So my mom informs me that Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming to Flagstaff for their stake conference. It also happens to be Easter weekend so I am all in. The cherry on top is that he and Brother Carl B. Cook a newly sustained general authority are staying at the hotel. So, I know where he's going to be and I am thinking a million things a minute on how I can get my kids to be able to shake his hand. I mean, there are billions of people on the earth today and only 12 apostles, how often is this opportunity going to come around?!
Then I thought, shoot, missing Easter with their families? No Easter egg hunt? I can fix that. :) So I made sure the Easter bunny found their hotel suites and left some eggs for them to find.
We had it all planned out that we would be waiting in the lobby of the hotel when they arrived at 10:00. 10 min before we got there my mom called and said they were already there and were headed for their rooms. I was so sad, I told the kids to pray hard and drove waaaayyyy tooooo fast to get there. She called as I was speeding down the road and said Elder Nelson had said we could meet them at noon and to bring our camera when she told them how much we wanted to meet them. We were so happy when we got to the hotel and they were waiting for us in the lobby. My mom had stalled them for a couple of minutes because they had arrived 30 min early. They were both so gracious and kind. Griffin was so thrilled. He told Elder Nelson he heard his talk at General Conference and he liked how he talked about the little boy who wanted to get closer to the TV so his sister held him up closer. Elder Nelson said that's my youngest grandson. Griffin said yeah, and he's going to grow up and be an apostle just like you! Elder Nelson smiled and said, well, he will definitely grow up to be a good daddy! We then helped them up to their rooms and Elder Nelson went into his room first. Then we showed Brother Cook to his room and Griffin couldn't contain himself any longer...he ran in and grabbed the Easter basket and held it up and said Look, the Easter Bunny came and hid eggs for you! Brother Cook said isn't that great, my wife was worried I'd be missing the egg hunt and now I can have my own! Griffin was so happy.
After we left Griffin kept saying, "Mommy, I just can't stop smiling!"
I guess that is just what happens when you meet a "special witness of Jesus Christ."
As they were leaving on Sunday Elder Cook said "Tell Griffin that I had found only 11 eggs until I knelt down to pray and looked up into the lamp and there was number 12."
So, that's what we did for our Easter weekend, we meet an Apostle and a General Authority! Not bad.
