“Missing Jarom,” Friend, Mar. 2004, 5
Missing Jarom
(Based on a true story)
Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven (Hel. 10:7).
The ambulance crew had gone, leaving the house quiet and still. Kierra’s mom and dad sat next to each other on the couch, crying. Six-year-old Kierra didn’t feel like playing, so she sat down next to her parents and cried with them.
“Where’s Baby?” Kierra’s two-year-old sister, Kaleah, asked. “Where’s Baby?”
“Jarom went back to live with Heavenly Father,” Mom replied.
“Where’s Baby?” Kaleah asked again.
“Jarom died, Kaleah,” Kierra said. “He’s not coming home.”
Kaleah didn’t seem to understand. She wandered from room to room, looking for her brother.
Later that evening, Dad sat at the computer typing as tears ran down his face.
“Dad, what are you doing?” Kierra asked as she hugged him.
“I’m writing down my feelings,” he replied. “I hurt so badly it is all I can do.”
“Will you write down my feelings?” Kierra asked.
“Sure,” he said.
Kierra thought for a moment and then spoke the words from her heart. “I love you, Jarom. I wish you were back on earth because I miss you. Sometimes I wish you were bigger—strong and healthy. You were a sweetheart. I loved to kiss and hug you. When I was at school I would always think of you. Sometimes I made Mommy happy by taking care of you. I love how you laughed. I liked your smiles. I want you to be alive again.”
Dad wiped his tears away with his sleeve as he typed Kierra’s words. After she had finished speaking, he continued to stare at the computer screen.
“Kierra,” he said, “Jarom will live again.”
“But he’s dead,” Kierra replied. “How can he live again?”
“Jesus Christ came to the earth, lived a perfect life, and then was killed by people who hated him,” Dad said. “Do you remember what happened three days after He died?”
“He was resurrected,” Kierra answered.
“That’s right,” Dad said. “And because He was resurrected, all of us will live again after we die.”
“But will Jarom be part of our family? I want him to still be my brother.”
“Kierra, because Mommy and Daddy were married for time and all eternity in the temple, our family can be together forever. If we are righteous, someday we will be reunited as a family.”
Kierra missed Jarom so much right now, but she smiled as she thought about being with her brother again.
“I can’t wait to be with him again,” she said.
“Me too,” Dad said. “Me too.”
A few days later, the family gathered at the cemetery as Jarom’s casket was placed in the ground.
“Good-bye, Jarom,” Kierra said. “I can’t wait to see you again.” The sun broke through the clouds, and Kierra smiled. “I thank Thee, Heavenly Father, that families can be forever.”
[God’s Plan]
“God’s plan is to unite His eternal family together through a sacred union of husband and wife which can endure beyond the grave.”
Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Proclaim My Gospel from Land to Land,” Ensign, May 1989, 14.
Illustrated by Paul Mann