Subscribe

RSS Feed (xml)

Powered By

Skin Design:
Free Blogger Skins

Powered by Blogger

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

We shook his hand

As I mentioned yesterday, I hauled my sick butt out of bed Sat and Sun to go to Stake Conference. I'll admit, if a member of the Quorum of the Twelve hadn't been there, I also wouldn't have been there. But I was there and I'm glad. I feel like I appreciated the experience more than I otherwise would have because I made a bigger sacrifice to be there.

Elder Anderson has a very relaxed and humorous way of speaking. I got to hear Pres. Hinckley speak once in person when I was on my mission and Elder Anderson reminds me of him. He spoke about many things, and I left feeling spiritually fed. I was most touched, however, by the apostolic blessing he left us with. He had talked about the necessity of teaching our children the gospel and then he blessed us with the strength to teach our children. I loved his word choice because my children are very intelligent and independent and the effort required to teach them is sometimes beyond me.

When the Sunday meeting ended, Elder Anderson stayed up on the stand and shook hands. I waffled about whether to take the kids up and shake his hand. I still wasn't feeling well and there were quite a few people waiting. As I debated with myself, I realized that here was a chance to teach my children. I've only had two opportunities in my entire life to shake the hand of an apostle of the Lord. I'm fully aware that neither of those two men remembers me, but I remember them and how I felt near them. These are men who are filling a very special calling. They are close to the Lord and full of His Spirit. Shaking the hand of a man like that is a unique experience and I suddenly wanted it for my kids. So up we went and shook his hand and it was worth it.

Once again, I'm sure he doesn't remember me or my family, but I'm also sure that we will never forget him.

4 comments:

Anna Dutson said...

That is so neat! Glad you and your kids had that experience.

Sorry about you being sick, hope you feel much better soon.

Sues2u2 said...

I know exactly what you mean.

Pat said...

I'm so glad you had the chance and also that the children did. I know how I felt the times I had that opportunity. I was fortunate to grow up in a "smaller" time where there weren't so many stakes/wards/branches, etc., so I got the opportunity often. It is so wonderful, I remember each of them and will always. I didn't have that spirit in my growing up years in our home so it really was unexpected and wonderful.

Love you,

Rebecca said...

OH FOR PITTY'S SAKE! I didn't realize you started blogging again! I'll keep up better.

Love ya, Steph. You're amazing.