Sunday, June 1, 2008

Elder Holland was a Rockstar!

You would have thought he was a rockstar, by how excited I was to meet him. Remember we live in Missouri, so I don't get to see apostles walking their dogs, or Prophets at football games. We don't even get to meet " the friend of a friend of a Prophet's Uncle" very often. So last night was a big deal to me.

Adam said when he walked into meet Elder Holland, Elder Holland's first comment was "You guys really had to reach down into the Aaronic Priesthood to find a clerk" (cause he looks so young), Adam immediately responded with "That's funny, cause on the way here I was thinking, I feel like a Deacon passing the sacrament for the first time."

So dinner was great. My friend Kelli, had told me beforehand that it was going to be a light dinner, so honestly I wasn't expecting much. Actually I was just expecting some salad with pieces of chicken on it, but it turned out to be a huge salad, with all sorts of fun things on it, like eggs and avocado, and chicken, and peppers and mushrooms (you get the picture).

So here it what I like about Elder Holland. He seems like he really cares. Even if he doesn't you would never know, because he really comes off as if he cares about you and your life. He asks questions about you and actually seems interested in the answers.

During dinner he asked Adam, what our baby's name was. Adam confidently replied, "Tommy"... I thought that Adam would realize his mistake and fix it, but that didn't happen. I said, "Actually, it's not, it's Preston", so apparently even Adam gets a little tongue tied around Amazing Individuals. I'm just happy that he remembered his own name.

Honestly the talk given by Elder Holland was even more amazing than my dinner. Beforehand, I really wondered if it would be much different, than any other talk, but it was wonderful. Adam took great notes during that talk, here are some of my favorite comments:

  • We are under covenant to sacrifice. If it is not the sacrifice you wanted then maybe it really is a sacrifice

  • On Trials: Endure and save yourself for days of happiness ahead. We have been happy and we will be happy again. This is the church of happy endings.

  • Still on Trials:. Endure. Stiffen your shoulders and square your back. If you can’t make an ounce of progress, plant your feet and stand. It will get better.

I really liked hearing that when you are in the middle of a "storm", that it is enough to just try and hold your ground. That you don't always have to be "moving forward". I hope I can be reminded of this, during my next hard time... whenever it comes.

So, thank you Elder Holland for a wonderful visit. Thank you for remembering my name and my children's names, thank you for smiling and taking the time to care. Your visit was the highlight of my month.

5 comments:

This Is Our Heaven.... said...
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This Is Our Heaven.... said...

lol....I had to laugh when you said, "We don't even get to meet " the friend of a friend of a Prophet's Uncle" very often." Did you know that you have been living next to the great great great (don't know how many greats) niece of Lorenzo Snow? Thats right!! =O) But on a serious note....His talk WAS amazing, wasn't it? He is such a great man, and i'm glad we got the opportunity to have him in our stake conference! I'm still jealous that you got to have dinner with him =O) lol...and thats funny about Adam getting Preston's name wrong! What did he say when you corrected him?

Aim said...

How awesome! I am so glad you got to meet him and talk to him, how cool. Sounds like he gave agreat talk. So funny that Adam got tongue-tied, I would too! Loved the little tid-bits you included about what he said, just the things I needed to keep truckin along!

Meg said...

That's great you got to have dinner with Elder Holland. By the way, after living in Utah for over 10 years, I have never seen the prophet walk his dog. Does he even have a dog? Those were great comments you posted from his talk. I wish I could have been there. But maybe I'll be there for New Kids.

Heidi said...

Thanks for sharing those tidbits from Elder Holland. Sure lifted my day.