By Jon Tollestrup
This story appeared in The Daily Universe on Friday, August 19.
A young missionary eagerly wrote home to his mother to tell her about an experience where he was able to apply his advanced tailoring skills.
?You would be so proud of me,? he wrote.? I tore my suit pants and all by myself I stapled them back together.?
In his lecture about the importance and power of humor during a mission experience, Lawrence Flake, a BYU professor of church history and doctrine, illustrated the necessary attribute of being able to laugh during difficult times.
?Humor makes missionary work, work,? Flake said. “These kids have such a spirit about them that it just keeps you laughing.?
As a former mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Flake shared several stories that made it apparent that having a great sense of humor is essential in avoiding an overly sober disposition and being rendered irrelevant by large amounts of stress.
Flake recounted an experience he had of going to get his hair cut with one of the assistants to the president. When the barber asked him how he wanted his haircut, he told the barber he wanted it pretty short as all the missionaries would look at his hair and keep theirs half an inch longer. When it was the assistant?s turn to get his haircut the barber asked him how he wanted it done, to which he replied ?half an inch longer than the President?s hair.?
Through stories like these Flake demonstrated the importance that humor can have in establishing connections with investigators and other people, in alleviating the weight of a difficult struggle and in creating long-lasting memories from something as simple as getting a haircut.
However, Flake said like every other good thing, humor has equal potential in doing harm such as damaging an investigator?s interest in the gospel.
Flake said that humor should always be used in good taste, and bold or bad language should never be characteristic of an individual?s joke. In a teaching situation humor should be used moderately, and it should be used to supplement the main point of the lesson.
?Avoid the misuse of humor any where,? Flake said. ?It can be devastating to young people to hear a leader tell an off-color comment or a crude joke. A teacher should control his humor and set the example.?
Flake also emphasized that the type of humor that disrespects leaders and makes light of sacred matters is definitely no laughing matter and should be left alone.
Flake concludes his four-part series on the place of humor in the LDS Church today with his last lecture entitled ?A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine.?
