Meeting an Apostle of Jesus Christ

We are now in Salt Lake City.  The second part of our training will be classes held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building which are more specific to our assignment as Area Family History support missionaries.  Some dear people from our ward who have a condo just a few blocks from there have generously invited us to stay at their place in order to make it more convenient for us to go to our classes rather than shuttling back and forth from the MTC each day.  We really appreciate that kindness.

So today we walked down to attend church services with the Salt Lake 18th ward.  There were several things I heard in the lessons that I will continue to ponder on for some time to come.  

And then something rather special happened.  I got to meet and shake hands with Dallin H. Oaks, one of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.

As Elder David Bednar said in a 2010 interview,  (see here)  apostles are "ordinary men that shoulder an extraordinary responsibility".  


I accept all of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers and revelators, just the same as Ezekiel, Peter, Moses, Nephi, Mosiah or any of the other ancient prophets whose lives and teachings I have studied in the scriptures.

" The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the second-highest governing body in the Church (the First Presidency being the highest). Apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, called to teach and testify of Him throughout the world. They travel frequently, addressing and encouraging large congregations of members and interested nonmembers, as well as meeting with local leaders."  (From lds.org - see link above).

I have been privileged over the years to meet many good people through my association with and service in the church.   I really do believe that in the Lord's eyes, any worthy person who is trying their best to fulfill whatever calling they may have is just as special as these men.  God is no respecter of persons.  Still, it is something special to get to personally meet one of the general authorities who I have been listening to in conference sessions for the past 30 yrs.

This afternoon I have been reading several different articles and scriptures about prophets and apostles so I can gain a better understanding about what this special witness means.