[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S37-S38]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Remembering Thomas S. Monson

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life of a truly 
remarkable man: Thomas S. Monson, the president of the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  On Tuesday night, at the age of 90, President Monson was called home 
by his Heavenly Father. I expect that his reunion with his wife Frances 
was a joyous occasion, and I am confident that this reunion will 
provide comfort to his three children and eight grandchildren.
  But President Monson's legacy is far greater than his family, even 
though that was of paramount importance to President Monson and his 
wife Frances. President Monson's legacy also includes the countless men 
and women whose lives were touched by him, as well as the confident, 
global church he helped to shepherd, to expand, and to strengthen.
  Consider this: In the 54 years Thomas Monson served as an apostle, 
church membership swelled from 2 million to 16 million. That 
accomplishment is a blessing from God, but it was realized by saints 
like President Monson, who devoted their lives to serving Him--in his 
case, starting at an exceptionally young age.
  Thomas Monson was born and raised in Salt Lake City in a large and 
devoutly faithful family. He attended Utah State University. He served 
with honor in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and he worked for a time in 
printing, including for the Deseret News.
  By the age of 22, he was the bishop of a ward, a local congregation 
in Salt Lake City, charged with guiding over 1,000 people in their 
walks with Christ.
  By 36 he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, one of 
the youngest people ever to receive that special calling.
  But Brother Monson did not give in to hubris as a result of those 
unexpected and, in many cases, early promotions. Quite the opposite, he 
was humbled by the very heavy mantle that had been placed on his 
shoulders with each of these callings.
  Members of President Monson's ward remember the young bishop as a 
steady companion to people who were enduring struggles and hardship. 
There were 80 widows in his ward, and Bishop Monson took the time to 
visit every single one of them on a regular basis. Also in his ward 
were 18 servicemen fighting in the Korean war. Every month, he sent 
letters to those 18 men to remind them that they had not been 
forgotten, and even decades later, he would speak of these servicemen 
and widows during the church's General Conference meeting. His love for 
them could still be felt by those in attendance.
  Those stories illustrate the kind of man President Monson truly was. 
I can testify to this fact through personal anecdotes of my own, 
including the fact that in 2010, shortly after I had been elected to 
the U.S. Senate, President Monson invited me, along with

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my wife Sharon and our three children, to visit with him in his office 
in Salt Lake City. He prayed with us, encouraged us, and offered us 
counsel. As much as anything, we just felt honored that he would take 
the time to meet with us and show interest in our lives.
  This is perhaps the single most consistent thread in President 
Monson's life. He was someone who at every step of his life, at every 
stage of his service, was always willing to reach out to others, to 
visit them even without anyone else expecting it. He was known--famous, 
in fact--for routinely interrupting his daily routine just to visit 
someone who happened to be sick, who happened to be in the hospital, 
who happened to be going through something difficult. President Monson 
didn't always know the reason why he needed to visit the person in 
advance; he just knew it needed to be done, and he always did.
  There are lessons that we can learn here in the U.S. Senate about 
this type of service--this type of service that is selfless, that is 
eternal in its scope and in its reach, this type of service that 
blesses the lives of other human beings without any expectation of 
remuneration. He was a leader who understood how even small, seemingly 
insignificant acts of kindness could affect people's lives in profound, 
lasting ways.
  He always urged his brothers and sisters within the church and 
elsewhere to be on the lookout for signs that God was calling them to 
help. ``Never fail to follow a prompting of the Holy Spirit,'' he would 
say, and on a regular basis, he did just that. This could mean visiting 
a relative in the hospital or delivering a meal to a coworker who was 
mourning a loss or just checking in on a friend he hadn't seen in a 
while.
  For President Monson, it was always about taking time for that 
personal connection. President Monson knew that little encounters build 
strong relationships--and strong saints.
  In 2008, President Thomas S. Monson was called to lead the church. He 
proved to be a good steward of the church in a fast-moving world and in 
an expanding, growing faith community. Many obituaries have already 
noted how in 2012 he lowered the age requirement for missionaries, a 
decision that increased the missionary force in short order from 52,000 
to almost 70,000. That is almost 20,000 more young people to spread the 
Gospel and daily serve in those communities around the world.
  But President Monson did far more than that to strengthen the 
church's commitment to caring for the least in our community. Under his 
leadership, the church expanded its poverty and disaster relief 
programs. He even added ``caring for the poor and needy'' to the 
church's official mission statement.
  President Monson lived in Utah almost his entire life, but his heart 
was with the church spreading throughout the world. During the depths 
of the Cold War, he helped lead the Latter-day Saints trapped behind 
the Iron Curtain. Mormons in the Soviet Union were poor just like 
everyone else. They didn't have a temple, and their governments forbade 
them from traveling abroad. As a result, they didn't have access to 
temple ceremonies that are central to our faith. That didn't sit well 
with President Monson.

  As he told his brothers and sisters from the pulpit during a trip to 
East Germany, he wanted them to share in ``every blessing'' of the 
faith. So he gave everything he had to help those people, even the 
shirt off his own back--quite literally. He returned from one trip to 
the Soviet Union in his house slippers because he had given his spare 
clothes to the less fortunate, a funny story that brings to mind the 
words of the Savior: ``[For] I was a stranger, and ye took me in: [I 
was] naked, and ye clothed me.''
  Around that time, President Monson began two decades of quiet 
diplomacy with the Soviet authorities, including with Erich Honecker 
himself. His labor reaped a tremendous harvest. In a regime that was 
hostile to religion and to outsiders, he won approval for Mormon 
missionaries to come and spread the Gospel.
  In 1985, he won an even bigger triumph when a temple opened behind 
the Iron Curtain in Freiberg, Germany. Ninety thousand East Germans 
attended the dedication of that temple.
  He had followed a prompting of the Lord. The result was nothing less 
than that dramatic, impactful tear in the Iron Curtain, one that had 
stifled religious belief, but religious belief was facilitated by this 
noble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  These are just a few stories from President Monson's life that I have 
shared, and I would like to conclude with just one more. Not long ago, 
President Monson was asked what he wanted for his birthday, which was 
coming up. Here was his simple response:

       Do something for someone else on that day to make his or 
     her life better. Find someone who is having a hard time, or 
     is ill, or lonely, and do something for them. That's all I 
     would ask.

  President Monson was always looking for little ways to help other 
people. That wish is as true in death as it was in life. In lieu of 
flowers for his funeral, the church has requested contributions be made 
to the church's Humanitarian Aid Fund.
  President Monson's legacy will outlast his death because he chose to 
follow the One who conquered death, taking upon Himself the sins, the 
transgressions, the pains, the miseries of all mankind so that we, too, 
might return to live with Him.
  President Monson will be missed. President Monson, God be with you 
until we meet again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). The majority whip.