A Time of Solemn Serenity

Well it seems that the title I used for last time could very well be the title for many more but this time around it is a little different... This week was pretty uneventful to me personally.... but as for the DC South mission and to a very sweet lady it was tragically eventful.

There are but a few moments in life that will remain trapped in your mind and be carried, or dragged depending on the memory, with you for the rest of our time here.  The majority of these moments are ones that you will hold dear to your heart and enter into a sweet serenity when you ponder them.  While there are many others that you try to bury and hide away from.  It is of one of the later that has happened this week, or so that's how I view it.   One of our senior office couples Elder Plummer passed away from an unexpected stroke on the 15th of February.

It is with these moments that, at least for me, you remember the most detail.  If someone were to ask me about my baptism or about when I got sealed to my sisters I could tell them small points of each... Nothing in a large.  But if someone were to ask me about the morning I found out my brother had passed away I could give detail enough to make it sound like it happened just last week.  One of the fondest memories I have after that experience, and is most certainly one I will never for get,  is in the days after my brothers passing I had a friend and his mom come over and give me a gift -  Something that I will always hold dear -  With that gift they told me that this isn't the end and that I will be able to see him once more.

 So after the passing of Elder Plummer the mission, or at least the office, has entered into a state of solemn serenity.  It is at this time that I am truely great-full for the chance that I have to teach people that this is not the end.  That these harrowing memories don't mean anything because we will get to be reunited with our loved ones.  The best thing that we can take from these moments is that the little things don't matter... What girl you should take on a date or what you should do for the rest of your life doesn't matter.  But rather growing close to the ones you love dearly, lifting them up and moving closer to our Savior.  Charity truely does never faileth and so why do we insist on placing the focus on ourselves.. When with a simple gift or a simple act of kindness we can impress someones memory for the rest of their lives and give them hope and peace.

I will never forget Elder Plummer even though I only shared but a few weeks of time with him serving here in the office.

Much love from Virginia

-mat