Good morning brothers and sisters. I am humbled to stand before you today. In fact, I have anticipated this day for as long as I can remember. Since Baylor discovered that he was getting my i touch and my cell phone, his first celI phone, and his own room again, he has probably been anticipating this day for as long as he can remember. I want to thank all that are visiting today on my behalf for coming. There are good neighbors, friends, family and ward family here today, some have driven a long way, and I feel your love and support.
Just about 3 months ago I received my mission call. I have been called to serve for 2 years in the Chile Concepcion South mission. I am excited to go. I have felt the spirit bare witness that this is where I need to be and what I need to be doing at this time in my life.
The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me so much joy and direction thus far that I can’t imagine what my life would be like right now without it. Living by its precepts and principles is not constraining and stifling like many people may think but it is in fact the opposite. It sets your spirit free and brings peace and true happiness to your soul. Life can sometimes throw curves at you that make it hard to keep faith and to keep going forward on the right path but by seeking the help of God the Father, and his Son, our lord and savior Jesus Christ, we can receive the courage and motivation to keep going. Christ’s eternal love for us and his everlasting atonement is the only way that we can return to live with our father in heaven again. As the scriptures say time and time again, there is by no other name through which you can enter the kingdom of heaven than through the name of Christ. This is why I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and this is why I have chosen to serve a mission. To be a true disciple of Christ and to bring lost souls into the fold.
In President Henry B. Eyring’s talk from last general conference, “Man Down!”, he talks about the responsibility of the priesthood to be bold in service and to help the “man down”. He then explains the man down concept. Quote; “Almost all of us have seen a battlefield portrayed in a film or read the description in a story. Over the din of explosions and the shouts of soldiers, there comes a cry, “Man down!”. When that cry sounds, faithful fellow soldiers will move toward the sound. Another soldier or a medic will ignore danger and move to the injured comrade. And the man down will know that help will come. Whatever the risk, someone will run low or crawl to get there in time to protect and give aid. That is true in every band of men joined in a difficult and dangerous mission which they are determined to fulfill at any sacrifice. The histories of such groups are full of stories of those loyal men who were determined that no man would be left behind.” end quote.
I believe the Earth is a battlefield in the midst of a raging conflict. Satan and his followers are on one side and God and all of his children, us, are on the other. Satan’s goal is to drag as many of the children of God down with him while our goal is to make it through this life as worthy disciples of Christ so we can return to the arms of our father in heaven.
As a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ it will be my charge these next two years to seek out the man down in Chile and look for those that may be left behind and forgotten. Like the loyal comrade or a medic in the battlefield a missionary is equipped with the essential tools to aid a battered spirit and help lift a wounded soul. These vital tools are found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ within the plan of Salvation and the blessing of the atonement.
Before I decided that I wanted to go out into the world and teach these truths as a full time missionary I knew I had to gain a strong testimony of them myself. One of the most important and first things that I gained a testimony of was the power of the atonement. For a long time the love of our Heavenly Father and our savior seemed almost abstract and distant to me. It wasn’t until a little over a year ago that I really started to comprehend and understand it better. At this time I was going through tough trials that left me feeling alone and helpless. When I realized that the help of family and friends just wasn’t quite enough to get me through this stormy patch in my life, I finally turned to my father in heaven in the most sincere, earnest and heartfelt prayers that I had ever said in my life. I didn’t ask for my problems to go away, but I asked for help in baring them.
At the close of one of these prayers I was suddenly hit by a powerful rush of the spirit, it felt like I had just been plugged into an outlet that supplied a current of the spirit of God instead of electricity. This was then followed by an overwhelming feeling of peace that calmed my mind and soul, I then knew that things would work out and that I would be able to handle whatever was thrown at me. That night I drifted off to sleep with my heart drawn out in a prayer of gratitude and a better understanding of the love of our Father in Heaven, his son our savior, and the atonement. I realized that the savior not only suffered for our sins at gethsemane and calvary, but he also took on our weaknesses, our failures, our sadness, and all of the other pains of this world. The crushing weight of all of our sins and sorrows caused him to bleed from every pore and to cry out to his God and our God the Father for mercy. But there was no other way and he did what had to be done for us and drank from the bitter cup.
In the words of James E. Talmage: “Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause....He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only He was capable of experiencing.” end quote.
Then just a short time later he was betrayed by a friend and taken captive to start the road to the completion of his sacrifice. He was scorned and hated by his people the Jews and was scourged and humiliated at the hands of Roman guards. He then went willingly to an excrutiating death on the cross with nails driven through his hands, feet, and wrists to complete the atonement. No one else could have done it, not even He could have done it without a strong love for all of us, and not just a general love towards humanity as a whole, but a deep personal love toward every single individual who has ever lived. His suffering payed the ransom for all of our lives, because of his great sacrifice in the garden and on the cross we can repent of our sins, become clean, and return to our heavenly home with God, our eternal patriarch.
In my alone and desperate state that night, I was filled with my Savior’s love and reminded that you are never alone, because our eldest brother Jesus Christ knows what we are going through. If you turn to him, humble and broken, he will be there with the healing power of his love, he will be there to pick you up when you fall. His hand of mercy and love is always outstretched, you just have take it.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ and its the plan of salvation is a simple one. Living the gospel is a guaranteed plan for true happiness. Unfortunately, in today’s world we often seek happiness in the wrong places. It is easy for any of us to fall into the belief that “if we could just make more money or buy the new car we have always wanted or get the designer clothing that we feel we just have to have, then we will truly be happy. When we get these things we realize that the gratification is short lived and we set ourselves to think that we need more to be happy. The cycle never ends and we never find happiness. No amount of wealth or possessions can buy happiness or define true success. These things may bring hollow temporary pleasure but it never lasts long and is not true happiness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings true meaning and true happiness to people’s lives. I’ve seen it in the lives of those around me and I’ve seen it in my life. John 6:28 reads “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ feeds the soul and brings peace to the spirit.
The gospel has changed my life and I’m learning what true happiness is. I don’t profess to know everything about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I admit I know very little, but I am learning, and I know what the spirit feels like, and I know what true happiness feels like and I know the truth. I know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going when this life is over. I pray that is enough for now as I start this journey. I’m excited to go out and share these simple truths with the people of Chile. To give our Savior’s message to all who will hear it so they too can find meaning in life and feed their hungry souls. To bring lost souls into the fold so they can be made new and alive through the love and gospel of Christ. In 2 Nehi 25:26 the Prophet Nephi said, “And we talk of Christ we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”
Christ is the center of the plan of salvation and is the perfect example for us to look to and lead a better life. After all, true discipleship isn’t just believing in his gospel and in his words, but its also in living the gospel by following his teachings and keeping his commandments. What better way to show the lord your devotion and your faith then by living the gospel. In Matthew 7:21 Christ himself says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” We show our discipleship not just by faith, but by doing the will of the Father. The will of the Father which is what Christ taught through his parables and sermons and by the way he lived his life.
I want to share one of my favorite missionary story’s: This story takes place in England in 1851. Two missionaries from the states were teaching in this small town and had planned a meeting in the town square where they could teach many at once the message of the gospel, the plan of happiness. A crowd was gathered to listen. On the other side of town there was a small mob forming of teenage boys. They had heard that “the Mormons” had entered their town and these boys were not going to tolerate it. Gathering up as many rotten eggs as they could collect they intended to egg these young missionaries and drive them out of their town. When they arrived in the vicinity the two young missionaries were singing to the gathering crowd. The leader of the small mob brought the group to a halt to wait for the most climactic moment before unleashing their assault. As they waited, they heard the missionaries and felt the spirit so much so that they could no longer do the thing they came to do, so they slunk away home.
The leader of the small mob was Thomas Harper, my great, great, great, great grandfather, the man my dad was named after. Thomas was deeply effected by the spirit that day. He later accounts that he could not get it out of his mind and was determined to hear more of what these missionaries had to say. After that day, he would stop by to see the missionaries on his way home from work. He told his family about the things he was learning and how these truths spoke to his sole. In Thomas’s words; “they heard this with horror and commanded that I stay away from those wicked mormons! I found this impossible to obey. I felt drawn to them as a magnet and soon asked to be baptized.” Thomas was baptized by Elder Curtis E. Bolton. Thomas later emigrated from England to the United States. I am thankful to Elder Bolton that he was able to reach out to a man down and pull him up. I am thankful that my ancestor Thomas Harper had the courage to act on the spirit.
I testify that our savior Jesus the Christ lives and he loves us.......
I testify that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and was a prophet of God who restored the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth....
I Testify that there is a prophet of God on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson
I am thankful for.......
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Posts
