Interesting info re Pres. Monson

[SoCalCoug]

I was talking with my business partner last night. He mentioned that there is some recent instruction from the first presidency regarding confirmations - that there shouldn't be the big circles anymore - there should be no more than 3 or 4 in the circle for a confirmation.

I brought up the other recent First Presidency communications - the one about sacrament talks, and the one about gay marriage - and said that it seems like maybe Pres. Monson has turned over that sort of thing to Elder Packer.

He said his son-in-law is involved somehow in the general conference broadcasts, and so he has really good access to the general authorities in non-official capacities (i.e., he's able to roam around the tunnels under the conference center before conference starts). His comment was that the sacrament talk letter was classic Boyd K. Packer.

But the interesting insight to me was what the SIL said about Pres. Monson. I had mentioned that he seems so laid back, that maybe he shies away from the stuff like in the recent letters, relying on Elder Packer. He said that he'd had a conversation with the SIL that suggests something else. The SIL commented that Pres. Monson has a huge temper - he said he'd seen him, in the few minutes before conference started, just screaming, red-faced and all, at someone about something.

That's the complete opposite of the impression I'd had of him from his conference talks. It seems I've got him pegged completely wrong. I'd always considered him more of a teddy bear, and not the grizzly bear that we've heard Elder Packer described as. But maybe he's as much a grizzly as Elder Packer. The things that have been happening since Pres. Hinckley passed away would seem to bear that out.