So, before we begin, there is a little story I would like to share. It starts at 4:30. It starts the Wednesday before last [May 4]. I was released and then came back. I came home for approximately ten hours. Just enough time to throw all of my stuff in the basement, pack up again, and then leave right after. It was ridiculous. We went to Virginia to witness my nephew's baptism. It was a great time to see him be baptized. At the same time as we completed that, we were also able to also tour at least part of my mission, which involved a lot of time, a lot of gas, and a lot of traveling. After all of this, we finally concluded. We got on a plane and after many layovers, I got home around twelve o'clock last night. I got to sleep at 1:30 or so, then got up and here I am, so I am excruciatingly tired. That being said, I'll continue.
Anyway, I am here today after what seems like forever and yet not much time at all to speak about missionary work, of all things. I suppose one question that came to my mind was what can I share with all of you about missionary work that hasn't been heretofore spoken of or hasn't been shared from something I've written home. I don't really have much, but I do have a little, and that's what I have here.
While I was gone on my mission I had the pleasure to meet and to teach several wonderful people the Gospel and to remind them of their covenants and to bring others back unto Christ who had once fallen away. The best part to me was to see these individuals grow in their light and their knowledge, to continue to be steadfast and immovable.
I hadn't really thought much about it until the past few days, but over the time that I was with my family as we were touring my mission we had the privilege to meet with some of the people that I had that privilege to teach. Perhaps I was unthinking, but each of these people had expressed how their lives had been changed by my influence with them. The fact that they emphasized that it was me helping them struck me. I never much thought of it as my personal influence being of much individual worth per se - "What can I do that another missionary can't do?" kind of deal.
It got me thinking. It reminded me of the first vision (that we as missionaries share a lot about) with Joseph Smith and when he went into the sacred grove and was able to behold a heavenly vision of God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ. As Joseph accounts, there is something interesting in it that I found as we delve a little deeper into it. Prior to this, many years, decades, centuries ago, Christ had come upon the earth and had established His church. He established it under twelve apostles and called bishops and evangelists and all these other people to lead His church, to organize it and to hold it together.
Eventually all these apostles were killed or they died or were exiled in one case, or many other things befell them. As we know, a prophet of God is the mouthpiece for God, he's the spokesperson per se. Without that spokesperson, there is no one to hear God's will. Once this period, as we know called the Great Apostasy occurred, we see that the church fell away. There was a falling away and the priesthood was lost. For many centuries the word of God wasn't known or rather wasn't clearly known and God ceased to speak directly to His people. What a sad thought that we are no longer able to hear from God. However, we learn that in this time, the time came forth that God called another prophet, Joseph Smith, to lead and guide His people.
An interesting thing that we can see is after all this time of being silent, of not speaking to people, what is the first thing God says to his servant Joseph, to all of as as we read it? As it's recorded, He says "This is my beloved son, hear Him." Even more interesting than that is the fact that first word that God said wasn't really properly recorded. Simply, Joseph said "He called me by name" meaning that the first word that God spoke was, in fact, the word, or rather name, Joseph. I found this interesting that a being as mighty as God the Father, of all the things he would say, he would call Joseph by name after so long of being silent. To me it reaffirms that God does indeed know each one of us by name and that's something very important. He of course knows more than that, but I know all, most, some, a little of you, but I can't really recall all of your names. Sorry. However, God can, and to me that's miraculous. It's very true that God does know each one of us by name and that this is part of the grand plan of missionary work.
As we know from past prophets we've had, every member is to be reported as a missionary. Maybe not a full time missionary like I was or as Matthew was, but we should always be striving to be anxiously engaged in a good cause. We should continue to labor all our days to bring His children the truth.
In Doctrine and Covenants [18:15] we learn that if it so be that we should labor all of our days and bring but one soul unto Christ, how great shall be our joy with Him in the kingdom of our Father with that one soul that we have brought unto Him. That's not necessarily a convert. It could also be likened to someone who has fallen away and needs to come back. How remarkable is that? How great will be your joy if you manage to bring someone into the light? I wrote this in bold to make sure I didn't forget. I hope that you don't suppose that I'm glorying in myself and how amazing and wonderful and awesome I am, but rather that I glory in the work of God and that I was able to answer the call to serve and was able to be that instrument in His hand to go forth into the world. However, this service did not come without great opposition and difficulty, which I do not wish to discuss at this time. That's a story for later, perhaps.
I also do not want to overlook the very important fact that today is Mother's day. Mothers are astoundingly important as we read from a few accounts that are mentioned in the scriptures and in our own individual lives. I thank all the mothers that are here and the various people who are also here to hear what I have to say, considering I imagine the difficulty of it being Mother's day. I am both pleased and surprised at the number of people that are here.
As I look back, I am somewhat ashamed as I think back at any mistreatment I may have done to my mother or my family or friends. There is nothing really I can do about that now. I can dwell on it all I want but it's not going to fix anything. There's a scripture recorded in the book of Philippians [3:13] where Paul says "I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and [pressing] forth unto those things which are before [me]" That's exactly how I feel about this particular matter. I may not be able to fix the past, but I can choose the future.
That being said, and with my large lack of sleep, I will conclude with a few last points. One of them being a talk from Elder Holland. I'll just go into it. He starts off his talk saying that "We (he's talking to missionaries) are the hope of Israel. We are the ones that go out into strange places or Eastern lands (as myself and actually Matt come to think of it), to declare this gospel unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, to declare glad tidings and to share the good news.
While Christ was here, he said unto Peter, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." At this time Peter had only been an apostle for a little while, maybe three months or so. He was essentially a new convert. Can we imagine any of us, if any of us are converts, about three months after we were baptized, would we be able to lead people? I can't, but yet Christ told Peter that when he was converted he needed to strengthen his brethren. Once Christ died, they turned to Peter and asked "What should we do?" That's a very good question. What DO you do? We need to fill in the apostleship because now we have a hole in our twelve, but all we have are at the very most three month old converts. How are we supposed to pick an apostle of the Lord through people who haven't really been baptized all too long? Peter, with his position, is not really sure what to do. He said "Well, we've come a long way, we've learned a lot of things. I guess we'll go back to doing what we were doing before. I'm going to go back to work, I'll go fishing." Back to normal life.
So, they all joined him - they all go fishing. After a whole night of no success, a figure on the beach asks them how the fishing is going and suggests they cast [their nets] on the other side [of their boat]. Who is this person who dares suggest to all these professional fishermen how to do their job? They have been fishing for years, they know how to fish. What is casting on the other side going to do? In some mix of probably desperation and fatigue, they decided what the hay, let's try his idea anyway. They cast on the other side, and they pull up so many fish that the boat starts to sink and they have to drag it to land. This was, frankly, miraculous. How did that stranger know what to do? So John casts his eyes on the beach and says, probably under his breath, it's Him. It's Christ. Peter, realizing this, doesn't even wait for the boat. He jumps off the boat and swims to meet Christ.
At this point, Christ, knowing his love and his mercy, decides to fix them breakfast with the fish they caught. Then, as they sat and marveled, Jesus then asks Peter, "Peter, do you love me?" Of course, Peter says yes. Jesus asks again, "Peter, do you love me more than these fish or these nets or your boat? Do you love me more than these things?" Peter says, "Yes, I do, I love you more than all of these." Then, with tenderness, a smile, and with eye contact, and with Peter at this point probably being a little sensitive to the number three, Christ asks a third time, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter responds "Yea lord, I love you more than all of these." Christ then says: Feed my sheep. I told you once before to leave all these behind, to leave everything you have behind to go and to feed my sheep and I'm not going to ask you a third time. Feed my sheep. When you decided to follow me, it wasn't just for three months or two years in some cases, it was for our whole life. We're not here to serve briefly and then to give up when we think we're finished.
As Christ said to Peter, so should we apply it to ourselves: feed His sheep. At this moment, Peter became the apostle the world knows him as. Disregard the denial, the ear cutting, and the fishing when he didn't know what else to do. At this moment, Peter became the man that we know him as today.
I know for myself that I have been able to see astounding growth in my own life and the lives of others that I've been able to teach. Although a little reluctant to leave, I am glad to be back home and see all of you again and to commemorate this grand day, Mother's day. I also thank my mother especially, and all the other mothers who help rear and raise us from infants to what we are now, from a skinny kid with a huge backpack into a taller, skinny kid with a huge backpack.
I leave this testimony with you of missionary work and how important it is, and of my love for the Savior. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
