Audios! Farewell! Hasta La Vista! Ciao! Goodbye!

When I told my mom I wanted to go on a mission, I also told her that if I was gonna go, she had to write my farewell talk. I guess it’s a good thing I was joking, because she did not write this talk, and I am still going on a mission. The fact that I wrote this talk and my mom didn’t means it probably won’t be the quality talk you guys are used to me giving, but, luckily for me, I won’t around for the next 18 months for you to remind me of how awkward it was.

I was asked to speak on the first vision, which is fantastic, because I’ve been taking mission prep classes with the YSA stake institute and we have spent a lot of time talking about this.

The first vision is the foundation of this gospel. Elder Parella from the seventy said it best; “The truth we learn because of the First Vision and the Prophet Joseph Smith is the true nature of God.” We also learn that we can have personal revelation, that God, His Son, and the holy ghost are three separate beings, and that God and His Son have physical bodies.

When Joseph Smith was just 14 he prayed earnestly to have his question answered. And it was. In order to receive personal revelation, we have to ask a question. The mutual theme for this year has been James 1;5-6 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.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

In verse 6 it says to ask in faith. To get these answers we must have faith that they will be answered. And along with that, we have to trust in the Lord if the answers don’t come right away. Sister Sheri Dew said, “if we learn anything from the prophet joseph smith, surely it is that the Father and The Son will respond to sincere questions asked in faith.” This was the same scripture Joseph read that lead him to pray and find the truth as to what what church was true and what church he should join. When his prayer was answered, God called him by his name. That’s something I’ve always been taught, but never really understood, until someone in institute mentioned that, if he knew Joseph’s name, he knows ours too. Our Father in Heaven has a perfect understanding of us and of our needs. That hit me really hard because a couple of weeks ago I had an experience that helped me know this for myself. As I have been trying to prepare for this day, I haven’t feel the slightest bit ready. I had been praying for some peace or comfort that I was going to be okay and that I’d teach who and what I needed to teach. When General Conference rolled around, I found out that I worked pretty much all that weekend. But I had tickets to the sunday afternoon session and managed to make it to that. That was an incredible experience. My prayers were answered in the very last talk of the closing session when Elder Anderson said, “you don’t know everything, but you know enough.” I know that he was meant to say that at that time, because it was one of the only sessions I could listen to. my prayers were answered, in way that I knew was meant for me. My answer for comfort and peace didn’t come the day I asked. I continually prayed and asked. I continually searched for answers and I had to put my trust in the lord, his plan is greater than all of ours and sometimes part of his plan is teaching us patience, and self reliance.

Another example of personal revelation that is personal to me, but not about me, came from the women’s session of conference about a 13 year old girl named Elsa. Her family is moving to Baton Rouge, which is eighteen hundred miles away from where her friends are. Sister Eubank said, “it’s not very easy when you are 13 to move to a new place. Elsa was understandably unsure about the move, so her dad gave her a blessing. At the very moment of the blessing, her mom’s phone chimed with a text. The young women who live in Louisiana had sent a picture with the caption, “please move into our ward!” These young women were optimistic they would like Elsa without even meeting her. Their enthusiasm created optimism in Elsa about the upcoming move and answered her prayer about whether everything would be alright. Just like joseph, Elsa’s prayer was answered.

This last summer, I had an amazing opportunity to visit the Sacred Grove. The only way I can think to describe the spirit that is there, is to compare it to being in the temple. I just remember sitting on one of the benches, looking up at the trees and thinking about all I have because of the first vision. I thought about what brought Joseph to finding the scripture that lead him to pray. There were so many religions in his time, each one fighting and contentious about who was right and what to teach. He felt that following God shouldn’t be contentious or hateful. He wanted to feel peace that he couldn’t find with the churches that surrounded him. I remember being in awe, and trying to remember what Joseph wrote about it. I tried to picture what the pillar of light must have looked like when he saw it, and how he must have felt seeing the light after being surrounded by a cloud of darkness. In Joseph Smith History, we can read exactly what happened;

16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. 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.”

He asked them what church was right, and which to join, and they answered that he should join none of them. He had learned for himself that none of them were true. He had and answer to his prayer. Elder Parella also said, “...Just imagine how blessed we are to know that God is a being with a body of flesh and bones as tangible as ours,8 that we can worship a God who is real, whom we can understand, and who has shown and revealed Himself and His Son to His prophets—both prophets of old and prophets in these latter days. He is a God who hears and answers our prayers; a God who watches us from heaven above and is constantly concerned about our spiritual and temporal well-being;”

These are all amazing truths we learned from the answer of a young boys prayer. Soon after the vision, Joseph was persecuted because people didn’t believe him. In elder Corbridge’s talk in April 2014 he said, “Joseph said that when he was 17, an angel told him that his “name [would] be had for good and evil among all nations, … among all people.”4 This amazing prophecy is continuing to be fulfilled today as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has spread throughout the world. Opposition, criticism, and antagonism are companions to the truth.”

He goes on to point out that with Adam and Eve in the garden of eden, and the ministry of christ, there was always an effort to derail it and frustrate the plan of life. He says later, “look for one who brought forth another testament of Jesus Christ and other scripture, look for one who was the instrument by which the fulness of the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ were restored to the earth, look for him and expect to find the dirt flying. Why not leave him alone? Why? Because he taught the truth, and the truth will always be opposed.”

Satan doesn’t want us to share the light and love of Jesus Christ and that is why there is so much opposition when it comes to the truth. Joseph and the early pioneers spent their lives trying to get away from the persecution and opposition.

When faced with opposition we have two choices, we can give up, or we can act in faith. If Joseph had given up when he was overcome with a cloud of darkness, he never would’ve had his prayer answered. In July, after a short conversation with two of my cousins who were preparing to serve missions themselves, I decided to start my papers, and that I’d see how I felt about it. Obviously it was something that I wanted to do. After deciding this I panicked and started over thinking. I was worried my friends would forget about me, my schooling and scholarships wouldn’t be able to be put on hold, that I would be a bad missionary, that I would get out there and start teaching the wrong things. I called my cousin one day in tears that I couldn’t go on a mission because what if I got called somewhere crazy and I would pronounce it wrong and my whole family would laugh at me Unfortunately that did happen, when I opened my call to Ba Ton Rouge. When my cousin Sophie left on her mission I emailed her about my concerns and fears. She replied with Helaman 5;12 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. She added “so lesson number one, rely on god. When satan starts to get you down, just remember all the blessings this gospel brings you and be so excited to go out and tell everyone else that you know.

I printed her email out and glued it in my journal right next to my patriarcal blessing. I have come to realize when a feeling is of god or of satan, and i have learned to trust in gods plan for me.

Elder Cook spoke in April’s conference, and told a story of his brothers decision to serve a mission, he said, “In a remarkable discussion with my brother, who was five years older and led the discussion, we concluded that his decision on whether to serve a mission depended on three issues: (1) Was Jesus Christ divine? (2) Was the Book of Mormon true? (3) Was Joseph Smith the prophet of the Restoration?

As I prayed sincerely that night, the Spirit confirmed to me the truth of all three questions. I also came to understand that almost every decision I would make for the rest of my life would be based on the answers to those three questions. I particularly realized that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was essential. In looking back, I recognize that, primarily because of my mother, the foundations were in place for me to receive the spiritual confirmation that evening.”

My own mother has laid the same foundation for me, and when I was deciding to serve a mission, it was her excitement and testimony that ultimately got me excited and ready to go. I have loved how close I have gotten with her, and I love that she is a woman that lives her life in such faith. I hope that I can spend these next 18 months with that same faith. I have been able to ask myself those same three questions in the months I have been preparing for my mission. I know with a surety that Jesus is divine, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith, who suffered and believed with unwavering faith, is a true prophet.

Without the question and prayer of a young Joseph Smith I would not be standing here today, three days before I leave to teach these exact truths to the people of Louisiana. I am so grateful for the experiences I had in palmyra. I am so glad I got to see the place where the angel moroni visited Joseph and the grove where he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was such a strong reminder of the truth of this gospel.

I am so grateful I got to spend this day with my family and friends. I love this gospel and I am so happy to be teaching this gospel. I am so excited to leave. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true testament of Christ. I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet of today. I am so grateful for the missionary program and for my cousins for being such great examples to me. I am so grateful for the support of my friends and family today and throughout my whole life. I am so so happy to take the time to serve The Lord and have some Father daughter time. I know that the atonement is real and so helpful in my life to bring me peace and happiness. I am so happy to know that I have an eternal family and I am so excited to teach the people of Louisiana the same thing. I love the blessings this gospel has given me and I cannot wait for the adventures that the next 18 months will bring!

Some pictures from the farewell!