More than 1,000 people are expected to gather at Vicksburg Auditorium to pay respects to a Warren County teen whose faith and positive attitude throughout her battle with cancer inspired the community. 

The faith of Afton Wallace, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be at the forefront of her funeral Saturday. Mormon funerals follow the pattern of weekly church meetings.

“It will be like no other funeral they have ever seen. There will be sorrow there for how we are going to miss Afton,” said a tearful Vic Johnson, Bishop of the Latter-day Saints Church on Indiana Avenue. “There will be sorrow for what her friends and family have gone through, but there will also be rejoicing and testimony for the savoir and the fact that we will see Afton again.”

Wallace, 18, died Sunday after a nearly yearlong battle with stage IV Ewing’s
sarcoma, a rare, aggressive cancer. Her faith and positive attitude, rather than her cancer, defined her throughout the struggle, Johnson said.

“With Afton, a tremendous young lady, I don’t believe the Lord gave her cancer. I firmly believe that that’s just one of the things we agreed could happen when we came to Earth,” Johnson said.

The biggest differences between Mormon doctrine and other forms of Christianity is an additional holy book called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Latter-day Saints believe that about 600 years before the birth of Christ a prophet named Lehi lived in Jerusalem.

Latter-day Saints embrace their role as children of God, believing each person is of divine origin and has an eternal core and is “a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents,” according to church doctrine. God, who they believe has a physical body, is mostly referred to as the Heavenly Father.

“We knew that when we came here there would be sickness and health. We knew there might be a chance that we would die of a heart attack or catch some incurable disease or in her case, there was a chance that this was going to happen, but we didn’t care because we wanted so much to come and to experience this life,” Johnson said. “God did not give her cancer. She got that just because that’s part of the thing of life and living here on this earth.”

Such a serious but celebratory tone is to be expected at the funeral. The service led by Steven Boone, president of the Jackson area Latter-day Saints stake —similar to a diocese — will contain songs, hymns, prayers, tributes Wallace and a sermon.

“With respect to speaking, it should be kept in mind that funeral services provide an excellent opportunity for teaching the basic doctrines … in a positive manner,” President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, one of the churches’ governing bodies, wrote in his guide to funerals.

Following the funeral, Wallace will be buried in Utah. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the scholarship fund to be able to send Mississippi students to Brigham Young University. Donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/tf5qfc.