I listened to a new prophet of God today.

I watched conference on Saturday and Sunday and it was so inspiring. After the death in January of one of my very most favorite prophets, President Gordon B. Hinckley, I was so sad. He has always been there, as long as I have been active in this church, he has been serving in one position or another. I have listened to him at every conference since I first began to be interested in conference and what they all had to say.

This weekend, Thomas S. Monson was sustained as prophet, seer and revelator. He has always been there too. I know that he is just as excellent as President Hinckley was. He looked and spoke more seriously than I have ever seen before. He must be feeling the weight of this calling. President Hinckley did that too.

I want all of my children and grandchildren to know that I KNOW he is called by God. I KNOW he is a prophet, that he is inspired and that he is interested in the welfare of all people, not only in the church.

I am trying to be more like Jesus. I am trying to be kinder, less critical, more loving, less judgmental, more accepting, and more helpful. I am dedicating this year and hopefully my whole life to being more Christlike.

I could not make such a commitment if I didn't KNOW Jesus Christ myself. I know that He loves me and He loves all of you. He never gets angry, He is always ready to bless me, when I need a Priesthood blessing. I have felt his arms around me, filling me with love. I have heard comforting words, promptings, inspiration, and been given courage in my most difficult trials. He has blessed me with healing, when I used to have migraine headaches. I used to have to lay on the floor, lights off, no noise because of the pain. I asked Grandpa to give the blessing that Heavenly Father had for me, using the Priesthood which he holds. He commanded the headache to leave my body, and immediately, I felt it lift right out of my head. To this day, I never have headaches, which put me out of commission to such a degree as those migraines used to. I still have headaches now and then, but they respond to aspirin.

Once Jay and I went to the Washington DC temple. I had intended to stop at the chiropractor's office and get an adjustment on the way. We were running late, so just omitted that stop. When we got there, I asked Jay to give me a Priesthood blessing, so that I could serve the Lord in the temple. After the blessing I began to walk a little better, and before the night was over I was able to lift my legs and move freely with no trouble. It was about 6 months, before I needed to see the Chiropractor again.

Numerous times I have run out of gas and have had help come right after a prayer. Once, I ran out of gas in our very first van. It used to have to be primed by pouring gas into the carburetor before it would even think of starting again.
As soon as I pulled over to the side of the road, I prayed. I told Heavenly Father that I really needed His help. I was 5 miles out of Pacific Grove, California and out of gas. I had my two little ones, Kristin and Jenny in their car seats . I told the Lord that I couldn't carry them 5 miles into town, especially since I was pregnant with Dennis, and that I had to be home by the time Steven and Valerie came home from school.

I had the thought "Try starting it" so I did. To my amazement, it started up immediately and I drove into town straight to a gas station. I felt that I could have gone farther, but I didn't want to take advantage of the Lord and His goodness. I came to know through that experience, that I really am important to the Lord, He loves me, He cares about everything that is a concern for me. Whether it is my spiritual welfare or how much money I have budgeted for groceries, bills, etc.. There is nothing about me that He isn't interested in. And it is the same for every person who has lived, is living, or will yet be born. He loves us even when we are throwing a fit, when we act like a jerk, when we disobey the very laws which are for our own good. Unconditional love is something we can't get from anywhere or anyone else. I am so grateful that He was willing to give His life so that we could all come back to Him, if only we would repent of our sins.

I want to you to know what is in my heart, because I love you all sooo very much. I love this church too, because it is all about families and being together forever. This is the testimony I have of Jesus Christ. He lives, He is the literal son of God, He is the Redeemer of all mankind,
He, who was perfectly sin free gave His own life, so that we could have the opportunity to choose whether we would try to serve Him in the next life. Before His atonement, we did not even have that choice.

There are still choices to be made by all of us. Do we want to be together forever? I can't bear the thought of being separated from my children or grandchildren ever. That's why I am trying to be more like Jesus, following in His ways, trying to live as He did. Even though I can't be perfect, I can be my best, I can practice doing good, controlling my thoughts, having good intentions, serving others, just being the best I can be. It feels GREAT!

Love, Mom and Grandma