So often in my life I have made excuses to avoid doing things
that I don't want to do. I have helped several
friends one after another as they prepared to serve their missions. Every time
one of these friends left I have been asked when I would be putting in my own mission
papers. My response though different each time ended with the same resounding answer.
Stating that I don't have the desire to serve a mission it isn't for me or I
can’t do it. So needless to say it
is surprising even to me to be giving this talk within a month of reporting to
the MTC
While
deciding to serve a mission was a very personal decision for me. I know that it
is what I need to do. My path in deciding to serve started in July when I reached
out to a new member of the ward who was having a hard time with her new job. After
we talked for a few hours about life and questions of why things happen. I was
able to turn to several scriptures that seemed to calm her fears. After I
dropped her off back home I started driving home as I did that I had this
question pop into my mind "if you can help one of my daughters in three
hours what could you do with 18 months"
As I might be a stubborn person I shrugged off this
impression. Then while visiting a ward in Utah the full time elders were
speaking and he started his talk with the question what is missionary work all
about? The answer to his question stuck
with me. Missionary work is all about love, Love of the Savior, Love of
Mankind, and Love of the Gospel and wanting to share it with all who will
listen. Sunday school followed with a lesson in Alma 40, which outlines the
plan of salvation. Then in relief society the sisters were asked. What
marvelous opportunities come my way because of my membership in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Some of my answers to this question were:
Great standards to live by, values to never question, and knowing the love of
our Savior Jesus Christ. Why when we have been given so much would we not want
to share it with those who are closest to us?
For most people I would say that would be enough to decide
to serve, however it took me one more week. While I was sitting in my friends
"homecoming” talk She told about the tornados
that hit while she was serving. She told that even though there was destruction
in the wake of the storm she watched as the people worked together to get up
and to rebuild. When they rebuilt they rebuilt better and stronger. It hit me
that this is a lot like life is we have trials that will knock us down and try
to destroy us. As we overcome trials we become stronger. Much like trees that suffer
in a drought they dig their roots deeper into the ground, these deeper roots
provide additional strength in the windy storms. We must take the trials that
we all face and learn from them, use them to dig down deep in our souls with
faith and build to gain stronger testimony of our savior.
We must learn from our mistakes, when will we
get torn down and we will rebuild stronger then we were before. President Monson urged us “In order for us to be strong
and to withstand all the forces pulling us in the wrong direction or all the
voices encouraging us to take the wrong path, we must have our own testimony,” “Whether you are 12 or 112—or anywhere in between—[We] can know for ourselves
that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”
How do we gain our own testimony?
Several years ago president Monson gave three suggestions to the primary
children in the friend magazine.
1.
Prayer
2. Scriptures
3. Service
Prayer- as we remember that we are
indeed a son or daughter of God, it becomes easier to approach the Lord in
prayer. He knows us each of us, what we want and what we need. The bible dictionary teaches us that the
Object of prayer is not change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves the
blessings that God is already willing to grant, but are made conditional on our
asking for them.
Scriptures. The scriptures are the word
of god. In Lehi’s dream the people are holding to the rod of iron, later in the
story it is described as clinging to the rod. There are times that we will just
have to hold on and there are times that we will have to relay 100% on the
scriptures and the lord to help us to withstand trials as we strengthen our
foundations of faith and truth.
Service- as we forget ourselves and
serve others we grow to love others as the Savior loves us. We will find it
easier to see the lords hands in our own lives. As I have felt unqualified to
accept a calling or to serve in the church I reflect on the often-quoted quote
where President Monson reminded
us “If any brother or sister feels
unprepared—even
Incapable—of responding to a call to serve, to sacrifice, to bless
the lives of others, remember this truth: ‘Whom God calls, God qualifies.’
Once we
gain this strong testimony in the truth of the Gospel and our roots are deep. We
will find that when the storms of life come our way we will be able to stand
just a little taller. We are counseled by today’s prophets and apostles to stand
strong in our beliefs and to take action. Each week we renew our baptism
covenants and we promise to always remember him, and to take his name upon us.
When we
take the name of Jesus Christ upon us each week we are promising to be an
example of the Savior in all that we do. We each have the light of the Savior
within us and as in Mathew and also third Nephi we read. It cannot be hid. Please don’t try to hide it. In
Doctrine and Covenants section 6 the Lord promised us “verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so
it shall be unto you. And if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much
good in this generation.
As a ward
we have dubbed this month “Missionary March” I have found that missionary work is much more then sending
the missionaries over to a friend. Missionary work is about love; it is living
as an example of our Savior. It is being willing to stand up for what is right,
even when we have to stand-alone. President Hinckley taught, “There is hunger in the land, and a genuine
thirst—a great hunger for the word of the Lord and an unsatisfied thirst for
things of the Spirit. … The world is starved for spiritual food. Ours is the
obligation and the opportunity to nourish the soul” Just as the trees in a
drought thirst after water, we each have someone near to us that is thirsting
to know the truth and they are being prepared by the Lord to accept the gospel
of Jesus Christ into their lives.
President
Dieter F. Uchtdorf challenged (July 2011 ensign) us to fully invest in the
cause of spreading the gospel by taking decisive action. He continued
“Commitment is a little like
diving into the water,” President Uchtdorf said. “Either you are committed or you are not. Either you are
moving forward or you are standing still. There’s no halfway. We all face
moments of decision that change the rest of our lives. As members of the
Church, we must ask ourselves, ‘Will I dive in or just stand
at the edge? Will I step forward or merely test the temperature of the water
with my toes?’
“As members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have committed to walk in the path of
discipleship. We have committed to follow the example of our Savior. Imagine
how the world will be blessed and transformed for good when all members of the
Lord’s Church live up to their true
potential—converted in the depth of
their souls and committed to building the kingdom of God.
“In some way, each of us stands
at a decision point overlooking the water. It is my prayer that we will have
faith, move forward, face our fears and doubts with courage, and say to
ourselves, ‘I’m committed!’”
Being committed to share your testimony isn’t an easy task, however,
if you are committed to live your testimony by living the standard and
principles of the gospel. It will become impossible to hide your testimony from
those around you, as they will see the light of Christ within you.
Once I made the decision that I would
serve a full time mission it gave me a purpose in what my next step in my
journey of life would be. As I started to prepare with scripture study
including the preach my gospel manual. I
found that as I gained the desire to share the gospel and I was happy. Since
then on more then one occasion I have been asked me what I had changed. The
answer to what I had changed is simple the thing I had changed more then
anything was my attitude. I discovered that if you want to be happy…be.
While I know that this decision of
serving a mission is what I need to do. I still have faced much doubt in my
decision. While I have found that all of the doubts I face merit of there own. I
know that life happens on the Lords timeframe not our own. There is someone I
need to reach, maybe even myself, which is prepared to fully accept the Savior
as his or her redeemer. I know that as we are prepared to stand for what we believe
we will never stand alone, as we will be standing with our father in Heaven.
This is His gospel. It is the only complete truth on the earth today, restored
through the prophet joseph smith. The scriptures are the words of God and he
will guide your life if you let him. I echo Nephi when he taught “ that we talk
of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we Prophesy of Christ…
that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of
their sins. The Savior has paid the price for all of our sins. Let the
atonement heal your heart, you are his daughter or son, he loves and knows each
of us and he will never leave you alone. He will guide you to know what to say
and who to share the Gospel with. I know that as we seek to strengthen our
testimonies we will be able to withstand the storms of life and I say these
things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
