Discurso de Despedida

 Alrighty.  I didn't quite get the opportunity to post anything today.  But things are really wrapping up now- it's crazy!  Among other things, I finished my home teaching for the next couple years, Geronimo is now Elder Geronimo (former super awesome roommate :D) and I gave my farewell talk.  Speaking of my farewell talk, this is a good opportunity to post it, eh?  I might be able to post something else sometime during this week- my last day at work is Wednesday, so after that I should be left with a little more free time.  So anyways, here it is, not exactly word for word what I spoke, but you'll get the gist of things...

August 26^th, 2012

 Farewell Talk

As many of you know, I have been called to serve a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the New York New York North mission.  I was called in April, and at the time, my report day of September 5^th, seemed like an eternity away.  Now the wait is finally over and I’ll be on my way in one short week.

Being able to serve a full time mission is a wonderful opportunity, and I am humbled that the Lord trusts me with such an important responsibility.  Though full time missionary service is a great blessing, not all have the opportunity to participate in such service.  Even for those who do have the chance to serve, it lasts only a relatively short time.  The responsibility for all members of the church to share the Restored Gospel lasts throughout this life time, and from what I understand, the next life as well.

I base my address today on Elder David F. Evans conference address from April of this year.  He presents the idea that many within the sound of his voice have wondered, “what can I do to help build up the Lord’s church and see real growth where I live?”  Preceding that question is certainly a conviction of the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  After a person starts on the straight and narrow, then one begins to naturally ask these sorts of questions.  He or she desires to have those around know the truth and joy that they know.

Sharing the gospel can be a daunting task.  There are seven billion people out there, and only about fourteen million members of this church.  It’s easy to wish we could go out and have such power and conviction in preaching the word that we convince thousands of the truthfulness of our message, but that’s not how it generally works.  In Alma 37:6-7, we learn that “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”  So where does this responsibility to share start?

The home provides a wonderful opportunity to have a good influence on those we love most through the truthfulness of the gospel.  Additionally, prophets and leaders of past and present have often emphasized the importance of teaching the gospel in the home.  In so doing, parents help to build and fortify a strong foundation in the gospel for each of their children.  These foundations will continue with them throughout the rest of their lives and will provide the means of happiness through the hard times.  Teaching the gospel in the home also naturally draws a family together, as the principles of the gospel lead individuals to have a greater love for others.

The means by which one should share the gospel in the home are fairly straightforward.  First of all, we share the gospel by taking opportunities to teach our family members.  We should always be on the lookout for teaching opportunities.  Aside from Family Home Evening lessons and other planned teaching opportunities, we should be on the lookout for opportunities to bring light to everyday situations through the gospel.  Such could include when one asks for advice, when a question comes up, when things go well, when things don’t go well, and so on.  As we “talk of Chirst, …rejoice in Christ, …preach of Christ, …our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Nephi 25:26).  Additionally, we learn from the scriptures that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), and so as bare our testimonies, especially if we do so often, the faith of those in our homes will be strengthened.

As important as teaching is, however, setting a good example in the home is often more powerful than words.  Children are careful to observe the every move of adults, and over time that observation can easily turn into imitation.  Being consistent with good habits as opposed to bad habits is a lot more likely to lead a child to develop good habits.  Our good examples can also lead to teaching opportunities and opportunities to bare our testimonies.  Making sure to stick with the simple things like family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, going to church as a family and so on shows that we value the teachings of the prophets that the restored gospel has brought to our lives and in turn will bring them to value them as well.  Furthermore, Elder Evans points out that our examples can also help children build faith that there is a Heavenly Father that loves them.

Second to sharing the gospel within our home is sharing the gospel with all others.  Bringing others to Christ and the restored gospel is a duty we all have.  President Monson said, “Our missionary experiences have to be current.  It is not enough to sit back and ponder former experiences.  To be fulfilled, you have to continue to naturally and normally share the gospel.” 

Sharing the gospel seems easy enough, but often times we let our fear of man’s judgment get in the way.  God’s judgment is perfect and certainly more important than that of man’s, and with that in mind, we should strive to let our faith in Him replace any fear of man.

Sometimes we might doubt our influence and shrug off opportunities as we anticipate such as wasted efforts.  The only guarantee for a person to not accept the gospel and come to Christ is for them to not be exposed to it.  Results aren’t always readily seen.  A person very well could accept the gospel later on in life because of your words and good example.  I’ve heard from the stake mission prep class and from other sources that it takes about 7.2 or some other odd number of “touches” or moments of exposure to the church for a person to act on any sort of a prompting or invitation.  When our efforts are put down by an indifferent or negative response, we need to keep in mind that everybody has their agency, and that they, not us, will stand accountable for their refusal to accept the sweet message of the gospel.

One of the main ideas Elder Evans presents in his address is sharing the gospel in a natural manner.  This essentially means establishing environments, relationships and situations where you can naturally speak of the influence of the restored gospel and the church in your life.  Being consistent in living the Word of Wisdom can lead to a coworker about why you choose to not drink certain drinks.  Always striving to keep the Sabbath Day holy can lead to a friend asking why you choose not to spend Sunday on the lake.  Fulfilling the responsibilities of your church calling can lead to a neighbor asking you why anyone would ever devote so much volunteered time to a church.  All of these situations easily lead to life changing conversations.  We should all foster relationships that allow us to bare simple testimony when the opportunity presents itself.

Sharing the gospel is not limited to sharing with our friends of faiths.  A year ago, when I went out to one of the church schools, I found myself surrounded by fellow members of this church.  We still had a mission leader in our ward, however, and were expected to participate in missionary work.  This perplexed me until a good friend of mine pointed out that there are still plenty of missionary opportunities amongst our fellow saints.  We can help others to gain testimonies who don’t yet believe, and for those who do believe, we can help them strengthen and solidify their testimonies.  There is so much that we can’t see in other people’s lives, so we should always strive to be good examples and unconditionally love those around us.  A former mission prep teacher of mine once explained that he wasn’t always comfortable with the use of labels such as inactive or less active members.  He claims them to be members who need strengthening, and it’s very true.  Leaders, home teacher and visiting teachers are all a part of the work of strengthening these members through their efforts in sharing the gospel.

Being a part of the work is a great blessing.  In the Book of Mormon, the Lord explicitly states that He is “able to do [His] own work.” (2 Nephi 27:20).  Compared to Him, we bring very little to the table when it comes to doing missionary work, yet He allows us the privilege to be involved in the process.  Participating in missionary service helps us to learn and to grow and to progress towards perfection.  Additionally, it opens up the opportunity for God to fulfill His promises and pour out some of the sweetest blessings imaginable upon us.  Think of a returned missionary and how much he or she changed over the course of being fully involved in the work.  Such is the result of being involved in missionary work, and as we participate and share the gospel, it only seems natural that we put ourselves in positions to have similar changes occur within us.

Being involved in missionary work isn’t easy.  The adversary is not only “seeking to hurl away your soul down to everlasting misery and endless woe,” (Helamen 7:16), but is hoping to do the same with all who have come to this earth, and so any attempts to bring people further from him as they draw closer to God is certain to warrant action from him.  My mission prep teacher out at school talked about how the opposition of the adversary increases as a person’s good efforts increase.  Though this opposition can be tough, it’s just a testament that you’re doing what you need to be doing.  This summer, as time for my full time service has been getting closer, I’ve had a fair share of this opposition.  It hasn’t been easy by any means, and I speak of this particularly to be a warning voice to you young men whose calls are getting closer.  You really have to be committed because the adversary will stop at nothing to keep you from going because he knows what you can do against his kingdom.  Stand strong and be consistent with the little things, and through your obedience Heavenly Father will strengthen you and make you meet to fulfill the call to serve.  And to the majority of you who aren’t preparing for an official call to serve, I’d admonish you to do the same so that you too can be an instrument in God’s hands.

Once again, I would like to express how important it is to never lose motivation or become discouraged as we go about the Lord’s work.  Everybody in the world has hope.  Christ “suffered… for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16).  Even if we don’t think a person can change or accept the gospel, Heavenly Father never gives up on anyone.  “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God,” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10), so let us not hinder our efforts because of our impatience or lack of an eternal perspective.  Don’t ever doubt your influence as an example of the believer.

Even if your efforts only brings one person to the fullness of the gospel, not only with your joy be great, but you’ll have had a part in bringing eternal joy to another child of God.  Elder Evans tells a story of a young man who was of another faith that grew up with the good influence of church members.  Over time, and after many invitations, he finally accepted an invitation from a friend that Elder Evans explained as being “both natural and normal… in the context of their friendship and circumstances.”  This led him to meeting with the missionaries, gaining a testimony, being baptized, being married in the temple, and having a family.  Following these events, as this man bore his testimony he asked,

“So, was it worth it?  Was all the effort of friends and youth leaders and my bishop, over all the years, worth the effort to have just one boy be baptized?”  Pointing to [his wife] and five children, he said, “Well at least for my wife and our five children, the answer is yes.”

It’s very likely the gospel will continue to influence his family for generations to come.  We don’t often have the eternal perspective that our Father in Heaven does and so we generally have no idea how our efforts will affect others as the results trickle down, or up or even sideways.

Let us all “that embark in the service of God, see that [we] serve him with all [our] heart, might, mind and strength, that [we] may stand blameless before God at the last day.”  (Doctine and Covenants 4:2).  Let us, as President Monson often reminds us, “Never Delay a Prompting.”  We are all called to participate in the work of sharing the gospel, so let us thrust in our sickles and reap the reward, a reward for all.

Once again, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve a full time mission.  I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing at this time in my life.  I’m grateful for all the leaders and examples that have been placed in my life that have gotten me to this point.  I know that God does place people in our lives to help guide us in our journey back to Him.  I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does contain the fullness of the truth, and the Lord restored this fullness through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God and that it stands as another Testament of Christ in this day.  I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God who leads this church under the direction of Jesus Christ.  I know that God fulfills all of His promises.  I know that He does so in his own timing for our benefit as we learn patience.  I know that Jesus Christ lived and died for us, that He knows us better than everybody else and that He’s there to help us the very moment that we reach out to Him.  I know that we all have hope of living in eternal bliss thanks to a gracious Father in Heaven.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

La Expiación

Two weeks!  I'm being set apart on Sunday, September 2nd at 8:00 P.M.  Next week is my "farewell" address- 8:30 A.M. at the Lawrenceville building.  I'm not making a big deal about it, I didn't make a Facebook event or anything like that, partly because everybody is at school or on a mission, and more so just because it really isn't about me.  I just am hoping to share what I've been blessed to learn through my experiences and just help others to push through the hard times and become more like our Savior.  But yup, time is a flying...

In the meantime, I had a pretty lazy Sunday, and in turn I didn't leave myself much time to think about and write a good post.  So here's a toss back- I just so happened to feel impressed to write a talk I was assigned to give word for word, more essay style rather than outline style like I've done in the past, and that's pretty handy when you have a lazy Sunday and would still like to post something.  Here it is, given on April 8th, 2012 in the Provo YSA 51st Ward of the Provo YSA 4th Stake:

Nearly two thousand years ago, the unthinkable happened when Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, rose from the dead.  No event in history has brought more hope into the world than did the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and so on this day, we celebrate His victory in overcoming death.

As is stated in 1^st Corinthians 15:22, “…in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  The obvious implication this verse sets forth is that all will gain resurrection because Jesus was resurrected.

Of great significance is it that all are included in this promise- Christ does not exclude this blessing to anyone.  Helaman 14:17 explains that “the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.”  Out of all of the billions of people who have existed on this Earth, not one is excluded from the promise of being made alive, never to die again.  “…the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.”

Although the promise given to all to live again is wonderful, there is more to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  His resurrection symbolizes His victory and success in the mission that our Father in Heaven gave to Him in the premortal existence.  In celebrating His raising from the dead, we should also celebrate the manner in which He lived His life.

In order to conquer death, Christ lived the perfect life.  He withstood temptations from the devil, constant persecution and all manner of pain and affliction, never faltering so that He could balance the scales of justice for you and me.

As President Monson explained in his conference address in October 1981, the teachings and example of Christ in His mortal ministry live on, just as He does.  We need to remember Him at all times and follow in His footsteps.

Our Savior’s determination to do the will of the Lord in all things is just another wonderful aspect of His life that led to His victory over the grave.  The ultimate example was in the garden of Gethsemane.  As He was experiencing “suffering [that] caused [Him], even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain,” He desired that this burden be lifted.  Superseding that desire, however, was His desire to do the will of the Lord, and so He persevered and “partook and finished [His] preparations unto the children of men.”

These preparations not only show His desire to do the will of His Father, but they show how much He loves us, giving us even more reason to celebrate Him on this Easter Sunday.

Elder James E. Talmage explained in Jesus the Christ that “In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world.”

In the 2005 October General Conference, Elder Merill J. Bateman gave a glimpse at this incomprehensible burden that Christ took upon Himself in the Atonement.  He said “Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt ‘our infirmities’, ‘[bore] our griefs, … carried our sorrows … [and] was bruised for our iniquities.’”  He continued: “The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us…. He learned about your weaknesses and mine. He experienced your pains and sufferings… He knows us. He understands the way in which we deal with temptations. He knows our weaknesses. But more than that, more than just knowing us, He knows how to help us…”

Jesus Christ took upon Himself all negative things in our lives.  Why?  Because He loves us.

Elder Holland helps us further get a taste of this love in his April 2009 address.  He explains that “It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone. But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish.”

President Monson said “At the last moment, the Master could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things.”

He came to know us on the night, better than we know ourselves now.  He didn’t give up and because of that He knows exactly how we feel at all times, in all places, and if we learn how to utilize the Atonement properly in our lives, it can work wonders in helping us to live like Christ.  We all have hope, every single one of us, because of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

As we continue to celebrate Easter and the Resurrection of our Savior, let us also remember the life He lived, the sacrifices that He made and what that means for us.  Because of how He lived, we can live again.  Because of His choice to suffer for every single one of us, we can turn to Him in the every day and be comforted.  Because of Him, all have hope.  And “…because [He] walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.”

I’d like to close by quoting a song that puts things into perspective.

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.

I know that He lives and loves us, and because of this love, we all have hope of improving ourselves and being truly happy in this life and in the life to come.  This is my testimony.  This is why I've chosen to serve.  I hope YOU know how truly valuable you are to Him.

Sacraficios

I apologize for my lack of posts lately.  I started this post a few weeks ago, but just haven't made time to finish.  You've got to understand, I'm a huge fan of the Olympics, I always have.  I don't remember them actually being here in Atlanta (other than Izzy, the Olympic character thing- good stuff), but my mom says that whenever the Olympic theme would come on, I'd run from wherever I was in the house into the room with the T.V., humming along loudly.  So yeah, things haven't been terribly routine this past little while.  We pretty much always had the T.V on with some Olympic event or another playing, and if I stopped to watch, I would be guaranteed to be there watching for much more time than I should have been. And then when you throw in Domino's 50% off online order deal and the extra business we had at work, I ended up working like eight hours longer than I was scheduled (including a lovely thirteen hour shift on Friday.  But talk about $$$$ :D).  So like I said, I just haven't made time to sit down and write a good post.  But things are going well!  I finally got my shoes (such a painful process -___-), once all debts are paid off, and money is deposited in the bank, I should have enough money right now to pay for my part of the mission, and I'm just counting down the days.  In three weeks I'll officially have been set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Exciting stuff!

But anyways, the Olympics.  There's just a special spirit of unity about the games.  At the same time, the idea of an athlete competing as a representative of their home country and the people that live therein, not competing for a big pay check, but for the honor and respect of people worldwide just adds a wonderful depth to what would otherwise be simply another sports event.  And there are many other aspects that I love about the Olympics, and many things that I feel like I could relate to everyday living, but one thing that had really been pressing on my mind lately is sacrifice.  These athletes, no doubt, make many sacrifices, giving up the normal in hopes of obtaining the extraordinary.  Not everybody understands why a person would wake up so early everyday, devote so much time, eat nasty stuff, not eat good stuff, and so on and so forth.  So how is a person able to give up these in-the-moment comforts?

The dream of and belief in the possibility of a glorious end result is really the only means that I believe can drive an athlete, or any person, to have the discipline to consistently make sacrifices.  These sacrifices can be big or small, but if a person doubts themselves or doesn't want their dream bad enough, they won't have any reason to not resist the smallest temptation.  These gold medalists don't strive to be silver medalists, it's the top or bust because for one reason or another, they want to be the best, and they do all that they believe to be possible to get there.  While Olympics gold is en extraordinary achievement, everybody makes sacrifices, even on a daily basis, in hopes of getting to where they believe they need to be.

Right now I face the prospect of making many sacrifices as I prepare to leave everyone and nearly everything I know behind and devote my life to the Lord.  This prospect really hit me hard recently and the adversary really dug in and made me doubt my ability to make these sacrifices and serve the Lord.  As I'm saying goodbye to people and having to end familiar relationships in the shadow of inevitable change, it really is sad to let go of the good old days and the way things have been.  I love thinking about piling into my good friend Matt/Ben's truck and riding around, going to Cici's, having man time, developing the relationships that have help make me who I am today and so on and so forth.  Thinking about the strategy of the adversary in this particular case in trying to get me to not serve as I've been called to do really is silly because staying home would really just freeze me in a state of nostalgia, unable to move me on with the world around me.  But it did, in a complex way, sort of give me a taste of what I will be giving up, and I'm continuing to see it more clearly as time gets closer.  So will it be worth it?

The role that making sacrifices has played in my life leads me to know that it will indeed be worth it.  More than I can even imagine, I'm sure.  I've had to make many sacrifices throughout my life, and in every case, there had been either an eventual payout of sorts, or a special comfort that has made me able to endure and learn in my journey of sacrifice.  I'll give a couple examples.

I used to watch a popular T.V. show that was very funny, but often times had some questionable content.  At one point, I felt as though I'd be better off not watching it, which was a bummer because it really was funny and had a good story line and so forth.  But I was blessed with a will to follow through with that prompting, and I stopped watching it and I haven't watched it since.  Now that I'm on the other side, I know that the added measure of the Spirit that comes from not taking in that questionable content has blessed me in more ways than I can imagine.  Do I miss the show?  Not really.  It's just a T.V. show.  After making the sacrifices, it's easy to not want to go back and think that it was easy giving it up, but making that first step and getting to that point is kind of tough.  It's just about seeing a bigger perspective and not getting so caught up in the moment.

Probably one of the bigger sacrifices I've made is a pretty in depth story, but I'll give you the gists of things.  I've never been really one to feel the need to have a girlfriend or anything like that.  I guess I haven't really been one to look for love because it's just not something I needed or felt was practical in my life thus far.  At one point, however, it just happened- I found myself in a situation where a friendship was kind of heading in that direction.  If we would have pursued that kind of a relationship, in some aspects it probably would have been great, but we both knew that leaders of the True and Living Church, people who clearly know the will of God, had advised against doing such and so we decided to take steps necessary to make sure we weren't ever in any sort of a situation to go against that advice.  It wasn't easy for me by any means, but that experience led me to realize that if I had to give her up to put myself in a better position to serve the Lord that I would be willing to do that.  Following that, however, we enjoyed a great friendship and I can't say that I've ever been closer to anybody else (for whatever reason I just have a hard time really opening up to other people I guess) in more of a best friend than a boy friend sense of things.  That relationship has been a great blessing in my life- I've learned so many things about everything and I'm certain it's impact on me will last forever.  So blessings really do follow sacrifices if we have the faith to make that move and put ourselves in the momentary position of discomfort.

This story continues today and had played a big part of the adversary's recent attacks on me.  She's in a position where she can move on with her life now while I put things on hold for a couple years.  It very well could turn out that I come home and we're in a situation where it would be best for us to not communicate at all in order to prevent us from bringing back that friendship and harbor up old feelings and so on so forth.  Thinking about essentially giving her up forever has been hard- she's my best friend, pretty much the only person I feel completely comfortable talking to about whatever.  At first glance it's hard to see any hope of finding another person with which I will feel as comfortable and able to express myself as fully as I was with this friend.  Looking back at my past experiences, I know that it's tough thinking about it right now, but as I move forward, trying to do the will of God, He will provide means to fill the whole left behind in a way better than I could imagine, especially because I've been striving to be obedient to the laws upon which such blessings are predicated (Doctrine and Covenants 130:21).  That's not to take away from this friend and say that there's another person out there way better than she is, but if we aren't able to continue our friendship, new friendships will be formed with other people that will work out a lot better in God's wonderful plan for each of us.  This has been a tough sacrifice to come to terms with, but it's just one among many that I'll be facing sooner than I know.

I don't speak of sacrifices to glorify myself- I seek to share what's helped me out when I've faced these situations so that somebody else can face whatever sacrifices they face with some secondhand experience under their belt.  And these sacrifices are all made for the Lord, for His glory, not mine.  I'm not going on a mission to be able to claim credit for the salvation of any individuals I baptize- that all was made possibly by the Savior's Atonement.  I'm not seeking to add something to my resume- there are other, much more practical things that I could easily do without such a time and money commitment.  I'm not doing this out of any social pressure or expectations of others- once again, that would just be impractical and a huge waste of time and money.  I've chosen to leave all behind and serve because I love my Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.  I know that they have blessed me with so much, have made me be able to live with real hope and real joy in this life and have given me a hope for eternal happiness in the life to come.  I've done nothing to deserve this.  Nothing.  Shoot, I've done a bunch of things to deserve the opposite, but through the indescribably wonderful grace of God, I can be made into a better person than I far deserve to be.  This reality is what drives me to serve.  I want to make what meager attempt I can to giving back to the Ones who have given me all.

As weird as it sounds, having the opportunity to make sacrifices really is a wonderful thing.  It's tough to deal with in the moment, but gives us strength in the long run.  In making sacrifices, we have the opportunity to learn patience, learn of God's plan for us and how wonderful that is, learn about the greatest sacrifice of all, the Atonement, and learn about other attributes that help us to become better and eventually perfect beings.  Sacrifices are not easy to make, but with faith, good underlying motivation, persistence and an eternal perspective, they're certainly possible.  I know I'm where I am today, in what I would consider good standing with God and with man, because of the sacrifices I've made in the past, and I'm grateful to God for His trust in me in making such sacrifices.

"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD."  -Psalm 4:5