Family home evening-Elder Hinkley

27 October 2009

Last night we had a special opportunity to have Elder and Sister Hinkley speak to us at our family home evening group. There are about 18 -20 couples here serving in various capacities from the area presidency office to missionaries like ourselves. He and his wife are here on a mission tour with the East mission and with the MTC in our building. They are staying in our building in Eld and Sister Roberts apartment who were gracious enough to move out for a week. Elder Hinkley spoke of his father and other things. I asked a question when given the opportunity, about the inspiration that was part of building the temple here and making it so large. He did not make any specific mention of anything unique but did ask Pres. Harris to comment as well as Elder Coleman who was also in attendance along with their wives. Pres. Harris indicated that the temple was built here because of the fact that the Dominican Republic has more membership and is more central to the saints coming from other countries. He stated that the Saints from Haiti can get into and out of the DR with ease but if the temple had been built in Puerto Rico, they could not have gained entrance. He said that when Elder Eyring was here for the dedication he called it the “Jewel of the Caribbean”. It is truly that! Elder Coleman commented that within the last few months, Cuba had been added to this area. He stated there is currently a branch of the church in Havana and one military branch. He said that they are currently applying for licenses through the state department to allow the church as a foreign corporation to be in Cuba. He did not know how long that may take but things are in motion in that direction. When Cuba opens up, I believe the people there will be very hungry for the gospel and may very well keep this temple busy all of the time!

Elder Hinkley also commented on the growth of the missionary effort in the church. He said this year we will see an increase in baptisms in the US of about 18%. This is the first time in a long time that the missionary efforts in the US have had a positive growth. He was asked why and stated he thought it might be due to a number of reasons. One was that the missionary committee felt that the membership in the US was finally putting into practice the direction of having the bishop take charge of the missionary effort and involve the members effectively. The other reason is his thought that the economic downturn may have humbled more people and has turned more toward thinking of spiritual things. I believe that to be true since his father said that would happen as we progress through these last days.

He shared a story of his father and commented on all of the things his father had accomplished and for which he is known. He has been passionate about building temples all over the world and started the Perpetual Education Fund. He has influenced the development of the missionary program to place emphasis on both baptisms and convert retention. He has accomplished so very much but when he was asked to perform the sealing of his last grandchild in the Salt Lake Temple, he paused in his comments during the sealing and stated that of all that he had done, sealing all of his children and grandchildren in the temple was perhaps his greatest achievement. I felt that was a tender and choice perspective placed on what is important.