Masterpiece Theatre Three and President Hinckley

Last week, when I posted after watching Northanger Abbey, I talked a little bit about my calling to teach from the new Joseph Smith manual at church. This week before I post about Mansfield Park, I need to talk about the passing of our prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. I find great comfort in thinking about the two prophets meeting together last night.

President Hinckley was sustained as prophet shortly after my twins were born thirteen years ago. He is the only prophet my kids have known. When we got the phone call last night from Alan's dad telling us that he had passed, the kids were already in bed. I really wanted to go up and wake them up and tell them but I let them sleep. This morning when I told each one of my kids, we all got weepy and sad. We prayed for his family and for President Monson's family but we all feel so much peace in knowing that he is with his sweet wife.

Two Christmases ago, a member of our former bishopric had an amazing experience. His best friend is George Dyer, President Hinckley's favorite singer. George Dyer was invited to perform at the private Christmas lunch held for the First Presidency and Council of the 12 and their wives. I was serving as YWP at the time and this member of our bishopric thought it would be a good idea for us to make a card or something that he could give to President Hinckley. We took a picture and made a card that all of the girls signed telling the prophet that we were reading the Book of Mormon and that we were all trying to live the gospel.

The card was handed over. We had a wonderful Young Women's meeting the next week where this Bishopric member came and told the girls all about being with President Hinckley, how he smiled through the whole thing and made everyone feel special. How he kept hugging on our dear counselor and thanking him for making the trip up to SLC with George. We all felt like we knew the Prophet after that. Then a few weeks later, the Bishop handed me a letter that had come from Salt Lake addressed to me. It was a letter from President Hinckley thanking me and the girls for the card and telling us how much he loved the youth of the church. I am fairly sure he didn't sit down to the computer himself and type it up but it had his signature on it. And it was written on very fine card stock. I made copies for all of the girls to keep in their journals.

I loved listening to President Hinckley speak but the quote that has stirred me the most lately was printed in the April 2002 Ensign. I was looking for a quote for a lesson and stumbled upon this:

"Be true to the Lord. He is your strength. He is your salvation. It is He who can bless you. It is He who desires to bless you. Look to Him for every gift and grace and blessing. Get on your knees and pray and stand on your feet and do His will and put your trust and faith in Him and God will bless you. I make that promise as His servant” (regional conference, Santiago, Chile, 26 Apr. 1999).

I love the part about 'stand on your feet and do His will' - I think that President Hinckley was the perfect example of this. He spent the majority of his adult years in service to the Lord, not just because of his calling, but because of the kind of man he was.

Maybe because I was a little weepy after hearing of Pres. Hinckley's passing, I didn't enjoy Mansfield Park as much as I expected to. It was not my favorite book, but the quality of these new shows has been so great that I had high hopes. It was very good. But my biggest complaint was Fannie Price's eyebrows! They bugged me during the whole show. Why were they so dark? Is the actress a brunette and they made her blond for the show and just forgot about her eyebrows? While I was on the PBS website lifting pictures, I read that the actress who played Fannie is Billie Piper and she was a teenage pop star in Britain.

The eyebrows bugged me but also the fact that the actress who played Mary Crawford looked just like Neve Campbell to me. I kept thinking why is that Party of Five girl trying to have a British Accent.

Edmund Bertram is of course supposed to be the hottie. He is the hero of the story, sticking by his principles and not seeking a fortune so he can marry Mary Crawford. I love the character and the actor himself was good looking but he reminded me of someone but I can't put my finger on who it is.

This week I also discovered that the PBS show is not called Masterpiece Theatre but just Masterpiece. I think maybe it used to be called Masterpiece Theatre but they dropped the Theatre part. Anyway, I think that next week's drama based on Jane Austen's own life will be interesting. Maybe I need a break from these Sunday night romances.