おはようございます,
Brothers and Sisters! I am grateful to be here with all of you today, and I’m
excited for this opportunity to share with you my testimony of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, and also describe some of my experiences and thoughts that have
been preparing and inspiring me as I anticipate my upcoming mission to Kobe,
Japan.
Almost 200 years ago, a fourteen
year-old boy by the name of Joseph Smith lived with his family in Palmyra, New
York, in one of the only countries in the world to practice the freedom of
religion. This right was capitalized, and many churches were formed in his
city, just as thousands of churches exist in our country today. Joseph was
deeply religious so he naturally sought after which church he should join.
Confused by the differences in doctrine, he searched the scriptures for an
answer and was impacted by the verse James 1:5, which says, “If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him.” Trusting that God would enlighten him, as the
scripture promised, he decided to ask God what he should do.
Joseph went
to a grove near his house and offered a prayer to Heavenly Father. In his own
words, he recounts the experience: “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my
head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell
upon me… When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness
and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake
unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—‘This is My Beloved
Son. Hear Him!’” In that meeting with both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ,
they informed Joseph that none of the churches on the earth at that moment had
the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that he would be their servant
in restoring the gospel to the world. Through this young, teenage boy, the
priesthood, or authority and power that God gives to man for the salvation of
mankind, was reestablished, thus giving him the heavenly ordained authority to
baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, and organize His church. Not only was
Joseph Smith trusted with this immense responsibility, he was also commanded to
translate the Book of Mormon to make it accessible to each of us today, as well
as being entrusted to receive revelations of many other lost doctrines for the
salvation of mankind, such as the Plan of Salvation, temple ordinances, the
ability to be sealed to our families for eternity, the true nature of God, etc.
Imagine the inadequacy Joseph must have felt. These things were not all
restored at once, but were entrusted to, largely, this ONE boy. To do any of
this by his imperfect, limited, mortal self was absolutely impossible—trusting
in God was imperative and literally the only way. Thus, because he trusted in
God, he was, in turn, strengthened and qualified to accomplish the Lord’s plan;
which he did until he died.
Truly “by small in simple things
are great things brought to pass,” as stated in Alma 37:6. What is simpler than
a farm boy, and what is greater than God’s plan for the salvation of mankind? A
Prophet and President of this Church, Gordon B. Hinckley, once said, “The work of the Lord is done
by ordinary people who work in an extraordinary way. The Lord magnifies those
who put forth the effort… with small means the Lord accomplishes his marvelous
work.”
After remembering all of this, I can’t even justify feeling
scared for my own mission to serve the people of Japan. I am just a microscopic
part of this world today, but I know that the Lord will have great things in
store for me if I accept His help to reach my personal potential. I figured
that just as the Lord has strengthened many of His children in their weaknesses
to accomplish His purposes, He will strengthen me in mine, particularly if I am
diligent and prepared. No, I definitely don’t have a perfect trust, and yes, sometimes
I’m really anxious—I’ll be in a big city FILLED with people whom I probably
won’t be able to understand or communicate with for some time, away from the
comforts of my family and the American culture that I am accustomed to. But the
Creator of this universe called me to this work and won’t make me go
alone—something that I’ve already been blessed to see.
He already has provided me with countless tender mercies
before I’ve even left. My father served his mission in a different area of
Japan and has been helping me learn Japanese phrases, sharing with me his
Japanese experiences, favorite oriental recipes, and missionary photo albums.
Another one of my best friends, Grundvig Shimai, along with five other people
in my freshman BYU ward are serving in the same mission, many of us reporting
to the MTC on the same day. My brother, Mitchell, returned from his mission
this summer and shared with me some of his precious missionary experiences,
helped me study Preach My Gospel, but most importantly prepared me emotionally
to embark on this journey. And, about halfway through my freshman year at BYU,
right as I began to fill out my mission papers, I was diagnosed with tension
headaches and migraines.
You’re
probably thinking, “No, Meg. Migraines are NOT tender mercies.” And I agree—they’re
quite bothersome and mine often come with stress, which tends to stress me out
more because of the poor timing. But the timing of the onset of my migraines
definitely was a tender mercy. Back in Provo a doctor prescribed me with
medicine that I should be taking everyday to decrease my headaches, and it’s
the foulest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. However, because I knew that I was serving a mission, I
was able to choose between a stronger pill that would restrict my ability to
serve a mission, or a less potent pill, which is legal in significantly more
countries. I didn’t know where I was going to be, so I took the less potent pill,
and I’m grateful that I did… as apparently someone needs me in Japan.
I obviously haven’t served a mission, but from what I’ve
heard, it can often be stressful because of the meticulously planned days full
of studying, experiencing culture shock once out in the field, and being
rejected, etc. Since I started getting migraines before I arrived on my mission, I was able to find ways to subdue
the pain to allow me to focus—a task that would’ve been significantly more
difficult in Japan as it would distract from my purpose, and I probably
wouldn’t understand what my options were as clearly as when I learned them in
America and my parents were one phone call away to help me. Although I still
need to endure this problem, I trust that Heavenly Father is keeping watch over
me, and maximizing my opportunities to serve when I will finally be a missionary
in Japan. When I first started getting migraines everyday, I vividly remember
thinking that the timing was awful, as it was during the first week of
mid-terms in the Winter semester. Fast-forward seven months, I can now see some
benefits of the Lord’s timing with this affliction.
Most of the time, we do not have the opportunity to
understand why the Lord is allowing something that we perceive as something
less-than-wonderful to happen to us, so in every case we need to just simply
invest our faith and trust. Oh! And there’s something I forgot… just a little
bit of pixie dust. (ahhh so corny. my apologies.) Which in this analogy could be obedience. But really, Disney
does make a valid point that as we endure whatever test we are given, we need
to have faith and trust and “think of the happiest things.” If we don’t have a
positive attitude, I’m not sure how much Heavenly Father will want to bless us.
In Peter Pan, thinking of the happiest thing is crucial to their ability to fly
off to Neverland.
Both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do love us and want us
to be happy. We feel their love when we feel the Holy Ghost comforting us. But
the Holy Ghost does more than comforts: it also testifies of truths, can bring
all things to our remembrance, and stands as a guide both from mortal peril,
and back home to God the Father.
As missionaries, we are not the
ones converting—that is the task of the Holy Ghost. In an email from a
missionary friend I was reminded that, “Without Him, there would be
no use in trying, because at the end of the day, every true conversion has
absolutely nothing to do with the missionaries who are teaching. It's between
God and His children. We simply try to remove the roadblocks and give them the
tools they need to get closer to Him.” Every one has the light of Christ,
and when the truth is spoken, the Holy Ghost will testify to that light that
whatever is being taught is right. It will help us remember truths about the
gospel of Jesus Christ taught to our spirits long ago in the pre-mortal life,
and guide and direct us to help us make the right decisions and avoid
temptation, so that we can return to our Father in Heaven.
One of my favorite scriptures in
the whole world is given in Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, “Trust in the Lord with
all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
Sometimes I like to think that I
know what’s best for myself, but that’s certainly not true. I am one teeny tiny
speck in Heavenly Father’s grand plan-- He knows absolutely everything. He has
an individual plan for each of us-- all fitting perfectly together in His
Master plan. He knows my thoughts, feelings, desires, strengths, weaknesses,
inclinations inside and out, and how they could mesh with another person’s
thoughts, strengths, weaknesses, inclinations, to perhaps strengthen him or me
or both of us. Or a third person! He knows what is best for each of us and all
of us—and His plan is able to satisfy both. He will help us reach our full
potential, and His desire for us is that we become our very best. As one of my
best friends- the missionary Elder Montgomery- once told me, “life isn’t about
being—it’s about becoming.” If Heavenly Father knows that through a certain
trial we can develop a Christ-like characteristic we need, He will allow us to
struggle through it, and will be there for us if we let Him. All we need to do
is trust in Him, and trust in His purposes and His timing. God is our loving
Father in Heaven and wouldn’t advise us to do something that won’t be
beneficial, whether now or in the future. We were put on this earth to be
tested and to learn and grow and repent and prepare to meet God, where we will
be judged of Him, and hopefully return to live with Him again if we are
righteous and worthy.
Many things we cannot do by
ourselves and we must place our trust in God that HE will help us, just as
Joseph Smith did. If you trust in Him, He will endow you with His power to
accomplish whatever it is that you need to do. You cannot be perfect, but you
can give it your personal best and that’s all you need, and all Heavenly Father
asks. He will fill in the rest where you fall short. Where my brain won’t be able
to process all of the sentence structures and verb tenses and vocabulary words
in Japanese at one time, He will help me understand, and I will need to trust
Him. If we are praying for opportunities to share the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ, He will help us and inspire us with names, and we will need to trust
Him. Perhaps the most vital key to establishing trust with Heavenly Father is
sincerity. If I sincerely want to teach someone in another language, I will
need to prepare and do all that I can before He will step in. If we want to
spread the gospel, we need to be sincere in our desires. Elder Henry B. Eyring
once said, “You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn
and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to
listen for His message… you will find it. And if you then go and do what He
would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be
overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.” Likewise,
when we refuse to go and do what the Lord has asked, His trust in us will
diminish. The two correlate: if you want to gain trust in our Lord, do what He
commands. Always remember Him, take upon His name, and keep His commandments:
He will entrust us with His Spirit. Once we sin or disobey, the Spirit will
depart from us until we have become obedient again.
This is the message of the
scriptures—we see this sprinkled in the New Testament, and smothered in the
stories of the House of Israel and the Nephite, Lamanite, and Jaredite nations.
If we do all that we can to keep the Lord’s commandments we will be prospered,
if we don’t, we’ll be cut off from His presence. Wouldn’t it be easier to watch
ourselves, remember this promise the Lord has made, and do our best to keep His
commandments? I guarantee greater blessings will come from this than anything
else.
Possibly the greatest instance of
the Lord’s mercy when we fall short is that of the Atonement. No one on this
earth is perfect—Jesus Christ was, is, and will be the only one to ever achieve
that standard. Since nothing unholy can enter the kingdom of God, we would all
be doomed. Only Christ would dwell there with God the Father. But because
Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to return to Him, He sent His Son to overcome
death and pay for our sins so that through Him, we can be cleansed. Only when
we repent can we take advantage of what He suffered for us, we can capitalize
on this potential to be cleansed and return to live with God—otherwise we will
be left to the pain and agony and sufferings for our own sins. But, again, we
must do all that we can to repent so that Christ’s sufferings can cleanse us.
We must trust that His Atonement is real and that God will remember our sins no
more—we become clean, and we will definitely sin again. But He will pick up
where our mortal selves fall short.
Trust in the Lord. God will not
remove our trials, but He will support us in them. In every instance where I’ve
been afraid or nervous or uneasy, and I have prayed to my Father in Heaven for
comfort, He has granted it to me. This comfort has come in small little
whispers of confidence, and waves of serenity. Some may call my trust in God
wishful thinking or some sort of psychological coping mechanism to help me
overcome my fears—to give myself an imagined hope. However, I KNOW that the
peace I feel when I pray is not from myself, but from God alone. I know that He
loves me and wants me to learn and grow and succeed. I know that He will bless
me with what He, in His wisdom, knows what I will need.
I know that President Monson is the prophet of the Lord today. I know that the Lord directs us through our prophet because He loves us. I know that the fullness of Christ's gospel is on the earth today and within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that Christ does love us as well and that He sacrificed His entire life so that we could inherit eternal life with our Father in Heaven.
I say these things in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.
