I Had No Idea

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Yesterday at church, we sat down in the chapel, getting ready for Sacrament Meeting when all of a sudden, I looked to my left and saw Elder Dallin H. Oaks.

Me: Matthew, is that who I think it is??

Matthew: Naw, it can't be Elder Oaks. He looks too young.

Then Elder Oaks proceeded to sit down by the Bishop.

Matthew: Maybe it is him. Man, he looks pretty good for his age.

So, I have never been in a meeting that an Apostle was in (except for General Conference, but you always expect them there!). Of course, the only place that was open after waiting for the parents to come get their children from nursery was the front row. Of course, we were sitting directly, and I mean DIRECTLY in front of him. I was hoping for a miracle beyond miracles that my children would behave, which they did.

My mind was wondering reasons why Elder Oaks would come to our Sacrament Meeting. But, we just got a new Bishop. The Stake President would take care of that anyway.

Then we had the opportunity to have a beautiful - and the cutest - musical number by a woman named Jenny Baker and her three daughters, which the youngest was probably around 4 or 5 on the cello. Are you kidding? It was awesome.

At the end of the meeting, Elder Oaks stood to share his testimony and said that he was proud of his daughter and granddaughters for the musical number. He then said that he knew that the church was true. Of course he elaborated on that thought, but I don't want to cheapen at all what he said. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life to hear an Apostle proclaim the truthfulness of this church, the realness of Christ and the purpose of the Sacrament. It was great.

Little did I know until I spoke to my mother in law that Jenny Oaks Baker is an incredible violinist. She was the first violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra! You can check her out here or here. She has cds out and stuff. I had no idea! I guess her husband's family is in our ward and they visit every summer from Virginia or somewhere.

No, I didn't shake Elder Oak's hand because there were so many people wanting to do that. I figured he wouldn't mind shaking hands with everyone in the room, but the thing he wanted to do the most was to go to his family that he doesn't see too often.

Needless to say, I'm glad we didn't skip out on Sacrament Meeting yesterday.

Not that we do that....