Mourn with Those that Mourn; Comfort Those that Stand in Need of Comfort

"And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts." Mosiah 18:8-11

This scripture has been running through my mind since I learned of the passing of Kenna three days ago.

At church on Sunday a plan had been put into place for the youth, and the entire ward, really, to show up at Kenna's house to do yard work to help her family.  She was very sick with her cancer, and we were also signing up to take lunch into her, though she couldn't eat much, and signing up to go in during the day to help administer medicines for her.

Come Monday morning we learned that Kenna no longer needed that assistance, however Mosiah chapter 18 began playing through my mind as I thought of Ed and the kids.

And the plan that didn't change for Wednesday evening.

It seems a simple thing, really, to gather and take care of the spring yard work for them, but when I turned onto their street with a car full of Young Women and saw the curbs already lined with cars, and the yard overflowing with people, my neighbors, my friends... it was our way to mourn with them.  Our way to comfort them.

A couple of weeks ago I taught a lesson in Young Women's about why we needed the restoration of the church.  As in, why do we need the organized church, and why do we need to physically attend?

One of the answers from that lesson (taken from Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk, "Why the Church"), among many, many things, was simply that we can do more good collectively than we can do individually.

I witnessed that last night in the setting sunlight of a neighbor's yard.