Last Paragraph of Wisdom from Elder Hales

Hello, everyone! Though it had been doubtful prior to General Conference that Elder Hales would be able to attend, the First Presidency told Elder Hales that if he wished to do so, they would keep a few minutes open for him during the Sunday Morning Session. He wrote some brief remarks for delivery, so he'd be ready if he was able to deliver them. The Church News shared a small paragraph from the prepared text of what would have been Elder Hales' last address. I hope the Church will publish the entire thing.

Here is what the Church News shared from what he wrote:“When we choose to have faith we are prepared to stand in the presence of God. After the Savior’s crucifixion, He appeared only to those who had been faithful in the testimony of Him while they lived in mortality. Those who rejected the testimonies of the prophets could not behold the Savior’s presence nor look upon His face. Our faith prepares us to be in the presence of God.”

That each of us may live as Elder Hales both lived and taught I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tributes to Elder Hales

At the beginning of the Sunday Afternoon Session of General Conference, President Eyring noted the passing of Elder Hales and shared this tribute to him. To mark his passing, the Church News published this article in honor of his lifetime of Church service which, in addition to his 23.5 years as an apostle, also included 9 years as Presiding Bishop of the Church, 8.5 years in the First Quorum of the Seventy prior to that, and 1.5 years in the now-defunct position of Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve. His service as a General Authority spanned 42.5 years. As previously mentioned, funeral arrangements will be announced as soon as they are made. That funeral will likely take place later this week. Just wanted to add these thoughts. As always, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. May God bless each of you until my next post. Until then, I wish you all the best.

Apostolic Facts Which Some Might Find Interesting

Hello, everyone! In the wake of Elder Hales' passing, I wanted to use a blog post to share some facts about our apostles that some might find interesting. First, Elder Hales was the last apostle appointed during President Benson's presidency, and he was the last of those appointees to pass away (as Elder Wirthlin did in 2008 and Elder Scott did in 2015).

With the passing of Elder Hales, we have President Monson, appointed by David O. McKay, President Nelson and Elders Oaks and Ballard, appointed during the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball, Elder Holland, the only apostle appointed during Howard W. Hunter's brief administration, Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf, and Elders Bednar and Cook, appointed by Gordon B. Hinckley. The other five apostles (Elders Christofferson, Andersen, Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund) have been appointed in the 9 years of President Monson's administration, making the apostle that will be appointed to fill the vacancy in the Quorum as a result of Elder Hales' death President Monson's sixth apostolic appointment.

As of today, the First Presidency has a total 251.35 years of life experience, which works out to an average of 83.78 years. The 11 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have a total of 818.88 years of life experience, which averages out to 74.44 years. And the 14 apostles together have a total of 1,070.23 years of life experience, which averages out to 76.45 years.
I am grateful that each of these Brethren has had their lives preserved up to this point. How wonderful it is to know that we do have prophets, seers, and revelators to guide us in these latter-days.
That does it for this post. Any comments are always welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best.