Follow The Prophet – The Words & Deeds of God's Living Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

President Monson Speaking. Photo by August Miller/Deseret Morning News

The 180th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held this weekend, April 3-4, 2010, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Messages will be given by President Monson, God’s prophet and spokesman on the Earth today, his counselors, President Eyring and President Uchtdorf, and by each of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Messages will also be given by other General Authorities and officers of the Church.

The schedule is as follows:

• Saturday, April 3rd, General Session, 10:00am MDT
• Saturday, April 3rd, General Session, 2:00pm MDT
• Saturday, April 3rd, Priesthood Session, 6:00pm MDT
• Sunday, April 4th, General Session, 10:00am MDT
• Sunday, April 4th, General Session, 2:00pm MDT

LDS.org notes, “The First Presidency invites all members of the Church to participate by attending, viewing, or listening via television, radio, satellite, or Internet transmission at www.lds.org.”

The Church News reports that more than 100,000 people will attend the Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Many millions more will participate by other means.  Here are the different modes of listening to or viewing Conference: (more info here)

• Internet – Video and audio streams are available on LDS.org.  Video streams are provided in five languages.  Audio streams are provided in 76 languages.
• Television – KSL Channel 5, BYU-TV, BYU-TV International, and KBYU-HD.  On DirecTV it is channel 374, and on Dish Network it is channel 9403.
• Radio – KSL News Radio, BYU Radio, BYU Radio International, and KBYU-FM.
• Other – the Conference will be made available in a number of media formats in the following days and weeks.

The Church has also prepared materials for small children to also benefit from Conference.

Take this opportunity to listen to the prophet of God, the man God has chosen on Earth today to give us the word of God.

Place: Little America Hotel, Salt Lake City, UT
Purpose: Unknown

A couple was at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake last Saturday, March 13th, for an all-day training conference.  At the end of their training they were getting ready to go home when they saw the prophet near an elevator.  They don’t know why he was at the hotel, but they described their encounter:

Then as we were getting ready to leave I heard someone say to their dad, “Dad, there’s the prophet.” So I start to look around and sure enough there he was waiting to get on the elevator. So Randy and I walked over by him (we were three steps away from him). We didn’t get to shake his hand or anything because there was a crowd, but it was so neat to see the prophet just walking around in regular life. He was with his wife who was in a wheelchair, someone was pushing her, and I’m pretty sure he had to security guard type guys with him. He was being his usual self and joking around, when we walked over to him there was a girl giving him a hug and she was crying. She was saying, “oh this is so embarrassing,” President Monson said something about not wanting to make the girls cry. Then as he was standing right next to the elevator he was standing next to a guy who was taller then him and President Monson made the comment about him squatting a little so he would be shorter then him (President Monson). Anyway, hopefully that all made sense, even though we didn’t get to say anything to him or shake his hand it was so awesome to be that close to him. I’m pretty sure that’s the closest I’ve ever been to an apostle let alone the President of the church. It was so amazing!!

Place: Ensign Stake Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Purpose: William Robert McConkie’s Funeral

Last Saturday, March 13th, President Monson attended and spoke at the funeral of Br. William Robert McConkie, who passed away earlier this month, the youngest brother of Bruce, Briton, James, Margaret (Bill J. Pope), and Oscar W. McConkie Jr.  A grandchild describes the service:

We went to Grandfather McConkie’s funeral, at his funeral the Prophet came. The front row was reserved for the immediate family so we went to go sit on the front row. One of our relatives told us that we shouldn’t sit on the front row, in case our children are too noisy for the prophet, because they will be distracting. Seth told her that the Prophet loves children and that we are going to sit on the front row. We listened to the program and at the end Pres. Monson stood up to speak. He mostly spoke about Bruce R. but the stories he told were pretty funny. In his speech he mentioned the beautiful children on the front row, which was Jordan and Atticus. Then half way through his speech he looked down at Jordan, because she was pointing at him. Pres. Monson said, “little girl, look up here, watch my ears.” Then Pres. Monson wiggled his ears for Jordan. After the program was over, everyone stood up after Pres. Monson stood up and Jordan ran up on the stand right to him. They held both hands together and Grandpa was right their ready with the camera and took their picture. Then Jordan led him off the stage holding his hand, he met me at the bottom of the stairs to hand over Jordan and then he touched Atticus on the cheek and told me how cute he was. It was such a neat experience.

William Robert McConkie’s obituary

Place: Provo, Utah
Purpose: Funeral services for Marie Osmond’s son

Today at a private service in Provo, Utah, President Thomas S. Monson presided and gave the closing remarks at the funeral of Marie Osmond’s son, Michael Bryan.  The services started with Marie’s brother, Donny Osmond, giving the opening prayer, and then family members expressing their thoughts.  After the closing remarks by President Monson, the services ended with the Osmond family singing “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.”

See additional information at the following links:

Deseret News
People Magazine
Associated Press (with pictures)

It is in little acts of kindness that I think we see someone’s true character and charity.  These acts certainly follow President Monson, and are an example to us.  A blogger writes:

I had lunch with Aunt Maydae today.
She told me the best story.
Earlier this week she and some friends had dinner at the Lion House.
Maydae and her friends use the underground tunnels in SLC.
On their way home, they were passed by
President Monson in a golf cart, with a driver.
A few minutes later the driver came back, without President Monson.
The driver said,
“The boss told me to take you ladies
wherever you want to go.”
Maydae was tickled and accepted the ride home.