Tonight we got the news that Pres. Hinckley passed away earlier this evening. It was kind of a shock and surprise (even though he's 97 years old) because I think we all just assumed that he would go on forever being the prophet and president of the Church. Many of his talks in the not-so-recent past kind of referred to the fact that thought he might be going soon, because he felt like he was ready and had accomplished what he needed to; but then recently, when he's spoken, it hasn't been so much like he's telling everyone goodbye but more like how he's planning to be around for however long the Lord wants him to be. At his last birthday celebration he even talked about maybe being around for a 100th birthday party. Steven and I are glad we were able to hear his son, Elder Richard G. Hinckley, speak last Tuesday night and the reference he made to Pres. Hinckley's recent remarks when he sealed his last grandchild in the temple and said of sealing all of his children and grandchildren in the temple: "I consider this to be the finest thing I've ever done." In talking to Tiff tonight, we decided that that must have been the last thing he needed to accomplish before he died--to have sealed all of his children and grandchildren in the temple. When he dedicated the Nauvoo temple, he thought, perhaps, that that was the last thing he was to accomplish. But he went on to give several more years of dedicated service and then to seal the last of his grandchildren in the temple before finally being able to join Sis. Hinckley on the other side of the veil. Tiffany and I thought that would surely have been a great reunion, plus being able to meet and greet Joseph Smith (and Brigham Young and all the other prophets). The next few days will be a nice time for reflection as we think about Pres. Hinckley's love and service and how he has blessed not only millions of people worldwide, but each of us individually. And we can look forward to Pres. Monson becoming the next president of the Church. Tiffany and I thought he must spend all of his time going to visit and bless people who are sick or discouraged because we hear so many stories of when he has done that. Just last Tuesday, Elder Hinckley told how Pres. Monson had gone to visit Elder Hinckley's father-in-law and had been there with him when he died. It was Pres. Monson who called the Hinckleys to tell them that Sis. Hinckley's father had passed away.
Tonight for Sunday dinner we had hamburger and rice casserole, corn and rolls. It was quite a hit with the girls. Sidney liked eating the corn off her mom's plate as opposed to eating the corn right in front of her. For a treat we had valentine sugar cookies from Allen's and peppermint ice cream. Camden and Riley were glad it wasn't cherry ice cream.
I went to cousin Brianna's mission report this morning. She was feeling much better this week than she was last week. Her subject was "Reverence," and she did a good job of speaking on reverence and also telling about her mission. She talked about how much she loved the English people and how glad she was to have served the Lord in England. She told about cleaning the house of an inactive sister who was discouraged and sad. She said the house was pretty bad. The living room was bad enough, but then it just got worse through the rest of the house. As she was cleaning, Brianna said she thought to herself, "What am I doing here? Why am I doing this?" Then she thought, "Because I love the Lord and I love this woman. I want to help her have a better life." After the meeting we all went over to Clark and Barbara's for a tasty meal of Cafe Rio style food. I must find out from Barbara how to fix it like that. It was a nice gathering of family and friends there. Grandma Cathy was there to represent Grandpa T. who wasn't able to come.
After lunch at the Roberts, I went to the MTC for sacrament meeting. I got to meet the 12 new missionaries that came in last Wednesday--eight elders and four sisters. Bro. and Sis. Ahlander spoke about temples. Sis. Ahlander said that the temple is where heaven and earth intersect. Also, the Lord is able to bless His children through temple service. Bro. Ahlander said that as the gospel is inexhaustible, so is the temple endowment--we should learn something new each time we participate. The missionary speakers were Elder Thompson and Elder Darrington. Before the meeting, Elder Gooch asked me if I knew whether or not he was going to have to speak. I told him that when a missionary asks me that, then he or she usually ends up being called on to speak; so that worried him. But he wasn't called on, much to his relief.
No comments:
Post a Comment