Passing - January 9, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

First of all, this key board I am typing on is AWFUL and has lots of stuck keys and cannot do apostrophes. Sorry if there are more typos than usual and if my email is short.

I am sad to hear the news of Grandma Truitts passing. My thoughts and prayers are with her and mom and her other kids and grandkids as they make funeral preparations and commemorate her life. I love Grandma very much and after getting your emails and reading moms tribute I have been reflecting a little on my memories of her. I remember going to her house as a little girl and I remember that she would buy me colorful hair ties and do my hair up in a high tight ponytail and it made me feel fancy and special (and it made my scalp hurt!). I remember going to visit her when I was a little older and going to the store with her and how she would show me off to all her friends and acquaintances ("this is my granddaughter!") and how she would treat me by buying me a magazine at the cash register. I remember her sweet Virginia drawl. I remember how she always remembered my birthday and her birthday card was often the first one I would receive any given year. Including this past birthday when her card arrived just a week or so after my birthday (but about a month before any other birthday greetings from home arrived). I love her and will miss her.

As I think about grandma and my mission experiences thus far, it really strikes me how powerful and important and sacred these relationships we form here and earth can be. There is one old woman we have visited on occasion here in Resistencia who is in her late 80s. She had 16 children. About 8 years ago her youngest daughter died of lung cancer at the age of 33 (the same age as Jesus, she reminded us more than once). She was so shocked and traumatized and saddened by her daughters early death that she went into a state of emotional shock and for TWO years she sort of walked around in a daze and spent most of her time shut up in her house in bed. Even now, when she speaks of her beloved youngest daughter she speaks with a sort of reverence and longing and lingering pain. Part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the testimony we shared with her, is that we can be with these people after we die and for the eternities. These beautiful relationships we form here will continue to grow and flourish in the world to come. I know this is true and look forward to the day I can be reunited with loved ones:
D&C 130:2 "And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy."
More thoughts and experiences from the field next week. It is HOT (in case you forgot) but I am well. Just a little (or VERY VERY) sweaty.

Love,

Hna. Parker