my personal experience with the First Presidency

Last night was the General Relief Society meeting, and President Monson spoke. I loved it. His sense of humor is so wonderful. It made me reflect on the few times I have had the privilege of meeting him personally.

When I worked at the Church News, one of my duties was to deliver copies of the editorial each week to the Church Administration Building. One went to President Hinckley, one to President Monson, and one to President Faust. I delivered each one personally. They were usually not in their offices, but occasionally I would catch a glimpse of them. When you enter the Church Administration Building, the office of the First Counselor (then President Monson) is on the left, and the Second Counselor's office is on the right. When you enter either of these offices, you first enter the office of their secretaries. They each have two secretaries, whose desks face each other on either side of an aisle that you have to walk through in order to reach the interior office. That door is usually closed, so you never knew if they were there or not. One day, I entered President Monson's office and was surprised to find him in that outer office, sitting on the desk of one of the secretaries, and chatting with them. He greeted me warmly and shook my hand. I handed him the folder with the editorial in it, and he invited to me eat some nuts out of the candy dish that was on one of their desks. I took a couple, and we chatted for just a minute about who knows what (I'm embarrassed that I can't remember). What I do remember, though, is that before I left, he invited to me eat some of the nuts from the other secretary's candy dish, and advised me to "work both sides of the street."

I met him on other occasions. Members of the First Presidency came to the annual Deseret News Christmas dinner. Since the paper is owned by the Church, one of them sits on the Board of the paper (at that time, it was President Monson). They were always very friendly toward all the staff members.

I only saw President Hinckley in his office once. I didn't get the opportunity to speak to him, but I remember being touched by how tired he looked. These men really give themselves, their time, talents, and everything to the Lord.

And just one more experience - this time with President Faust. A Church News reader had called our office and spoken with me. He stated that he had heard that President Faust had stated it as his opinion that the Second Amendment should be repealed. This reader wanted to know if that was true. I told him that I highly doubted it, because the Church as a whole upholds the law of the land, but I would take his number and find out for sure, and call him back. Then I went to the editor, Gerry, and asked her if she had ever heard such a thing. She said that no, she couldn't imagine that he would, but she would call President Faust's office and ask. So she did. She called and spoke with one of his secretaries, who said that no, President Faust had never said such a thing.

I was just about to call the reader back and tell him this, when the phone rang again. It was President Faust himself, and he asked to speak to Gerry. After a VERY short conversation, she got off the phone and came to tell me that he had said, "I have not ever said such a thing, nor do I believe such a thing." Of course, I relayed this to the reader when I called him back. I know that there are so many rumors that go around about the Church leaders and the Church in general and the policies and practices, and I just thought it was neat that President Faust thought this was of enough importance that he took the time to correct a false belief of one of the Church members.