LDS Blog Challenge Day 7

07. Your favorite Prophet and why?

This one is way easy for me.  Gordon B. Hinckley. 

He is the only prophet I remember growing up. And for one of my Personal Progress projects I read his biography.  He is just such an inspirational man.  All the work he did for the Church is just amazing on so many levels.  Since the day, he got home from his mission he was working for the Church.  And then he was called to be a General Authority and devoted even more time and energy.  It was awesome to read his story.  Then to think of all the temples that were built during his leadership.  Goodness gracious, that is a lot of lives that were touched, a lot of families that were sealed, a lot of baptisms for those who had already passed.

And he was so positive until the day he died.  I loved it.  He lived to the age of 97 (and a half) and he never ever complained about getting older or the aches and pains that come with aging.  No, every single General Conference he got up in front of us with his warm smile and told a joke.  He was a little worker bee until the day he died.  And here I am only 21 and I definitely am a bum sometimes.  I am not nearly as productive as I should be.  And I complain way more than I should.  But President Hinckley was a million times better than me, that's why the Lord choose him to be the prophet :-)

Now to be fair, I also love President Monson but I don't know him as well.  I haven't gotten around to reading his biography yet and frankly, I am still getting a feel for him as our prophet and what his main goals will be.  But he is also a wonderful man who is just filled to the brim with wonderful stories and experience.  There are two things that have really stuck out to me so far since he was sustained as Prophet, Seer and Revelator.  The first is the Warm Fuzzies.  At his birthday, he said that the ideal birthday present from the Saints would be to "Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her." The next year for his birthday, he started getting letters and cards in the mail about all the service the Saints (especially Primary children) had done.  But his favorite was a large jar of warm fuzzies, each one representing an act of service the Primary children had done.  I love it, I would like to think that when I get to heaven, I will have my own very large jar full of warm fuzzies to give to my Heavenly Father as a gift to show him of all the love I shared with his other children.

Warm Fuzzies

The second thing that sticks out to me about President Monson's service so far is his constant reminder to listen to the Spirit and do service now!!  Technically that is two things that connects to the previous one but anyways, he is always telling of his service as a bishop to the elderly widows in his ward and how even after he was released he watched out for them.  And then there is the story of the one time he didn't heed the Spirit.  He stayed in a Church meeting til the end so as to not draw attention to himself leaving the stand early.  When he got to the hospital to visit the man he had been prompted to visit, the man had passed.  He had been calling for President Monson before he died.  What a heart-wrenching story that teaches us to listen to the Spirit and act immediately.