My Top 5 Memories of 2008

Ok, so I know we are over a week into it, but really, I am just now getting used to the fact that it is a new year. Maybe that has to do with the fact that I didn't even have to think about the date until the 6th of January when I went back to work.

So my friend Monae is counting down the top 10 memories of 2008...but I don't have much of a life and am not very social so I don't think I really have that many. I am going to do the top 5 memories.

Starting with #5...and I think this was on Monae's list but it was a big moment for me as well.

The Passing of President Gordon B Hinkley

January 27th, 2008

Gordon B Hinkley is the first prophet I really felt like I knew and loved. Maybe because he was sustained when I was a young teen and then carried me through some of my most trying years.

President Hinkley wished to be known as the Prophet the people wished they would have listened to (and hopefully we did). He brought the church to the forefront of the media at several times, oversaw the construction of many temples and church buildings, and led several humanitarian efforts. He was such a great example to everyone in the world, LDS or not.

I remember shortly after his wife passed when President Hinkley gave a talk in Conference that led many to believe he knew his time with us was coming to an end. Luckily, he was with us for a few more years to come. That testimony touched me so deeply, that I want to share it with you.

"Now, in conclusion, I hope that all of you will remember that on this Sabbath day you heard me bear my witness that this is God's holy work. The vision given the Prophet Joseph in the grove of Palmyra was not an imaginary thing. It was real. It occurred in the broad light of day. Both the Father and the Son spoke to the boy. He saw Them standing in the air above him. He heard

Their voices. He gave heed to Their instruction.

It was the resurrected Lord who was introduced by His Father, the great God of the universe. For the first time in recorded history, both the Father and the Son appeared together to part the curtains and open this, the last and final dispensation, the dispensation of the fulness of times.

The Book of Mormon is all that it purports to be—a work recorded by prophets who lived anciently and whose words have come forth "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations"

The priesthood has been restored under the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. All the keys and authority pertaining to eternal life are exercised in this Church.

Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, the great Prophet of this dispensation. This Church, which carries the name of the Redeemer, is true.

I leave you my testimony, my witness, and my love for each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."