The Prophet of Temples

The Prophet of Temples

All of my adolescent life was during the life and presidency of Gordon B. Hinckley. He became the president of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in March of 1995, when I was just 8 years old. I listened to his council all through my teen age years and while on my mission. I even saw him in real life once while my family lived in Riverton, Wyoming during the dedication of Martins Cove.

                Gordon B. Hinckley was known for many things, but more than anything he was to credit for his vision of the Temples. He dedicated 76 temples in just eleven years. Worldwide temples grew from just 46 to 124 in this short time. This changed the church forever in my eyes. Now members across the world had the opportunity to get their endowments without having to travel for days to find the nearest temple. Right before I left on my mission in 2006 I had the temple to do the same thing. The blessings that these ordinances offered to my life are something that I can’t begin to express. To keep it short, a life without these blessings would be tenfold more difficult. While on my mission for the church these blessings and the spiritual power that I received from these covenants made the difference for me.

                While in the MTC in Provo Utah I had a rare opportunity to be there during General Conference in the fall of 2006. I had always heard of people say how great it is to be in the MTC during conference weekend. To be honest I was pretty skeptical, but knew I needed to get the most out of it. During the first few weeks most missionaries including myself go through a real self-finding process. It is the longest stretch without seeing or talking with family, one is constantly surrounded by the gospel, and with the added pressure of trying to learn a new language in just 2 months led me to draw help from any angle I could. With this search comes doubts, and one of those doubts that I had was if this guy that I had been listening to and following all these years was really a Prophet of God. Did my Heavenly Father actually call him, Gordon B. Hinckley to be a prophet, seer, and revelator in my day, just like he did with Noah, Moses, Isaiah, Abraham, and all the others?

                Instead of just assuming that he was, I made a plan to find out for sure. The way I saw it, only one person actually knew the truth and that was God. Leading up to the conference I had fasted and prayed that he would help me know for sure if President Hinckley was his prophet. Conference day came and I had still not received an answer to my prayers. The doubt still lingered in my mind. As we started walking to the meeting hall to watch and listen to conference the thought came to my mind that maybe my prayers would be answered during the conference. I remembered the story of when Brigham Young was called to be the prophet following the death of Joseph Smith. As Brigham Young made his first speech those in attendance said the saw Joseph Smith, as if his voice was coming through Brigham Young. This experience gave most members the testimony that he as truly called of God to replace Joseph Smith as the current prophet of His Church.

                We walked in and sat down and listened to the prelude music. The very first speaker was non-other than President Hinckley. Immediately following his very first word, were tears that dripped across my face. Something overtook me to where I couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore, everything was tuned out expect for my thoughts telling me that this 96 year old man was called of God, the Eternal Father. Were they my thoughts or the words of the Lord in my heart it didn’t matter, I knew that my doubts were gone. He was a modern day Moses, Abraham, or Noah called of God to help me reach my full potential and led me and the other billions of people in the world back to God.

                I took that knowledge to El Salvador and spread it to everyone that I came in contact with. This knowledge and testimony that I had was a treasure and it needed to be shared with the world. About a year after that conference while I was in Provo, I was serving in the mission office as the Mission Presidents assistant. I got a call in the evening from President Call telling me the worst news I had heard in a long time. President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away and he needed me to call each zone to tell them the news. My heart sank as the only thought I had was regret that I didn’t seek out a personal testimony years before when I had the chance. I could have done more with this testimony if I had more time, but thankfully the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth. This means that a new prophet would be called. Not long after Thomas S. Monson was called to replace him did I earn a personal testimony that he too was called of God to serve as a Prophet and leader of the Church.

                I know that Jesus Christ has restored his gospel on the earth and with this restoration comes the blessing of prophets and the priesthood. Prayers are answered by our Heavenly Father, and more so he provides us answers through his servants.