I find myself wondering how you can be so affected by the passing of a man who, by all accounts, you don't really know. I feel that way about President Hinckley. I am sure may of you do too. I am so relieved at the knowledge that I have that the church remains true, and that there will be a new and wonderful leader for our church. However, I still feel like a have a little hole in my heart tonight. I had the opportunity once to shake President Hinckley's hand, a sheer coincidence. I was a student at BYU at the time, and having a VERY bad day. I was standing outside the Wilkinson Center next to the driveway waiting for a ride to come and pick me up. Out of nowhere, men in suits appeared to block off the street, and I watched a green Towncar pull through the cones and right up to the door of the Wilk where I was standing. Another man in a suit got out of the front seat of the car, opened the rear passenger door, and President Hinckley appeared from behind the tinted glass window. No one knew he was coming, so there were a very few students standing there. He shook every one of our hands on his way into the building. He looked right into my eyes, and I knew. I knew that he was a remakable man. I knew that he was a prophet of God. I knew that I was privileged to shake his hand that day. So, here's to you President Hinckley. You will be greatly missed. And thank you for saving my very bad day.
7 comments:
What a wonderful story...Thanks for the memory.
Ok, for some reason that totally made me cry. I have heard the story even. I guess I too am just feeling a little sensitive for the loss. He truly was remarkable. I think he is even happier where he is now though!
I love that post, Angie. Thanks for sharing that special experience. I loved that man!
yes, thanks for this post Angie! I've been thinking a lot lately about how glad/blessed I am to have had President Hinckley as the prophet of my "coming of age" years. He truly has taught me a lot and helped me to be a better person. He sure will be missed.
I am sitting here crying too, and I have also heard the story. I think that we are all just feeling a little tender in this regard. The world is going to miss this amazing man, but boy will Sister Hinckley be happy to see him!
Thanks for sharing that Ang. When you said, "He looked right into my eyes, and I knew." that's when my heart strings felt a tug. What an honor and a blessing for you.
I have to admit I'm so jealous you got to shake his hand. Probably because I missed meeting President Hinckley in a special SLC Mission Christmas missionary meeting. I left the MTC to report to the mission home a week later and all the missionaries were talking about it. Honestly, I'm still bummed to this day that I didn't report a week earlier so I could meet him. He's the only prophet I've ever "known". Pr. Benson had just died and of course Pr. Hunter was only in for a short time when I joined the church.
Thanks again for sharing!
Dagger to the heart... In reference to my last comment, did you guys catch the tribute stuff on the BYU channel during the funeral procession today? You know how I missed meeting Pr. Hinckley by one week on my mission? Well... Did you see the clip where the two elders hugged Pr. Hinckley and about knocked him over? That was THE meeting AND the sister missionary waiting in line after them (if you noticed) was my first mission companion, Sr. Williams. I threw a fit when I saw that on the TV. I think Troy thought I was going to have a conniption fit! It was bad enough that I was already emotional but they (BYU TV) just had to go and throw that clip in there. Ugh!
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