Eternal Families

Today was a farewell in our ward(or should I say we are sending off another missionary from our ward this week and it was his turn to speak?) He started off talking about doing some research on the mission he is being sent to, South Dakota, (which actually was the place that Ashton said he would not go if his mission call was to that place!!) and how the more he researched the less information he found. But he did find someone who knew something about it. They said that South Dakota is the second least visited state in the U.S. and then this missionary said the first least visited state in the U.S. is also in his mission......North Dakota!! ha ha ha ha......we all laughed at that one! So then he proceeded to say that he was sure that he would not run into any of us on vacation there while he was serving. He said that he was called to Rapid City and not Sioux City...which is in Iowa (he said under his breath....referring to Brother F. who was conducting and mistakenly said Sioux City, South Dakota mission!) and we all laughed once again. He talked about other things but the speaker I really enjoyed came after.

Now on to the second speaker, Brother W., whose talk was really touching. He spoke about eternal families and how important it is to live your life so that you will be with your family in the eternities. He got really choked up while he was telling us of his second son (his first served a successful mission in Brazil). He said how he was called to go pick up his son at the MTC and as he was driving down there he was getting really mad at his son for being sent home. Then he said as his son was getting into the car he said,"I couldn't take a chance of not being with my family forever." His son has since gone back to the mission that he was originally called to and, besides having a kidney stone the size of a nickel this week and the miracle of having it pass without surgery, he has done really well. It took him a year to get his life in order but it was all worth it for him. He did it and can rest assured that the power of the Atonement is real and that if he continues to make good choices he will not jeopardize his ability to be with his family forever.

I am so thankful that families can be together forever! What a wonderful message that is to be sharing with the world! And how wonderful it is that Elder Ashton has this opportunity to bring that joy into the lives of those who live in Brazil!!