"The safest place in the world for 19 to 21-year-old young men is in the service of the Lord in the mission field, scattered out to the four corners of the earth. We know the number of lives lost in that age group are considerably higher among those that remain at home," said Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve as he met with members of the media Jan. 6 in the wake of five missionary deaths within a two-month period.

Photo by Shaun Stahle

Elder M. Russell Ballard addresses media from his office where he said the whole Church mourns when a missionary dies. He reassured parents and future missionaries that there is no safer place than the mission field for missionary-age young men.

Elder Ballard said there are some 52,000 young men and young women serving throughout the world. The size of the missionary force, he noted, is comparable to a major city. In this perspective, Elder Ballard said, it is rare for a missionary to die, but "when we lose one the whole Church mourns over the loss. Our hearts go out to the parents, to the siblings, to the priesthood leaders over such a tragic loss."

Much of the discussion with the media focused on the death of Elder Morgan Winslow Young of Bountiful, Utah, who was shot and killed Jan. 2 as he and his companion, Elder Joshua Heidbrink of Greeley, Colo., were tracting in Chesapeake, Va., part of the Virginia Richmond Mission. Elder Heidbrink, wounded in the shooting, has returned home to recover from his injuries.

Before the week was out, two other missionaries had died: Elders Bradley J. Isle, 20, of Las Vegas, Nev., and Jonathan R. Talmadge, 21, of Willamina, Ore., were killed Jan. 6 in a head-on automobile collision near Temuka, New Zealand.

On Dec. 2, Elder Benjamin Ellsworth, 19, of Mesa, Ariz., died when he fell while getting onto a train and was pulled under it.

Elder Joel Galindo Flores, 23, of Pachuca, Mexico, a missionary serving in Oaxaca, Mexico, died Nov. 9 after he was struck by a truck.

"Of course, our hearts are always heavy, regardless of what the circumstances are, when any of our missionaries, or any members, have any kind of tragic experience," Elder Ballard said. Missionaries who died while in the service of the Lord, he said, "are carrying on their work in another sphere."

Elder Ballard said, "I think it's a healthy thing for us to have great faith in each other and, particularly, to have great faith in the missionary force of the Church. But accidents will occur."

He spoke of several members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir who, returning home from a European tour, died when their plane crashed into a Wyoming peak in 1955, an accident that prompted then-Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Quorum of the Twelve to deliver an address that later was published in booklet form, "Tragedy or Destiny."

"In that (address) he made it very, very clear that certain things happen. Accidents will happen. When accidents occur, there is no answer to it. The more you try to understand why, the less it helps you. The thing you have to do, in my judgment, is understand that this was an accident, this was a terrible thing that happened," Elder Ballard said in reference to the missionaries whose deaths were accidental.

It is a puzzlement, he said, when someone who is mentally deranged, bitter or angry and, carrying a firearm, ends up in a moment of fear or whatever other emotion, and shoots a missionary. He said that when he speaks with parents of missionaries who have died, he tells them, "Your son has had a remarkable transfer and he is carrying on the work that he was called to do, but it's in a different field and he has a different mission president right now. Exactly who that is, we don't know, but we know he is doing the work of the Lord."

Elder Ballard said that the Church does everything it can to keep missionaries safe. "We have 343 missions covering the earth," he said, and explained that each mission has a qualified president and mission president's wife, assistants, zone and district leaders and others who teach and remind missionaries how to be safe during their missions. Safety and health issues are taught in the Missionary Training Center before missionaries reach their assigned fields of labor. He said that more than 80 doctors and 200 volunteers who have medical expertise are serving throughout the world so that mission presidents have access to the best medical advice they could possibly get within the boundaries of their own areas. Mission presidents and their wives, he said, "are out there shepherding these young people like they were their very own children."

Elder Ballard expressed gratitude to those who pray for missionaries. "Do it every morning and every night; call down the blessings of heaven upon these wonderful servants of the Lord. They deserve our faith, they deserve our prayers and our consideration," he said. "It's a great thing for members of the Church to remember the missionaries in their prayers . . . and we would hope that every faithful Latter-day Saint throughout the world would remember the missionaries and ask Heavenly Father to watch over them, to bless them, to protect them and inspire them in their work."