Farewell Talk

Good afternoon brothers and sisters, for those of you who don’t know I have been called to serve in the Canada Montreal mission, leaving this wednesday to the Provo MTC. I am so excited to give the next 18 months of my life to the Lord and share this gospel which I have gained a testimony of with the people of Quebec. I know it will be hard, and I know I am going to face trials that I can’t fully understand yet. But I am not afraid. Because over the past year I have had the chance to get to know my Savior. Through several personal trials while preparing for a mission I was humbled and brought to my knees. And the power of the atonement and Christ’s ability to lift burdens has become so real to me. I love this quote from Carole M Stephen’s talk “The Master Healer”

“[He] would do anything to take this from you.” In fact, “[He] already has.”

The personal relationship with my Savior I have gained through my experience with the atonement is something I would never trade and I know I needed to have in order to be ready to serve this mission. I know that if I continue to follow Him and rely on Him I can overcome all the struggles that I will have as a missionary. Because in fact He has already overcome them for me.

Recently we had a family home evening lesson where we talked about what it means to know Jesus Christ rather than just knowing of Him. My siblings compared it to celebrities as opposed to friends. We know who celebrities are and we might know things about them but we can’t really say we know them. We compared this analogy to our relationship with Christ. Sometimes Christ can seem like a celebrity, we know who He is and hear about Him all the time. But it is important that we actually come to KNOW him on a personal level.

At worldwide devotional for young adults, President Nelson talked about the importance of getting to know Christ and how it will bless us in addition to preparing us to meet trials. 1) your love for Him, and for God’s laws, will grow beyond what you currently imagine. 2) your ability to turn away from sin will increase. 3) Your desire to keep the commandments will soar. 4) Your ability to lead and to have righteous influence will increase. I especially like that last one about being able to lead. I‘m naturally a really reserved person, and leadership roles have never been something I have tried to seek out. That’s part of why I never wanted to go on a mission when I was younger. I just thought it would be way too exhausting of my minimal people skills, ha. However my patriarchal blessing directly talks about how I will be a leader and how I have to prepare myself for that. I always thought okay no I really don’t see that happening. Like I am so shy, I don’t like leading and I’m definitely not cut out for it. But I’ve come to realize that my responsibility to be a leader is not something I can brush off. In fact, the Lord needs our whole generation to be leaders. Together we have to prepare the world for when the Savior comes again to reign. By spreading His gospel to every one of god’s children on the earth and giving them opportunity to receive its blessings. We have to be beacons of truth. This is not an easy task. Especially with all the opposition in the world today. The only way we can be prepared for this task is a personal relationship with Christ.

So how can we strengthen that relationship? President Nelson talked about how we can get to know the Savior by studying ALL he said and did -- in every book of scripture, ( OT NT BoM DC) and studying all he continues to teach through prophets. I know that we do have have a living prophet and apostles on the earth today who receive revelation directly from the Lord. He is always giving us more knowledge and guiding us through these men who truly have been called of God. And I know through listening to and interacting with these men that they are vehicles for my Savior’s love for me. By living in line with their teachings and bearing testimony of them we strengthen our relationship with Christ.

President Nelson invites us to imagine how it will be to be in his presence for the first time. He said “You will be overwhelmed to the point of tears to be in His holy presence. You will struggle to find words to thank Him for paying for your sins, for forgiving you of any unkindness toward others, for healing you from the injuries and injustices of this life.You will thank Him for strengthening you to do the impossible, for turning your weaknesses into strengths, and for making it possible for you to live with Him and your family forever.” When I read that for the first time I could feel my heart drawing nearer to my Savior. And I felt my relationship to him become so much more personal and real. When I am face to face with my Savior for the first time, I can only imagine the overwhelming feeling of love and connection I will feel to him. This person who knows every single struggle I’ve ever had. Every sadness, every insecurity. Every thought. Everything I have felt in my life. Not only knows what they are, but knows what they feel like. This person who had been there for me without fail, even at my worst. Who forgives me freely over and over again. Who loves me so much that He would die for me….. That’s the description of the most amazing best friend I could ever ask for. I know that as you realize the role that Christ really has in your life, you will feel closer to him and you will realize that He is your best friend.

Like I mentioned before, I know my mission isn’t going to be easy. Not only because I hear it every single day from return missionaries.. Ha, but because I know I have weaknesses. I know that my past missionary experiences have been extremely rewarding but also draining. And as much as wish I didn’t, I know that it’s going to be -30 degrees in the winter and I might not see the sun for a week at a time. But I know that I will be okay if I have unshakable faith in my Savior. I am so grateful that I was given this topic to speak on because I had a chance to evaluate the foundation of faith I had, and it really wasn’t as strong as I wanted it. It really inspired me to want re-focus myself and I strived everyday to strengthen my faith and anchor myself more firmly to it. But for whatever reason it wasn’t coming super easy at first, I felt so distracted and spread thin with the temporal tasks of mission preparation. BUt then, around the same time I got an email from missionary with a link to President Eyring’s talk “Mountains to Climb” (best talk)(read it) and I came across this paragraph

“When hard trials come, the faith to endure them well will be there, built as you may now notice but may have not at the time that you acted on the pure love of Christ, serving and forgiving others as the Savior would have done. You built a foundation of faith from loving as the Savior loved and serving for Him. Your faith in Him led to acts of charity that will bring you hope.”

This clicked so well will me, and it made me realize that in order to strengthen and prepare myself for my mission the way I wanted to wouldn’t come from just studying preach my gospel and the scriptures alone (that’s important), I needed to act. This next quote from President Eyring has been my screensaver on my phone as a reminder and to help me to not get discouraged when I felt I wasn’t doing too well

“It is never too late to strengthen the foundation of faith. There is always time. With faith in the Savior, you can repent and plead for forgiveness. There is someone you can forgive. There is someone you can thank. There is someone you can serve and lift. You can do it wherever you are and however alone and deserted you may feel.”

I absolutely love that. It really is never too late. Even if hard times suddenly come and we don’t feel like we have adequately prepared our faith. We strengthen faith by living like Christ and following his example. There is no situation we can be in that will prevent us from doing that.

I want to extend a challenge to you all: the next time you are experiencing a trial or even just having difficult day, and it might be right now, stop and ask yourself, “what can I do to follow the Savior’s example right now” Remember President Eyring’s quote and know that there is always something. I am going to take on this challenge while I am on my mission as well. And I know as we do this we will be able to have peace and hope and feel closer to Christ.

I also want to challenge you to do all you can to get to know your Savior better. Learn to think of Him as your best friend. Because He is. He already knows us perfectly, but how well do we really know Him. Let’s show Him that we love Him back by striving to get to know him as personally as we can.

Brothers and Sisters I know that joy is always available to us whether we are willing to feel it or not it is. Jesus Christ is the source of that joy. Through Him is the only way we can have true full happiness that our Father in Heaven wants to bless us with.

I have such a strong testimony of the Atonement. It can be easy at times to think we should be strong enough on our own, or good enough on our own. But that is crazy! Trying to be perfect on our own we will only feel depleted and disappointed. And we wonder “why is this so hard?” -- because it’s impossible. There is no one who doesn’t need the Atonement. Mosiah 27:25-26. None of us are inheriting the kingdom of God without the atonement and without relying on Christ to make up for what we lack. So don’t worry about comparing yourself to others. Don’t hesitate to repent. His arms are lovingly outstretched to you. He wanted you to turn to Him for help in this life because He knows that you need Him. And He is always waiting, you just have to take the step towards Him and let Him take the weight off of your heart. “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?… If ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come … will I receive.”16

I am so humbled and grateful that I have been called to serve a mission and represent Jesus Christ. I know that no matter what, I will have a successful mission if I am dedicated to inviting people with love to come unto Christ and and come to know Him and receive blessings. Through praying for the people of the Canada Montreal mission I have already begun to develop a love for them and I can’t wait to meet them and serve them and teach them what I know to be true. I won’t have to feel alone because I will be wearing my best friend’s name on my chest and He will be with me.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.