Finding Joy in the Midst of Pain

         Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.  Matt. 5:4

Since starting a blog about joy in January, I find that each and every time I hear the word joy used or mentioned, I receive additional insight as to just how expansive and all-encompassing this word is.

Not only do I find new and more dimensions for the concept of joy, I feel a wonderfully warm sense of camaraderie towards the person who is willing to acknowledge and talk about the joy in their lives.  In a way that I can’t fully explain, I feel doubly blessed to share that joy with them. 

This morning I felt as if my feet left the ground for a brief interval as I read about Chris and Natalie Jones whose 10-year old son, Mitchell faces a very difficult future as his muscles continue to rapidly waste away.

“While navigating the labyrinth of pain and sorrow, Natalie and I often talk about finding joy … and we believe it is all around us,” Mitchell's father wrote in a post he titled Mourning With Those That Mourn. “Even in the midst of our deep heartache with our son’s prognosis, we have seen God work in our lives for which we are deeply grateful and we can find joy in the midst of our pain.”

You can find the article by clicking on:   Tackling-grief-Former-BYU-football-player-gives-young-boy-a-lift.html

Called to Serve

The joy of being a Mormon that I want to share this week comes from watching a YouTube video about more than 80 Olympus High School Class of 2012 graduates who have received mission calls. 

In a very exciting and emotional way, this video captures the magic slash miracle of young people who interrupt their life’s activities, put their goals on hold, and willingly serve, at their own expense, wherever they are called to go.  They do it because they love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Olympus High School Mission Calls


The video was compiled and uploaded by Danielle Chard, a talented 19-year-old from Salt Lake City.  Danielle herself received a mission call. and is presently in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) preparing to serve in Frankfrut, Germany.  Before she left, Danielle uploaded the video which features more than 80 of her classmates opening their mission calls.  All of the missionaries included are Class of 2012 graduates of Olympus High School here in Salt Lake City.

It’s a becoming a tradition for a prospective missionary to surround him or herself with family and friends to be present when the letter with the actual mission assignment or “mission call” is received.  The room is filled with eager anticipation, heightened suspense, and almost unbearable curiosity as everybody waits for the missionary to open the huge envelope packet and start reading aloud the letter inside:

Dear Elder (or Sister) _______   You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the . . . .

When the name of the actual mission is disclosed, the group responds with shrieks, shouts, cheers, and applause.  Not showing on the video are the eyelashes fringed with sparkling moisture nor the smiles of former and return missionaries as tears of joy spill over and run down their cheeks. 

Olympus High is part of my neighborhood.  I taught French there 43 years ago.  Both of my two sons are graduates of Olympus High.  I live in the Holladay 2nd Ward, a Mormon ward of over 600 members. Olympus High is the school our high school age members attend.   Four of the young people in the video are from our ward.  I see them at  weekly church meetings and functions in the same chapel.  We know each other on a first-name basis.  It was a source of personal pride and pleasure to see their names and faces in the YouTube:

                              Adelide Christensen   Sweden, Stockholm Mission
                              Angie Boyce               Argentina, Bahia Blanca Mission
                              Brayden Manning,      England, Manchester Mission
                              Andrew Price              Russia, Vladivostok Mission

Adelide is the gorgeous blond who looks as if she could win a Miss Universe pageant.  That’s her mother Sara holding her iphone close to record her own pictures, and her father Doug, looking on from behind.  If Adelide looks like someone from Sweden with her authentic honey-blond long hair, it is because  she traces her pedigree directly back to Sweden.  The hesitation and fingertips to her lips express the overwhelming emotion of learning that she will be serving in the same mission as her father Doug, and her grandfather, Doug’s father.  In fact, Adelide will be a Seventh Generation missionary to Sweden: her ancestors joined the church in Sweden and served as missionaries long before they emigrated to America.

The video ends with a world map with colorful stick  pins showing where the missionaries will serve, followed by Section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants scrolling down the screen.  Section 4 was a revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet.  It spells out the Qualifications for the “labors of the ministry.”  You can find the text online at:
 
D&C Section 4

I hope you will accept my invitation to read this scripture, as well as view the YouTube.

And may you find joy in so doing so.