Pershendetje 28 July 2016

So I'm here and I'm safe. P day is Monday. Talk to you then.

Farewell Talk July 17, 2016

I have been called to serve a mission for 18 months in the Adriatic South mission, speaking Albanian. I had to look at a map to see where I was actually going. My mission consists of 3 different countries in Southeastern Europe: Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Being able to serve anywhere in the world is a pretty amazing—and maybe intimidating—idea. I love different cultures and different languages, but I think the most beautiful part of being able to serve a mission somewhere in the world is that it does not actually matter where I serve. God loves every single person, nation, and culture. Being in a totally new place and still being able to feel God’s love for His children will be a testament to His boundless love. Before I got my call, a couple of people asked me where I wanted to serve a mission. I hated this question. I guess I just realized that it isn’t up to me because I can’t see who needs to hear this message. Only God knows where I need to be, and I feel perfectly at peace when I realize that I am in his hands. On my BYU lacrosse team we have 6 freshmen leaving to serve missions for the next year and a half to serve in the places that we are needed. It’s cool for us because we are being spread so far in the world: 5 different countries, 6 different languages. I am called of God, by God, and am going to serve for God.

During World War II a city was bombed and a large statue of Jesus Christ was found in the rubble. The people mourned the statue as a symbol of their faith and God in their lives. They were able to repair the statue except for His hands. Some wanted to sculpt new hands while others wanted it to stay the way it was. This would stand as a reminder of the tragedy of war. It remained without hands, and the people of the city added a sign at the bottom of the statue of Jesus Christ with the words “You are my hands”.

I have always wanted to serve those in need. Most people think of “those in need” as people who have physical struggles, but there are many who need spiritual uplifting. If there is even one person who is searching for answers that the gospel might bring, then my mission will have a purpose. I believe that everyone needs our Heavenly Father in their life, especially when they don’t realize that they do. I want to be able to touch someone’s heart through the words I speak. I will be God’s hands on Earth.

So it’s hard work? Well so is being a member of the church. Something in your life being difficult is not a bad thing. In a way it kind of signifies the faith of the members by being willing to follow all the so-called strict rules. If we did not believe what the scriptures say or what the prophets say, why would we follow the commandments? Hard things bring great rewards. Being able to do hard things also gives us confidence that we are strong. I am prepared to be broken down because of the trials that I will have on my mission, but I know that being beaten down will bring me closer to my Savior. As life is difficult, we turn to our Savior, Jesus Christ, to help us and lift us up because He knows our hardships better than anyone. He bore our hardships.

        There is also the separation of loved ones. It is especially hard for mothers to be away from their children. Some may think that this separation is cruel. I recently heard a different take on the situation. My brother is serving in Mexico City right now, and for Christmas my mom was sent a poem. It says that for Christmas, I’m giving Christ my son. Just how Heavenly Father gave His son, so that we might be saved, our mothers are willing to give up their children for a small amount of time. In 1 Nephi 21:15-16 it says “I will not forget thee, O House of Israel. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands…” Christ proved that He will not forget us by the nail marks in His hands. Let us not forget Him. Alma 5:14, 19 asks “have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?...having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?”  I can engrave Christ’s image in my countenance by being His hands here on Earth. In comparison to Christ’s sacrifice for all of us, 18 months is nothing at all.

Why would they want us young missionaries to be on our own? My Heavenly Father has blessed me with parents, leaders, friends, and roommates that have helped me survive several challenges in life. Especially my friends who are not members that know my standards and make plans or games not on Sundays just to help me. My mom often remarked how lucky I am to have such good friends. I know it’s not luck. If my Father in Heaven cared about me enough to send me these people to be apart of my life now, how much more will he bless me when I am away? He will send me people to help me on my mission because we are never alone. One of my favorite stories depicting the love of our Savior is the poem Footprints in the Sand by Mary Stevenson:

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

Our Savior and our Father will never let us walk alone. Even when it gets hard and because I am so far away from the people I love here at home, I know that my Savior will be by my side. And just like He has all my life He will again send me more people to love and help me and more people that I will grow to love.

A mission is not full of numbers, it is full of people—people who need us. I need to find a family on my mission that makes all the work worth it. In D&C 18:15, it emphasizes that if “you should labor all your days…and bring, save it be one soul unto [Christ], how great shall be your joy”. Just one soul can bring about the change we are working for. Missionaries come as answers to peoples’ prayers. Missionary service does not just affect the missionary herself or the converts; this act of service affects the missionary’s and the convert’s family as well as other lives they might touch. This ripple effect that starts with a simple 18 months, can have a chain reaction that spreads far beyond what the missionary could imagine. There is a far bigger plan than we know of, and we are just a small part of it. However insignificant we might feel, we must know that with every step of faith we take as we serve the Lord, He will propel us towards who we must become.

Elder Rasband said that sometimes we like Peter “confidently leap off the side of the ship into unknown waters later realizing that we cannot do this alone”--we must “cry unto Him to find peace unto our soul”.

This last season with BYU lacrosse, my team had a tournament in Colorado. About three hours into the trip, our bus broke down on the side of the highway. We were stuck there for about two hours. We made the best of it playing lacrosse, doing limbo, and making dance videos in the middle of the highway off ramp. When someone finally came and repaired it, we got there late to our game and had a devastating loss. That night in the hotel, the fire alarm went off at 2 am. We evacuated the hotel and sat on the bus until the fire department let us back in. In the morning, although some of us might have been half-asleep, we had a team devotional with our coaches and the bus driver tagged along. At the end of the devotional, our bus driver Paul spoke up--he confessed that he really has hated BYU for his whole life so he wasn’t thrilled about taking a whole bus of us to Colorado, but he has been searching for answers. This weekend showed him how happy and positive people can be amid such unlucky events. He was looking for that peace that somehow a group of young college students seemed to have in their lives. At the end of the year banquet our coach announced that Paul invited the whole team up to visit him because he was getting baptized. Although I couldn’t be there, the whole team sent a Book of Mormon up with the coaches that had all of our little notes in there to him. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. We had no idea that the simple way we behaved for two days could help someone find what they were looking for. This is why I chose to serve a mission--to bring people peace that they are searching for.

I believe that there are people in Albania, Kosovo, or Macedonia that need me. That is why I have been called to that mission- because God needs me there to be His hands on the earth to share His gospel and His love to those who might not know about it. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me.

Count the blessings not the days.