I was really nervous at first because our flight was delayed at Sky Harbor (PHX). A pretty friendly man showed up around 2:30 & sat down next to mom and I. He explained that he had just got off a flight from Orange County to SLC but the pilot didn't want to land in SLC with the current weather conditions so he rerouted the flight to PHX! I wondered if we would ever get there, but we did :-)
Tuesday morning, Mom, Amy and I got ready for the Forum. When we arrived at the Marriott Center at 10:30, there were already a few hundred people seated! I was shocked! No one shows up to Forums...well, period! This was taken 10 minutes before the Forum began.
By the time the Fourm started, the Marriott Center was packed. Wonderful! I got up to say the opening prayer and I was so nervous that when I closed my eyes, my eyelids wouldn't stop twitching ;-) I got through it though :-) Paul got up to speak and was incredible. I can't even begin to relate to you what he spoke about, but it was powerful. I tried to hold it together on the stand with little success. There was a moment while Paul was speaking that I felt like the heaven's opened and I saw how incredible the entire event was. I realized how amazing Heavenly Father's plan is and just how tightly intertwined all of our lives really are. My moment was a sort of mental/visual "connect-the-dots": I saw Ms. Marinella on the front row, I saw myself sitting on the stand, I saw David Fox, I saw Paul, and then I saw the thousands of BYU students seated in the stands. For those of you who don't know who a few of those people are, let me quickly explain. My senior year ('05) in high school, my English teacher, Ms. Marinella, assigned each of the students in her class to read 1,000 pages on one topic--I chose the '94 Rwandan genocide. Throughout my research, I wanted to have a kind of "follow up" story. That's where David Fox comes in. He is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation that honored Paul Rusesabagina in 2000 with the Prize for Humanity. David gave me some great information about Paul for my project, but a year later, in 2006, I felt inspired to email him again and things started to fall into place. David got a copy of my project and forwarded it onto Paul. He then put me in contact with Senator Odette (who, at the time, supported Paul). He invited me to the next ICF event in Long Beach, CA on the Queen Mary where they were to award that year's Prize for Humanity. Why? Because Paul and his wife were going to be there as guests and David invited me to meet them. Just a week ago (1/26/08), David put me in contact with Bob Krueger, Former Ambassador to Burundi and close friend to Paul. David is wonderful! I then saw Paul there at the Forum speaking to thousands and carrying his story forward. When he was through speaking, he received a well-deserved, standing ovation.
After the Forum there was a Q&A with Paul. It was absolutely packed! People lined the halls outside to greet him when he was done. After the Q&A, I hopped on a golf cart with Paul and all these other important people to drive to the Hinckley Alumni building for the lucheon. There were only 15 people (including myself) at the lunceon. They were all somehow connected to events in Africa. No, Cecil was not there...hahaha! There was, however, an actual survivor of the genocide there with his wife. He was saved by Paul in the hotel. This man later moved to Belgium, where he and his wife met the LDS missionaries and were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was incredible to hear there story! Afterward, I went up to Paul and thanked him. He asked me for my phone number and gave me his so we could keep in contact. Oh what an incredible day! I feel so blessed to have been able to meet him and help share his story. I hope you all enjoyed the Forum!
After the Forum there was a Q&A with Paul. It was absolutely packed! People lined the halls outside to greet him when he was done. After the Q&A, I hopped on a golf cart with Paul and all these other important people to drive to the Hinckley Alumni building for the lucheon. There were only 15 people (including myself) at the lunceon. They were all somehow connected to events in Africa. No, Cecil was not there...hahaha! There was, however, an actual survivor of the genocide there with his wife. He was saved by Paul in the hotel. This man later moved to Belgium, where he and his wife met the LDS missionaries and were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was incredible to hear there story! Afterward, I went up to Paul and thanked him. He asked me for my phone number and gave me his so we could keep in contact. Oh what an incredible day! I feel so blessed to have been able to meet him and help share his story. I hope you all enjoyed the Forum!
1 comment:
(Finally! A new post!!!) I loved the forum and I was so proud of your prayer! You did so good, and we couldn't even tell your eyelids were twitching. We were thinking about bringing a sign with your name on it and standing up and yelling during the forum to say hi, but we decided against it. Seriously though, we loved the forum--I thought it was incredible.
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