Just over a week ago, I was driving with Sterling from Cedar City back home. We had just filled our tank after running out of gas somewhere between Summit and Parowan. We were finally on our way again and enjoying uninterrupted conversation with each other.
Sterling's phone rang. He checked it and put it back in his shirt pocket without answering. Five minutes later it rang again.
"Same number," he said. "Its the church."
He answered. Within seconds he began waving his free arm, his mouth wide open.
"Yes. Ok. Wow!" Then he mouthed to me The prophet is coming to stake conference!
President Nelson? I mouthed back.
Sterling nodded and grinned like a little boy just informed he was going to Disneyland!
And so it began. Our week-long preparation to host the prophet.
We were to keep it top secret. I'm convinced that if I hadn't been in the car at the time of the phone call, Sterling never would have told me.
Sterling went on with preparation for the program as it was previously planned. Never letting on to his presidency that everything was going to change Sunday morning. The other speakers had no idea. No one knew a thing.
In the meantime, Sterling was exchanging phone calls and emails with Pres. Nelson's personal secretary. He met the security team at the church to make sure everything was prepared for and ready to run smooth.
I was told that I was now off the hook for speaking. Phew. I was now in charge of making six sack lunches for the president, his wife and security.
Saturday night, after the adult session, after most everyone had gone home, Sterling pulled his presidency into his office and told them the news. They were shocked. Especially President Vance, who's family was in Las Vegas, NV. He rushed home at 9:00pm and called them and told them to come home.
And come home they did. They left at 10:00pm and drove to St. George. Slept for a couple of hours and then drove straight to the church Sunday morning. Driving all night in horrible snowy weather. Their faith and diligence in coming to see the prophet was palpable when they walked in the door a few minutes before the prophet arrived.
The opening hymn was "Come, Come Ye Saints" and in my heart I knew that song was dedicated to the Vance family.
No one told their kids why we were meeting at the church until we were in the parking lot that morning. Even the Vance's. They drove all night without knowing (except Lindy, the mom).
My children had some inkling because they helped me make the lunches but they didn't know who for. And Camille helped me make a card (I wished I'd gotten a picture of it). It said "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" on the front and had a picture of a temple on the back.
We waited patiently in the high council room until the prophet arrived. The security team gave us a warning when he was 5 minutes away.
We were all excited and nervous and jittery but the moment President Nelson and his wife, Wendy, stepped into the room, immediate calmness followed. Actually, the calmness preceded him. He asked a little about our families and who was who. Then we were invited to take pictures.
We didn't have much time because he wanted to meet with the presidency before the meeting started and to be on the stand 10 minutes before the meeting began. So we filed through, taking pictures and shaking his hand.
He had energy and a spring in his step as he entered the room. He wasn't tired or slow. His body looked old but his spirit seemed to shout enthusiasm and encouragement and energy. His eyes were focused and piercing. He stared and listened to everyone who spoke to him as if they were the most important person in the room. Even if it was just 'Hello and thank you for being here." That was all I could manage to sputter out. I gave Sister Nelson a big hug. Man, I love that woman.
It was so special to see each of my children introduce themselves and shake the prophet's hand. We took our seats in the chapel, still reeling from the short time we had with President Nelson. My parents joined us, thinking that I was still speaking. My mom looked at me funny, wondering why I wasn't sitting on the stand.
The side door opened to the chapel and the stake presidency walked in followed by President Nelson. We stood. My mom turned to me and asked, "Does your stake always stand for the stake president?"
"Look again mom," I said.
Her mouth dropped open and she gasped. "That's President Nelson. President Nelson is here? That's the prophet."
Her reaction was multiplied throughout the congregation as realization and recognition of our special guest spread through the chapel and cultural hall.
I'm sure the reaction was the same in the other two ward buildings where stake conference was being broadcast, our stake building being too small to hold all the members.
The speakers on the stage were flabbergasted. A senior primary boy (11 yrs old?), a deacon, a recently returned sister missionary and a mom. The choir were in tears.
And the meeting began.
Ted Boren led the sustaining of the church officers, which is done every stake conference. Only this time, when we sustained President Nelson as seer, prophet and revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was sitting right before us. We raised our hand to the square and sustained him in his office.
And then, we sustained our local leadership. Sterling Charles Brown as stake president and his counselors. And President Nelson raised his hand to the square to sustain them.
Think about that.
When will that ever happen again, to have the prophet physically sustain you in your calling by raising his hand. It was pretty touching and emotional for me to witness that.
I have so much to say about the meeting. The opening hymn was "Come Come Ye Saints." Sterling opened his hymn book and offered it to Pres. Nelson. He smiled and said, "I've got this one memorized. During the intermediate hymn "Firm as a Foundation" he said the same thing. It was so cute to watch.
Sterling gave a wonderful talk about being a light on a hill and serving those around us. He gave several examples of service from the members of the stake. The other speakers did such a great job as well. Especially the two young men. They were well prepared and very articulate. The deacon, when he was finished, instead of sitting down, walked over to the prophet and shook his hand. Pres. Nelson stood and gave him a big hug.
That is just one example of the many ways that Pres. Nelson was completely present in the moment, serving and loving as the moments presented themselves, led by the spirit person by person.
Sister Nelson spoke and as I have already said, I love her. She said the spirit told her to scrap the talk she had prepared and to share something completely different.
She talked about preparing for general conference. She told a personal story about taking a specific question to the lord and expecting him to answer during conference. She was engaged at BYU but was having doubts. So she took the question to conference. She was recording the conference sessions for her family in Canada. Every single talk on Saturday had to do with marriage. And the answer she felt was to break off the engagement. So she did.
Later, she was asked to speak on marriage for something, so she looked up the tape she had recorded all the talks on marriage and lo and behold, not one of them had really been on marriage.
(My mom had been nodding yes through this part and Sister Nelson looked at her and said, "Yeah, you were there. You know." It was so cute)
So her point was that God will speak to you if you prepare for conference. If not through the words and topics of conference, it will be through the spirit.
She spoke of different ways to prepare, like fasting, going to the temple, doing a service project, engaging in family history more. And then praying and coming with a specific question.
She said, "Excercise your agency to authorize the Holy Ghost to teach you."
She told a second story about one year, she didn't know what her question should be. She had her PhD and was a professor at a great university in Canada. She prayed to ask what her question should be. Her answer was this question:
"Am I doing everything in my life I should be doing?"
I was blown away because I have been struggling with this exact thing only I haven't had the words to put to the feelings. Just a general feeling of unrest and untapped potential and loss of direction. Uneasiness. And now here stood Sister Nelson saying this to me.
AM I DOING EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE I SHOULD BE DOING?
This was a direct answer to a prayer I should have already prayed but hadn't!
And now I have a little more direction as I prepare myself for General Conference.
President Nelson spoke next and one of the first things he said was, "Your stake president gave a wonderful talk. That was worth coming, just to see and hear him talk."
Ok, I just have to say, I wish so bad I could have taken pictures in the chapel, because I want to remember forever the moments when Pres. Nelson would lean in toward Sterling and their heads would nearly be touching as they conversed. That happened several times. And then the couple of times when Pres. Nelson put his armed around Sterling's shoulders and squeezed and smiled and loved him. Those images are priceless in my mind. I can only imagine the feelings that Sterling is wanting to tuck away and hold on to forever!
Pres. Nelson would also turn all the way around in his seat and look at the choir sing. I'm sure he looked each one of them in the eyes. Once again, living in the middle of the moment, serving each individual. He shook the hand of the organist and thanked her after the opening hymn. He shook the hand of the choir director and thanked her after the first choir number. Serving one by one in the moment.
President Nelson acknowledged that 30% of our stake is age 3-11. That's a crazy percentage. He quoted this scripture: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." (Isaiah 54:13)
Then he talked about what to teach our children to help them ave peace. This is a little lengthy but I'm going to type it all out anyway.
* Teach them they are children of God. Their body is a temple.
He had all the primary children stand. He told them to wave their hands. A few of them did. Then he said, "Come on, wave your hands in the air like french fries." That got a good laugh. It was so cute. Then he had all the children sing "I Am a Child of God." It was so precious. So beautiful. All our precious, beautiful children.
*Teach them how to pray. "Prayers don't need to be long or eloquent. But they need to be."
*Help them understand the Savior, His atonement. Help them understand why we partake of two emblems of the sacrament.
*Help them understand why we have prophets. Teach them about joseph Smith and the Restoration. There were 588 pages of manuscript of the first Book of Mormon. Its estimated that they had a total of 65 days to translate the plates. That averages 9 pages per day. Today, when the church translates scripture to another language they average 1 page per day. What does it feel like to read 9 pages of the Book of Mormon per day. It takes time and effort. The Book of Mormon HAS to be true. And Joseph Smith HAD to have been a prophet to accomplish what he did.
*Read the scriptures to your children. He said during a period of his life when he was really busy at the hospital, he would come home and all the children would be in bed. And he would wake them up and read the scriptures to them because it was important to him that they hear his voice reading the scriptures.
*Help them understand the restoration of the priesthood.
*Let family history begin in your own home.
*Make the temple present in your home.
*Teach them to be tithe payers.
*Teach them about the word of wisdom
*Help them defend themselves against pornography
*Help them get all the good education they can. Don't let them cop out.
*Encourage them to be good missionaries. He told us the church needs more missionaries.
*Learn a second language.
Teach them to be good citizens.
(I just found a similar talk to this by Pres. Hinckley Oct. 2000, "Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy Children")
Phew. That's quite the list. But as I look at it, I realize I am already doing my best to live those things. And if nothing else, at least I can teach by example and then use the small opportunities when they come, to teach in greater detail.
Then he offered a prophetic blessing, asking us to feast on the words of Christ and apply their teachings and to be good examples. He blessed those with illness or bereavement. He blessed us with the strength, health, understanding and peace that come through Christ and blessings consistent with the will of the Lord.
At least that's what I can remember. I was honestly so filled with the spirit and good feelings from the meeting I was over flowing and just could not fit any more in.
The meeting ended and the congregation stood as he left. The organist played "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." Some of us sang but most of us were crying.
Sterling said he and Sister Nelson left in separate cars. They took the lunches and the card I had prepared with them.
(I later heard that one of his granddaughters was blessing a baby in another ward in Saratoga Springs and he went there so I think they were kind of in a rush to get to that meeting.)(And also, Katie McCurdy said her brother is married to one of Pres. Nelson's granddaughters, might be the same one. At the dinner later that night Pres and Sister Nelson commented on the reverence of our stake, given the number of children.)
O my, it was a whirlwind. A beautiful whirlwind I'm still processing in my mind.
After the meeting, mom and dad came for lunch. Then Sterling had to leave to drive to St. George. Poor guy never gets a break. After dinner, (you can see leftovers on the table in the picture) I had the children find their journals and write down what they remember and the things they don't want to forget.
I really love what my friend, Kelli Boren, said about her experience. (Her husband is Sterlings' 2nd counselor)
As I continue to process this amazing experience, I'm sure more thoughts and insights will come. I never want to forget it. (Thus the enormously long post).
I know we have a prophet today. The Lord has not left his children without direction in this dangerous time in the history of the world. President Nelson is the man God has called to be the prophet right now. He loves us. He is an example of tireless service, loving the individual and serving one by one, seeking always for the opportunity in the present moment to reach out and touch someone.
I asked the sisters in our ward to send me keywords they learned from Pres. Nelson's talk. Using those words and their frequency, I made this word cloud of all the things Pres. Nelson counseled us to teach our children.
I also invited moms in the ward to send in a picture of their children to make a collage as a way to remember singing "I Am a Child of God" with the prophet.
