Life is....and then isn't.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the funeral for one of the most influential people in my life.  When I met him I was a skinny, painfully shy, backwoods, 19 year-old youngster.  We met in his office in Montevideo, Uruguay.  He was my Mission President and I had arrived in country mere moments before. 

President Gardner H. Russell was a truly amazing man.  He led hundreds of missionaries through some pretty troubling times.  He was threatened by urban gorillas, the tupamaros, and yet continued in his daily routine.  He was unflappable.

President Russell saw a potential in me that I did not see myself.  He gave me confidence.  He gave me support.  Before I was 20 years old he called me to the position of Branch President and I continued in that calling until a few days before my 21st birthday.  I served as Branch President in two different branches.  The first was wildly successful and the second struggled.

In any case, at his funeral I saw a man I thought I recognized.  I didn't know who he was but I held out my hand and said, "I should know you."  He introduced himself as Mark Walton, who was my companion.in La Paz 41 years ago.  We remembered our time together and we remembered President Russell.

Amazingly, though it has been 40 years since I last saw the Russell children, and I'm twice the man I was in those days, Jana recognized me as did Dorothy.  I felt it a privilege to be personally notified of the funeral, and I was honored to be there.

Though we enter this life and then we leave it, there are some things of which I am certain.  I've had a confirmation of my faith and these things are the foundations of it.

1.  God lives.  He is interested in our lives.  He won't interfere unless we disturb his plan.  He will help good people to become better, and he will permit bad people to indict themselves.  He permits disasters to happen because they are tests of our faith and because it lets the wicked prove themselves.

2.  Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  He is my Lord, my Savior, my arbiter with the Father.  He is my Master whom I willingly serve.

3.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in its fullness by Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ using the means of modern prophets, namely, Joseph Smith, Jr, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley and today Thomas S. Monson.

4.  I know that my Princess bride and I have been sealed together for time and eternity.  If the last nearly 40 years is any indication, we will enjoy the eternities together.  I know that our children have also been sealed to us for time and eternity.  I love each of my children.

5.  I know that salvation is an individual project, but exaltation is a family project.

I hope each of my acquaintances will come to similar knowledge.