Sometimes there are just no words, but emotion compels you to express something – to acknowledge a significant life, to affirm the faith/knowing that brings peace while surveying heartbreaking tragedy, to express love for those left behind.
For me, the story began through my brother Daylen’s missionary letters. He’d met an amazing family while serving in a Boston suburb. They were deeply religious and devoted to family. Daylen and his companion taught them. We received letters mentioning Antonio, Liliana, Scarlet, Claudia, Julio, and Luis. And then pictures.
I was visiting my parents when they received the first pictures of the Mendizabal family. We felt a connection, a knowing, with these people we’d only heard about.
Daylen sent a picture on baptismal day of himself and these people who would impact his life forever. I was so impressed by their goodness and desire to follow Jesus Christ’s gospel.
A few years later, I met the Mendizabal family in person as Daylen and Scarlet married in the Boston Temple for time and all eternity.
Our families intertwined even more several years later when my brother Dannen married Claudia and was sealed to her in the Jordan River Temple.
Julio married Summer and Luis married Katrina. Anthony and I lived near Luis and Katrina in Ewa Beach. When Antonio and Liliana came to visit them, we visited, too.
While my parents served a mission in Santiago, Chile, and my sisters and I visited them, Liliana invited us to visit her cousins in Valparaiso. One of my favorite memories of the sun over the ocean happened while staring at the sea from her beautiful condo after she’d fed us the most delicious food.
The whole family is full of incredibly bright, generous, loving people.
Rest in Peace, Julio Mendizábal
It is so fun to have two brothers married to two sisters! As such, we saw the Mendizabals at double the family events, especially since Julio and Summer only lived 30 minutes away from Scarlet and Claudia’s families. We know them! We love them!
And so Claudia’s family group text on Friday left us all shocked, confused, and devastated:
“Please keep our family in your prayers. We were just told that our brother Julio has passed away. We are on our way down to Mapleton….”
“What?!?!?” (That was my initial response to the news.) “I am so sorry.”
Julio is a larger-than-life personality. He is a tall guy and his presence fills the room. He didn’t seek attention, but he was always so visible with his great laugh and observant nature.
A little while later, Scarlet confirmed the terrible news. “He’s gone. We are trying to get our family here tonight and tomorrow …. thank you for keeping them in your prayers.”
Did you notice what I did? In the devasting loss of their brother, both sisters instinctively mentioned prayer. Their profound faith in Jesus Christ has been so evident.
Daylen was about to board a plane for Shanghai when he got the news. Had the news come few minutes later, he would have been gone. Instead he found the next flight to Salt Lake City and waited for it for hours. Waiting is not our family’s favorite pastime.
Summer and their two oldest kids (15 and 12) left home that morning. Julio and the two youngest (10 and 8) were eating breakfast. Julio choked on something. He and the kids couldn’t get the obstruction out. He stumbled to the neighbor’s house with the kids. By the time the neighbors opened the door, he was gone. EMS arrived quickly, removed the obstruction and began CPR. They tried for 20-30 minutes to revive Julio, but even with the defibrillator, they couldn’t get his heart beat back.
Shock. Dumbfounded. How tragic. How heartbreaking. How random. And because of that, we knew Julio’s life and death were in God’s hands. He is the author and finisher of our lives and faith.
Daylen sent me something a non-religious coworker texted him that succinctly describes our faith.
It’s truly the definition of heartbreaking and would make 99% of the world question, Why? Why him? It’s not fair!
You and how you’ve commissioned your entire family to put God first puts everyone in the rare 1% that trusts our time on earth is short and just a small piece of eternal life and love from the Heavenly Father. You know this. You believe this. You are different. You got this.
The Lord’s Plan of Salvation
We believe that we are eternal beings. We believe that God is the Father of our spirits and has a plan for our eternal progression, a plan in play before we came to Earth. We believe that in a heavenly council, God our Eternal Father presented a plan for us whereby we could come to Earth and receive mortal bodies. Because of the fallen nature of mortality, He gave guidelines/commandments and prophets to remind and direct us back to Him. Most importantly, since we didn’t have the capacity to overcome this fallen world ourselves, Jesus Christ became our Savior. He promised to overcome sin and death, to offer grace to heal wounded minds and hearts, to increase our capacity to follow Him, and to do things beyond our natural abilities to help those around us.
For us, the whole point of life on Earth is to accept and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer, and Healer and Mediator, and every other title He has. When we do that, our sins are redeemed and we live as He would, as disciples of Jesus Christ. Because He broke the bands of death, Jesus provided a way back to the Father. And because of Jesus Christ’s atoning power, we can be resurrected like He was. Resurrection fuses bodies and spirits together forever.
With Jesus at the helm, we had the confidence to follow God’s plan and come to Earth. That also means we have the confidence to follow God’s plan as we leave this life.
We believe that the beautiful relationships forged and nurtured and fought for in this life can persist beyond this life. We do not espouse a “till death do you part” doctrine. We believe that the power and authority of God to bind on Earth and in heaven that was manifest in ancient times has been restored by apostles and prophets in modern times. The sealing power which binds on earth and in heaven has been restored to the earth and ordinances and covenants with God bind us to God and each other for “time and all eternity.”
We know that this life is not the end of Julio. His goodness and generosity and deep love for his family are still very much a part of who he is as he passes from this life as we know it to the spirit realm to await Jesus Christ’s Second Coming and his own resurrection.
You have impacted our lives for the better, Julio. Go with God. Until we meet again.
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