The Farewell

First off some thank you's are in order. I am so grateful for all of those that came to my farewell to support me. You all are simply fantastic people. It was a lovely day, and I was so happy to visit with all of you. By my mother's request, here is the talk that I gave in Sacrament. I am thankful to my sisters for accompanying me for the musical number.

Farewell Talk

Good morning Brothers and Sisters – I don’t know why this is more nerve racking when half the people are related to you, but it is. Probably because they are more likely to remember this day than the rest of you- for better or for worse! But I am grateful to have my Uncle Krissy up here with me.  The last time he spoke, we spoke together and I think that we should just make this like a permanent thing that Kris and I can only speak together, Bishop. We are like conjoined twins that can’t be separated! J

Henry B. Eyring said, “Just as God called you and will guide you, He will magnify you.  You will need that magnification. Your calling will surely bring opposition.  You are in the Master’s service.  You are His representative.  Eternal lives depend on you. He faced opposition, and He said that facing opposition would be the lot of those He called.  The forces arrayed against you will try not only to frustrate your work, but to bring you down.”

We are all given callings when we come to Earth.  For example, we could be a sister, a father, a friend.  We could be called to be a great musician, an artist or a teacher in the nursery.  He has given us these talents and callings to stretch us, to make us better people.  We are to learn and grow from our situations.

The question is how can we return the favor to the Great Creator, the one who has given us everything, the one we call our Father in Heaven?  Well, He has commanded us to share our talents and to work hard to not only accomplish, but to succeed at our various life callings. He reminds us in Doctrine and Covenants 82:3 that “for of him unto whom much is given much is required.” Just as President Eyring explained, by working to fulfill God’s commandments for us and as long as we are Christ like examples the adversary is going to try to tear us down.  We need to use the opportunities and gifts that we are given to fight back and build the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting with the artist James Christensen. He showed me all the paintings in his home.  He also showed me his studio that was filled with animal skulls and dead bugs. He just told me that his studio was filled with things that inspire him. J He is a fairly well known Mormon artist.  All of his pieces are very symbolic. A lot of his works have gospel principles in them.  Many of them show hunchbacked figures that represent the common man. James showed me all his many sketch books including the earliest ones that he started. I asked him why he decided to become an artist. He said that some friends of his told him how good he was and how he needed to do some paintings to sell.  After sharing some of his work with the world, James told me that he realized that he had to become an artist because he couldn’t live without art. I just thought it was such a neat experience to talk to someone who not only did what they loved everyday, but also shared his talent with others.  He was able to bring light and happiness to strangers by painting a picture.

 So, how do we magnify our own talents and callings?

One thought I had was- it’s not just what you do, but how and why you do it. I think once we realize that our hearts change. I mean think about something as simple as going to work or school.  If you are doing it just for the money or just because you have to it’s like going through the motions like a robot. There is no personal investment in it and it won’t mean very much to you. But if you are going to school to learn something or going to work to provide for your family, to do something you love or to improve your talents, then it becomes meaningful. When you have pure motives, I think it naturally turns the “how” of what we do into a more positive experience.  The scriptures teach us that it’s not just our works, but our desires also in this life that we will be judged on.

The Lord promised us that when we use our talents that we will gain others.  I think that is such a great blessing.  So if you are only given one talent or calling that you may think is small and insignificant, but you use it to reach out to one other person and bring them joy, then you will gain more talents. Even if you just improve upon your talents the Lord will send you more for the welfare of His church. I don’t know about you, but I would like to be an ultra-talented person so that I can bring many people to the gospel. J

Before we gain more talents we must also prove to the Lord that we will use the talents we already have.  So how can the Lord trust us? Obviously, we need to use our abilities as often as we can.  In Doctrine and Covenants 124: 20, George Miller is told that, “he may be trusted because of the integrity of his heart; and for the love which he has to my testimony I, the Lord, love him.”  Again our desires should be centered on God and what He wants. If our hearts are turned to him with integrity He will trust us.

We all know the many scriptures on not burying our talents, that we need to set our light upon a hill.  It is kind of sad that we, as humans are scared of our fellow humans. Scared enough that we are ashamed of some our God given talents. In a moment here I am going to play the piano. I don’t think music was a natural talent for me, but I have learned to play.  I’ll be honest that at first I was really debating whether or not I was going to play today and then I was given the topic for my talk today. J I just have to remember the scripture Ether 12: 27  that says “…” I know that the Lord will help us overcome our fears and weakness.  He will help us have to ability to share our talents.

If we jump over to Ether 12: 35 it interestingly enough talks about us in our day. It says “…” It basically says that our talents will be taken away and given to someone else who will use them. The part that stood out to me is that if you don’t have charity then you won’t have talents.  So by using our talent it’s an act of service.

To go along with this topic of magnifying our talents and callings, I wanted to talk about our most important calling as members of this church. Our greatest calling is to be Disciples of Christ. In this passed general conference the first two talks by Jeffrey R. Holland and Ronald A. Rasband were on this very subject. I just want to highlight the things they said would make a disciple.

We must defend our faith through courage and courtesy.

We are called to bear the joyful burden of preaching the gospel.

We are to teach, to encourage, to cheer people on.

We will give our attention, support and kindness. 

We must worry, warn and weep. This will help us more fully understand what the Savior went through during the atonement.

We will find that Christ-like love and righteousness come hand in hand.

We are the Lord’s hands on Earth and we are meant to use them to serve and lift others.

We commit to come unto Him and follow His example. Elder Rasband said, “To follow His perfect example is to recognize and honor the Savior, who has borne all our burdens through His sacred and saving Atonement, the ultimate sacrifice.” As disciples we are asked to share a small portion of His burdens.

3 NE 5:13 says, “..”  My soon to be calling is to be a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes we get distracted by many other aspects of the gospel and church, I know I do.  I sometimes lose focus of what it’s all about.  In my Book of Mormon class and my BYU ward this past year they focused reconnected every subject, every lesson and devotional back to Christ, because this gospel is His.  I came to know my Savior just from everyday experiences in my life, but this helped my relationship with Him to grow.  The world was not worthy of Him, yet He willingly came to perform miracles, only to be spit upon and mocked.  He performed the ultimate sacrifice only to suffer and die. He loves me and He loves you.  I am sorry I don’t bare my testimony enough because I do have one and it brings so much joy into my life.  I chose to serve a mission because I know I have been given much and now I need to share my knowledge with the people of Seattle. I am also serving because the Lord has asked me to. I want to end with my favorite scripture that has been my favorite for years, but I came across 2 Nephi 22:2 this year and it’s like my testimony is written in the scriptures.  “…” I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.   

   

Pics with my high school best friends, Mary and Anna. Can't believe that we are all brunettes!