Thanks to the Hero's

Today was great.  Not only was it Sunday which I love... but it is also Memorial Day weekend which I also love.  There was a mix up and miscommunication in Sacrament Meeting today and there was only one speaker.  After he spoke and we sang a rest hymn, our awesome Bishop got up and spoke for about 15 minutes about Memorial Day.  We then sang Battle Hymn of the Republic and then he opened the last ten minutes for anyone to come up and share about Memorial Day.  It was one of THE BEST meetings I have ever been in.  Some Veterans spoke, some family members of fallen soldiers spoke, and some spoke who were just filled with gratitude for the service men and women who have and are fighting for our freedom.  Bishop Montgomery shared just a piece of this but I just read the whole thing and feel so humbled.

PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY 2012
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Our Nation endures and thrives because of the devotion of our men and women in uniform, who, from generation to generation, carry a burden heavier than any we may ever know.
On Memorial Day, we honor those who have borne conflict's greatest cost, mourn where the wounds of war are fresh, and pray for a just, lasting peace. The American fabric is stitched with the stories of sons and daughters who gave their lives in service to the country they loved.
They were patriots who overthrew an empire and sparked revolution. They were courageous men and women who strained to hold a young Union together. They were ordinary citizens who rolled back the creeping tide of tyranny, who stood post through a long twilight struggle, who saw terror and extremism threaten our world's security and said, "I'll go." And though their stories are unique to the challenges they faced, our fallen service members are forever bound by a legacy of valor older than the Republic itself.
Now they lay at rest in quiet corners of our country and the world, but they live on in the families who loved them and in the soul of a Nation that is safer for their service.
Today, we join together in prayer for the fallen. We remember all who have borne the battle, whose devotion to duty has sustained our country and kept safe our heritage as a free people in a free society.
Though our hearts ache in their absence, we find comfort in knowing that their legacy lives on in all of us -- in the security that lets us live in peace, the prosperity that allows us to pursue our dreams, and the love that still beats in those who knew them. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we have lost, and may He watch over the men and women who serve us now. Today, tomorrow, and in perpetuity, let us give thanks to them by remaining true to the values and virtues for which they fight.

Thank you to all of you in the armed forces who have left your families, jobs, schooling, and lives to fight so that we may remain a free country.  My heart is filled with such humility and gratitude for each of you as well as your families who sacrifice more than anyone will ever know.  And this Memorial Day thank you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  May peace be with the families of the fallen soldiers. You are all Hero's.  THANK YOU AND HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!