We thank thee for a prophet

President Hinckley died an hour or two ago.

So far I haven’t been able to verify it, but it’s all over the place (it brought down my cell phone network at least three times in the last half-hour), and apparently it was on Channel 4 here in Provo. Deseret News’s website is getting pounded, though — I’ve been waiting for five minutes for it to load and still all I get is a blank page with the little rotating thingie. But googling “Gordon Hinckley dies” brings up a Deseret News article and a Salt Lake Tribune article. So it’s real.

Darn. He was my prophet, for the last thirteen years. I found out during our ward prayer, when two of my friends walked out halfway through saying they’d gotten a text that he’d died. Everyone else got a flurry of texts after that, and the girl next to me said it had been on Channel 4 earlier. At first I thought it was a joke — sure, Pres. Hinckley died, right. He’s immortal, silly. But then the corroborating evidence piled in and a shockwave hit me. Dead. He’s dead. My prophet is dead. I mean, sure, there’ll be another one, and President Monson will do a smashing job, but this is the first time I’ve been old enough to really care when the prophet died.

And yet I’m happy for him. He’s back with his wife again — that’s what matters.

It’s still hard to believe. I knew this day would come, but wow. What a way to dampen a day. But it really is a bittersweet kind of feeling — it’s weird but it’s right. He was 97, after all.

Dang.

Richard Hinckley was in Las Vegas today for Stake Conference (in my parents stake) and left before the actual conference because he’d gotten a call from President Packer telling him to get back to SLC. My parents told me earlier tonight that there was quite a bit of speculation about whether that meant Pres. Hinckley was having trouble, so I wasn’t shocked when I heard the news a few hours later.

I feel the same way, Ben. When I heard the news just a few minutes ago, my first thought was “President Hinckley is dead,” and my next thought was “My Prophet is dead.” I’m 23 now and he’s been the prophet since I was 11. Those are some pretty informative years, and I wonder if I’ll always think of him as my prophet.

I know what you mean. He’s been my prophet the majority of my life. I barely remember anyone else. I spent 30 minutes desperately trying to find news about 8pm when the reports started coming out, but it’s real. SLC Trib, Herald, and CNN.com all report it. I was hoping it was some sort of cruel prank.

I know what you’re saying. He’s been the Prophet my entire tenure in the Church (I got baptised in 2002). I am grateful that I had the opportunity to hear his words for the last 5 years, and although I’m dealing with the shock right now, I look forward to what the future holds. He is in a better place, but I for one (along with many others, I am sure) will miss President Hinckley a great deal.

It seemed like he was never going to die. He just kept on going. I am happy for him that he gets to be with his wife again. I will sure miss him, too.

I share your feelings, he was like a grandfather to me. He’s done so much for the church, and for the world. May he rest in peace with his wife. I think we all know he’s earned it. I’ll miss him so very much.

You and I are getting the most blog hits on google for this. I may add you to my blogroll.

Thank you for sharing, Ben. I, too, got a flurry of texts despite living far outside of Utah’s boarder. I actually got the news from an uncle in Texas who walked in to the house, and then the texts started coming. I felt devasted for several moments.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that (1) the Church is headed by the Savior and there is a system set in place by the Savior to assure a righteous man is already prepared to take up the mantle of prophet and President and (2) President Hinckley is FINALLY with his beloved wife again. He’s been so lonely without her! :-)

One eternal round….

The thing that surprised me about this whole incident is that I bet the whole active body of the church in the lower 48 states knew about it before they went to bed that night. Likewise, the whole active church body the world over probably knew about it within 24 hours. It’s amazing how fast news can spread when its important.

I’m in Thailand and I heard about it from Ben an hour after he died. I emailed my stake president to let him know and he wrote back saying he’d already heard, and that the stake clerk had already sent out an email notification to all the bishops/branch presidents in the stake.

I doubt it took 24 hours.

Janssen: Since I hadn’t heard anything about any trouble whatsoever, I was shocked. :) It’s a good thing modern transportation is so fast, though, isn’t it…

Katherine: I’ve been wondering the same thing. Looking at my life right now, it seems to me that I’ll remember the prophets of my adult life more than I will of my youth. I mean, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting President Hinckley anytime soon :) — but I don’t know if he’ll always be my prophet. Maybe I’ll have more than one “my prophet.” :)

Marisa: I was, too. But it’s a good thing, really — at least for him.

Joe: Good thing we believe in an afterlife, huh. :)

Holly: Me too.

Nylan: Thanks, and hopefully other, better blogs are getting more hits now. :)

Sally: “One eternal round” really does describe it. Everyone dies, and yes, it hurts, but it’s only momentary. It won’t be long before each one of us is in his shoes. (If they wear shoes in heaven, that is; my guess is they don’t. :))

James: It is amazing how small the world is now, with instant global communications. (It still blows my mind that I can IM someone on the other side of the world pretty much instantaneously.) It’s a good time to be alive. :)

rikker: I agree, things spread quicker than we realize. Or at least they do in some cases, where you have an interested community worldwide. Other news that doesn’t have such a community takes longer to spread.