president of the stake, high councillor and stake president.
Sister Evanson said:
Through “God’s Design” and expertise, Elder Evanson decided not to apply to medical school instead, as he originally planned and pursued dental school. He received his bachelor’s and dentistry degree from the University of Alberta, practiced at Lethbridge, where he raised his family.
As the children got older, sister Evanson received a degree in exercise science and taught her how to teach fitness classes in Canada, the US and the Caribbean. As a family, they play sports, play games, watch movies and enjoy the outdoors.
The five Evansons children are currently serving full-time missions, scattered across the US and Canada, pursuing education, building careers and raising their own families.
One activity that the elder and sister Evanson wanted to do as a couple was hiking. In 2020, the two hiked to 64 summits during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The perk of being assigned as a mission leader for Utah from 2021 to 2024 gave access to many mountain trails in the area. They spent a lot of preparation on hiking their boots.
“We love the challenge. We love the views. We love the ability to summit something and then start over,” Elder Evanson said.
Sister Evanson pointed out to the children and missionaries, “If you reach the top of the mountain and look around, you’ll see that there’s always a mountain to climb.”
This new call brings a new “mountain” of opportunities for potential challenges and scenic views. “So we just keep going up,” Elder Evanson said.
He knows from experience – “The Savior can help any of us do what he asks us to do.”
About Elder James E. Evanson
Family: James Eugene Evanson was born on August 16, 1968 in Taver, Alberta, Canada to Dale Eugene and Phyllis Bell Tanner Evanson. He married Jodie Karilzobel, also of southern Alberta, at Salt Lake Temple on December 20, 1989. They have five children and 11 grandchildren.
Education: He received his Bachelor of Science in Dental Materials in 1993 and a Doctor of Dentistry from the University of Alberta in 1995.
Employment: For over 26 years, he worked as a private dentist.
Church Service: President of Utah Orem Mission (2021-24), 70 locals, Stake President, High Councillor, Ward, Stake Young Male Chairman, Key Teachers and Missionaries of the Arizona Tempe Mission. At the time of his call, he was the leader of brave activities.
