Stake Conference

This weekend was our Stake Conference and it was a really special weekend because Elder D. Todd Christofferson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was in attendance along with Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the Second Quorum of Seventy.

We have known for about 6 weeks that these two men would be at our Stake Conference and then we found out a few weeks ago that Stake Conference would be broadcast to our church building in Russellville to insure that all who wanted to attend the Conference would have room and the capabilities. Our Stake Center is 153 miles round trip. We asked Kimball if he would prefer to watch the broadcast at our own building where we could sleep later and have a short drive to church or if he wanted to get up early, have a long drive and then a long wait for Stake Conference to start so he could see Elder Christofferson in person. From the beginning Kimball always wanted to see our visiting General Authorities in person.

The messages Saturday night were really good and I just felt so happy to be in the presence of Elder Christofferson and Elder Haleck. At one point Elder Christofferson and I made eye contact and I smiled at him and he smiled back.

One thing that really stuck out in my mind was the love I witnessed and felt from these men. The 1st Counselor in our Stake Presidency, is in a wheelchair, and he was sitting next to Elder Haleck and when we all stood to sing the intermediate hymn I noticed Elder Haleck sat back down so he could share a hymnal with President Brown. Witnessing that quiet act of love just touched me so much.

We woke Kimball and Rebecah up about 6:30 Sunday morning so we could leave. We had family prayer and I said the prayer. I acknowledged that Elder Christofferson was a busy man, but I asked if it was possible for Kimball to have an opportunity to shake Elder Christofferson’s hand it would mean a lot to us. Our drive to the Stake Center was good. We ate breakfast in the car. At one point I told Kimball we were at the turn off for another church building in our stake and I asked if Kimball wanted to go to that building instead and Kimball kept insisting on seeing Elder Christofferson in person. We arrived 2 hours early for Stake Conference but that allowed us to have a parking spot at the Stake Center and we were able to have a good seat in the chapel.
Kimball seemed happy to see our special visitors and he told me he felt really good during conference.

After Stake Conference ended and people were standing up to leave Elder Christofferson announced in the microphone that he had noticed a lot of young children and he would like to shake hands with all of the youth and children. I knew it was an answer to my prayers. Kimball was suddenly shy and hesitant about shaking hands with Elder Christofferson and Elder Haleck, but I picked him up and carried him because I didn’t want him to miss the opportunity. Kimball wouldn’t shake their hands, but he met them. They each patted his back and they said they liked his tie. It was a neat opportunity for me as a mother to have him meet these men. He might never remember it but it will be recorded in his journal.

Joseph and I both agreed that it meant more to us to have Kimball meet these men than for us to have had the opportunity. As it was, Joseph took Rebecah and all of our bags to the car while Kimball and I were shaking hands.