President Mont Didericksen addresses recent death of a young boy in the Stake.

I know many of you are aware of the recent tragedy that has affected the lives of two wonderful families in our stake.  This unfortunate accident has also left many friends and neighbors to feel a profound sense of sadness and loss as well.  I won’t pretend to understand at any level what these families are going at this time but my heart aches for them and they have occupied my thoughts and prayers constantly since hearing about the death of 10-year-old Zach.  I have also witnessed the outpouring of love and concern from family, close friends and neighbors.  This love and support is important not just now but will be in the weeks, months and even years to come. 

Although I can’t completely understand and relate to the pain and anguish these families are experiencing, I can relate to their pain at a certain level.  When I was a senior in high school my father passed away from a long battle and history of heart disease.  I remember at the time wondering how I would survive and what would I do.  I was the youngest child and not particularly close to my older sisters, my brother was serving a mission in Japan and my step-mother made the decision to kick me out of the home I had grown up in.  My mother had passed away when I was an infant so I really didn’t know who to turn to or what I would even do.  I couldn’t wrap my head around what had just happened.   If it had not been for the love and support of my best friends’ family, I don’t know what I would have done at that time in my life.  They took me in as one of their own so I could finish school and have a place to call home.  I began to feel an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort from my Father in Heaven.  I knew without a doubt that my Heavenly Father and my Savior, along with both my parents were right by my side every step of the way.  The pain did eventually go away and life got better.  My life took a turn in a direction I never would have anticipated but I have been so richly blessed for the relationships I have developed since that horrible day and looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.  I have been blessed beyond measure with a wonderful wife and children that words cannot express.  I know they are mine forever if I live up to the covenants I have made with God.  The prophet Joseph Smith was told in the midst of his trials in the Liberty jail that trials he was facing would give him experience and be for his good (D&C 122:9).  I testify that these things are true even when we sometimes feel like we can’t make it through them. 

Many of us have faced similar pain and loss and know to some degree the pain these two wonderful families are currently facing.  Please reach out to them and continue to do so.  The love we show them now will help them through this process of healing.  I know that the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that He understands completely the pain each of us suffer.  He will succor us in our afflictions as He has promised through the power of the Holy Ghost.  I encourage each one of us to reach out to Him in times of need and crisis.  He has the power to heal and bind up our wounds.  I testify that this is true.

President Mont Didericksen