Good morning brothers
and sisters. I would like to thank everyone who came to see and support
me today. I am so very grateful to have you all in my life. As most of
you know this is my last Sunday here, until I leave for the MTC. After that
I will be in the California, Acadia mission speaking English. I am excited for
what the next two years has to bring. I would like to say I feel so blessed to
be a part of this ward. Thank you very much.
Many of you may wonder
if I am prepared or even what I have done to prepare to go on my
mission. I know my mother has lost sleep over it. I believe the
foundation of my preparation has been my opportunity to have grown up in this
ward with great leaders and teachers that have taught me the gospel, shared
their lives and been great examples to me. I know that these
experiences, I will be better prepared to serve as a full time missionary
as well as a missionary for life. After all, isn’t that the goal.
I want to start this
talk out by speaking about everything I’ve been doing in preparation for my
mission. The first thing I
want to share is that I have been reading an insane amount. I'm reading
more than when I was in High school. I'm reading all the time. I read preach my
gospel, I read talks on missionaries, and read my scriptures. I’ve read my
scriptures before, but nothing on this level. I'm reading multiple times during
the day. I’ve even caught myself reading the scriptures on my phone while
I was waiting on something instead of playing games or wasting my time on
Instagram. Now everything I read, I read with real intent and real desire
in my heart to hear the words of the Lord and his prophets. (its never to
late)
The next thing I want
talk about is prayer. The story about when Nephi was commanded to
build a ship to carry his people across the waters hits home with me. Nephi did
not ask for a ship or even for tools to build this ship. He humble asked
where he could go to find the materials to build the tools to construct the
ship. I’ve noticed that I have become more mature with my prayers and what I am
asking for. I still have the occasional I want this or I want that.
But now I know that I have to put forth the effort and seek the lords help and
guidance.
When I do these
things, I feel a peace come over me, and I feel myself becoming closer with the
Lord. I feel the spirit more. I can recognize it more. Everything is more
peaceful when the spirit is around. I am very grateful that I am able to
recognize those feelings for what they are. It is a true blessing.
What I'm trying to say
is, it took me filling out my papers and preparing to go on a mission to more
fully understand this principle. I could have done this all along.
I definitely regret it and I wish I could have taken charge sooner.
Regarding all future
missionaries, L. Tom Perry had a lot to share about this topic in his “Raising
the Bar” talk.
In his talk he reflects
back about his son Lee who at the time was serving as a mission
president. Elder Perry explained that his son was on a high school track
team. He both sprinted and did the high jump. His son practiced and
practiced the high jump all summer long. One summer afternoon when Elder Perry
came home from work, he asked his son “How high is the bar?” his son replied.
“5 feet 8 inches.” Elder Perry inquired. “Why?” His son answered him back
saying that it was the minimum height required to qualify for the state track
meet. Upon further discussion his son Lee exclaimed that he could clear it
every time and he hadn’t missed.
Elder Perry pushed his
son to RAISE THE BAR. His son feared that by raising the bar he might fail and
not meet the expectations and was hesitant to do s. His father encouraged him
again saying if you do not raise the bar, how will you know you’re full potential?
So they moved the bar up to five feet, ten inches; then to six
feet; and so on, as he sought to improve. Lee became a better high jumper
because he was not content with just clearing the minimum standard. He learned
that even if it meant missing, he wanted to keep raising the bar to become the
best high jumper he was capable of becoming.
He said: “Be certain
that you can easily clear the minimum standards for service as a missionary,
however, you should be trying to continually raise the bar to prepare yourself
to be more effective in this great calling.”
We have been asked in
this day and age to push ourselves, to do more than the bare minimum, to gain
spiritual, emotional, and physical strength. All are needed as a missionary.
Elder Perry stated that
missionary service is hard. And that we must be physically be prepared to work 12 to 15 hours per day, walk 6 to 8 miles per day, ride a
bicycle 10 to 15 miles per day and after that we must be emotionally ready to
have no success that day, but to get back up the next morning and try our
hardest like the day before.
So what I have learned
and prepared for is to be physically able and willing to share the
gospel. Concerning sharing the gospel, I have learned that in D&C 11:21, the Lord tells us, “Seek not to declare my
word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed;
then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of
God unto the convincing of men.”
I know that being called
and set apart as a missionary, I have all rights and privileges to obtain his
word. It is up to me to study, pray and seek understanding so that I may
effectively share the gospel.
In D&C section 88
that speaks on the importance of sharing the gospel. It states
Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh
every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
This is Elder Ballards
comment on section 88.
Let’s think about that, every man that has been warned, needs to warn his
neighbor. Because we have been blessed with knowledge of the gospel, whether we
have always been a member, or if we have joined the Church later in our life,
it is our responsibility to share the gospel to others. For young people, the
best way is to serve a mission.
However Elder M. Russell Ballard said: If certain circumstances prevent
you from serving a full time mission, do everything in you power to help the
missionaries. Give them referrals; go with them when they teach lessons. Have
them over for dinner, because if you do, the Lord will bless you. You feed them
physically, and they will feed you spiritually. They need your support.
Elder Perry further
stated the need for improved support and performance of all the members of the
Church in fulfilling our missionary duties.
He said, we need your
help, brothers and sisters, to support and assist our missionaries in finding
and baptizing many more of our Heavenly Father’s children. We need you to watch
over, protect, and inspire the missionaries, who are servants of the Lord. If
the bar is to be raised, it is raised for all of us. We must be more faithful.
We must be more spiritually in tune. We must prepare ourselves to assist the
missionaries in finding those of our Heavenly Father’s children who will
embrace the message of the Restoration.
Something that has
really strengthened my testimony has been the opportunity to email my sister
Hannah while she has been serving her mission. She’s in the Chicago west
mission and she left back in February. I can see the difference in the way she
writes her emails from when she first left til now. She’s really gotten
lost in her work and loves what she does and the choice she has made to go on a
mission, and I am very proud of her and what she has accomplished. She wrote
something really cool in one of her emails that I would like to share with you.
This is what my sister
had to say: There are two lessons
that I am continually relearning on my mission.
#1 missionary work is
not as hard or as complicated as it seems. It can be as simple as telling
someone what you did at church that week. The only recognizable thing that
separates me as a missionary is my name tag. And honestly all my name tag is is
a visual excuse for me to be able to talk to strangers about the gospel.
Putting a picture of the temple as your phone screensaver or wearing one of
those ctr rings can be your "name tag" and can help you have more
opportunities to share the gospel. Tell people what you know when they ask, and
then hand them over to the missionaries. Heavenly Father doesn't expect us all
to go and serve full time missions. But he does expect us to stand as witnesses
of Jesus Christ. So when opportunities for missionary work come, don't worry!
be proud of your faith and don't hide it.
#2 The simple
things are important. All it takes is a prayer to talk with your heavenly
father. All it takes is a simple wave of the hand to teach someone
about Jesus Christ. All it takes is one persons testimony.
When I asked my Dad
about how he is a missionary day to day. He related to following advice
that kind of mirrors Hannah’s. He explained that he tries to be a
missionary or witness of Christ by the way he treats people and by
example. He also said he shares stories about what he does on Sunday or
Tuesday nights with his assistants or those around him. He said you’d be surprised
at how effective this may be. He related how he was talking to his
assistant about a recently returned missionary from the Marshall islands (the
Schaaps and Wihongis nephew) and the stories of the hardship and faith that
were experienced. He has said that this has sparked a continued dialogue
about missionary work among his staff. My dad was also quick to explain
that a lot of time when you think of
missionary work you think of nonmebers. But he cautioned to never forget
the the members. We all need missionary work. Weather that be for
continued testimony or maybe just a positive or upbeat feeling in life.
Last Sunday the most sacred
spiritual experience happened to me. I was able to attend Brother Walker being
ordained to the office of and Elder in the Melchezidek Priesthood.
Brother White asked everyone who had been invited to stand in the circle to
please come forward, While brother walker’s family and my dad along with brother Schaap all stood up, Brother Walker stopped everyone and asked if I could and would join
the circle. Standing in that circle I don’t know if I could have felt the
spirit anymore than I did. It was so
strong. I was very honored that he asked
me.
Sometimes I feel like
I can’t live up to the missionary title or be a good missionary and by that
I’ll be failing heavenly father and Jesus Christ directly. As if they’ve
asked me to do something simple and I will mess it up. But every time I come to
church or I feel the spirit all those thoughts of me not living up to
expectations and pressure are gone.
At the beginning of
this month I was fortunate enough to go on a trip with my family down to
Mexico. We happened to be staying over a Sunday so we all decided that it
would be a cool idea to go to church. On a Wednesday my dad and I went to
go find the church so we could know where to go on Sunday. As we walked
through the streets we passed houses upon house with barred windows, barred
doors, six foot high fences and some of the scariest pitbulls I have
seen. When we got to the church it looked so beautiful it stood
out. The doors were open so we walked into this church building and met a
man in a suit pants and a t-shirt. He asked me if I knew any Spanish and
I replied no that I didn’t. I then asked him if he knew any English and
he pinched his fingers and said small. On the few words we both
understood I understood that he was the bishop and that he had invited me to go
to church on Sunday. My dad and I were more than happy to tell him we
were planning on coming to church.
When Sunday morning
came and my family walked into that sacrament room everyone that saw us and
came a shook our hands. After we sat down and new people came they would
see us and come and say hello. We think
we were invited over for dinner but we don’t know for sure. We sang the
hymns in Spanish. Even though we didn’t speak the language the spirit was
there. It was cool. It was even cooler
to see two missionaries walk in and sit down.
I came on a really good day and saw them confirm the Holy Ghost to a new
covert, Give a baby a blessing, and pass the sacrament. Those two
missionaries do so much for that little growing ward. I don’t know how big the wards will be where I
go but I will serve them just the same.
I
hope and pray I can use what I’ve learned to be the best missionary I can be.
I
just want to close with my testimony:
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