I'll miss you till we meet again, my dear friend.

I never met President Hinckley. Not in person, anyways. But I knew the man. He was incredible. Vivacious, loving, gentle, wise...the list of his virtues could go on for pages. He became a dear friend because I knew of his love for me.

It was a love that came from careful self-cultivation over years of development. He became who he was because he chose that path.

It was a love that he was blessed with through divine might--because of his call to preside over Heavenly Father's sons and daughters on the earth today, the Lord gave President Hinckley the power of a deep, resounding love for all of His children.

It was a love that I could feel through the television screen, the satellite broadcast, or through the distance of the Marriott Center or conference hall in Salt Lake.

Today he died. I tear up again as I type those words. He is a wonderful man. I will miss his words of counsel. I will miss his smile, his jokes, his love of all things good.

He was such an amazing communicator! He took the Gospel from a religion of obscurity to a spotlight of better understanding and relationships with government and media. I admire him as a public relations master! He did so much for the image of the church.

And his dedication to building temples! How grateful I am that he took on that great work. The sacred temple ordinances are available to so much of the world due to his efforts.

The Perpetual Education Fund was another great work he spearheaded. The blessings of education are so rich, and those bounties are more widely available to people who would never previously been able to imagine being able to gain an education.

Oh, I could go on forever about everything he has accomplished. but most important, I know he was and is a prophet of God, sent to lead the church, sent for me, sent for everyone on the earth! All people can know God's will for His children because of the gospel, through the conduit of prophets, and Gordon Bitner Hinckley was most certainly the mouthpiece of the Lord on the earth. Of this I testify.

President Hinckley's testimony of Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ was a true witness of their existence and continued concern and love for all men and women.

How grateful I am to have lived when he lived, to have heard his witness and to have beheld his wonderful works as president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yet the work moves onward and upward. While I mourn the loss of a great man, I understand that my Lord's house is one of order, and the priesthood keys remain. The prophet who takes the stand in April at General Conference holds the power and witness necessary to guide the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.