"Jeff has gone home. He has gone home to God," President Thomas S. Monson said at funeral services eulogizing Elder Jeffrey Brent Ball, who was slain in Bolivia May 24.

"He's gone home on a missionary transfer," President Monson continued. "He is still on his mission; he has not been released. He carries on in the spirit of missionary work."President Monson spoke at services presided over by President Ezra Taft Benson. The prophet, accompanied by his wife, Flora, offered brief remarks extending his love to the family. He spoke of his love for missionary work and testified that, "This work has just begun."

He stood at President Monson's side as his second counselor read a letter of sympathy and encouragement to the family from the First Presidency.

About 1,000 people attended the services held in the Coalville stake center.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Council of the Twelve also spoke at the funeral. Elder Monte J. Brough of the Second Quorum of the Seventy and counselor in the Utah South area presidency attended.

Other speakers included Pres. Myron A. Richins of the Coalville Utah Stake; Bishop Larry J. Vernon of the Wanship Ward; and Sister Wendy Ball, Elder Ball's sister who came to the funeral from her mission in Guatemala.

Following the services, mountain skies were darkened and distant thunder echoed over the cemetery, located near Elder Ball's hometown of Wanship, as the gravesite was dedicated. Bishop Vernon described the ashen, rain-streaked skies in just four words: "And the Lord wept."

In his address, President Monson declared: "As the Lord rose, so shall Jeff Ball rise in the resurrection, and go on toward exaltation in the celestial kingdom. This is my testimony, it is my faith and my belief - it is my knowledge, and I share it with the members of the Ball family today."

He then spoke to Elder Ball's parents: "You entrusted your son to our care, and to the care of the Lord. And while all did not work out as we had hoped, and you had hoped, I think he would say, `Do not grieve, Mother. Do not sorrow, Father. I am on the Lord's errand, and He may do with me as He sees fit.'

"There is not a missionary parent in this Church whose heart is not bleeding, and whose eyes have not wept tears over the passing of these two splendid missionaries," said President Monson.

"After this service is concluded, and after Jeff's body has been laid to rest in mother earth in these beautiful valleys of the mountains," President Monson continued, "I would like to declare that the void in the heart and the grieving in the soul can be ameliorated in only one way - and that's through the intervention of the giver of peace, the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ."

President Monson said that Elder Ball had left a heritage of faithful service in Bolivia. "His fellow missionaries said to the reporters, `We will carry on in the spirit of our calling.

"I have every confidence that the work will go forward with even greater acceleration."

In his address, Elder Ballard read a letter to Elder Ball's parents from Pres. Steven R. Wright of the Bolivia La Paz Mission. Pres. Wright told of interviewing Elder Ball just five days before the incident. "As he left the office, I gave him a big hug. I told him I loved him. I will always be grateful that he knew that you and I loved him."

Elder Ballard said that, "We are doing all that we can to understand the nature of this attack, but I know Elder Ball and Elder Wilson well enough from all I have heard and read, . . . that as far as they are concerned, they would say, `Carry on the work in Bolivia and every other nation of the world.'

Elder Ballard said that since the days of Joseph Smith, some 447,969 missionaries have served in the Church. Of those, 525 have lost their lives while serving, through accident, illness or other causes. "That is less than one-tenth of 1 percent," he said. "When you contemplate that number, it appears that the safest place to be in the whole world is on a full-time mission."

Pres. Richins and Bishop Vernon expressed love to the Ball family, and thanked them for the strength they showed during this trying time.

Elder Ball's sister, Wendy, who returned from Guatemala for the funeral, said her brother always had a sense of humor, and wrote about giving his first missionary discussion in Spanish. He struggled through the first part, then asked the investigator if he had any questions. The investigator shook his head and replied, "I am sorry, young man. I don't speak Italian."

"Jeff just laughed," she said. "He always told us to keep a sense of humor."