In the News
President Monson Celebrates With Home Ward
By Andrew Marshall
MormonTimes.com
Fifty years ago a young Thomas S. Monson was assigned by his bishop to serve as the building chairman coordinator of the Valley View 3rd ward. This meant that the then 30-year-old Monson needed to rally members to assist in the building of the new chapel.
"The bishop gave me a list of members to know who would come and who wouldn’t," said President Monson to a crowd of neighbors and friends gathered at the 50th anniversary celebration of the church building. "I told him, 'Just give me the list of bretheren, and they’ll all come' . . . It was a testimony to me that I didn’t have a turndown.
"President Monson spoke to old friends and neighbors of the Holladay North Stake where he has lived for the past fifty years, one of two wards in which he has lived during his entire life. A large crowd turned out to hear him speak on the back steps of the ward house and watch him lay mortar for the placement of a time capsule in the brickwork of the building, behind the cornerstone. President Monson's wife, Francis, assisted in the laying of the mortar.
"She does it better than I do," President Monson said with a grin. "She wants to do the whole thing."
Among other things the time capsule contained the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith book, a copy of Preach My Gospel, a copy of today’s Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune, the testimonies of members, a Holladay North Stake Directory and hymn book, the World Wide Leadership Training on the family, the May 2008 Ensign (which reported on the solemn assembly sustaining President Monson as president of the Church), the edition of The Church News featuring President Hinckley and a state quarters guide.
"Let us appreciate this house of the Lord," President Monson said. "Children, put it in your diaries, 'I attended the 50th anniversary of this building today, and I want to attend the 100th.'
"True to his nature, President Monson shared stories about gathering people to work on the building. He called one young less-active man and invited him to come work, saying that he, President Monson, would be working right along side him. The man came, hammered in nails, and subsequently returned to full activity in the church. President Monson quoted Doctrine and Covenants, section 88: 119 which calls the saints to "organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."
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