Hello everybody! So my weekly email is going to be a little different this week. I want to share something with each of you. I'm actually going to be sharing from my journal entry from yesterday, and so you'll be able to know what's been on my mind and heart:
 |
| Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission! |
"Happy Easter! What a miracle it is to have a day like today, to celebrate an event so inspiring: the first resurrected being to ever before rise from the grave, to have His Spirit enter His body once again, and to have us be the recipients of so magnificent a blessing.
Let me share an special experience with you:
Last night (Saturday night) right before 10:30pm, I received a call from President and Sister Cutler. I had no idea what President was going to want to talk about at so late an hour, but I answered the phone. He apologized for calling so late, but then he continued to tell me that he had just gotten off the phone with my father, who had called so that president could let me know that my Great-Grandfather Egbert had passed away a few hours earlier. As I hard these words, all I could do was close my eyes to take it all in.
Of course I am sad. At the loss of anybody relatively close, a person would be saddened. But I am not distraught! After 5-days short of 95 years of age, Frances Egbert departed this life to be once again with his dear wife. And I am overjoyed to know that, as it says in Alma 40:11, "The Spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body... are taken home to that God who gave them life." What a glorious knowledge! The Spirit of my Great-Grandfather, though departed from his body, has gone home. Most of us consider here to be our home, the land of our inheritence. But our real home is not here. Imagine that you've been on a long trip - for a month or so - and then you go back home. No matter the excitement of your voyage, the fun of your trip, the learning moments of your adventure, the memories of your vacation, or the experiences of your quest, the greatest part of any excursion is the moment you open the door and enter your home at last. Now imagine that mortal sense of entering 'home,' and take it to a divine perspective. There, the feelings of relief and accomplishment can never be measured, especially because of the indescribably glorious reunion that has occurred between Francis and his sweetheart.
But even more than that, what joy fill my soul in being able to say with firmness and testimony in my voice that Francis Egbert, the loyal servant of God for 95 years, has once again entered the warm embrace of his Father, who is our father. He is a father so wonderful that he provides us with this experience on Earth, one of the side effects being that we forgot our Father's face and his voice. But one day, we will each enter his presence, as my Great-Grandfather did today. Sadness in death is to be expected, but despair is unnecessary because "there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ" (Mosiah 16:8)."
Those are my thoughts... It's been hard to deal with it, but I'm so grateful that it happened right before Easter rather than any other time, because with hope of a resurrection we cannot focus on death. I love my family SO much and I will miss him tons! I'm sad I wasn't home to be with the family during this time, but I'm also happy that I am able to be on a mission - I would not rather be doing anything other than this work right now, bringing hope of eternal families to the people of Wisconsin. :)
Another experience that happened this week, just real quick, is that on Thursday night we had some elders staying the night because we all had to go to a meeting on Friday, and one of them fell and hit their arm on a bedframe and cut it right open... We spent 4 hours in the Emergency Room that night and got 1 1/2 hours of sleep - that was wonderful. It made Mission Leadership Council really enjoyable the next day! :P But yeah. That was my week!
AND General Conference was amazing. 'nuff said. :)
I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week!
--Elder Nate Hubert
No comments:
Post a Comment