The Mortuary

Call me crazy, but I think going to a mortuary for an October Young Women's activity is one of the coolest things ever.

When I was in YW, one year we did a YW/YM activity and went to Price to the mortuary there. We had a tour of the facilities, including the room with the big shiny table where they embalm bodies. Then we talked about the plan of salvation.

In my new ward, I am one of the YW leaders. I was sooooooo excited when they asked for ideas because I wanted to try and do something similar to my experience. After making the right connections, we got our date and time set up to go tour a local mortuary: Valley View Funeral Home last night.

Our YW are few in numbers and in activity. Last night, we only had half of our usual count--only three girls came. There were three of us leaders and our bishopric leader (my hubby). There was a grand total of seven of us. (I had told them probably 10-12 would come, I was off.)

We had two "tour guides." One was a licensed funeral home director/mortician (a bishop in another ward). I'm not sure what the other one was (one of our high councilmen). We were there for almost 2.5 hours. It was really, really cool.

We talked about viewings, makeup, caskets, urns, cremation, hair, clothes, burial plots, hearses, body bags, costs, time, laws, etc. We asked lots of questions and had all of them answered. And, we also talked about how death is just part of the plan of salvation.

It turned out to be less of a spiritual talk than I had originally thought it might be--because when I went as a young woman, we didn't get to see as much and we didn't have as much of an opportunity to ask questions. I would like to talk more about death, though, and about the Plan. But, honestly, it was such a great experience for me. I'm really glad the three girls came that did come. And, I hope they learned something that will one day help them cope with losses in their own lives.