.

From [the] majestic world of spirits we enter the grand stage
of life to prove ourselves obedient to all things commanded of God. During
mortality we grow from helpless infancy to inquiring childhood and then to
reflective maturity. We experience joy and sorrow, fulfillment and
disappointment, success and failure. We taste the sweet, yet sample the
bitter. This is mortality.

Then to each life comes the experience
known as death. None is exempt. All must pass its portals.

To
most, there is something sinister and mysterious about this unwelcome
visitor called death. Perhaps it is a fear of the unknown which causes many
to dread its coming. . . .

. . . [The Savior's] words
to the grieving Martha and to His disciples today bring comfort to
us:

'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

'And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die' (John
11:25-26).

'In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you.

'. . . I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also' (John
14:2-3)."

- thomas s. monson