Although the death of a young missionary serving in Russia is a "tragic" loss to his family, friends and the Church, his funeral does not mark a "tragic day," said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.
Speaking to family and friends of Elder Jose Manuel Mackintosh at his funeral Oct. 26, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve explained that tragedies are experiences that have " hopeless, unhappy endings.""But this story is not over," he said during funeral services held in the LDS meetinghouse in this town of 400, about 95 miles north of Las Vegas. "Elder Mackintosh's journey has not ended and its final outcome will be magnificently joyful, not tragic."
Elder Mackintosh, 20, of Hiko, Nev., was killed Oct. 17 in a knife attack in Ufa, Russia, about 750 miles southeast of Moscow. His companion, Elder Bradley Alan Borden, also 20, of Mesa, Ariz., was wounded in the attack - suffering liver and lower intestine wounds - but is recovering in Frankfurt, Germany. (Please see Oct. 24 Church News.)
In addition to Elder Holland, Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen of the Seventy and president of the North America Southwest Area, which includes Nevada, addressed the more than 700 mourners at the service. Other speakers included Elder Mackintosh's parents, Becki and Jose Sr.
Among those attending the funeral services were Elder Borden's parents, Dale and Myrna Borden. Sister Borden said she wanted to be at the services to show support from her family. She said her son would have been there if he had been well enough to do so.
During his remarks, Elder Holland said Russian members and non-members were weeping for the loss of Elder Mackintosh, who paid the ultimate price, "the highest price anyone can pay in the service of the Lord."
It is a price others have paid, he explained, including prophets, apostles and the Savior of the world Himself.
"God knows everything about losing a son on a mission," said Elder Holland. "I'm sorry it is so hard. I'm sorry it is such a loss."
Comparing the Plan of Salvation to a drama in three acts, Elder Holland explained that a person's time on earth is the second act on a stage filled with ups and downs, trials and tribulations, happiness, sorrow and learning experiences.
"It is a scene where there are many conflicting elements and some hard times," he said, "where the moral agency of one person can painfully affect the moral agency of another. But this is only the second act. The real meaning of the plan, the total meaning of life is yet to come - it is in the finale, a time when God shows us the meaning of the whole story, the complete experience. That is the reunion moment with his Father in heaven to which Jose has gone. That is where all of us have to go. And there is no tragic ending there for the faithful. We all must be as prepared to progress on as Elder Mackintosh was."
Missionaries love their missions and the people they serve, he continued. "They become their friends in the most eternal sense. The Savior said, `Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' (John 15:13.)"
Elder Holland then related, for members of the Mackintosh family, meeting with members of their ward the Sunday after the attack. The Mackintoshes were traveling back from Utah on that day. "We spoke of Jose and how much he meant to every member of this congregation," he said. "We spoke of you and how dearly loved you and your families have been in these little valleys down through the years. We cried and bore testimony and even managed to laugh once at the memory of his bow ties."
He told the missionary's parents, "Today Jose is everybody's son. Thank you for letting us all share something of Jose today."
Across the street from the meetinghouse where the funeral services were held, and at the handful of businesses along nearby U.S. 93, hand-lettered signs hung on locked doors: "Closed 10 a.m.-1 p.m. for Jose's funeral."
Sister Mackintosh said her son had dreamed of being a missionary in Russia since he was 8 years old. She recounted his missionary experiences that he had relayed to the family in the tiny town of Hiko, some 17 miles north of this ranching community. In letters to the family, he talked of walking along snowy Russian streets and of talking with an elderly Russian man who had been in a concentration camp.
"It was a peephole into a different kind of life," the young missionary wrote in a letter to his family. "It made me glad for what I had."
Jose Mackintosh Sr., said his son died doing what he loved, urging that there be "no animosity and no ill feelings whatsoever for the people of Ufa - or Russia. They are our brothers and sisters."
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