Farewell Sunday

Stockton gave a really great talk in church prior to leaving on his mission. There were lots of family and friends there to support him. We came back to the house for mini sandwiches, chips, pasta salad, frogeye salad, and desserts. Stockton requested sugar cookies, homemade oreo cookies, peanut butter bars, chocolate chip cookies and I threw in mint brownies and red velvet oreos. It was such a great day! Unfortunately, it was so great I didn't take any pictures!

Stockton's talk he prepared but he did a great job delivering it without reading it word for word:

(Introduction)

• Myself
• Where I’m going and when I am leaving
• Thank those who came

Over these last few weeks I have put a lot of thought into what I wanted to speak about today. This gospel is very important to me and there are so many great topics that I feel would be worth sharing. Through lots of pondering and prayer I have really felt like it would be best for me to speak about one of the things that I will be teaching most while I am on my mission, and that would be the first lesson in Preach My Gospel, which is basically a book that teaches you everything you need to know as a missionary. This lesson has a few different topics which are somewhat tied together and have connection with each other. The first lesson is focused on the restoration of our church through a living prophet, Joseph Smith. He was able to restore the church and through the power of God, translate the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is evidence  that the restored church is the same as it was when Jesus lived on the Earth. I have personally read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, and because of this I know that it’s message is the word of God.

Growing up I have been able to learn a few principles taught in the church through personal experiences as well as through reading the scriptures. The first of these principles is that God is our loving heavenly father. Most people have a point in time in their life where they are unsure about why they are going through something so difficult, and they might ask themself why is God allowing this to happen to me. I went through one of these experiences myself. It just seemed as though everything was falling apart in my life: school was very challenging, things weren’t going well at work, I wasn’t playing on the school basketball team for the first time ever after 5 years, and I just did not have any idea why everything just seemed so rough. After a short while I decided that there was nothing else I could do except for get down on my knees and pray, so I did. I made sure I went into my room where it was quiet, I got down on my knees and I asked God “My life is so challenging right now, I had all these plans and nothing seems to be going the way I wanted it, please help me to understand why I am struggling so much.” And then I finished my prayer and I just sat there on my knees for a couple minutes, waiting for a feeling or an answer, but it didn’t come so I got back up and was confused. I expected to have this feeling come over me the way people always explain it when they share their experiences. But I didn’t get this overwhelming feeling. No longer than 5 minutes after, I got a text from one of my very close friends. And the only thing that the text said was just a scripture reference. That scripture was 1 Nephi 11:17, and this is what it says “I know that he [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” And as I read that scripture, that feeling that I was expecting right after I finished praying, that’s when I started to feel it. I was able to learn 2 things from that experience. The first thing is that answers to our prayers don’t always come the way we expect them, and the second thing, that God loves me, and if God loves me, that must mean that he loves you too.

Another topic from the first lesson in Preach my Gospel is that The Gospel Blesses Families. I like to think that this 2nd bullet point in the lesson is connected with the first one, meaning that because God is our loving Heavenly Father, so he blessed us with families. Can you even imagine what life would be like without a family, or without people who you would consider family? We already make tons of mistakes as humans because that is just how we are, but what if you didn’t have people in your life who have made mistakes and know how troubling it was for them, so they help you not make their same mistakes? It would be extremely difficult to grow and become better people without the help and support of family. I am so grateful for my family. For my older brother for setting an example for me and being someone who I have always wanted to be like, I am grateful that he served a mission because that definitely made me want to serve a mission even more. I am grateful for my younger brother who adds so much youth and excitement into our family, and for being somebody who just wants to be the best that he can be. I am grateful for my dad. I’m so proud to be able to share the same last name as him, because if there is any type of man I want to be like at all in this life, it is without a doubt him. And lastly, I am eternally grateful to my mother. My entire life she has sacrificed and worked so hard just to teach me and prepare me for this opportunity that I have to go on a mission. I cannot even start to mention everything that she does for me and my family, and I want her to know that I notice her efforts, and am soo grateful for her. Family is so wonderful, I am blessed to have such a wonderful family.

The next part of this lesson is that Heavenly Father reveals his gospel in every dispensation, and he does this through prophets. Just like Joseph Smith was a prophet, we also have a living prophet today, president Russell M Nelson. A few years ago I had the opportunity to meet him and to shake his hand. There was such a strong spirit when I was in the same room as him and that spirit testified to me that he was a representative of Jesus Christ. As a missionary I am also going to be a representative of Jesus Christ. This is such an exciting thought to me when you think about the what Jesus Christ did while he was on the Earth. During his life he taught the gospel and performed miracles. Now I am fairly certain that on my mission I won’t be raising people from the dead, giving blind people sight, or feeding thousands of people with a scarce amount of food. But I will be teaching HIS gospel, which is still the same as it was over 2000 years ago. And I also know that I will be performing miracles. I think all missionaries perform miracles even if they do not realize it. I think the first miracle is the faith and willingness to give 2 years of the prime of their life to go and serve the Lord. I also believe that it is a great miracle that you meet these complete strangers in a different state/country, create a friendship, and then eventually completely change their life with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After the savior was crucified, and in the few years following when all his apostle died off as well, his gospel was no longer on the Earth. For over 1000 years the same gospel that Jesus taught was completely gone until in 1820 a 14 year old boy had a question. This boy went to a grove of trees and asked his question to God, in prayer, and was surrounded by darkness until the light of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ completely overpowered all darkness and appeared to this young boy and called him by name, Joseph, answering his question and overtime restoring Jesus Christ’s church through that young man. Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon through the gift and power of God. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, and contain the words of prophets of old. I like this quote from Preach my gospel that says “The honest seeker of truth will soon come to feel that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.” I personally have read, pondered, and prayed to know if this book is true, and slowly overtime, I was able to gain a testimony that it is true. The Book of Mormon is part of the reason why I made my decision to go and serve a mission. I know that the words of this book to be so true, that I have a desire to go out and share that message with others.

I would like to close by sharing one my favorite mission scriptures, this is found in doctrine and covenants section 18, verses 10, 15, and 16. It says “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God… And if it so be that you should labor all your days, in crying repentance until this people, and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great will be your joy with them in the kingdom of my father. And now if your joy will be great with one soul, that you have brought unto me in the kingdom of my father, how great will be your joy, if you should bring many souls unto me.” I am going to be spending all my days these next 2 years trying to help save souls, and I know that I will for sure bring at least one soul unto God, and that one will be mine.

(Testimony)