President Hinkley passed away on Sunday. I haven’t taken the time to write anything about this until now because mainly I wanted to figure out what it meant for me. President Hinkley, as prophet of my church has been a big part of my life for well, most of my life. As a child, he was always part of the first presidency helping out the prophets that preceded him and to me was almost someone that was bigger than life. I have had many times where I have had the priviledge to go see either a choir performance or General Conference and President Hinkley was there. It is an awesome site to be in the room with 20,000 other people when the prophet of the Lord enters. Have you ever experienced being with 20,000 other people and having a hush come over them so quickly? The reverence shown him was amazing and those moments would make the hairs on my arms stand up and goosebumps would pop out. And then with a swing of his cane, President Hinkley would look up at all of us as if to say “oh, sit down! My goodness. What’s the fuss?” He was a humble man. A man who loved the church, the people and his wife so dearly. When Sister Hinkley died a couple years ago, her death brought tears to my eyes because I knew that our time with President Hinkley would be so short. How could he go on without her? I was certain that if I cried over her, that his death would mean endless tears for me. Yet on Sunday evening when my big brother called with the news, my reaction was completely opposite. I didn’t cry a single tear. I was told that my experience with Mike passing away is too fresh. That I probably couldn’t react because I was still in such grief over losing him. Yes. I grieve for Mike because I miss him terribly. I have a lot of life yet to live and it pains me to know that I will live it alone and without his companionship and counsel. But that’s not why I don’t grieve for President Hinkley. I rejoice in his life. He lived A LOT and he gave us so much. His example lives on and we are the better for it. My first thoughts when I learned of his passing turned to his beloved wife. Their reunion must have been so wonderful. So, my sadness for having lost our prophet is fleeting because my happiness for him reminds me that one day I, too will have a great reunion. I hope that Mike got to witness President Hinkley’s welcoming into Heaven so he can tell me about it some day. I am sure it was a beautiful thing.

“As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he’s a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it’s not a subject,” Roberta McCain said. – APNews

Clearly, she’s senile. This type of thing is laughed off in the press. If you watch the clip of this, John McCain is laughing. Why is this so funny? It’s not ok to say disparaging things about blacks, latinos or gays. But it appears that it is still ok to talk down Mormons. Why? If you say anything remotely resembling the diatribe spewed by McCain’s mother, then you are not only ignorant, you’re a biggot and should be ashamed of yourself. Just for the record, morons, we’re no different than anyone else. We can be republicans or democrat. We’re moms, dads, sisters and brothers. We work every day and we also stay home and raise our kids. We attend church on Sunday and we worship Jesus Christ. We are also, just like you, human beings capable of making mistakes and just like you, are deserving of righting any wrongs and being forgiven. It’s sorta funny how those who disparage us because of our faith, also hold us to a higher standard because of our faith. Well, that can be a frustrating thing for a Mormon like me because why should I be treated any differently than anyone else? But then again, I relish the challenge of living up to that higher standard because I know if I do, I can rise above moments when people make fools of themselves just as Roberta McCain did.

As a Mormon “Mecca”, visiting Nauvoo and Carthage is a must. The spirit there and what the early Mormon’s had to endure there is quite moving. I am not so sure that those of us with all the luxuries that we enjoy could handle a smidgen of what they had to. One afternoon in the humidity was enough for me and never mind the bugs!

The church owned sites were great. The missionaries that worked the exhibits were very knowledgable and friendly. The shows were top notch and the meet/greet afterward with the performers left my 4 year old “star struck.” If only we had more time. There was much more to see. I guess we’ll have to return some day.

The side of Nauvoo owned by the Community of Christ – formerly the Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints – formerly part of the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was a bit odd. The settings were ok and well taken care of. However, to visit the vistor’s center and some of the sites, cost money and viewing of their church commercial which would be ok (they need to pay for the upkeep some how) but what you learn about them is disconcerting given the fact that they control most of the Joseph Smith family sites and consider him to be their founder. The religion isn’t even a shell of what it once was when he headed it. And it makes me wonder if it made the changes because it merely wanted to be accepted? It’s a bit confusing, especially since they still regard the Book of Mormon as scripture yet contradict its teachings. It left me a sad feeling for them as it seems they undid what Joseph did and that for their sake, he died in vain.

On a better note, the main reason for the trip was to come together as a family – immediate and extended – and share memories about Grandma and Grandpa Westover and for the first time ever, attend a temple session together. We also planned for this time to seal my Mother’s parents to each other and her to them. It was a moment long in coming and I was priveledged to be there. It will long be one of my most cherished memories.

This trip was important for Michaela, too. Although she didn’t get to witness the sealing, she did get to spend a lot of time with her cousins (lots of them!) and played HARD! Each day ended with her drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. She listened intently to all the demostrations and watched the performances with great interest. By the time Saturday night came and we had to catch a flight home, she was in tears. The only thing I could do to tear her away from Illinois was to tell her that if we stayed there, we’d miss our trip to Disney World in September. Luckily that worked!

Today, Al Sharpton is back-peddeling over comments that he said about Mitt Romney not believing in God. There are arguements for each side and it’s my personal belief that Sharpton meant what he said and he’s only getting defensive because he’s being called upon for his hypocrisy, especially in light of his involvement over the Don Imus thing. What irks me most is not what Sharpton said, he’s clearly ignorant on many things and this is just another but how he won’t be held to the same standard as Don Imus. Is it because he’s black and his minority status makes him entitled to belittle another group? Is it because the liberal media doesn’t include this comment as a biggoted comment? Perhaps the media feels the same about the Church as he does? I don’t know. What I do know is that nothing will happen. Nothing. Yet, anyway. I went to Youtube.com to view the video clip and ended up reading the 20+ pages of comments the clip had received. I was appalled at the vile and hatred I saw there. When it comes to my faith, I have perhaps been looking through rose colored glasses because I thought we lived in a day that we were becoming a more accepting and tolerant people. It’s ok for gays to marry, apparently, according to the liberal media. Who are we to deny two people in a loving relationship to recognize their committment to each other. Right? It’s ok to teach the Koran in school…how else would we be able to better understand the Muslims? Right? But it’s apparently not ok to believe that Christ taught his gospel to people in other countries after his death. It’s not ok to believe that we can have additional scripture or that there were no other prophets other than what is in the Bible. It’s not ok to believe that we have a fullness of the Gospel. I’ve been mistaken. I thought that we’ve come a long away from those days of the torture, rapes and murder of our LDS forefathers. We may not encounter those same types of atrocities now but we are still accused of many things, prejudiced against for our faith and reviled by those, like Sharpton who like to consider themselves champions for the oppressed. How ironic.

So, I won’t react irrationally and spew any of my own venom. If anything, it is stuff like this that has reinforced my faith and belief in what I know to be true. We are held to a higher standard for a reason. We can’t force anyone to believe as we do but we can live by example and when the day comes that we stand before the Lord, we can at least be comforted in the knowledge that, although not as perfect as He, we did try to be as He is.