President Hinckley's Viewing

Aaron and I wanted to go say a final farewell to the beloved prophet. His viewing was going to be held on Thursday and Friday. We decided to go on Friday morning after hearing that the wait was no longer than 30 minutes and nobody had to wait outside on Thursday. We left our house at 11:00 am and headed for the trax station, which is only a few minutes away. We arrived in the parking lot and by the time we actually parked the car and got the kids out we were pressed for time. So here we are in our church clothes each holding one of the boys running through the parking lot to go buy tickets for the train. Well, needless to say our running efforts did not pay off (hey, it's been a long timesince those high school track days) and we missed the train by 30 seconds. No problem! It is only 15 degrees and the next train will arrive in a short 15 minutes. So here we are waiting so patiently. (Little did we know that this was only the beginning of the waiting we had to do that day.)

We arrived at the stop downtown and got off and started walking. We were just about there and I was looking forward to being in the warm conference center and getting the kids out of the cold when we look across the street and see the tremendously long line of people. What were they all doing? It couldn't possibly be the line to see the Prophet, could it? We cross the street and hear a gentleman greet us, "If you have a purse or any bags please go to this line, and if not feel free to go to this line." What was the difference you ask . . . . . oh, just an hour longer wait is all. I was willing to give the diaper bag away when I saw that line he was pointing us to. But, we are already into this outing an hour so let's just stick to it. Keep in mind that I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old (who has 3 top teeth coming in) in the freezing cold and NO food or water and the 2 year old is going on day 6 of wearing underwear. I was a bit skeptical. But thanks to aunt Brooke, some cheez-its and conversation hearts kept Braden satisfied. Braden didn't seem to mind the cold and loved looking across the street at the temple with the gold statue on top. He kept us entertained with all of his comments and his anxiety to see President Hinckley.

After only an hour and a half we made it inside the Conference Center where we were seated inside and again waited another hour and a half. It was amazing to see all of the people pouring in. We watched the Celebration of Life video celebrating President Hinckley's 95th birthday. Our section was next to be allowed to go up to the Hall of the Prophets and I had butterflies in my stomach. I was anxious, nervous, sad and happy all at the same time. We had one more escalator ride up before we reached the hall. They instructed us not to talk and stay in single file line until we exited. I can not even describe the feeling that I had at that moment. The tears started to flow as I reached the top and saw many beautiful flowers with a banner on them that said Grandpa and family portraits. Braden kept asking me when we would see him. I wasn't sure what he would think even though we had tried to explain to him the circumstances on which he would be able to be so close to the Prophet. The spirit was so strong. It was a feeling that I have never experienced before. I always knew that he was called of God and was a true prophet in our days, but it was a moment that the sweet spirit touched me and testified to me that he was a prophet called by God. He looked wonderful. It is an experience that I will never forget. I would have waited another 4 hours to be able to experience that precious moment again. I will always cherish that day. And to top it all off, Aaron was reading the paper this morning and turned the page and saw a picure of us in line. I got this picture of the Deseret News website.