We combined our November and December book club evenings
into one, partly because November fell on the day before Thanksgiving, which
was not gonna happen, and partly because this time of year gets so busy that
having one in early December seemed to work best for us! The book we chose was “Left
Standing” by Mason Wells.
This is an autobiographical account of a missionary of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who was one of four missionaries
injured in the Brussels airport bombing in March 2016. The missionary, Mason
Wells, had previously been a close and firsthand witness at the Boston Marathon
Bombing in 2013, and was serving in the France Mission when Paris endured a
terrorist attack in November 2015.
The book was an expression of his experiences, but also he shared
the deeply personal connection and gifts from God as he went through difficult
challenges. The powerful testimony of God’s love expressed in physical and
spiritual ways during the crisis of being involved in a bombing and the
aftermath of recovery is both uplifting and tender. He speaks of his dreams and
goals, and the things that drove him to achieve and recover to move forward in
his life.
Though the story does not delve into the details of the
other members who were with him during the bombing, it is a powerful witness of
both the terror of such violence, the natural reactions to such an experience,
and the grace of God in helping us through mortality. Our book club agreed that
while it may not have been the most well written of all books it was also
powerful and a strong witness of God’s love.
There were parts of the story that were difficult to put down, and other
sections that were more philosophical about his views on love, forgiveness and
God’s plan for us, as one might expect from an LDS missionary. It was a good
choice and a different kind of book and one that left a lasting impact.
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