The passing of our grandson, Tyler:
A few have asked why I haven't blogged for the last few weeks. I was unsure if I should blog this or not, but have decided that this is a part of our mission, it has affected all of our missionaries in the Trujillo Mission. It has certainly affected the Marler Family.
You may remember at our Multi Zone conferences, I talked about the Parable of the Sliver (La Parabola de la Astil). Our daughter Kim, Tyler's mom, gave me the idea, as she had used the sliver in a lesson with her Young Women Class at Church). I had pictures of my grandson, Tyler, and pictures of his hand. He was out playing and got a sliver in his hand and I used this message to talk about the importance of keeping bad thoughts and sinful ways out of our life. That we need to keep our heads and hearts clean and pure, so that we don't fester, like a hand with a sliver.
Our message was that the only way to prevent festering is to stay away from sin, bad thoughts, etc. But we are not perfect and sometimes we make wrong choices, like playing with wood and getting a sliver under our skin, we have to take it out.
The only way to remove sin from our lives is through repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his atoning sacrifice, we are able to cast our sins, our burdens, our hurts and our short-cominging upon the Lord, and he will sustain us and forgive us, if we try to sin no more.
From this lesson, our missionaries came to love Tyler, they saw pictures of him and asked regularly about him. They came closer to the Savior, and they desired to be better missionaries.
Then just a few weeks later, on April 18th, Tyler fell into a swimming pool. We received a call from our son, Tyler's uncle, telling us what happened. Our missionaries received a message to join us in prayer for Tyler and his family. Tyler wasn't doing well, and we decided that I needed to be with our family.
I was home to be with Tyler and his parents for a few hours on Easter Sunday, before he passed away. To hold Tyler in my arms one more time. Many family members were there with us, our three other daughters, two of our sisters and their husbands, and most of the Graff family.
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| Our daughter, Kim with Tyler a few months ago…one of the few times he stayed still for a picture…He was always active, playing, and trying to keep up with his older brother and sister |
Our hearts are heavy, we have felt sadness, but we have also felt hope and joy. Our faith teaches that families are eternal. That if we follow God's plan for us, that we can all be together, as a family for eternity. This gives us great comfort. We know little Tyler is now with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Children are perfect in Christ and his atonement. He is also with many loving members of our family, who have passed on before, who are now caring for him, and teaching him. Tyler will be looking over us, one of the angels who will protect us. We love him so very much, and always will.
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| Tyler, Riley and A.J. outside the San Diego Temple where their parents were sealed together for all eternity. |
I have only been back for one day, but the missionaries I have spoken to tell me that because of Tyler, they are working harder. They want to do their best. We are already seeing the fruits of there labors. They now, more fully understand the importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they share with the world, and the importance of the great Plan of Salvation.
A message from President Marler:
During the last two weeks, many wonderful things have happened here in the mission. I have shared the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with many people. This message is one of hope, of love and of the Saviors redeeming sacrifice for us. Interestingly enough, a little over 2000 years ago, on Thursday of this same week, Jesus Christ plead with His Father that the cup might pass from him as he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Father did not answer that prayer, even though His heart must have been breaking as ours was. On Friday, 2000 years later, we plead with the Father that he might grant us a miracle and let Tyler live. The Father, again, did not answer the prayer in the way we had hoped. On Easter Sunday, little Tyler passed away. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and on that first Easter Day, Christ lived again, and because of that, Tyler will too. We know that this time apart is but a short one in the eyes of the Lord, and we will all be with Tyler again.
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| Kim and Arnie, A.J. Riley and Tyler a forever family |
