I’m a softie when it comes to those “surprise reunion” videos on social media, where someone who has been gone for an extended time — perhaps in military service or living far away — returns unannounced to shock unexpecting family members and friends.
And there are all the times I’m at Salt Lake International Airport for work or personal travel, watching missionaries return home to waiting families — not much of a surprise, but still emotional.
All these moments of joy, love and happiness bring a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.
I’ve occasionally replicated surprise reunions, like dressing up in an inflatable T. rex costume to welcome grandkids at the airport or arranging for my oldest son from the other side of the country to board a flight and take the empty seat between my wife and oldest daughter.
There’s no surprise, then, of my love for Alma 17, Alma 26 and Alma 27. The first chapter sets up the reunion of Alma the Younger with the four sons of Mosiah after their 14-year preaching and ministering among the Lamanites; the latter two describe the great joy when they reunite.
That account took on greater meaning as my wife, Cheryl, and I led the Arizona Phoenix Mission from 2011 to 2014 — welcoming, serving with, loving and eventually saying goodbye to some 660 missionaries during those three years. We often told them of our promise to be their “cheerleaders for life.”
For several years after, we held mission reunions — in Utah, Idaho and Arizona — and we’d connect with returned missionaries in our travels. Formal reunions have ceased, but we try to have an annual backyard barbecue for those who can make it.
That’s in addition to phone calls, emails, texts, visits, walks, dinners, sporting events, weddings and receptions over the years.
As a ward Gospel Doctrine discussion leader during the 2024 “Come, Follow Me” study of the Book of Mormon, I combined my affection for the Alma 17, 26-27 account with our love for our missionaries. Planning a couple of months in advance, I sent out a mass email to those with whom we were in contact, giving them a date when I would be teaching about Alma and the four sons of Mosiah meeting again. I invited those interested and available to help with an object lesson — and a surprise for their much-loved “Sister Taylor.”
The day of the discussion came. I briefly recapped Alma meeting the sons of Mosiah and asked my wife to come to the front of the class in the cultural hall to talk about the joys of meeting loved ones after time spent apart.
She started speaking — the cue for returned missionaries and their families watching through doorway cracks. The doors opened, and some 30 of our Phoenix missionaries and their families came in and lined the walls. Ward members knew the guests were special as they watched the Taylors smile and wave and weep with joy at the mere sight of some of our best young friends.
After introducing the guests, I had Cheryl explain what the moment meant for us. Then I dismissed her to go be with them in an adjacent room while I finished the discussion.
Our discussion points that day serve as the emphasis here.
We spoke of the joys of such reunions with loved ones — not just missionaries but family members, relatives, friends, neighbors and individuals who have impacted our lives. The reunions can happen anytime, anywhere — but can take on special meaning in a home, place of worship or temple.
Sometimes these reunions — impromptu meetings or formal gatherings — happen in challenging times. In the case of our returned missionaries, besides celebrating graduations, marriages and births, we’ve also tried to be empathetic and nurturing in times of divorce, separation and even death. And while acknowledging their progressions on the covenant pathway and spiritual well-being, we’ve also tried to be encouraging and reminding to those who have stalled on or strayed from that pathway.
Our discussion concluded by projecting future reunions with loved ones — not just those later in our mortal lives but also those that await us on the other side of the veil. Besides future family gatherings and events, I also think of future reunions in the afterlife — for me in particular, a much-anticipated meeting with my own father, who died nearly 30 years ago.
And thoughts of being with Dad again lead me to think of the most meaningful reunion of all — being again in the presence of our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Our Father has “planned” for such a reunion with His plan of happiness, His plan of salvation. The Savior has made that plan effective through His Atonement.
And we should be making the necessary plans and preparations and adjustments to one day meet again with Them, our true “cheerleaders in life.”
— Scott Taylor is managing editor of the Church News.
