I'm fairly new to the funeral scene. I've only been to a few ever in my life. My mom's cousin Denise died of Crohn's disease when I was like 10. Last Spring Uncle Roe died after suffering years of Alzheimer's. Both funerals were beautiful, in the spring and expected. Yesterday, I wen to share my condolences with the family of Joshua James Jenkins, and Elder I served with in Thailand. He got home just over a month ago and died in an avalanche last weekend. He was just a greenie when I served with him and you could tell snowmobiling was in his blood. Our district theme became "Braaap" (the sound of a snowmobile cruising through the back country) and "Keep er wiked" (basically the 'Pedal to the Metal' of snow machines). We had a district wave where when me and Sister Greer saw he and Elder Blood we would raise our hand up and waved it like we were pushing hard on a hand accelerator. I even have basketball shorts that saw Braap on them both in English and in Thai. Elder Jenkins was full of life and I could see that as soon as he mastered the language he would be a missionary force to be reckoned with.
The funeral could not have been sweeter. When we arrived the family asked the 20+ Thai RMs to sing Called to Serve in Thai. The Eulogy told silly stories about Josh and Elder Laing, a senior missionary who served with Josh, came home a day early so he could talk about Josh's mission and read a letter from President Dodge. I became emotional several times during the service, and felt particularly touched when several times speakers told us that Josh was surely continuing his mission in the Spirit World. I know that this is true. What a blessing to know the plan of salvation and be at peace with such an untimely death.
I'll admit it was great to get together with some great mission friends.
Somehow the sisters still ended up divided from the boys. Just like Zone Conference...
What a great crew!
No comments:
Post a Comment