President monson biography video youtube

Look at the kindness in those eyes. Look at the warmth of expression. Thomas S. Monson was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 4, at age Was there more eloquence of speech? Nay verily, Thomas Spenser Monson touched our lives and much more importantly our very souls. Line upon Line. Remembering the Life and Legacy of Thomas S.

Monson from the Thomas S. Monson Facebook page. Joel Marks January 5, Was there more eloquence of speech? A nurse stopped and said, "Are you Bishop Monson? He vowed at that moment that he would never fail to act upon a prompting from the Lord. He would immediately follow the impressions of the Spirit, wherever they led him. No one can understand President Thomas S.

Monson who does not understand the frequency, the repetition, of those kinds of spiritual promptings in his life, and his absolute loyalty in responding to them. When I was called as a bishop, I recognized I was the president of the priests quorum and I wanted to get every boy out. There's one boy that never came. And I thought to myself, I'm sitting here with the priests.

They've got an adviser. I'll leave them to get the lesson from the adviser. I'm going to go find Richard Casto. And I went over to his home. Mother and dad were home and they said he was working over at the West Temple Garage. And so I started looking around, you know? So I went around the back and there was one of these old-fashioned grease pits.

And I looked down into the darkness and I could see two eyes looking at me. He said, "You got me, Bishop. I'll come up. And I said, "Richard, we need you. You have a way with people and I want to have every priest in attendance. Will you come? After that, I served a mission. I was sealed to my wife in the temple. We have five great children.

Two of them have served missions. I've served as a bishop twice. My children have a great love for him and my wife has a great love for him, because of what he did for me. It's probably one of the greatest blessings that I've ever received in my life. During his service as bishop, two children were born to the Monson family: Tom, in , and Ann, in Tom recalls, "We felt as though life was very good to us, which it was.

The Aaronic Priesthood and bishoprics were providing the music. Joseph Fielding Smith stepped to the pulpit and announced the new stake presidency. Percy K. Fetzer, President, John R. Burt, First Counselor, and Thomas S. Monson, Second Counselor. He then said, "Bishop Monson knows nothing of this calling, but if he will accept it, we will be pleased to hear from him now.

The song we had just sung concerned the Word of Wisdom. Have courage, my boy, to say no. And I do so with my heart and soul. In , he was named assistant general manager of Deseret News Press. I don't know of anybody that Tom Monson dealt with that didn't love him. All of us in the automobile business and in the real estate business came to know and to love this good man.

He just had the ability to reach out and touch hearts. In , Tom and Frances built a new home for their family on a one-acre lot in the suburbs near Salt Lake. The move to a full acre on the outskirts of the city seemed like paradise to the young family. Then on February 21, , Tom was summoned to the office of Stephen L. Richards of the First Presidency.

Thinking this meeting concerned the General Handbook of Instructions currently being printed, Tom was unprepared for what followed. President Richards called him to serve as President of the Canadian mission. He indicated he should take a leave of absence from his employment and be prepared to depart in three weeks. When Tom returned home, he found Frances lying down, ill from the pregnancy of their third child.

When I told her, there was no question about what she would accept. When we told our children, our son Tommy said, "Oh boy, when do we go? I can still remember the cold, snow-filled day that I rented a truck and we took our furniture from our dream home and prepared to leave Salt Lake City. It was an emotional day for Frances and for all of us.

I noted that she stroked the doorjamb and there were tears in her eyes. We withdrew the children from school and then took the train to Toronto. The young family arrived at the mission home at Lyndhurst Avenue and immediately embarked on a tour of the very large mission. He was thin and very athletic. He played basketball; he had played basketball with the elders.

And we sensed in him a kind of a green missionary. Someone who -- not that we'd ever think of taking advantage of him -- but we thought, well we have had six months on this mission, President, and there are some here that have been out two years. And we thought we could maybe teach him. We were dead wrong. President Monson recalls, "It was nice for the missionaries to have a new baby in the mission home.

It seemed to bring a touch of their own families closer to them. With missionaries coming and going, the Monson family rarely had dinner alone. Each night, when it was about my bedtime, he would invite me into his office, or I would knock on the door and go into his office. And he would pull out a checkerboard that he kept in one drawer and lay it out on his desk.

And I would sit by his desk and we would play checkers for 10 or 15 minutes. And that was something that was my time only with him, that I appreciated very much. Spurred on by their young mission president, the missionaries began to be more productive. Convert baptisms increased. The building program gained momentum. Peterson of the Quorum of the Twelve came to Toronto to organize the Toronto stake, the th stake of the Church.

The general sessions of this special stake conference were held in Toronto's Odeon Carlton Theatre. Every one of the 2, seats were filled. It was the largest percentage of members in attendance at a stake conference anywhere in the Church. I remember there was lots of excitement in the mission because it was the first stake that was organized in eastern Canada.

And he announced that day who were to be the different leaders. And when he got up and announced that I was to be the stake Primary president, I was a little bit shocked, because I'd never heard about it. So when we met after, he said, "I knew you'd say yes. After three years of labor, President Monson received a letter of honorable release from the First Presidency.

As we departed Toronto, we left a little of our hearts in this beautiful city. The memories, ever dear, have been retained. He was now responsible for the largest printing plant west of the Mississippi. After coming on the line and exchanging pleasantries, President McKay said, "Brother Monson, could you visit with me sometime? He had me sit next to him on a chair at the side of his desk.

President monson biography video youtube

And the Lord has called you to fill his place in the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Could you accept that calling? He then welcomed me to the ranks of the General Authorities and indicated this would be a most rewarding experience and one where my talents and energies would be used to the maximum. And then he instructed me that I should tell no one except my wife and informed me that I would be sustained at the Friday morning session at conference the very next day.

Returning home, Tom felt little like eating dinner. He told Frances he had some printing proofs to deliver and asked if she would like to come with him. Together they walked around the monument, reading the inscriptions and pondering the pioneers and their heritage. As they returned to the car, Frances said, "What's wrong? You have something on your mind.

As he was about to sit next to Hugh Smith, Hugh said, "You don't want to sit there. Twice before, the men sitting next to me were called to be General Authorities. It is now proposed that we sustain the following as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Joseph Fielding Smith, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Thomas S. An astonished Hugh Smith whispered, "Lightning has struck a third time.

I will strive to the utmost of my ability to be what you would want me to be. I'm grateful for the words of Jesus Christ, our Savior, when he said, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Monson was ordained an Apostle and set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve.

Elder Monson said, "It was one of the most dramatic days of my life. He was named as chairman of the Adult Correlation Committee, as adviser to the Young Men and Young Women's Organizations, chairman of the Church Leadership Committee, and area supervisor for missionary work in the western United States. In , assignments among the Twelve were rotated and Elder Monson was assigned to supervise the missions of the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of Polynesia.

During his first visit to Samoa, he visited the small village of Sauniatu and spoke at the Church school to a large gathering of small children. As the closing hymn was announced, Elder Monson suddenly felt compelled to personally greet each of the children. Checking the clock, he saw that time was too short and discounted the impression. Then, just prior to the closing prayer, he again felt a strong impression to shake the hand of each child.

Upon communicating this desire, both the instructor and children were overcome with joy. The instructor then revealed the reason for their elation. He said, when they learned a member of the Twelve was coming, he told the children if each would earnestly pray and exert great faith, the Apostle would be impressed to greet each child with a personal hand clasp.

On one occasion I had come to the President Hugh B. Brown on an assignment to Samoa. We were met by local members who told us of the extreme drought that plagued the area. The members said they had been fasting and asked President Brown and me to join them in a supplication to our Heavenly Father that moisture would come. This we did.

During the general meeting at the Church school, we heard the clap of thunder. And soon the heavens opened and the rain descended, making such a noise that one could scarcely hear as the rain pounded upon the tin roof of the building. President Brown turned to me and said, smiling, "Now that we got it turned on, how do we turn it off? We overheard a New Zealand pilot who just landed speaking to one of the airline personnel.

He said, "I don't understand it. Not a cloud in the sky, except over the Mormon school at Mapusaga. During his years as a member of the Twelve, Elder Monson made weekly visits to the stakes of the Church. These assignments were always made by the President of the Twelve, who announced the conclusion of their weekly temple meeting. He asked if he would mind being assigned elsewhere.

The next day was filled with meetings at the stake center. During a break, Stake President Charles Cagle apologetically asked if Elder Monson would have time to give a blessing to a year-old girl afflicted with cancer. Her name was Christal Methvin. Elder Monson asked if she would be at the conference or if she were in a Shreveport hospital. President Cagle barely whispered that Christal was confined to her home some 80 miles from Shreveport.

Elder Monson examined the schedule, even his return flight. There was simply no time. An alternative plan was made to remember the young girl in the public prayers at stake conference. On that basis, the schedule of meetings resumed. When we were informed that Elder Monson could not come, we were deeply disappointed. When the tumor had spread to the lungs and the brain, we had decided that we wanted to take Christal to Salt Lake and have her given a blessing by a General Authority.

Monson and we showed Christal this picture. And she looked at it and she said, "He looks like a very nice man. I think he's the right one. We knew that she could not make the flight. We informed her that it wasn't going to happen. Her response was, "Well if I can't go to Elder Monson, then surely he can come to me. But when we heard that he couldn't make the trip on further south to see us and give Christal a blessing, we didn't know what to think.

But we did the only thing that we knew to do, and that was to place it in the hands of the Lord. And so, as a family, we knelt in prayer. As the Methvin family prayed, the clock in the stake center showed P. Elder Monson was sorting his notes, preparing to step to the pulpit during a leadership meeting, when he heard a voice speak to his spirit.

The message was brief. The meeting schedule was changed. He turned to Bishop James Serra and asked him to leave the meeting and advise the Methvins. And while we were praying, the phone rang and Bishop Serra, a bishop in one of the wards in Shreveport, informed us that Elder Monson would be in our home the next morning. And then he asked us if we would fast with him and he would be there to give Christal the blessing.

I've been in hallowed places, even holy houses, but never have I felt more strongly the presence of the Lord than in the Methvin home. Christal looked so tiny, lying peacefully on such a large bed. I gazed down on a child that was to0 ill to rise, almost too weak to speak. So strong was the Spirit that I fell to my knees, took her hand in mine, and said simply, "Christal, I'm here.

No one was standing. Each was on bended knee. A blessing was given; a faint smile crossed Christal's face. Her whispered "thank you" provided an appropriate benediction. Quietly, we each filed from the room. Four days later, as Christal's name was remembered in the prayer circle of the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve, the pure spirit of Christal Methvin left its disease-ravaged body and entered the paradise of God.

I bear witness that Jesus of Nazareth does love little children. He listens to their prayers and responds to them. The Master did indeed utter those words, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. I know these are the words He spoke to an Apostle on assignment in Shreveport, Louisiana, for I heard them.

He and I were leaving to go to a large meeting and suddenly he saw a woman, a young girl, and her family in need, and felt immediately to attend to that and let the meeting start without us, if necessary. The people of Europe and the people of the world are grateful to have a leader with these wonderful talents. A man who focuses on the one but has a heart for the whole world.

I remember standing with four or five German Saints in the cold and rain on a hilltop, overlooking the city of Dresden, and rededicating the land. As I offered the prayer and spoke the words, "May this be the dawning of a new day for the Church in this land," we heard a rooster crow in the valley below. The church bell begin to chime and suddenly I felt warmth on my hands and face.

I opened my eyes to see that the clouds had parted and a ray of sunshine engulfed the tiny point where our small band stood. We knew it was a confirmation from our Heavenly Father that the prayer was heard and would be answered. One of the wonderful blessings and pronouncements he made was that the members in East Germany will have all the privileges of all the membership around the world, including the temples.

And through his efforts, following through with meeting with political leaders, the Freiberg Temple came and blessed the people in a marvelous and wonderful way. If it weren't for Brother Monson, there would be little for our Saints in this part of Europe. The president has given everything to those people, including the shirt off his back.

I mean it. I've seen him give away his shirts and his suits to those destitute Saints in eastern Europe. He says they're used, old ones that he's going to throw away anyway, but all those looked brand new to me. During his years in the Twelve, one of his most important assignments was serving as chairman of the Scripture Publication Committee.

Over many years, Elder Monson supervised an exhaustive process involving hundreds of scholars, designers, technicians, and printers, which eventually resulted in new editions of all four standard works of the Church. Thomas S. Monson had a unique qualification for that. He was a printer and he knew paper, texture, binding. He was the one that went back and forth to England to check the publications and so we had Bruce McConkie and myself and him that worked through those years to accomplish that.

Really a great endeavor, equal to almost anything I know of that's happened in my lifetime. In , as President Monson was touring the Cambridge plant, he looked at one of the press lines and pulled a sheet from the end of the press and saw what was a mistake; an important column rule had been omitted. Cambridge was amazed that they hadn't found it, but he did.

And he was there to correct what could have been an omission of some significance. In addition to his apostolic labor, Elder Monson has been called upon to render significant civic duties as well. He served as a member of the Utah Board of Regents, the governing body for higher education in the state. Individuals are served not 6, at a time or not 13 million at a time.

They're served one by one. I was at breakfast this morning with three brothers who had lost their father. One of them mentioned Brother Monson. He said, "He's my favorite; he just inspires me. He always considers himself our really good friend. I think something that always makes me laugh is a quote by Elder Faust. He once said that if he could kind of start over, he'd like to come back as one of President Monson's grandchildren.

I had overheard my grandpa saying coming to my grandma like, we need to make more memories for the children. And my grandma would always just roll her eyes and be like, oh no, what has he got up his sleeve now?