Let me share with you the true account of one sister, Ellen
Yates, from Grantsville, Utah.
Early in October, 10 years ago, she
kissed her husband, Leon, goodbye as he left
to go to work in Salt Lake.
This would be the last time she would see Leon alive.
He had a head-on collision with a young man 20 years of age
who was late for his first job and had
tried to pass a slower vehicle, resulting
in a head-on collision that killed them both instantly.
Sister Yates said after two compassionate highway
patrolmen told her the news, she plunged into shock and grief.
She records, "As I tried to look ahead in life, all I could see
was darkness and pain."
It turned out that her husband's best friend was the bishop
of the young man's ward.
The bishop called Sister Yates and told her
that the young man's mother, Jolayne Willmore,
wanted to talk with her.
She remembers being shocked because "I was so centered
on my grief and pain that I had not even
thought about the young man and his family.
I suddenly realized that here was
a mother who was in as much or more pain than I was.
I quickly gave my permission for a visit."
When Brother and Sister Willmore arrived,
they expressed their great sorrow
that their son was responsible for Leon's death
and presented her with a picture of the Savior
holding a little girl in His arms.
Sister Yates says, "When times become too hard to bear,
I look at this picture and remember that Christ knows me
personally.
He knows my loneliness and my trials."
One scripture that comforts Sister Yates is "Wherefore,
be of good cheer, and do not fear,
for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you."
Each October, Sister Yates and Sister Willmore--both of whom
are here together in this session of conference--go
together to the temple and offer thanks to Christ for His
Atonement, for the plan of salvation,
for eternal families and the covenants that bind together
husbands and wives and families on both sides of the veil.
Sister Yates concludes, "Through this trial,
I have felt the love of my Father in Heaven
and my Savior in greater abundance than I
have ever felt before."
She testifies that there is no grief, no pain,
no sickness so great that the Atonement of Christ
and the love of Christ cannot heal.
What a wonderful example of love and forgiveness
these two sisters have demonstrated.
It has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ
to be efficacious in their lives.