A man of God

I love conference weekend. It's a time to refresh and be counseled on what we need to be doing better in our life. I am constantly becoming aware of the little and big things that I need to improve on whether it's me seeing those flaws in myself or others that feel they need to tell me, but I love that only Heavenly Father and his elect can judge me righteously. He is the only one that knows my heart and knows my true strengths and weaknesses.

But back to conference, I just want to say what a great prophet we have here on this earth. I think that it's been a transition for most to get into the habit of saying "President Monson" instead of "President Hinckley". I love President Hinckley and all he did to progress the work of the Lord. He taught us all a lot. I've learned that each prophet has his purpose and his time. The pioneers needed a "Brigham Young" to get them to Zion. And I know that President Monson is the prophet now to help us saints progress even more. He will bring a different kind of strength to us followers.

I don't have many personal stories about prophets, but my grandparents had an experience a few months ago that I think tells the kind of man that President Monson is. My grandpa was in a nursing home for a little while, recovering from an illness. He was only in there for a month or two but he hated it there. He would cry when my grandma would leave him at night. Just some background on him, he had a stroke 11 years ago and has lost most of his speaking skills and his ability to walk very well. He was not a member of the church when he had his stroke. After he went through some rehab he was able to come home but he still couldn't move around well or talk well, it was really frustrating for him. But he made the choose a few years after his stroke that he wanted to be baptized, so he's been a faithful member ever since. While he was in the nursing home, my grandma, 2 aunts and 2 cousins came to the center on a Sunday for Sacrament meeting. As they were in the meeting, President Monson walked in unexpectedly. He was invited to give a few words and then he went to mingle with the people in the center. He is a frequent visitor of this center in Salt Lake, and he always ditches his "secret service" (which they get frustrated with, my friend's dad is one of them) to have some time to mingle with these people that are so close to the veil. He drives his own car there and home, no escort. Anyway, President Monson sat and played a song on the piano with my aunt after the service, it's a song that almost everyone knows on the piano that two people play. He was playing the bottom and she was playing the top. He kept scooting over towards her, practically shoving her off the bench. Finally my aunt nearly fell off the bench and he said "You know why I did that right?" She said no. He said "Because I think I would do better playing the top hand and you playing the bottom hand." My 2 cousins went up and talked to him and after a while, one of my aunts went up and said "You guys need to let him go, you are wasting time" to which he replied "they are not wasting my time, I am wasting their time." At this point my grandma asked if he would come over to my grandpa who is in a wheel chair and meet him. So he went over and shook my grandpa's hand, and my grandpa just sobbed. He's so sensitive to the spirit, and he knew just like I do, that he is a man called of God.