The three of us were able to go down to the Conference Center today for President Hinckley's viewing. There were so many people that we were there for about 2 hours, 1 to 3 pm. We enjoyed chatting with others in line, and kids behind us made our daughter laugh. A teenager made these little snowmen on a wall; I had to turn on the camera!
Well, it was worth the cold and the long wait. The nice Conference Center people were good at changing things when they needed to. They wanted us inside quickly so we could be warm and sit down while we waited some more. Then as a group of us were led to an escalator going up, we were asked not to talk at all or take pictures. That silence let us think and feel. For me, the beautiful paintings and sculptures, especially of Joseph Smith, added to the Spirit. We had a few seconds to walk past the open casket, and the emotions we felt were powerful. Words cannot describe it, but "heavenly" comes close. My testimony of the gospel was strengthened. D cried; I almost did.
As we walked back to the Trax station we talked about how we hadn't been prepared for that moment when we saw President Hinckley's body (dressed in white, of course) -- that we had almost forgotten that that was the reason we were there. It was good to feel what we felt. We are so glad we took advantage of this rare opportunity to be very close to a prophet.
(going home)
That's a really cool story that you can pass down to your children't children. I know this is probably a vain wish, but I wish we were still there so we could have participated as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to go and do that, how neat to be that close to such a wonderful prophet. I wish we had been in Salt Lake so we could've had the opportunity, it will be nice to go and visit his grave one day when we're back in town.
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