Meeting with the Apostle

Yesterday was stake conference. We had an apostle come to our stake. Elder Cook and a member of the 70. Elder Cooks talk was about how we need to teach and live the gospel in our home. It was a lovely talk about the importance of family home evenings. ect. In the middle of his talk he said he felt impressed to talk about something else. He started telling us about how recently he held a funeral for a missionary, and another apostle held the funeral for his companion. These missionaries passed away in their sleep because of carbon monoxide poisoning. They had disabled the detector in their flat because every time they took a shower the alarm went off. He then stated that these two young men had done nothing wrong. They were good honourable young men, but they still were taken. Next, he told the story of a man in the Philippines where he was the area president. This man had 5 children and a lovely wife. The children's ages ranged from 9-19, I think. One night he heard a noise downstairs and he went to investigate. It was a fire alarm. As he turned to go back upstairs to get his family the stairway caught on fire. He tried to get through it, but he couldn't. He suffered many burns and was knocked unconscious. He was dragged from his house and survived, but sadly his family didn't make it. It was a very sad funeral with thousands in attendance. The man moved closer to the temple. Elder Cook told him to keep in contact. The man was still grieving because his eldest daughter had expressed a desire to serve a mission the night before her death. The man went to the temple many times and prayed. Elder cook says that one day the man came and visited him, with an absolutely soaked shirt and a wet face and said that his oldest daughter expressed to him that the family was fine and that she was getting to be a missionary after all, she also asked him to please stop grieving.

By this point I had lots of tears in my eyes. Knowing that my husband was still grieving for the baby we lost I said to him, perhaps this is what our child would say to us if it could. My husband got very emotional but tried to hide it in typical man fashion.

President Cook continued by saying that this man had done nothing wrong, but yet still things happen to him. He then talked about trials for a while before switching back to talking about sharing the gospel in our homes.

After the meeting we were heading back to the car, when I started trying to get my husband to talk to me. He was very reluctant. Finally, he told me that he felt like the message was just for him and he felt like he needed to back and thank the apostle. When he went back, he found the apostles wife and the wife arranged for a meeting between my husband and Elder Cook. Elder Cook expressed how he knew that it is difficult to go to church after a trial and told him that he had experienced similar things in his life. Elder Cook comforted my husband and made him feel loved. They probably talked in that little classroom for ten minutes.

I am so grateful for all the people that have taken time and helped my husband when he needs it most. It has made such a big difference in my family.