Enduring To The End
by Michael Sisemore
Risa Melody Whitaker
There were 27 girls in my group, only 3 of them asked me to be in a picture with them...
One of the girls is named Risa, she was in my company and on Friday night when we were singing the efy medley, I noticed she was crying, I had this feeling I needed to leave my company's circle
I let go of the people who were holding my hands as we sang in our circle.. my counselor saw me and asked where I was going.. I just simply said "Be right back".. as I was getting tissue for Risa I thought why not grab some more for others, if they were crying as well.
I got back, tapped Risa on her shoulder, as she was crying into her friends arms, they were both crying.. she turned around, to see who had tap her.. I gave her some tissue.. she gave me a wonderful warm hug, as we hugged her tears landed on my shoulder.. and she whispered into my ears "Thank you, Michael"
I gave tissue to her friend, who was the 2nd person to ask me to be in a picture with her..
I went around giving tissues to the girls in my company.. everyone gave me a hug and thanked me.. a guy from my company whispered "Dang man, you're such a stud"
All I was thinking when I gave those tissues around was.. they needed them.
In the summer of 2010, she was diagnosed with cancer
I didn't know what to do, I started to pray, the only thing I could do for her, seeing she lived a state away from me.
She died on, Thursday, March 31st.
In Priest Quorum couple of weeks after her death.. we had a lesson on that God can't save everyone from death, I told them about Risa, I could hardly get it out... I was just crying and the tears weren't going away, I couldn't look at anyone in the room, someone pass a tissue over to me.. that tissue reminded me so much of Risa.
No one had dried eyes...
the picture that she took with me, she put it on facebook and comment on the picture saying "He was sooo sweet!"
Thank you, Michael. Reading this made my day! I miss her so much and this really captures the sweet spirit of Risa. Thank you for showing kindness to her and taking the time to write about it.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like Risa. She was crying at EFY because two of her friends had died a few weeks before. I feel like there have been a lot of Machaels around to help her family as we've shed tears missing her.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michael for sharing your thoughts with us. I know it can be difficult, but others benefit so much. We, her family, cherish your kind words.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, she's a great daughter of God.
ReplyDelete