Elder Wirthlin

I'm sure most of you have already heard this, but Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin passed away last night.

He died peacefully in his sleep from health complications due to age, with some of his family members close by. He lived a long, successful life. It was just his time to go. I'm sure he's happy where he is now, especially being reunited with his wife(she passed away two years ago). For those of you that aren't members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he is one of the Twelve Apostles. He's a witness of Jesus Christ and he will be truly missed.

When I heard the news, I looked for more information on the internet. The article I read stated that many members of the church felt his last general conference address (from this past October) to be an instant classic. Unfortunately, I didn't remember the address.....I'm not even sure I heard it the first time around since I missed a lot due to noisy children. Luckily, the article had a link to the very address they mentioned, "Come What May, and Love it"

They were right. It is a very good talk. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

"But whenever my steps led through seasons of sadness and sorrow, my mother’s words often came back to me: “Come what may, and love it.”

How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

"Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others."


"Sometimes the very moments that seem to overcome us with suffering are those that will ultimately suffer us to overcome."

If you didn't hear it, or don't remember it, you might want to read it. It's beautiful and full of hope. I guess I posted all of this to say that I'm grateful for his witness, his legacy, and the things that I've learned from him.