Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: FUNERAL FOR TWO

Last Tuesday we flew home to attend the funeral for Eileen’s mother and father. It was one long day. We got up at 2:30 am and then arrived in SLC about 30 hours later. We spent Wednesday and most of Thursday working with Cindy and Chris cleaning out the apartment at Jamestown. A family dinner and viewing were held on Friday and then the funeral on Saturday. Attached below is a talk that we prepared for the funeral on the Plan of Salvation. Unfortunately, the funeral had already run an hour-and-a-half by the time it was Eileen’s turn on the program to speak. As Dad had asked the bishop to keep the funeral to an hour, Eileen just bore her testimony regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

During the prayer dedicating the graves, I (Russell) was holding Conner. When he noticed that others were bowing their heads in prayer, he folded his arms and waited quietly until he said “amen” with the others. It made me think of how well Conner had been taught by his parents, how we had taught Jessica, and how Eileen had been taught as a child by her parents about prayer and other gospel subjects. The effects of what Mom and Dad have taught their children will have a positive effect on their posterity for generations to come.

I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to meet with my children, their spouses and my grandchildren during these last few days. I am pleased to see the efforts which my children are making to teach their children as they were taught in our home about the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ. My hope and prayers are that all of my posterity will have that opportunity. The spiritual and temporal blessings of the gospel and obedience to the Lord’s commandments become more and more apparent to me as time goes by.

Last week before we left, Sister Alder commented that she hoped that after being home enjoying hot showers that we would still want to return. Although we both enjoyed some parts of being home for a few days, we are anxious to get back to the Philippines and our missionary duties.

Eileen's talk is listed below. It was prepared to present at the funeral, but was never given.

Dad and Mom celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last March. At the conclusion of the two-day get-together with their children, we sat around a dining table at Jamestown and shared some very tender feelings. Each of us knew that we would likely not all be together again in this life. At that time Dad said, “We (referring to he and Elsie) must have done something right in the pre-earth life to warrant being blessed with eight faithful children.”

In Dad’s mind there was no question regarding where we came from prior to our life on earth; nor was there any about why we are here on earth, or where we will go following this life. Dad knew and wanted each of his children to know also. Mom and Dad raised us having daily family prayer and scripture study, weekly Family Home Evening and Church attendance. Our home life seemed centered around practicing various aspects of the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mom in particular embraced church sponsored programs such as taking in Native American children into our home, and accumulating and living off of our food storage. Our most famous family vacation entailed visiting Church historical sites back east. I still remember the feelings I felt as we visited Liberty Jail, the Sacred Grove and the pageant in Palmyra. Even after we were adults they were still seeking to help our testimonies grow by taking us on trips to the Holy Land and Central America, where we visited places and learned about things found in the Bible and Book of Mormon. They wanted each of their children and grandchildren to have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dad and Mom both knew that life here on earth was part of God’s plan; that they were here to learn, grow and be tested and they taught us about this plan. Before this mortal life we lived with God as his spirit children, without physical bodies. We chose to follow the Father’s plan which provided us the opportunity to come here to gain a body, make choices, develop faith, and accept responsibility for our actions. Sin and death are part of mortality. The Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ to provide a way to overcome sin and death. He did this through an act called the Atonement. Hence, through the Savior’s atoning sacrifice we can repent of our sins and someday live with God and with our families forever.

My parents each knew that experiencing mortal challenges were part of the plan. Each of them had their own unique challenges. Mom bore the primary challenge of raising eight children, and as one of those children I know that we were far from little angels all the time. Later in life mom struggled with memory and dementia issues. Her challenges in recent years were a trial for her but she hung in there to the end being positive and expressing love for her husband, her posterity and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dad’s life was not an easy one. He grew up without a father following his father’s death when he was seven years old. He experienced World War Two firsthand as a young man in the Merchant Marines. He worked hard to get a college education, marry, raise a large family and support them through his labor. And more recently he has struggled with the infirmities of old age. [The Cannon Curse (which is actually a Richards family trait) to live a long and miserable (health-wise) life.]

However, Dad was still learning late in life. Many of us witnessed him grow, rendering loving care to Elsie who struggled with her own challenges of an aged mortal body. For decades Mom had taken care of him with his varying health challenges, watching over him doing her best to keep him healthy. Now it was his turn to look after her, and he did so admirably.

Dad and Mom never worried about where they were going to following this life. In fact, recently Dad remarked to me about how happy he was going to be to progress from “this to bliss.” Dad’s only displeasure regarding his future passing seemed to be about his not being able to schedule when it would happen. On several occasions I remember him commenting about how he was looking forward to seeing his parents again, and his older brother whom he had never met in this life. He also remarked frequently how he and Mom would pass on close together. They were together in life and together in passing on to the next life.

Just a few days before Mom’s passing, my daughter Heather spent some time caring for her. Mom asked Heather whose daughter she was. When she told Mom she was the daughter of Eileen and Russell, Mom said “aren’t they gone somewhere?” Heather told Mom that we would be coming in on Tuesday evening. Mom paused and then said, “I am not sure I can wait until Tuesday.” There was no doubt in Mom’s mind that there was an afterlife and she was looking forward to it, even telling Chris the day before she died that she wanted to put on lipstick so that she would look good for Max.

As Dad and Mom’s posterity we have been blessed to have the scriptures in our homes. They taught us out of them. Within them we find the word of God given through His prophets. In the Bible we find the age-old question posed in Job 14:14, “If a man die, shall he live again?” And Job’s testimony answering the question, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:25-26)

The prophet Lehi taught his posterity just prior to his death the [source] of this resurrection. He said, “Wherefore, . . . there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.” (2 Nephi 2:8)

When Dad and Mom are resurrected, they won’t be burdened by the frail bodies they recently laid down, but as the prophet Amulek tells us, “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame . . Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but everything shall be restored to its perfect frame . . .” (Alma 11:43-44)

Regarding this resurrection, the prophet Joseph Smith has told us, “The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy, . . . (D&C 93:33). Indeed, men are that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2:25). Our Father-in-Heaven wants us to be truly happy and has provided us with a way to be so eternally.

During Church General Conference last April, President Russell M. Nelson mentioned the recent passing of his daughter. This tender event and his visit earlier this year to Paradise, California where devastating forest fire consumed the town, prompted him to, “speak today with those of you who may ask when approaching the end of your mortal life, ‘Where is my family?’ In that coming day when you will complete your mortal probation and enter the spirit world, you will be brought face-to-face with that heart-wrenching question: ‘Where is my family?’

“Jesus Christ teaches the way back to our eternal home. He understands our Heavenly Father’s plan of eternal progression better than any of us. After all, He is the keystone of it all. He is our Redeemer, our Healer, and our Savior.

“Ever since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, Jesus the Christ has offered His mighty arm to help all who choose to follow Him. Repeatedly, scriptures record that despite all kinds of sins from all kinds of people, His arms are outstretched still.

“The spirit in each of us naturally yearns for family love to last forever. Love songs perpetuate a false hope that love is all you need if you want to be together forever. And some erroneously believe that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ provides a promise that all people will be with their loved ones after death.

“In truth, the Savior Himself has made it abundantly clear that while His Resurrection assures that every person who ever lived will indeed be resurrected and live forever, much more is required if we want to have the high privilege of exaltation. Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter.

“So, what is required for a family to be exalted forever? We qualify for that privilege by making covenants with God, keeping those covenants, and receiving essential ordinances.”(General Conf. April 2019)

Dad and Mom clearly have done all that they could do for their own exaltation. They have made and kept those covenants with God. But our exaltation with Mom and Dad is, as President Nelson stated, “a family matter.” They have done all they could do to have us with them in the eternities. They have taught us by their words and examples. For their children they have taken us to church, loved each other and taught us in our home; for their children and grandchildren they have demonstrated their dedication to God through serving a mission and years of serving in the temple; and for all their posterity they have written and distributed to us their life histories and testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The question before each of us now is, will we do our part to be with our parents, grandparents and great grandparents, to be exalted with Max and Elsie after we have finished our work on earth? I hope that we may each follow their example and live worthy of being together again as an eternal family someday.