Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Reunion Then and Now

On our way to the reunion. The other picture is the last time I went with Rich to his reunion.

The main reason I suffered driving 1200 miles to Utah was to go to Rich's Missionary Reunion with Elder Ballard. I think I have only been there once before and it wasn't that impressive to me. I didn't really know any of the other missionaries except my Brother Len so I was anxious to hear what he had to say this time. The main things I remember about his talk was the warnings he gave us. He talked about how we need to teach our children how to communicate with others. Because of our advanced technology they are on the computer and cell phones texting and they don't really know how to talk to each other. He said that the number of marriages that are in trouble because of pornography is skyrocketing. He warned us about being deceived by those who run scams and investment frauds. He also said that we need to tell our children "We Can Not Afford It." We are living in hard times and if we don't repent as a people the world will get worse. After he had talked he opened it up to questions. I really wanted to ask him a question but was too embarrassed to say anything. I wanted to ask him about Kamber. I wanted him to tell me if it was her time to go or if it was just an accident and that is what happened. My sister-in-law talked to him a little bit about my concerns and he was so kind to her, then as we were walking out of the cultural hall he was walking in. He stood there and talked to us for a while about my concerns. He told us about how he and his wife had lost three of their grandchildren. Two were very young children and one was a 22 year-old returned missionary who was killed in a tragic airplane crash in Cedar City, Utah. He told us to forget about how Kamber died and what could have been done to prevent it. Just know that she is with our Heavenly Father. We don't need to worry about her at all. We need to look at her as a "beacon of light" for our family and that we want to live to be worthy to be with her again. He then went on to talk about some things that the Prophets Joseph Smith and Spencer Kimball taught us about the death of children. He was so kind to us. I was glad I made the trip to be able to talk to an Apostle. It was an experience I will never forget. The trip was hard, I'm still trying to get back to "normal" what ever that is. I'm thankful for the gospel and it's teachings, for the ordinances we have that will bind our family together forever. I know we have a lot of work to do before we will be able to be worthy to join Kamber, I hope we are up for the task.

1 comment:

Debbie said...

Beautiful!! What a comfort for you to hear from an apostle about Kamber. Thetrip was worth it all.