September 3, 2018

Hey Jon -

Sorry I'm sending this out a little late this week - maybe you'll get it next p-day instead. It's Labor Day and we went camping in the High Uintas over the weekend and just got back a few minutes ago.

In the High Uintas we found a decent campsite in an actual campground but Chance didn't like it and thought we should keep looking so we did that and not only did we not find any available space in the other 10 campgrounds we visited but when we came back to the first campsite it was taken too. So, we just found a spot in the woods outside of a campground and camped there and it worked out pretty well except we had no picnic table and I forgot to bring my portable one from home.

Maddy and I kayaked on Mirror Lake and it was sooo pretty. It was packed with people too due to the holiday weekend. Basically we read books, played some games, and slept in hammocks. Maddy and Mom decided to hike to the top of Bald Mountain too but I went back to camp with Chance and Javi. Heber was planning to go with us too but cancelled at the last moment.

Two weeks ago when I was at Education Week I was sitting in the Marriott Center and had this super vivid memory come back to me - something I hadn't thought about in 25 years. Did you know that was was once involved in a terrorist incident with the prophet of the church? Well, he wouldn't become prophet for a few more months but this is one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me in my life so I thought I would share it with you.

It was February 7, 1993. I had been home from my mission exactly 2 months and back in school at BYU for just one month. My college roommates asked me if I wanted to go to the Sunday night Church Educational System (CES) fireside at the BYU Marriott Center with them and I was tired from church but still said yes.

The speaker that night was President Howard W. Hunter who was an apostle and President of the Quorum of the Twelve. President Hunter would become the prophet and president of the church 16 months later when President Ezra Taft Benson passed away. He would serve as prophet for only 9 months before passing away.

At the Marriott Center the speaking platform was faced south and the floor seating was full so I sat in the stadium seats just east of south in one of the first 10 rows. As I found my seat I passed by a strange looking guy dressed in light colored suit with a briefcase and a pony tail pulled back. I think it was the pony tail that I noticed most because most BYU students don't have long hair like that. I didn't think much of it - something like well maybe he is a non-member just investigating the church and attending a fireside.

We had an opening song, prayer, and musical number and then President Hunter rose to deliver his prepared talk called "An Anchor to the Souls of Men". Just as he rose from his seat I saw out of the corner of my eye the guy with the pony tail racing down the stadium stairs towards the floor. He ran past all the people seated on the floor and then up on the podium. He was holding his briefcase his briefcase in one hand and something that looked like a small piece of wood in his other hand. He stood behind President Hunter at the podium and told him that he had a bomb and the detonator in his hand.

I don't remember anyone screaming in terror and strangely I don't think very many people ran towards the exits to get out of the arena. I certainly didn't. I do remember a lot of girls sobbing, clearly terrified for President Hunter, terrified for their own life, or maybe just overwhelmed by a very unexpected twist on the usually very calm and soothing CES firesides.

The terrorist's name was Cody Judy and we came to find out much later that he wanted President Hunter to read a document that announced Hunter's resignation and Cody's appointment as President of the Quorum of the Twelve. President Hunter refused to read it even at the cost of his (and my) life, not knowing that area personnel had already cut power to the microphone and the satellite TV feed. I've never seen the video that went out that night or how people watching at home must have felt with what happened.

In the midst of much sobbing I heard one student start singing "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" and soon every attendee in the area was singing along. At the same time I saw a few security personnel crawl from stage left in front of the speaking platform, bent down low where Cody Judy couldn't see them. They started spraying pepper spray up and over the podium, trying to hit Cody in the face. At one point Cody Judy wiped his face and that's when one of the students on the platform tackled him from behind. President Hunter was pulled to the side and then all I saw was a hundred people dog-pile Cody Judy, punching and kicking and basically beating the snot out of this guy. The security personnel started pulling students off Cody Judy one by one and when they finally got to the last guy he yelled out "DON'T MESS WITH THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL!". I'll never forget that line.

When I saw Cody Judy unconscious on the ground covered with blood my feelings changed in a flash from "protect me from this terrorist" to "we have to protect this poor guy from a mob trying to kill him". For a moment I was embarrassed to call myself a Mormon and a Christian when these other "righteous Elders" were kicking an unconscious guy in the head.

When things finally calmed down and Cody Judy was carried out of the area to an ambulance, I started towards the exit but President Hunter emerged and said he'd still like to give his talk. It was crazy. Everybody had just gone through an extremely stressful experience, each one processing their own PTSD, and then sat down to hear a fireside speech like it was just a normal day. When President Hunter read a line from his prepared speech "Life has a fair number of challenges in it", the entire arena burst out in laughter.

Love,

Dad