President Gordon B. Hinckley

We just want to take this time to say good-bye to somone we love very much. President Gordon B. Hinckley died on Sunday, January 27th. He would have been 98 years old this summer. Each time I have thought of him and his passing, I find myself with a lump in my throat and I end up fighting back the tears. I feel like I need to try to express how much he meant to me. I can't describe how many times he said something that truly touched me, humbled me, or motivated me to do better. Many of those experiences are too personal to explain in this blog. In addition to the powerful words he spoke, the way he led his life spoke louder than any words could ever say.

Here are a few quotes from President Hinckley:

• "We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it."

• "We are all in this together, all of us, and we have a great work to do. Every teacher can be a better teacher than he or she is today. Every officer can be a better officer than he or she is today. Every father can be a better father. Every mother can be a better mother. Every husband can be a better husband, every wife a better wife, every child a better child. We are on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life and today is a part of it. Let us never forget it."

• "Believe in the power of prayer-it is real, it is wonderful, it is tremendous."

• "You have not failed until you quit trying."

• "The habit of saying thank you is the mark of an educated man or woman."

• "The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it."

• "Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become reality."

• "Stand as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us will fully reach a stage where we can walk as He walked in this life, but we can work at it. And the more we work at it, the more easily we shall take on the luster of His image in our own lives."

Here are a few things others had to say about President Hinckley...we couldn't agree more with the words they spoke in his honor.

• President Thomas S. Monson said: "He was truly a prophet for our time. Like the Master, he devoted his life to doing good, and God was surely with him. His life was a gift to the world.”

• The Quorum of the 12 Apostles: "He was our prophet, our leader, our brother and our friend. We feel a deep, personal loss at his passing. He unfailingly demonstrated his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witness he was at home and abroad.
  We will miss his wit and his wisdom, his leadership and his love."