In Another's Grief

Let me share with you the true account of one sister, Ellen Yates from Grantsville, Utah.
Early in October, 10 years ago, she kissed her husband, Leon, good-bye as he left to go to work in Salt Lake City.
This would be the last time she would see Leon alive.
He had a collision with a young man 20 years of age who was late for his first job and had tried to pass a slower vehicle, resulting in a head-on collision that killed them both instantly.
Sister Yates said that after two compassionate highway patrolmen told her the news, she plunged into shock and grief.

She records, "As I tried to look ahead in life, all I could see was darkness and pain.
It turned out that her husband's best friend was the bishop of the young man's ward.
The bishop called Sister Yates and told her that the young man's mother, Jolayne Willmore, wanted to talk to her.
She remembers "being shocked because I was so centered on my grief and pain that I had not even thought about the young man and his family.
I suddenly realized that here was a mother who was in as much or more pain than I was.
I quickly gave my permission ... for a visit."

When Brother and Sister Willmore arrived, they expressed their great sorrow that their son was responsible for Leon's death and presented her with a picture of the Savior holding a little girl in His arms.
Sister Yates says, "When times become too hard to bear, I look at this picture and remember that Christ knows me personally.
He knows my loneliness and my trials."
One scripture that comforts Sister Yates is "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you."

Each October Sister Yates and Sister Willmore (both of whom are here together in the Conference Center today) go to the temple together and offer thanks for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, for the plan of salvation, for eternal families, and for the covenants that bind together husbands and wives and families on both sides of the veil.
Sister Yates concludes, "Through the trial, I have felt the love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior in greater abundance than I had ever felt before."
She testifies that "there is no grief, no pain, no sickness so great that the Atonement of Christ and the love of Christ cannot heal."
What a wonderful example of love and forgiveness these two sisters have demonstrated.
It has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be efficacious in their lives.

-Quentin L. Cook -"Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time" -October 2008 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi