Today I want to share with you my testimony that we are led by a living prophet. I have already shared this with many of you in Family Home Evenings over the last few months, but I want all of you to hear my testimony with the hope that it will strengthen your own.
I know that President Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. Four experiences I have had in the past year have strengthened that testimony. Let me share them with you.
First: President Monson was ordained and set apart as president of the Church on February 3rd last year just one week after President Hinckley passed away. The next day a press conference was televised from Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. I watched that announcement with President Clark and others in the Executive Office here at BYU-Idaho. A TV monitor had been set up in the outer office where we could all watch it together. President Monson began with these words:
President Hinckley's passing has affected all of us.... We shall miss him, yet we know that he has left us with a wonderful legacy of love and goodness.
While President Monson spoke I noticed a picture of President Hinckley hanging on the wall right there beside the TV monitor. As I watched President Monson on the TV screen, I could also see President Hinckley. Seeing the two of them together at that moment was significant. The Spirit testified to me that sacred keys had been passed from President Hinckley to President Monson.
Second: Just two weeks after that announcement, Sister Ann Dibb, daughter of President Monson spoke here at BYU-Idaho at devotional. Many who came to devotional that day knew they were coming to hear Sister Dibb of the General Young Women's Organization, but they didn't know she was President Monson's daughter. What a wonderful surprise! It was a blessing to hear the Prophet's own daughter testify of his divine calling. In her talk, Sister Dibb shared experiences and stories to illustrate the personal characteristics she admires in her dad. I loved getting to know President Monson through the eyes of his daughter. At the conclusion of her talk she declared
I am proud to say, "My father is a prophet."
The Spirit testified to me that what she said was true.
Third: President Clark and I attended the BYU-Idaho President's Club Dinner in Salt Lake City in March last year. During the dinner President Monson met and spoke with many of us, and then he addressed the entire group. In his talk that night he told several stories. I have always enjoyed hearing President Monson's stories in which he recounts personal experiences. That night, however, I recognized that his stories are parables with specific messages for us. And I realized that he has actually, throughout his life, lived parables that provide us with knowledge and guidance if we have ears to hear and eyes to see!
Fourth: One afternoon last summer at home here in Rexburg I picked up the Saturday, June 7th Church News and sat down in the family room to read and relax. I read a report of President Monson making a trip to Curitiba, Brazil, to dedicate the new temple there. I read the following report of the Cornerstone Ceremony.
After General Authorities and the temple presidency and their wives participated, President Monson looked around and saw a group of children who had been invited to stand on the platform erected for the ceremony. Among them was a 6-year old Lincoln Vieira Cordeiro, who appeared to be very cold; he was wearing a winter coat and a hat with flaps that covered his ears. President Monson invited him to place some mortar on the cornerstone.
Lincoln's hat was removed so that his face could be seen in photos and video footage recording the historic event. His head had no hair. President Monson guided Lincoln in placing mortar around the cornerstone, and then invited several other people to participate.
Then he announced it was time to conclude that part of the ceremony. However, he paused, looked around the crowd of onlookers and said that there was someone else who needed to be called upon. He walked around the platform. He looked to his left, and said he wondered who that person might be. He turned to his right. Several dozen people stood on the ground between him and a choir that performed at the outdoor ceremony. He kept looking, saying that he knew that there was one particular person who ought to be invited to place mortar around the stone. Finally, his eyes rested upon a woman. He pointed to her, and invited her to come join in the ceremony.
Later President Monson was told that the woman, whom he had never met, was Odilene Cordeiro, Lincoln's mother.
The Church News then quoted Elder Russell M. Nelson who was with President Monson that day:
"Of all the people he could have called upon to participate, it was that boy's mother," said Elder Nelson, "That said to me that Heavenly Father is communicating to His prophet, and that President Monson is responding. That was not just Thomas S. Monson standing there. That was the prophet responding to a revelation as it flowed from heaven through him to bless that mother who has gone through so much in caring for her son who is so sick. President Monson had no way of knowing who that woman was, or that the little boy he called upon has cancer. But the Lord knew."
Elder Nelson's testimony confirmed what the Spirit was whispering to me.
President Monson is a prophet of God. He is our prophet. I know that He leads us and guides us by revelation and by example.
It is my prayer that we will sustain President Thomas S. Monson as the prophet by following his counsel and his example. I know that if we do we will recognize the promptings we receive from Heaven to reach out to those whom the Lord desires to bless through us. I leave you this prayer and my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.