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(This thread was originally announcing the death of President Hinckley. Just the proper name of the church makes it hard to fit in other information on a subject line.)
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I guess I'll have to settle for a wiki link. All the local news outlets for Salt Lake are crashed and the church website doesn't have it up yet.
This means Thomas S. Monson is in all likelihood the new prophet.
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I'm sure we will all miss him-- but equally sure that he is overjoyed to be with his wife. I'm also glad to know that the work will continue, better for his leadership all these years.
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My first thought was that this was unexpected, but I guess his health hadn't been great the past few years. He's certainly going to be missed.
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posted
He spoke often of how lonely he'd been since her passing.
After she died, there was an ongoing mournfulness to the end of each General Conference. They didn't have that at this last one, I don't think. I could be wrong, but it seemed like the last time in a while they did not sing "God be with you till we meet again" at the final close.
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My first thought was how joyful an occasion it must be for Brother Hinckley to meet his Heavenly Parents and be rejoined with his wife. I am alittle envious that I cannot witness it.
He was a great man, and more importantly a good one.
My hat's off to you President Hinckley.
I wonder how long it will be until President Monson is sustained as prophet, assuming all runs as is traditional.
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We had one of those stake conferences broadcast from SLC today. Pres. Monson spoke and he seemed way more rambly than usual to me. At the end he said something to the effect that he was sure Pres. Hinckley would have wanted to be there, but he got the call so he came instead.
I didn't think anything of it at the time, but later this afternoon I thought, "wait, what if Pres. Hinckley is seriously ill and that was the cause of Pres. Monson's apparent distractedness?"
Pres. Hinckley was a great man, and he will be missed, but I am personally glad he's been released from his work here on earth and gets to be with his wife again.
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quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: My first thought was that this was unexpected, but I guess his health hadn't been great the past few years. He's certainly going to be missed.
For the last few years, I've been surprised every time that general conference has rolled around and he's still been with us.
I don't think it's ever unexpected when somebody who is 97 years old passes away.
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God bless him. He will be missed. I know each prophet has their own special place in serving the Lord, but he will be one remembered as beloved along with Pres. David O. MacKay and Spencer W. Kimball. Amazing that someone his age could do so much to bring the LDS Church into the media drenched 21st Century.
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I always knew I would be deeply saddened when President Hinckley died.. After all he was the President when I entered High school, when I graduated from two colleges, got married, had my first two children... he had been president almost half of my life! I am saddened that I won't see him give a talk again (with his sweet sense of humor) but I am glad that he is again with his wife and that he was surrounded by his family when he passed on. Thank you President Hinckley for all that you have done.
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He's been my Prophet since I was seven. Now he's gone...
However, I can't think that dying has been a rough experience for him. I mean, he's led an excellent life, by any standards; I have no doubt that he's going to do just fine later on. And to be with his wife again--that must be bliss.
My main concerns go to his family and the Church. He was an awesome leader, and must have been an awesome father/grandfather/etc. as well.
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posted
I am absolutely fascinated by the dissemination of this news. I heard it when my roommate poked her head in my bedroom door at about 10:30 pm and told my friend and me that her parents had told her on the phone. We couldn't find anything online for a while, then my friend's brother IMed her and told her there was story on KUTV. Five minutes later another roommate came upstairs and told us, having been told by her parents on the phone, but everyone already knew. I immediately came to Hatrack and found that a thread had already been made. I should have come here first.
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I am sad to lose President Hinkley - I think he's been awesome, both personally from what I can tell and for the church. He will be very, very missed, and I think we'll remember him the way we remember President McKay and President Kimball.
At 97, though, he's lived a very long and accomplished life, and he's with his wife now. I can't be sad for him personally. I think he died happy and at peace, having done very good work in his life. Good for him. I pray for us, that our next leader will be simliarly stalwart, good, and inspired.
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My sister called saying my mom had called and told her about 10:30. I woke my husband up to tell him, then told my one child who was still awake and we looked at some information about President Hinckley and about Thomas S. Monson on the internet.
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My mom wrote last week from Brazil that they had a meeting with Elder Nelson who mentioned the miracle of Pres. Hinckley's longevity, particularly since he's had colon cancer for several years, but that we needed to prepare ourselves for the fact that no one lives forever.
I believe he's been in particularly poor health for a couple of weeks. When I told my 4-year-old daughter this morning she said "I still want President Hinckley to be the prophet." Made me want to cry. I remember feeling the same way when Pres. Kimball died and Pres. Benson became prophet.
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quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: My first thought was that this was unexpected, but I guess his health hadn't been great the past few years. He's certainly going to be missed.
For the last few years, I've been surprised every time that general conference has rolled around and he's still been with us.
I don't think it's ever unexpected when somebody who is 97 years old passes away.
My thoughts exactly. I hope I live that long.
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My condolences to all of you. It sounds like President Hinckley was a wonderful man and I can tell he was very well loved.
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I'm sitting here wondering if people will be more offended by my Monson impression now that he's the (probable) prophet.
"A thought was shared...a memory...was cherished. I left Old Widow Hummaker's that day... rejuvenated... refreshed...and ready to do the will of the Lord."
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I'm so sorry for all of you. He wasn't my own spiritual leader, but I've heard only good things about him, and I gather he was very loved. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who's mourning.
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(It's okay, ScottR. The thought occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't put "President Monson tells a story about 'Little Tommy Monson'" in the center square for the next General Conference bingo card.)
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I will miss his hopefulness and gentle kindness.
He became a member of the first Presidency in 1981, over half my life ago. Even before he became "The President" of the church, he acted at times as defacto leader when Pres. Kimble, Pres. Benson and other members of the first presidency were very ill. When he became a member of the first presidency, the church had only 20 temples. There are now 124. President Hinkley dedicated 88 of those temples.
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Thomas S. Monson does have a very warm and fuzzy style generally, but I noticed that he did display (heaven help me) gravitas at the funeral of Elder Maxwell. President Benson and President Hinckley both changed noticeably on ascending to the presidency, and I am confident President Monson will as well.
I am incredibly grateful that President Hinckley was able to address us right up to the end. The lingering deaths of prior presidents were so sad.
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quote:I'm sitting here wondering if people will be more offended by my Monson impression now that he's the (probable) prophet.
Certainly some will be.
I am interested to see how this call will change President Monson. He will be the fourth man to assume the presidency of the church in my adult life and each of the previous men has been noticeably changed by the mantle of authority.
When I was a missionary in Austria in the mid 80's before the fall of the Iron Curtain, we had one couple in our mission who served in Poland. Most of couples in our mission who served in the east block countries had to return to Vienna at various intervals. On one occasion, Pres. Monson was in Vienna to hear reports from the missionaries serving in the east block. When this couple reported on the shortages and poverty among the people in Poland, President Monson took his winter coat (Mantle in German) with which he was traveling and asked them to give it to someone in Poland. President Monson is a very big man and it took this couple some time to find a member in Poland big enough to wear his coat. The sister missionary reported that during the time before they were able to give away the coat, whenever she felt down in the dumps she would put on Elder Monson's coat and sing "We thank thee Oh God for a Prophet. I hope the man who received this coat still has it and cherish's his "mantle of the prophet".
edited to add: If Spencer Condie, who was my mission president, speaks in the coming general conference, I fully expect him to tell that story. Maybe it will show up in a Ensign article sometime in the next few months.
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I love it when President Monson doesn't have a formal talk prepared and delivers the whole thing "off the cuff." He's funny. He had Elder Wirthlin with him at a regional conference I went to, and kept calling him Speedy Wirthlin. And he had a whole list of dumb things Church members have done. I'm sure he'll still tell plenty of stories, although I agree that this is going to change him.
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We had a similar experience with Dallin H. Oaks. For a long time, I'd had the impression that he was one of the hard-liners. Then at this past stake conference, he had us laughing almost the entire time.
He was hilarious. Even the kids thought so.
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Scott: I do remember that President Monson didn't get onto myriad widow tangents until roughly 1998 or so.
Then it it became one of his trademarks.
Edit: So many people forget President Hunter. I know he was only the Prophet for several months.
I loved it when he would provide the occasional answer in the old members questions section of The Ensign. He struck a good balance of wise and witty.
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My first thought was, "Thank goodness. Now he can get some rest."
He was a great man with a great sense of humor. I will miss him dearly.
I am excited to see what will happen under President Monson.
I loved President Hunter. I am one of the few people who has a mission call signed by President Hunter. I also got to see him speak in person in the MTC. I was standing in a park in the middle of Athens, Greece when I found out he died and President Hinkley was to be prophet.
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My sincerest condolences. No matter that I'm not Mormon, he was still a good man and a brother in Christ. He will be missed.
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quote:My first thought was, "Thank goodness. Now he can get some rest."
My first thought was more of Marjorie (his wife) who died 3 1/2 years ago. Since her death, he has seemed to me like he was just hanging on until they could be reunited.
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He seemed like such an amazing and inspiring man. I'm so sorry for my friends' and for his family's loss.
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My hat's off to President Hinckley. Despite my disagreements with the Church over the years, I always felt he was a good man. Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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What a great man he was! Every time I heard him speak I felt personally loved by him. I know that he really did love all of us with his whole heart. I think that's the legacy of his that I'll remember the most.
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We had a similar experience with Dallin H. Oaks. For a long time, I'd had the impression that he was one of the hard-liners. Then at this past stake conference, he had us laughing almost the entire time.
He was hilarious. Even the kids thought so.
Elder Oaks visited my mission while I was a missionary and I had the exact same experience. He said some stuff that he had to preface with, "Now don't go telling your parents I said this, or write the Ensign saying Elder Oaks said this etc."
He then proceeded to render us all helpless with laughter. It was a deadly force when he wielded it. Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, my husband still teases me about the time I wasn't really that sick, but I stayed home from church, and Elder Oaks dropped in on our ward that day. It was the best meeting evau.
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I became really sad about this this morning. I still think all of what I said before, but I'm very sad today. That's about right - I tend to have delayed emotional reactions to things. It's like my body wants to make sure I can get out of whatever situation might be causing distress before I feel it, and this means I am usually sad well after everyone else had dealt with it.
I'm bummed. I liked President Hinkley. I loved his talks - he always felt so full of love and so...understanding about the challenges of following Christ but that it was still always the right thing to do. I really felt like he cared about everyone in the church. I got a big "don't sweat the small stuff" feel from him - not that things weren't important, but that it will be okay. I suppose that's the optimism people have been referring to.
I just saw him a few weeks ago. He was in my dad's ward in Salt Lake, so he came to sacrament meeting when I went to church with them. He seemed to be moving very carefully. Also, the last couple of conferences he seemed almost surprised to still be there - like Moroni at the end of the Book of Mormon. Didn't he say that he wasn't sure what else he had to say that he hadn't before? I guess when you've been speaking in conference 30+ years, that'll happen.
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Yes, he said an orchestra may play the same piece multiple times but a speaker is expected to say something new every time, and today he was going to say some things that he had in large part said before.
His talk on Anger that he gave in priesthood was pretty interesting.
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President Hinckley became prophet not long before I went on my mission. Since coming home I've lost my faith and left the church, but I have never lost an ounce of the respect I had for President Hinckley.
Organized religion is a dangerous tool, as it has a tremendous potential for inspiring love and hate, good and evil. President Hinckley always found a way of bringing all the best elements out of his faith, inspiring only love and doing only good. He was intelligent, hard-working, courageous, humble and generous. In word and deed, he was a marvelous example of how religion should work, and what it should be.
I choked up when I heard that he'd died. Although I no longer believe the LDS church to be literally true, I do believe that it has accomplished marvelous things under his leadership, and that the human race has lost an exemplary member with his passing.
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A friend of mine put it really well when she said that she didn't mourn Presiden Hinckley's death (because he was 97 and a great man who led a great life) so much as she mourned the passing of her childhood. I think I feel the same way -- President Hinckley was sustained as prophet when I was ten, and lasted past my young women days until the completion of my degree, my first real relationship, and my first steps of my career. It seems like President Monson will be the prophet of my adulthood -- my upcoming marriage, my complete independence from my parents, and my first long-term decisions. I'm a little sad for what I've lost, but I'm really excited about the road ahead. Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I just don't know what to think of Pres. Monson as the president of the Church. He has always been great as a support to others (be they widows or Prophets), but seems very meek for a hard-boiled world. I know that each Prophet has changed in character once they have the mantle. Still, you could always tell what direction they would take the LDS Church by previous talks and experience. Perhaps Monson will seek to increase our awareness of the less fortunate. Hardly a bad direction to take.
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I was already writing when I heard of his death, so I stopped and wrote this:
Mortal like me but so much more, I only imagine the celestial glory he has in store Taken home by divine invitation, the star of a people, the rock of a nation. A man whom sinners deny and saints dearly love, a century old now in Heaven above. Gods flagbearer, a holy crusader, President Hinckley our prophet, seer, and revelator.
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