Hey Everyone! This is my talk from today. I'm posting it for all of those who couldn't make it to sacrament meeting. It's a blessing to be back in Dothan with my family and dear friends. I tried to capture some of the things that I learned and why it made me so happy to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This isn't exactly how my talk went, but it's the general outline and the stories that I shared.
Homecoming Talk \
December 24, 2017
I realized when I was thinking about what to say
today that a lot of people have been coming up to me and asking me how my
mission was. I usually say something like “I learned a lot and it was awesome”
and they’re pretty satisfied to know that I did actually learn something and I
was happy while doing it. Then, I realized that basically this talk is the
deeper version of the answer “I learned a lot and it was awesome.” However,
even in writing this talk, I couldn’t contain a hundredth part of what I
learned and how awesome it was.
I was thinking and I guess that might be why we
don’t remember the pre-mortal life. If so, we would just go around asking each
other about our pre-mortal lives and we would just say “I learned a lot and it
was awesome,” even though that wouldn’t cover an infinite part of it. I guess short
answers are easy to give, but doesn’t the human soul yearn for the deeper
solution? That’s exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us.
Even though I was supposed to be speaking Russian on
my mission, I had investigators who ranged from Finnish to Pakistani to Mexican
and everything in between. One day, our Finnish investigator, Vesa, told us a
joke to prove his point.
A
priest walks up to the pearly gates and St. Peter tells him that they are
running out of space in heaven. He tells him that he wants to talk to the next
person in line before he decided to let him in. The next man was a simple bus
driver, and St. Peter immediately let him in. The priest was rebuffed because
he didn’t understand how he wouldn’t get let in for preaching the gospel for 40
years to his congregation. St. Peter told him: “I let the bus driver into
heaven because when you were preaching, your congregation was sleeping; when
the bus driver was driving, the people in his bus were truly praying to God for
their welfare.”
Now, we know that that’s not exactly how it works,
but the point is that our diligence and efforts cannot be entirely meaningful
if they aren’t genuine, patient, and full of love and good intentions. There is
always a higher and deeper level that we can be striving for in every aspect of
our lives, especially prayer. As I was saying before, I believe that the human
soul yearns for deeper connections, especially with our Heavenly Father. That’s
exactly the purpose of missionaries, to help people find their connection to
God, other people around them, and to their own divine potential.
One of the ways that I connected with God everyday
was writing in my journal. I never missed a day for the entire 18 months.
President
Henry B Eyring said: “I never missed a day for years, I never missed a day no
matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before
I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God
reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” as I kept at it,
something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see
evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the
busy moments of the day.”
I knew a sister in the mission that would just look
up at the sky after something good happened and vocally praise God, thanking
him for that blessing, no matter how small. I saw the joy in her eyes, and knew
that I wanted that in my eyes as well. I remember times when I was not so sure
and not so joyful too. In fact, one year ago today, December 24, 2016, I was
feeling nervous about the next day being Christmas, skyping my family for the
first time, spending Christmas away from them, and basically being in such
different circumstances than I had ever been in before my mission. Turns out,
December 25, 2016 ended up being one of my favorite and most miraculous days of
my whole mission. Our progressing investigator had come to church and sisters
had been working with him for months to help him accept a date to be baptized.
This
is what I wrote in my journal that day: “After church we wanted to show Michael
the baptismal font. He was in a hurry, so he told Sister Christensen “As long
as I see it before my baptism on January 28th, it should be fine,
right?” Basically puts himself on date! So exciting. We showed him the font
anyways, and Elder Karpukhno was telling him how it works. It was so awesome,
I’ve never felt joy like that.”
Brothers and Sisters, that’s one of those obvious
moments when you can look up at the sky with tears of gratitude in your eyes
and thank your Heavenly Father for all of His tender mercies over you.
Sometimes, we are in a moment, and the future is uncertain. I think that it
takes courage in every single moment to trust in God and lean not unto our own
understanding.
There
is a quote from Galileo that says: "All truths are easy to understand once
they are discovered; the point is to discover them."
Revelation
and understanding come in movement, not stagnation.
Speaking of revelation, I wanted to talk about the 3
main things that I learned on my mission.
1)
Miracles happen
I could list off miracles for hours, but I’m sure
that you’re not interested in sitting out there for days. On my mission, I
attempted to read Jesus the Christ, a book written by James E Talmage. It’s 793
pages of pretty deep stuff and pretty fancy language…This is my favorite quote
from the book:
“In
the contemplation of the miracles wrought by Christ, we must of necessity
recognize the operation of a power transcending our present human
understanding. In this field, science has not yet advanced far enough to
analyze and explain. To deny the actuality of miracles on the ground that,
because we cannot comprehend the means, the reported results are fictitious, is
to arrogate to the human mind the attribute of omniscience, by implying that
what man cannot comprehend cannot be, and that therefore he is able to
comprehend all that is.” King Benjamin said: “Believe in God, believe that he
is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth. Believe that
he has all wisdom and all power, both in heaven and earth, believe that man
doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.” 2 Nephi 2:24, says: “all things are done in
the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.”
I can share
an example or two of this concept. One night, it was 8:45. Literally 15 minutes
before we were supposed to be home and it was a 5 minute drive. We could have
gone home honorably, but we decided to follow the spirit to a spot and knock on
one house and then go home. We ended up in a culdesac, knocking on the door of
a sweet Chinese family that ended up coming to church and happily receiving the
lessons from the Chinese Elders. Did God send us a miracle so that we could
just say that we found a miracle? NO! He sent us to be a miracle for that
family so that they could receive the gospel. It was part of His purposes, and
if we hadn’t have followed the spirit to that house, I don’t know what would
have happened to that family. Just a couple of weeks ago, we ate with about 15 missionaries
at Chick-fil-a. There was this amazing, happy, awesome woman there that
brightened all of our day. She made an impact on me of just pure light and
happiness. The coolest part is that me and my companion were driving through an
apartment complex when we saw someone that we thought was Russian. When that
happens, you park asap and get out to talk to them. By the time we got out, she
was gone. We started looking for this woman, walking in the direction that
would make the most sense. The whole time, I couldn’t stop thinking that we
needed to turn around, go back the way we came, and check behind this random
building with basically made no sense. But, we decided to act on the thought,
and she was back there. She turned out to not be Russian, she turned out to be
the lady from Chick-fil-a! It was such a cool “godincidence” or in other words,
a miracle!
2)
God answers prayers
The
prophet Alma says: “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct
thee for good. Yea, when thou liest down at night, lie down unto the Lord, that
he may watch over you in your sleep; and when though riseth in the morning, let
thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be
lifted up at the last day.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s
existence can be attributed to an answered prayer in which a 14 year old boy
received guidance through a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Joseph
Smith asked with a sincere desire for an answer, and he received one, what
makes us think that we cannot receive an answer too? When I was in the last
week before coming home, I was praying in my heart that I would find a way to
have missionary opportunities in the airport and in the course of my travel
home. The answer came in some unexpected ways. I want to share a story from the
airport. We were sitting there, waiting to board our plane. I was with another
Sister who was also flying to Atlanta. We decided a couple of times to either
go to the bathroom or get up and walk around to pass the time. We went and sat
down after that, and I opened up my scriptures to John, hoping to get in a few
minutes of study time. You wanna know what happened? Heavenly Father straight
up answered my prayer, because the lady next to me, named Lillian, piped right
up, asking me if I was doing my daily Bible study. We then were able to have a
15 minute conversation about the importance of the scriptures in our lives. I
shared several Book of Mormon verses with her and she shared Psalms 19 with me,
which was the psalm of the day. We read it together right there in the airport.
She was so excited about Light the World. God literally plopped the missionary
opportunity into my hands, and she was the one who talked to me first! When
does that ever happen? It doesn’t. Answers to prayers can also come through
confirming feelings from the spirit. I remember a time when we were teaching an
investigator and he just couldn’t get over his idea that Joseph Smith was a
fallen prophet. He really couldn’t believe that he continued to receive
revelation from God for his entire life. After a slightly disheartening
discussion with him, I went home that night and simply prayed telling him that
no matter what had happened that day, I knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I
hadn’t asked for a confirming feeling, but I got one of the most overwhelming
amazing feelings washing over me. I don’t think that we always get an answer
when we want it, we get the answer when we really need it.
3)
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World
There is a sweet story of a girl named Ariel. She is
5 years old. She has down syndrome, and I met her and her mom in the airport on
Tuesday. There’s this certain feeling that you have when you’re a missionary.
You feel a responsibility to inspire those around you. So, I was trying to
smile, even though I was feeling a little sad after saying goodbye to everyone.
Suddenly we hear the familiar “Oh Sister missionaries!! What brings you to the
airport today?” Of course, Heavenly Father sent this amazing little family
right to me when I needed that extra boost of happy. Ariel’s mom told me a
story of Ariel at the visitor’s center of a temple. In the visitor’s center,
there is a statue of Jesus Christ, life size, and you’re allowed to touch and
go near it. She said that Ariel immediately started signing the ASL signs for
Jesus Christ by touching her hands where there would be nail prints and saying
“Jesus, Jesus” over and over and then she took tissues and began washing and
kissing the feet of the Savior. It was a sweet and spiritual story, but the
part that really gave me chills was the fact that Ariel’s mom told us that
Ariel has never heard the story of the woman who washed and kissed the Savior’s
feet from the Bible. Ariel was so perfect, so pure, and she had an inspiring
testimony of Jesus Christ, even though she is only 5 years old. We’re not quite
so innocent or perfect; therefore, we need the Atonement more than ever.
“However
late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however
many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you don’t think you have, or
however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify
that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible
for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s atonement shines.”-Holland
“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works
from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slum. Christ takes
the slums out of people, and the they take themselves out of the slums. The
world would mold men by changing their environment. The world would shape human
behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”
The atonement is really about change.
-Testify here and talk about this song:
For
all who wait
For
all who hunger
For
all who've prayed
For
all who wonder
Behold
your King
Behold
Messiah
He
is the song for the suffering
He
is Messiah, the prince of peace has come
In closing, I want to share my favorite chapter from
the Book of Mormon. It’s Ether 6. I want to invite all of you to take out your
scriptures or your gospel library and follow along, because I am going to
change the words a little bit and apply it to myself. I’m going to start
halfway down verse 2 of Ether chapter 6.
And,
Sister Jenne came down out of the mount of Provo, Utah. And, she did put forth
her scriptures into her suitcases, which were prepared, a Book of Mormon and a
Bible and behold, they did give light. And, thus the Lord caused them to shine
in darkness to give light unto all missionaries that they might not serve a
mission in darkness. And it came to pass that when Sister Jenne had prepared
all manner of rain jackets and Vitamin D pills that she might subsist in
Seattle, and also skirts, and dresses that she might fashionably represent the
Lord. It came the pass that when she had done all these things, she got aboard
an airplane, and set forth to the MTC, commending herself to the Lord God. And
the Lord caused that the furious Russian language drove Sister Jenne toward
humility and thus she was tossed upon the waves of Russian grammar. And it came
to pass that she was many times discouraged in conversations with Bible bashers
and slammed doors because of the mountain of responsibility which weighed upon them
and also the dark and dreary tempests of rain which happened in Seattle. And it
came to pass that when she was buried in the deep, there was no man that could
hurt her, her testimony being tight like unto a dish and also it was tight like
unto the ark of Noah; therefore, she was encompassed about by temptations, she
did cry unto the Lord and He did bring her forth again upon the foundation of
Christ. And it came to pass that the Russian language never did cease to drive
her towards humility while she was on her mission and thus she was driven
forth. And she did sing “I am a Child of God” to all of the babushkas and they
did sing praises to the Lord. And she did thank and praise the Lord all the day
long and when the night came she went to bed at 10:30 every time. And thus she
was driven forth, and no apartment complex manager could shoo them away,
neither were there any no soliciting signs that could stop their knocks and
they did have light continually whether it was teaching the elect or being
hardcore rejected. And she was driven 566 days upon the freeways of; Seattle.
And she did gain an abiding testimony of her Savior, Jesus Christ and when she
did this, she bowed herself down upon the face of the land and she did humble
herself before the Lord and did shed tears of joy before the Lord because of
the multitudes of his tender mercies over her.
Testify <3
Amen
