It’s only been a few hours since I heard that President Gordon B. Hinckley died. I was at a fireside and I overheard someone telling us about it when it was announced publicly to the entire group. The room went silent for several minutes. When I got home I checked the church web site, then CNN, then the NY Times. I read what my friends put on Twitter and Facebook. I learned that the Greek Orthodox church also lost their leader today, he was much younger, 69 I think.

President Hinckley is so beloved. I thought of him as our single prophet because his wife died about four years ago. I wonder how challenging it was to be the prophet without that companionship and support. I looked up Gordon B. Hinckley in Wikipedia and this is what it said first: This article is about a person who has recently died. Reading that made my heart sank for a moment.

President Hinckley became prophet at age 84 and he died at age 97. He’s the oldest prophet we’ve ever had. I wondered also how it is to keep that kind of schedule when you’re that old. But he handled it with grace. He seemed younger than he was because he had a young and playful spirit.

I’m so used to him being our prophet that it’s a little tough to believe he’s really gone. I’m not sad but I have a deep feeling of respect and honor for his work and legacy. He’s a legend. I was actually sad when Howard W. Hunter died so quickly after becoming prophet. I had a testimony of him and adored him and it was unexpected that he died so soon after becoming prophet.

The church will still run and we’ll get another prophet (Thomas S. Monson most likely) but I’ll never forget President Hinckley and the impact he had on my life.

The 2^nd Annual LDS Midsingles Conference in Huntington Beach is this April. It’s for all LDS midsingles ages (ages 27-40) and is sponsored by the Huntington Beach 1st Ward Midsingles. The age range will be firm to cater to 30-something singles who recently graduated from the YSA Wards and “older” YSAs who are getting ready to graduate.

This conference will definitely sell out with a maximum capacity of 1,200 people from all over the country, Canada, and beyond.

There will be no registration at the door. Register now to secure your Saturday activity as some activities have a limited capacity.

Pre-Registration

Catered Dinner

Mixer/Ice Breaker Activities

Dance with DJ spinning the most current Dance music, organized speed dating, and 4 chill rooms including an uplighted enclosed tent.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Service Project: Huntington State Beach Clean-up teamed up the with the Surfrider Foundation, HB Chapter
Morningside Devotional at the Beach

Catered BBQ Lunch
Afternoon activities (choose one sport activity, cultural activity, or entire workshop series)

Cultural Activities include touring the real Laguna Beach with its art galleries, shops, and beaches; and checking out the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, the largest aquarium on the West Coast.

 
Workshop Series (choose 3 to attend; workshops repeat on the hour)

Sacrament Service with Keynote Speaker
Catered Lunch afterwards
Evening Fireside with Guest Speaker

Monday, April 28, 2008

Conference After-Party at Disneyland

To register online, go to www.hb1singles.com or if you have any questions, email us at hbmidsinglesconference@hotmail.com or contact Matt Campbell 949-680-7619.

Elder Ballard spoke at Brigham Young University-Hawaii recently and he talked about new media - including blogs. He asked students to consider sharing their views about the LDS church on blogs.  New media also includes sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other sites where you can comment on and respond to articles about the church.

It reminds me of my friends at The More Good Foundation, whose main goal is to have positive and accurate information about the church rank highly in search engines.

I blog for a living (along with some other internet marketing consulting) and I’m a big fan. I agree that it’s important that we as members join in the online conversations about the church. This is like being in the world but not of the world. We leave the bad and benefit from the good.

It’s so nice to see the church say something positive about the Internet. Normally we talk about the dangers of the Internet - pornography and the like. But, as Elder Ballard points out we need to participate so that people get an accurate view of our beliefs.

Here’s a little sneak peek. I’m one of the owners of LDSFriends.com and we’re going to launch the new site soon. It’s a social networking site for members of the LDS church. We’re going to make it easy for anyone who is a part of our community to start a blog. Great news, isn’t it.

Warning: Once you start blogging it will be tough to stop!!

What’s better: being in a perfect world or a fallen one?

The movie Enchanted is the perfect date movie. It has elements from several different Disney films and manages to seem both modern and classic without slipping into cheesy. It’s a combination of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Mary Poppins, and Sleepless in Seattle. With the curtain dresses, it even has an element of The Sound of Music.
I learned the princess played by Amy Adams is LDS and lives in Colorado. She was dreamy, a fairy tale actress. The film touches on so many themes: divorce/marriage, good/evil, real/make believe, personal growth, love, and even has a commentary on cell phones.

There is nothing to make your date blush and there are laugh-out-loud moments. It’s all out of a Hallmark card. Sometimes seems as if you’re actually at Disneyland. I even loved the credits at the end and the movie itself was practically flawless.

Here is a review that captures the feeling of this film quite well.