While Hillary Clinton popularized the African proverb "It Takes A Village To Raise A Child;" I have another take on it for today's events: "It Takes A Village to Hold a Funeral & Throw a Halloween Party (on the same day!)Today our Los Gatos Ward family (aka "village" for this post) will honor Sister Kim Bennion, who passed away last week. After her funeral our Relief Society will host a luncheon for the Bennion family. Then, the annual Los Gatos Ward Halloween party is on for tonight!
Fortunately, the Bennions wanted to have Kim's funeral at the Saratoga Stake center. As the building scheduler (yeah, someone has gotta do it), funerals take priority but it would have been a challenge to have a funeral while the activities committee is desperately trying to decorate with coffins, RIP headstones, and ghosts lurking about.
There isn't a lot we could do about the unfortunate collision of these two events ending up on the same day (funerals aren't something you can schedule in advance). But the touching part is how seamlessly both the funeral and party come together!
Brent met with the Bennion family last Saturday to plan the funeral. After getting their wish list, he called people to participate (via singing, playing piano, speaking, programs, etc). Every single person Brent phoned immediately accepted! Which means taking the day off work for most! Brent was quite inspired by the goodness of the ward members to quickly and graciously say YES with no hesitation!
And, the Annual Halloween Party is a great example of the "village" mentality at it's finest! The Party is "part and parceled" out to different organizations. The Young Women run games, face painting, and the cupcake walk. The Primary decorates and hosts the parade. The Young Men put together a top notch Spook Alley. The Relief Society provides dinner and refreshments. The Elders quorum plans the Trunk or Treating and the Activities Committee oversees it all. It's always a fun event but the best part is seeing every group do something individually and then collectively,... wah-lah, a Halloween celebration appears!
Both these events won't faze our ward members! Their are lots of great worker bees! One of the best things about our church is the opportunities we have to serve! While we don't have funerals and Halloween parties that often, there are always needs! I read the following quote years ago about families generally but it felt to me like a great description of a "ward family." "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." - Jane Howard
