Yes, it is true, I have been with President Hinckley in the Celestial Room of a temple. This was in the Campinas, Brazil temple during the dedication. It was one of the most incredible spiritual experiences I have had.
I almost didn’t go to the temple dedication. I was living and working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the time. Campinas is an hour away by plane, and I wasn’t sure if I could get away during the week. But a friend had tickets to sit in the Celestial Room during the dedication, and he convinced me to go. Boy am I glad I did.
Like many temples, the Campinas site sits on a hill overlooking a valley. You can see the temple for miles around, and it sits white and gleaming above the green fields and buildings. I arrived at the temple by taxi and joined a long line of well-behaved, well-dressed Brazilians filing into the building. After putting white covers on our shoes, we were taken straight to the Celestial Room.
Here are some excerpts from my journal, notes that I wrote down right after leaving the temple:
“I sat three rows back from President Hinckley and his wife. People began to weep as soon as the prophet entered the room. I cannot describe what a phenomenal experience it is to be near a man who causes people to weep with joy just by entering a room. President Hinckley…said the people in the room were some of the best in Brazil. He said all men who had not yet done so should bring their wives to the temple. He was sure that he and his wife would live together forever. He asked converts to compare their lives now to their lives in the past. All of us wept listening to him talk. His eyes were filled with love. When he said, ‘I love you,’ I knew he really did. I have never felt so good in my life. I have never felt so full of the spirit of God. I can finally understand what it must have been like to be in the Kirtland temple. What a great experience.”
There is no doubt in my mind that Pres. Hinckley is happy now, communing with his wife, his other deceased family members and past presidents of the Church, as well as the Great Jehovah. I am so thankful for him living a righteous life so I could feel the Spirit so strongly during my short experience at the Campinas temple. I will miss President Hinckley, but the Church goes on, and our new prophet will have the same Spirit.