Autumn remembers Laura and Zephyr saves the day

At dinner we were reading the scriptures in 2nd Nephi 20:27, which says
“And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”
I mentioned that having a burden was like Laura, who had a heavy thing she carried in her mind, and that this said that she would have that taken away so she could be happy. Autumn covered her ears and got very quiet. She finally said that she was “sad.”

I thought she was worried about if Laura was happy on the other side and I saw a parallel between the “anointing” mentioned in this scripture and a verse shared with me by my bishop (Matt Christensen) the night Laura died. The bishop told us about a talk he had read in which an apostle, Jeffrey R. Holland, spoke at the funeral of a bishop who had killed himself while he was the bishop. Elder Holland cited D&C 138:58 (“The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.”) I pointed out that we will be able to go to the temple and do Laura’s temple work to help Laura so that her burden is taken away on the other side too.

Emily recognized that Autumn was not worried about Laura, but was sad that Laura is not here any more. Autumn said she was sad that Laura can’t come over any more. She started talking about what thoughts she was having that were making her sad. She said, “She can’t come over and make S’mores any more. She can't babysit us anymore. She can’t come over to make forts any more, and watch TV in the forts. She can’t play dress up any more. She can’t come over to play any more. She also can’t come over to do finger nail polish. She can’t give me any more nail polish any more. She can’t come over to play Polly Pockets. She can’t see Chrissa (Autumn's new American Girl doll that she got today) that I saved up for. She can’t do piggy-back rides any more.”

Prairie said, “But then she’ll be resurrected and play Polly Pockets and S’mores.” Autumn went and cuddled with Zephyr for a second and said, “Yeah, Zephyr, she’ll get resurrected soon.” Zephyr smiled and had an explosive sound (like a loud laugh) and Emily said Zephyr “acted like a real kid” because he was smiling and interacting with us in the most hilarious way. It totally changed Autumn's mood. We wondered out loud if Laura was with us and if Zephyr could see her. Autumn exclaimed, “He had a smile on his face and was making us laugh and have fun again!”

At bedtime Autumn brought it up again. She said, “Laura was tickling him, or angels were whispering to him, ‘Laura’s just fine, and you’ll see her again soon.’ And then he was jumping around and I’ve never seen him act like that. He made us feel the warmness (our way of identifying the influence of the Holy Ghost) and he made us feel happy again.”