TOGETHER AGAIN...

As many of us heard, earlier this evening in Salt Lake City President Gordon B. Hinckley quietly passed away. What a wonderful day for him, to be able to return home to the loving open arms of his sweet wife waiting ever so patiently for him. He has now faithfully completed his calling here and returns home where he belongs. When we got the phone call from Josh's parents we were sad for a brief moment, then a smile came to our faces. Gordon B. Hinckley is an example of faith, charity and virtue; someone that we can all, regardless of religion, look up to. I called my mom to tell her the news and we both talked for a minute about my great grandmother. She passed away at the age of 93 and we all thought that she would literally live forever. Sometimes we meet people in life that will always have an impact on us that forever makes us want to be better than we were the day before. For me, two of those people are Grandma Parsley and President Hinckley. I still remember the very first time I ever saw President Hinckley. I was taking the discussions over at the Lorenzi chapel and I walked in to be greeted by Elder Mensa. He has probably forgotten me now, but I haven't forgotten him. He was the first missionary I had ever met. We watched a video and at the time I had no clue who the sweet little man with the white hair was, but I did know that there was something more to what he was saying than just words. I was not familiar with the church or any of it's leaders but for some reason my heart was pounding and telling me that what he was saying was true. It is moments like these that we can't always explain to others so they understand, but we know how important they are in our personal lives. I will miss seeing him slowly walk across the stage at conference with his cane. I will miss hearing his little soft spoken voice crack when he speaks at conference. Most of all, I will miss his counsel.