President Monson

What a wonderful experience me and the boys had this evening. My parents have been here staying at my cousin Renae's cabin for the past few days. Tonight me and the boys decided that for Family Home Evening we should go up for dinner and maybe do some fishing and biking. The girls left for girls camp this morning so it was just me and the boys home and also Daxton who had spent the night. At the cabin we ate dinner and played around the creek in the backyard for awhile, then I told the boys to load up the fishing gear and we would go find a good fishing hole down the road. We started walking and after a little way we came upon a very nice luxury car with a nicely dressed man who looked like I thought a Secret Service Agent - very important looking.....why would such a nice car with a man dressed in a suit be up in the mountains??? I noticed that this important looking man was walking into the yard of an older gentleman and helping him with something in his yard. As I walked by I glanced over out of curiosity and noticed that the older gentleman's side profile looked like someone I knew. YES! I did know him from years of watching General Conference and more recently watching him being sustained as the newest prophet for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I called out for the boys who had walked on ahead of me a little bit to hold up and told them that President Monson was behind the trees in this yard. I don't think they believed me but came over anyway. By this time my mom had caught up with us and she verified that it was indeed President Monson and his wife and a body guard. Now I'm not known for keeping quiet or unseen, and on occasion verbalizing my thoughts, BUT this time I actually STOPPED and THOUGHT before I spoke. I was afraid to say anything, out of respect for his privacy and he probably gets people left and right approaching him. I wanted him to be able to relax at this cabin, since he obviously had left work behind and headed for the great outdoors. BUT.....I also didn't want my boys to miss out on an opportunity to meet a prophet and perhaps shake his hand. I very politely called out his name and got his attention. I asked if it would be alright if 3 little boys got to shake his hand. He accepted and we stood there in awe and watched as he approached us. He not only shook their hands as he called them future missionaries, I got to take a picture of everybody with him. But it didn't stop there. This kind man took the time to ask us questions like he really wanted to get to know us and try to remember us. Then the neatest thing, he invited us into his cabin. WOW!! As we followed him up to his back porch, he introduced us to Sister Monson and we got to shake her hand as well. Then he took us into his cabin and gave us the GRAND tour. I say GRAND because he showed us every room, went into detail about pictures, mementos and childhood memories of growing up in that cabin. It has been in his family for 88 years and he had actually grown up in this cabin/house. We were inside President Monson's childhood home!! At least 4 differen't times we graciously thanked him for his hospitality and told him we better be on our way and leave him and his wife to their relaxing, BUT he had more stories to tell!! What a wonderful, kind and friedly man our prophet is!! He acted as if he had nothing better to do and wanted to tell us about his childhood home. He showed the boys his first fish he caught that he had stuffed and mounted on the wall, he got them out a fish puppet and wanted them to scare me with it, he showed the boys how he makes his ears move up and down, he showed us an electronic fish that sang and moved his head and tail around, he showed us various pictures on the walls and explained about them, he showed us the home improvements he had made over the years, and told us about other family members and stories about them over the years. We also were told about a practical joke he played on his sister and her friends while they were in the river. We learned he had saved a little girls life in the river when he was 11-years old. He tried to tell each of the boys a story that related to his life at the age my boys were now. He shared SO much and I wish I had a memory that could recall everything because I didn't and don't want to forget a thing he shared with us. One thing he told me as he put his arm around me was, "TO STRENGTHEN YOUR MEMORY YOU HAVE TO RELY UPON IT". We had made a comment to him about how great a memory he had - he had been telling us so many stories and recalling peoples names throughout these stories....it was so amazing at the detail he gave each story, that is why he decided to share how he keeps his memory so good. I have the worst memory and wanted to remember this special bit of advice he gave. As I was trying to recite it over and over in my head, he kept going on with other stories and it became a battle in my own head with trying to remember this phrase on memory and to also try to record every other word he was saying. I had to ask him a second time to recite that phrase. When our final "thankyous" were given to him and the boys exchanged "high fives" with him, we were on our way. We noticed that as we walked past the body guard/secret service guy, the car was STILL running. Come to find out, they were only making a short stop there at the cabin before they were to head out to check on another home they have further up the canyon. He was so kind to sit and talk to us like he had nowhere else to be or any agenda. I'm sure his body guard was getting a little impatient but maybe he's use to his friendliness by now. What a kind man! All we wanted was a handshake but got first class treatment like we were long lost friends!! We figure we were with him at least 45-minutes. This is one evening I hope the boys will never forget. I told them to journal it before they forgot all the details. President Monson has always had a special place in my heart and now he has made that place even more special. I will never forget this experience!!