Never Postpone a Prompting: The Swim That Saved a Friend's Life

On one occasion many years before his 2012 account, Thomas S. Monson was swimming laps at the old Deseret Gym in Salt Lake City when he felt a clear inspiration to leave the pool and go to the University Hospital to visit a good friend who had lost the use of his lower limbs after a malignancy and the surgery that followed. He left the water immediately, dressed, and made his way to the hospital, where he found his friend's room empty. Told he would probably find the man in the hospital's therapy pool, Monson went there — and found him alone, on the far side of the pool, near the deep end. The friend maneuvered his wheelchair over to greet him, and the two had an enjoyable visit, after which Monson accompanied him back to his room and gave him a blessing. Only later did Monson learn what his obedience to the prompting had prevented: his friend had been utterly despondent that day, had prayed for relief but felt his prayers unanswered, and had gone to the pool intending to end his life by guiding his wheelchair into the deep end. The friend lived many more years, filled with happiness and gratitude. Monson retold the experience in his October 2012 general conference address "Consider the Blessings" as a lesson he had learned never to postpone a prompting. The exact year is not recorded; Monson dated the event only as "many years ago," during the era of the old Deseret Gym, which closed in 1997.