Called to Serve

As promised, below is a copy of Chris' farewell talk, which she gave on Sunday, December 27, and the outline for mine.  We hope you enjoy ... it was a special day to be surrounded by so many loving family and friends.  We also felt the hopes, the thought and prayers from those who were unable to join us ... enjoy!

Chris’ Farewell Talk

I First want to share a message that the church released last week in A Savior is Born the Christmas promotional video. When I watch and listened to it, the spirit guided me to share it and what to talk about today.

What if there were things you could never take back?  Words, decisions, mistakes.  A world where every heartache lasted forever.  Where every wound never healed.  No auto correct, no backspace, no delete.  A world where man only drifts farther and farther away from happiness, from peace and from God.

That’s what the world would be like without a Savior.  Thankfully that world doesn’t exist because one quiet night long ago in a tiny town a child was born.  Born to change all hearts and all goodbyes, fix all mistakes, born to overcome anguish, regret, depression, fear.  He understands you, He heals us, He can bridge the lonely gap between God and man and bring us home if we let Him, if we love Him, if we follow Him, that’s why we celebrate.  That’s why we sing and that why He was born.

The third article of faith of our church states, “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

We cannot forgive our own sins; we cannot cleanse ourselves from the consequences of our sins. We can stop sinning and can do right in the future. But who is going to repair the wrongs we have done to ourselves and to others, which it seems impossible for us to repair ourselves? By the atonement of Jesus Christ the sins of those of us who repent shall be washed away. The old testament prophet Isaiah gives us a promise.   

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

He suffered for us so that we can be made clean and return to live with our Heavenly Father. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the "good news" of Christ's sacrifice for us, giving us a path back to the Father. “

We do not know exactly how the Lord accomplished the Atonement. But we do know that the cruel torture of crucifixion was only part of the horrific pain which began in Gethsemane.

Luke in the New Testament tells us:

“He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Also in our Doctrine and Covenants a revelation is recorded:

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore.”

Throughout our life there may be times when we have gone places we never should have gone and done things we never should have done. If we will turn away from sin, we will be able one day to know the peace that comes from following the pathway of complete repentance.

No matter what our transgressions have been, no matter how much our actions may have hurt others that guilt can all be wiped away. I love in our Doctrine and Covenants where Christ tells us, “Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.”

That is the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement: to take anyone who repents and takes the name of Christ upon them and to always remember him and endure to the end that they will have ever lasting life.

The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi explained to his people nearly 2,500 years ago;  “Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah”

That is what we Latter-day Saints teach around the world. That is the Light we offer to those who are in darkness and have lost their way. Wherever our members and missionaries may go, our message is one of faith and hope in the Savior Jesus Christ.

Joseph Fielding Smith one of our past Presidents of our church wrote the lyrics to the hymn “Does the Journey Seem Long?”

Does the journey seem long,

The path rugged and steep?

Are there briars and thorns on the way?

Do sharp stones cut your feet

As you struggle to rise

To the heights thru the heat of the day?

Is your heart faint and sad,

Your soul weary within,

As you toil ’neath your burden of care?

Does the load heavy seem

You are forced now to lift?

Is there no one your burden to share?

Let your heart be not faint

Now the journey’s begun;

There is One who still beckons to you.

So look upward in joy

And take hold of his hand;

He will lead you to heights that are new—

A land holy and pure,

Where all trouble doth end,

And your life shall be free from all sin,

Where no tears shall be shed,

For no sorrows remain.

Take his hand and with him enter in.

As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sickness, pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I know that Christ atoned for my sins and I know if I turn to him when trials come he will carry me through because I have turned to him in need and he has been there. This is why I am serving a mission. So that others can have the peace and happiness I have found in the scriptures. The joy my ward family, and my friends in the gospel have been to me. Thank you all for your examples, your love, support and encouragement. We will miss you but we know the Lord wants us, so we will go and we will do.

Outline and Quotes from Steve's Talk

“There is no growth in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the growth zone.”

• Jon’s Question - where else will you find people who are happy and willing to pay to serve those you don’t even know.

• Why are you going on a mission and leaving so much behind traveling half way around the world where we don’t know anyone and, no doubt, will have trouble with the language!

What is a missionary - BETH JOURNAL:  “Missionary: (noun) - someone who leaves their family for a short time, so that others may be with their families for eternity.”

It is OUR Personal Responsibility - A Labor of Love

1 Peter 2:9

Mosiah 2:17

“Perhaps the greatest reason or missionary work is to give to the world its chance to hear and accept the gospel.  The scriptures are replete with commands and promises and calls and rewards for teaching the gospel.  I used the word command deliberately for it seems to be an insistent directive from which we, singly and collectively, cannot escape.”  ~President Spencer W. Kimball, When the World Will Be Converted, Oct 1974

Israel ~ my transient friend

What message shall we share?  Hope & Eternal Perspective

Hope

One of my favorite Christmas carols is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.  The lyrics were taken from the poem Christmas Bells by American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which he wrote during the Civil War nine months after his oldest son, Charles, had snuck away from the family home to join the Union army without his father's blessing. Longfellow learned of his son’s decision by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left to enter the war. Charles was severely wounded in November of that same year in the Battle of New Hope Church in Virginia.  

Nearly two years earlier on July 9, 1861, his wife, Francis, was killed in a tragic accident.  While Francis was putting locks of her children's hair into an envelope and attempting to seal it with hot sealing wax her dress caught fire.  Longfellow, awakened from a nap by her screaming, rushed to help her by attempting to smother the flames with his body, but it was too late. 

Longfellow, in trying to save his beloved Francis, was burned so bad that he was unable to attend her funeral.  His facial injuries led him to stop shaving, thereafter wearing the beard which became his trademark.

With this background we can better appreciate Longhfellow’s poem, Christmas Bells, which he wrote on Christmas day 1863. 

I find myself drawn to the words of the third verse and find them descriptive of how many feel today:  and in despair I bowed by head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’

How many of us often hang our heads in despair … it is easy to become discourage and cynical about the future or even fearful of what might come - if we all ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world.

John 8:12

Moroni 7:40-41

Baptismal Interview Experiences - saw hope in their eyes

Of course, none of us will make it through life without problems and challenges—and sometimes tragedies and misfortunes.  We all know there will be times when we will suffer, when we will be angered, when we will grieve, and when we will be saddened. The gospel of Jesus Christ enables us rise above the fray in the world for as the prophet Joseph Smith taught, “happiness is the object and the design of our existence.”  But how do we find that happiness?  The Savior gave us the answer; “be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you” (D&C 68:5). 

Though our lives are filled with experiences that could overwhelm us with despair, depression, fear and even hate, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and putting Him at the center of our lives that is the source of our resilience and enables us to remain steadfast and of good cheer even in these troubling times. It is our trust in the Savior and His glorious gospel plan that will pull us through whatever comes our way. 

We must not kid ourselves; however, it will not remove our troubles from us for the Lord Himself has said to the Eleven on their way to Gethsemane, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome to the world.”  (John 16:33)  It is, then, our faith and our trust in Him that will enable us to face our challenges, to meet them head on, and to emerge victorious filled with hope, charity and peace of mind.

Lamp

Lon Woodrum

I met a stranger in the night

Whose lamp had ceased to shine.

I paused and let him light

His lamp from mine.

A tempest sprang up later on

And shook the world about.

And when the wind was gone

My lamp was out!

But back to me the stranger came ~

His lamp was glowing find!

He held the precious flame

And then he lighted mine!

• Why go on a mission?  The answer is simply ~ to help others find the hope and the joy that comes from living a Christ centered life.  Just as the Apostle Paul declared, “God had not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Eternal Perspective

• Read comments from recent converts…

God’s great plan of happiness , affords happiness to the righteous in mortality, beyond the grave and eternally after the resurrection.

“There is no cure for the ills of the world except the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our hope for peace, for temporal and spiritual prosperity, and for an eventual inheritance in the kingdom of God is found only in and through the restored gospel.  There is no work that any of us can engage in that is as important as preaching the fospel and building up the church and kingdom of God on earth.”  ~ Joseph Fielding Smith

…the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation …

We know that God is preparing people to receive our love and our testimonies of the restored truth.  He requires of us our faith and action to share fearlessly what has become so precious to us and to those we love.

May each of us, regardless of our station in life, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have “moved away from the hope of the Gospel (Col 1:23) and let us reach to life the hands which hang hopelessly down.

Now as we prepare to leave on our mission, I am eternally grateful for that wise counsel recorded by the Book of Mormon prophet, Alma, over two millennia ago, “…I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6).

Let me close by returning to where we began by reading the fourth verse of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day;

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Ours will be a message of peace on earth good will to men.