Tavernari's tribute a spontaneous eulogy

Jonathan Tavernari may be a gambler with his basketball shot.

He's got mega-confidence in his game. If it were a dispensable, projectionable matter, it could be spread to cover a couple of basketball teams.

Last Saturday, Tavernari had a good game, shooting himself out of a little slump in Brigham Young University's blowout win over New Mexico. He'd made just 1-of-13 shots going into the game but hit his first five in a row that night.

In previous games, he could hear people yelling from the stands to not shoot, but he heard others encouraging him to keep firing away.

In the world Tavernari lives in, he sees hope where others see failure. He senses opportunity where others may shrink away.

This weekend was just one such weekend for the native of Brazil with the NBA-range shot. The death of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley this past Sunday left Tavernari mourning a new friend he just found, and he was not ashamed to share his love for the leader.

Tavernari joined the LDS faith two years ago. He is part of the one-third of the members of that faith who have only known one president, one prophet, President Hinckley.

For the last 30 months, Tavernari came to appreciate President Hinckley's humility, his clarity of thought, his instant connectivity, authentic spirit, directness with words, balance, unyielding faith, wisdom, stability and an innate goodness that he projected to people throughout many countries.

"Whenever I heard him talk, it was like he was speaking directly to me, specifically to me," said Tavernari.

The death brought Tavernari a different kind of Sunday after his successful athletic performance the day before.

"It's sad. I'm a convert to the church, I joined just over two years ago and he's the prophet of my generation. He was a person I always looked up to. Whenever I heard him talk in a priesthood session, it was as if he and I sat down and were talking. I just really felt his spirit when he talked."

In the short time Tavernari got to know his prophet, he said it stood out that he took the religion more deeply to the corners of the world.

"He grew the number of temples, missionary work increased, there was tremendous growth of the faith. It's sad, he will be missed," said Tavernari.

"The whole concept of the church grew worldwide because of him and the impact he had was just huge.