This is Nathan's Dad, Jay, and before we get his next email I wanted to post a few things. First, when I have time sometime this week or weekend, I will be posting an edited version of our conversation with Anziano Eads that we had on Skype. Our Skype conversation happen at 4:30a.m. Monday morning or 12:30pm Nathan's time in Sassiro. We had such a great visit and it was truly wonderful to see both how happy Nathan is, and how full of joy he is. If you know Nathan, he can get down or frustrated but he doesn't stay down or frustrated. At the end of the call after we had both hung up, both Lynda, Nathan's Mom, and I were not sad at all. The hole in my heart that I had felt when he left was replaced by pure joy after seeing how focus and happy Nathan is. It also confirmed my conversation with my Heavenly Father that Nathan is truly in the hands of our Father in Heaven and our Father in Heaven will take care of Nathan. I have that assuredness and its a testimony to me how the great spiritual blessings that come from having a missionary serving both our Heavenly Father, our Savior and the people where they serve.
I learned yesterday that my dear friend Mat, who is indeed one of my dearest friends both in the Gospel and in life, that his father had had a massive stroke on Sunday and was in a terrible car accident. Mat's dad was life flighted to Las Vegas (he lives near St. George) and the outcome does not look good. So in reflecting tonight after reading my scriptures and praying, the analogy of Nathan on a mission and other sons and daughters on a mission came home to me. Mat has two sons, both who have faithfully and with honor followed their Dad's legacy and served missions. Both are home. Tonight, I remembered or was prompted to remember to finish watching out a video posted by Anziano Clay Lacey's family on Anziano Lacey's return from his two year service in Rome, Italy. You can watch that at this link on Anziano Lacey's blog. I followed the blog and read it to see what we could learn of what missionary life was like for Nathan before he left and I've kept up with it.
Anyway, as Anziano Lacey comes home, when he is sighted his family cheers for him. He moves quickly down the stairs and embraces I assume, his mother and his sister. You can see his father hanging back allowing his son to be welcome home by his wife and daughter. Then at about 31 seconds in Dad has waited enough, and he moves in and father and son embrace in a tight, squeezing hug as the tears flow freely among them and among the family gathered there. This is a sacred moment but I am glad the Clay family shared it. It is also inspiring and provides insight into what our reunions are like when we return home.
I had a sacred and similar opportunity almost 3 years ago when my father-in-law had been admitted to the hospital and I arrived with my home teacher to administer to my father-in-law. At that time, in that blessing, the Spirit did not exercise the gift of healing to my father-in-law, but confirmed that he was indeed needed on the other side and with my spiritual eyes, I could sense and see anxious relatives in the Spirit world who had been granted a temporary reprieve from their assignments to welcome my father-in-law back to their longing and waiting presences. I felt that his father was there, as was his father-in-law to whom he was close. His mother was anxious to greet her youngest, her baby back to her presence. Two days later, when my father-in-law was released by his oldest son and passed after all of his five children had gathered to his hospital room, I knew as I know now, that there was a reunion occurring between Leonard, my father-in-law and many who knew him in mortality, or knew of him in the spirit world. They had awaited his arrival as anxiously as we await the birth of a new baby, a new spirit in mortality.
Separation is not easy. It is not easy to be separated from our loved ones. Yet I know that that is all it is, a temporary separation. After paying the price for our sins, bearing our infirmities, our sicknesses, our trials, tribulations, our pains and sufferings of all kinds, and then surrendering His life on the cross, our Savior after 3 days, arose from the tomb, resurrected. Because of that I know that we each will live again, and that our existence is not temporary, leading to a permanent separation. No, through our Savior, families truly can be together forever, and we continue, our love continues, and grows and expands as do our relationships.
So to my dear friend Mat, I know you are going through a difficult time. I am so sorry and I hope and pray that if you or your family need anything, ANYTHING, just ask and it will be there. I love you Mat, more importantly your father loves you as does your Heavenly Father and our Savior. May in some small way you find solace in the fact that your Dad is going home, is ending his separation from those he loves and who loves him. Mourn him, miss him, cry and love. Yet remember that when your day comes to enter into the Spirit World, your father will also wait patiently to greet you and think of what a tremendous embrace and welcome he will give to you. He lives and because He lives your dad lives, my dad lives and our relationships endure.
Some may ask why I mentioned this here. Well, I feel that some of the spiritual lessons reinforced while Nathan are gone, and that may help some to understand what he is doing, I'll post. Not many, a few over the next two years but this is at the very heart of why Nathan is serving a mission. Nathan knows our Savior lives, He knows that through Him we can be together forever as families. Nathan is serving to both serve and to let others know of this message. That because of Jesus Christ, we can be with our loves ones forever and baptism is the entry way to that path that leads to eternal families.
No comments:
Post a Comment