{"id":137,"date":"2026-05-19T22:08:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=137"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:08:28","slug":"apostles-honor-elder-w-mark-bassett-at-funeral-for-love-of-family-missionary-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=137","title":{"rendered":"Apostles honor Elder W. Mark Bassett at funeral for love of family, missionary work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unexpected May 11 death of the executive director of the Missionary Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not the end of his missionary work, said his son and a senior church leader Tuesday at the funeral of Elder W. Mark Bassett.<\/p>

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Elder Bassett, who was 59 when he died of complications from a traumatic brain injury suffered days earlier, played a vital role in revitalizing the church\u2019s missionary efforts after the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>

\u201cMy dad still has not been released from the missionary department; I don\u2019t think he will be for a very long time,\u201d said the son, Taylor Bassett, citing Latter-day Saint scripture that teaches that faithful elders continue preaching repentance and redemption through Jesus Christ to others in the afterlife.<\/p>

President D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the First Presidency, the church\u2019s highest body of leadership, said that Elder Bassett\u2019s death at age 59 was in many ways untimely.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe any place he would be needed more than here,\u201d President Christofferson said, before teaching about the Latter-day Saint belief on the size of Elder Bassett\u2019s new role. He said one late apostle noted that tens of billions of people lived on earth without hearing Christ\u2019s gospel, creating new labors for the righteous who die.<\/p>

\u201cIn God\u2019s ecology, talent and love are never wasted,\u201d President Christofferson said, quoting Elder Neal A. Maxwell.<\/p>

The church experienced a 25% surge in convert baptisms last year, to a record 385,490. Nearly 900,000 converts joined the church in the past three years.<\/p>

The church will also set a new mark this summer for the number of missions it has around the world. The church also now has 84,000 missionaries, nearing its historic high in 2014.<\/p>

Five other Latter-day Saint apostles also attended the funeral \u2014 Elders Quentin L. Cook, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald A. Rasband, Patrick Kearon and Clark G. Gilbert.<\/p>

Church President Dallin H. Oaks and the First Presidency \u2014 the church\u2019s chief leadership body \u2014 honored Elder Bassett in a letter as a dear friend and great man who put Jesus Christ and his family first.<\/p>

The letter, to Elder Bassett\u2019s widow, Sister Angie Bassett, shared the First Presidency\u2019s prayer that the family will find peace in their knowledge of the gospel and comfort from the Holy Spirit.<\/p>

\u201cHe leaves the legacy of light, personal integrity, kindness and commitment to righteous living,\u201d stated the First Presidency, which includes President Oaks, first counselor President Henry B. Eyring and President Christofferson. \u201cHis devotion as a husband, father, grandfather, and stalwart servant of the Lord influenced the lives of loved ones and all with whom he came in contact.\u201d<\/p>

Born William Mark Bassett on Aug. 14, 1966, in Carmichael, California, he grew up in a close-knit Latter-day Saint family with a deep testimony of Jesus Christ. He married Angie in 1989, after serving a full-time mission in the church\u2019s Guatemala City Mission.<\/p>

He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1991 with an accounting degree and built a career in auto auctions. He served as president of the Arizona Mesa Mission from 2007 to 2010.<\/p>

In 2016, he left business for full-time service as a General Authority Seventy for the church. He served in three major international assignments in the church\u2019s Brazil, United States Southeast and United States Northeast area presidencies.<\/p>

Speakers described him as an energetic leader and powerful public speaker.<\/p>

\u201cHe led with charismatic love and bore powerful witness of Jesus Christ, and invited all to come unto him,\u201d the First Presidency stated in its letter.<\/p>

His son Taylor said speaking at his father\u2019s funeral was like being asked to sing a solo at Josh Groban\u2019s funeral.<\/p>

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President Christofferson noted that the death was a second recent blow to the Bassett family. Elder Bassett\u2019s mother, Edwina Acker Bassett, died in March. President Christofferson spoke directly from the pulpit to Elder Bassett\u2019s father, Lynn, in the wake of his losses.<\/p>

\u201cWe invoke a special blessing of love and comfort on you,\u201d President Christofferson said.<\/p>

He also shared with the family a Bible verse: \u201cPrecious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.\u201d<\/p>

President Christofferson shared part of President Oaks\u2019 most recent talk at a general conference of the church.<\/p>

\u201cI wonder if we fully appreciate the enormous significance of this belief in a literal, universal resurrection,\u201d President Oaks said. \u201cThe conviction that death is not the conclusion of our identity changes the whole perspective of our mortal life. … It also gives us the courage to face our own death or that of loved ones \u2014 even deaths we might call premature.”<\/p>

President Christofferson told the family to hold onto their belief in \u201cthat sweet assurance of a happy reunion\u201d after the Resurrection.<\/p>

Family members repeatedly shared their faith in that hope in talks, prayers and the music selected for the funeral.<\/p>

\u201cI know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I will be able to see my dad again,\u201d his son Taylor said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s because of the covenant that he made with my mom and with Jesus Christ in the temple.\u201d<\/p>

Elder Bassett was a beacon throughout his extended family. \u201cThe happiest times of my life are when I am with my family. That is my hobby,\u201d he once wrote in a letter.<\/p>

That family grieved the separation.<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve found deeper sorrow in my life than in losing my brother,\u201d said Elder Bassett\u2019s younger brother, David.<\/p>

He quoted the apostle Paul\u2019s question, \u201cDeath, where is thy sting?\u201d and said, \u201cI can tell you where it is. It\u2019s right here. And it hurts. We miss Mark deeply.\u201c<\/p>

But David Bassett also testified of the Resurrection. Speaking to Elder Bassett\u2019s five children and 15 grandchildren, he said, \u201cYour dad is still your dad. Your grandpa is still your grandpa.\u201d Then he tacked on a joke: \u201cHe is just trying to prove once again he is our mother\u2019s favorite child.\u201d<\/p>

Taylor Bassett said his father seemed larger than life to him and many others.<\/p>

\u201cThe reason … wasn\u2019t because of him at all,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt was because of his covenant relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>

Speakers said Elder Bassett\u2019s love of God and family made him a natural for missionary work, where he taught that the covenants available in Latter-day Saint temples make it possible for families to be bound together happily for eternity. <\/p>

Other leaders who attended the funeral at the North Salt Lake Stake Center included the church\u2019s Presiding Bishop W. Christopher Waddell; members of its Presidency of the Seventy, Primary General President Susan H. Porter; Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson; and other general authorities and officers of church organizations.<\/p>

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