Prophet of God

For a couple months, I have been wanting to watch General Conference of our church on TV instead of listening to it on satellite radio. It was always our intent to be able to watch Conference (and BYU TV) when we got this satellite system, but they sold us the wrong satellite dish, so we have just made do with listening.

But for some reason, i really wanted to watch this one. I had been praying that we would be able to afford the new satellite dish in time for conference, and then I decided that it was just my vain desire to have a new satellite and more TV channels and therefore, I probably shouldn't be praying for something like that. On Friday morning, Brian did get a new boat job and I could have used the money for the new satellite, but there wasn't time.

So I set the DVR recorder to record the radio version of Conference that started at 8:00 Saturday morning and we intended to listen to it later. I set my alarm to get up anyway, but just as I leaned over to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep, the Spirit whispered to me that they would be sustaining the new prophet in the morning session and I should get up and participate.

for those of you not of our faith, we are asked to "sustain" all new workers in each area of our church. Twice a year, we "gather" in a world-wide conference and there we can raise our hand in the sustaining process to show support of our prophet and apostles. It isn't a vote, it is a covenant to show that we will follow them and help them.

Because our prophet, President Hinckley died this spring, this would be our first chance to sustain our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I met Elder Monson when I was 10 years old. My mom and sister have met him at other times since then and he has been a great blessing to our family and I fully support him being the new prophet. And I wanted to be able to raise my hand with everyone else, in real time, to promise my support.

We have tried many times to watch conference on the computer, but it is always broken up and it freezes and is no annoying, it just can't be done. I decided to turn on the computer to conference so I could see the picture and then turn the sound on with the radio version. It turned out, we didn't need the radio as the computer, somehow, played all 4 sessions of conference without a blip or a beep. So I got to watch conference after all. My prayers were actually answered. WAY COOL ! ! ! But there was more.

Only 15 times have we had a new prophet. And the session when we sustain the new prophet is a very special event, called a solemn assembly. I had forgotten that would be the case when I got up to watch. No one else was here and I couldn't contact them to share the news and have them come watch with me. So it was my own special experience.

When the session started, President Monson seemed to me just the same as he always had and I was a little disappointed. I wanted to see him as the Prophet - not just the nice Elder Monson. Then the process of sustaining him came. In a special session such as this, each quorum or group of the church stands to vote, world wide, so by the end, he has been sustained 8 or 9 times. The camera would pan out on the audience and show each group rise and then would close in on the face of President Monson.

And there was what I had needed to see - I could see on his face that as each group stood, President Monson was given the charge by the Spirit of God to take care of that group and I could see him "becoming" the prophet. The mantle of the office literally fell on him as I watched. It was the great need that my subconscious had been wanting and needing to see. Others in the conference, and even President Monson, mentioned that they felt and saw the same thing.

I did not doubt that President Monson should be the new prophet. I did not question that at all and I didn't understand why I would need to see him accept the mantle of the office until later in the Conference and I realized that I was given this gift to share with others, so here I am sharing this with you. I saw with my own eyes, the hand of God creating a new prophet to guide His church here upon the earth. I know President Monson is indeed a Prophet of God. I know if we follow him, he will lead us where we need to go. Love, Charlotte