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

The Huntsman Jet that President Monson uses

Place: Safford Regional Airport, Arizona
Purpose: Gila Valley Temple Dedication and Celebration

A family had the chance to go to the airport on Saturday to see President Monson’s jet fly in to Arizona.  While they were there they had the chance to chat with him and the other General Authorities with him.  One of them writes:

At the airport, we were told by the bodyguards (there were about 10 of them) that we were allowed to take pictures, but that we couldn’t yell or make a huge fuss. There were about 10 adults and 10 children in our party. Elders Walker and Costa of the 70, Elder Holland of the 12, and President Eyring and Monson were all there. I wanted to enjoy the moment, so I didn’t get very many pictures. Only Presidents Monson and Eyring came over to say “hello,” and all of the other guys and ladies got into the awaiting cars, so I didn’t get any pics of them. President Monson was so funny and acted like a typical grandparent, “Let’s see these kids,” he said as he walked over. He gave the kids high 5 and shook hands with them. To Joy, who didn’t say a word and was acting bashful, he said, “A shy one! That’ll be a good trait to have in 10 years!” If only he knew! Joy is a very outgoing, boycrazy kindergartener.

After about 5 minutes or so, President Eyring started tugging on President Monson’s suitcoat and said, “We need to go. You’re going to get hot out here.” Motioning to the terminal, President Monson replied, “Why don’t we go in there where it is cool and visit then!” The exasperated, but patient Elder Eyring said, “Because we have things we need to do.” After visiting, mostly with the kids, a few moments longer, they left. Wow! To stand just 3 feet from the prophet and be with him for 5 minutes! What a privilege! Joy was thrilled…and so were Dale and I!

Read more details, and see more pictures, at the link below:
Way exciting weekend!

President Monson greets some members on the side of the road in Arizona

Place: Thatcher, Arizona
Purpose: Gila Valley Temple Celebration and Dedication

Shortly after President Monson arrived at the Safford Regional Airport in Arizona, yesterday, his traveling party made it’s way towards the town of Thatcher, a few miles away.  Some members had gathered on the road along the route to wave as he drove by.  Instead, all the cars stopped on the road, and President Monson, President Eyring, and Elder Holland stepped out to meet and greet the people.

Here is how one of the members describes the experience:

Here the 6-7 car entourage comes over the hill and we are all so excited we start waving early just to make sure our hands are up when He drives by. Then we see which car he is in and keep waiving…….and the car stops and pulls over! Then all the other cars pull over and once all cars stopped and security personnel got out and blocked traffic the Prophet, President Henry B Eyring and Elder Jeffrey R Holland got out of their cars and came over and started talking to us and shaking hands. When the Prophet saw Talley He gave her a Hi-Five and put both his hands on her shoulders and started telling her that he liked her yellow shirt because that is his favorite color, and proceeded to tell her at length why yellow is his favorite color for it seemed like 5 minutes. Then he said one more time “give me five” and they slapped hands! We all were able to shake hands with all three. He made sure he talked to everyone and shook their hands. More and more people started trying to stop and before we knew it there was like 30+ people there. The Spirit flows through every handshake and everyone there had tears in their eyes. Then we started singing “We Thank The O God For a Prophet” while he was walking away and He stopped and turned and faced us and sang with Gusto with us! It was amazing to hear this man sing. Then when it was over he waved and walked away…..not without making us all laugh first! When he got to the yellow center line of the road he put both hands out like a tight rope walker and “walked the line” for us all then got to his car waved one more time and left. I don’t think any person in the world could have any doubt in their mind that the Church is true if they had the opportunity to see and meet and feel the spirit that radiates from the Prophet of the Church, it penetrates the soul! AMAZING!

To read more about the experience, and see more photos, see the link below:
We Got to Meet President Monson!

The LDS blog Segullah recently posted some anecdotes about President Monson.  One may or may not be true, as it is told several times removed from the source.  The other was told by Elder Lansing of the Seventy that spoke at a stake conference last weekend.

The first story is about a woman who is not a member of the Church, but who has a coworker who is, and who she speaks with often about the Church.  While the women is traveling on one occasion she meets a nice older gentleman, and they have a conversation:

…she finds out the gentleman is also a member of the church. She tells him about her co-worker [the member]. They talk and have a friendly conversation. As their meeting is coming to a close he asks her to tell her friend hello. Puzzled, she asks, “Will she know you?” He answers, “Yes, she probably will. Tell her Tommy Monson says hello.”

The second story is Elder Lansing’s account of President Monson’s visits to Elder Marion D. Hanks, who is in the hospital with Alzheimer’s disease.  The things that President Monson did for his friend is touching.

Read the stories and the additional anecdotes in the comments at Segullah:
I’m Trying to Be Like…

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: Holladay, UT
Purpose: Going to church at his home ward

Occasionally President Monson has the opportunity to attend his home ward in Holladay, Utah.  This past Sunday, Valentine’s Day, he did just that, and met with several young church members who were happy to get to speak with him for a few minutes.

As the presiding authority, President Monson sat on the stand for the sacrament meeting, and even spoke some at the end.  Sister Kirsten Nicole recalls:

I was surprised at how casual he was… It was really cute actually! He spoke about missionary work around the world. At one point he was talking about being in Mexico. He mentioned how he sang to 95,000 Mexican saints at an event there. And then he began to sing the song to us… in Spanish… over the pulpit, with hand motions and everything. It was fantastic!! Continue reading