A Chat With The Prophet

As most of you know, and if you don't, we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons). In fact, I was raised a member of the church my whole life.

Last week I was in Salt Lake City, Utah for a training conference with work. We were staying and attending daily training session at the Downtown Marriott. After the second day of training we concluded and filed out into the hotel lobby. As I rounded the corner I saw a pleasant surprise, President Thomas S. Monson. He was relaxing while having his shoes shined.

Roughly 90% of my co-workers are LDS and most stood around to simply watch the man. Either they were aw-struck, or out of reverence, they left him allow. I, on the other hand, was too thickheaded to follow my co-workers example and I approached him.

President Monson is known for his fantastic memory and his ability to retain the smallest of details from past events. In my youth our paths crossed and out of curiosity I asked Pres. Monson if he remember the following story (as best as I can remember):

"Pres. Monson and Pres. Packer were speaking at an area conference in Mesa, AZ when I was eight or nine. My father was asked to help out with security at the event and was in charge of the back door where they brethren entered. My family and I sat with my father back behind the stage and arrived hours before.

On that day I was wearing a shirt and tie with slacks and suspenders. My brother had been snapping my suspenders all morning and it was driving me crazy. I had enough and on the way back to my seat they were snapped again. I was so angry I turned around with my fist cocked back to punch him and to my surprise it was Pres. Monson. Luckily I stopped myself before I swung and he just laughed. He opened up his suit coat and thumbed his suspenders, ‘Great minds think alike.” We smiled at each other and we both proceeded to our seats.

After the conference concluded my parents could not find me. They searched all over the arena and nearly called the police. After searching for what seemed like an eternity, they saw a door open and caught a glimpse of me. My best friend’s mother had been asked to feed the Brethren. After everyone filed out, I snuck in behind Pres. Monson and sat down next to the 'funny man who snapped my suspenders.' He shared half his sandwich and juice with me. My parents wanted to be mad at me, but couldn’t because I just want to spend time with the Apostles. I also remember my brother going home complaining because he was hungry and I was fine.”

I told the Prophet it stayed with me because I remember how nice he was. I remember the time took to make a young boy angry with his brother smile, laugh, and because reverent instead.

After I finished relaying the story, Pres. Monson chuckled and told me he was glad I did not throw my punch. He told me to be truthfully honest he did not remember the story, but was glad he had made a positive impression on me.

I am not surprised he did not remember me. I would have been more impressed if he had. He has met millions of children the world over and has probably left equally as many memories with them.

~Bryan