Letter To My Friend

Loved ones are like violin, the music may stop playing but the strings remain. Losing a well beloved person is indeed a sorrow that may not be easily softened in the heart and often brings unforgettable memories thereby adding more pains to the sorrow but our Savior gave us the assurance that “death is swallowed up in victory”.

I felt terribly sad when the news of my brother’s death came to me, in fact it was like thunders bolt that is lightening with all the forces it can ever carry and it almost destroyed the fabrics of my heart. I felt so devastated feeling as if I’m in an endless pit of pain looking for help but could not find any. I felt like asking God “WHY”I said no because I promised myself never to ask such question no matter any situation I found myself.

Within this moment of inexpressible pain of losing a loved one, as I lay on my bed pondering on the mysteries of this life and its inevitable gift-death, at that lonely yet unseeingly serene moment of meditation, I heard the still small voice whispers to my troubled heart “all is well, weep not, your brother will be saved and you can still see, embrace and kiss him but that will be after this life.
We live in a world where “pain and death comes unsolicited making the man absolutely astounded…” death is a universal heritage that comes at any age. It is an inevitable gift to man. Therefore we only have to accept the inevitable of this life.

You should know that though full of strife, but wonderful is this life its safe-haven is untenable, its arms are unsociable. But on the other side of this life lies the grandeur of happiness to rise offered by the Great King Emmanuel with the gospel as an enamel.

I give to you those same words given to me by the Still Small Voice “all is well, weep not, your (father) will be save and you can still see, embrace and kiss him but that will be after this life”.I know it’s sad and painful but don’t let that sadness mar your sweet experience and joyful life as a missionary.

I bear you my witness that death is not the end of man’s existence it’s like opening a new a page after you are done with one. I have often took solace on the exclamation of Paul “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” for I know that because our Savior rose from death on the third day of His burial, “death is swallowed up in victory”...

I know it’s hard to subjugate such sad feelings, mostly for the fact that you will not be there to at least give a mortality last respect or farewell greetings. Take heart; continue to do your best. God alone knows why such thing happened at such a time.

If you will remember, I have told you before that the Atonement is my favorite gospel topic because in it I gained the needed strength to survive this life greatest peril-death. “If Christ be not risen said Paul, our preaching (missionary work) is vain and our faith is also vain. President Joseph F. Smith said “that those from whom we have to part here. We will meet again and see as they are. We will meet the same identical being that we associated with here in the flesh”.

I’m very grateful for the sublime act of the Savior with which He conquered death, dispelling the devastating sorrow that gnaws at those who has lost loved ones and brought to man the hope of a glorious resurrection. As I “mourn” with you in this time of great loss, I pray that the Still-Small Voice whispers to your heart as it has done to many others, even to mine, the most joy that comes from the Atonement.

In my prayers I wish I could send you some warming rays to make your day a little brighter. I wish I could send some magic to make your heart a little lighter. But I can only send this cheerful message that God lives. He is our Father. He sent us to this probationary state to be tested and tried and to face death as an inevitable thing. He loves you as He loves every one of His children and will continue to love you. He sent His “Only Beloved Son” to come to earth to be humiliated, bruised, reviled, ridiculed, and ultimately to conquer death, that though we will die- it is only momentary – we will rise again never to die again.

At that time I will never text you that I lost my brother some weeks ago and you will never say “I lost my father” anymore. I know that the Atonement is not a fiction. It is real. I add my testimony to those given by ancient and modern day Prophets and Apostles that He lives! Sited on the right hand of God. For how long or short I don’t know but I know that a day will come when all shall rise from the grave and when that day comes death will no more be a problem to man.

Even at this time am enshrouded by my brother’s loss. Nevertheless, I have to carry on what I have covenanted to do which is to “mourn with those that mourn” study the Atonement again and again, ponder it deeply in your heart and also the purpose of life and I promise you will gain understanding and strength to bear this irreparable loss.

Mortality would be such a great calamity should we not pertain our lives according to the Lords way. The Lord knows that is why He said “thou shall live together in love, insomuch that thou shall weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection and on the other hand, “blessed are the dead that die in the Lord” for they “shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them”.

Despite all this promises, we do not seek for death to come but we know it must inevitably come. I don’t have a full understanding of what the Savior went through to  offer us this most expensive gift of resurrection, neither can I fathom an atom of it but I know it is true and is for you, for me and for everybody that has lived, living, and would ever live on this earth.

Finally, and once more again I say all is well, weep not, your father will be saved and you can still see, embrace, and kiss him but that will be after this life.

 Yours friend,

  Elisha