For those of you who didn't get to make it to my talk, HERE IT IS:
Try reading it in my voice. :)
I want to
start with why I am going on a mission. I am not going because I have a duty or
a requirement. I am not going because any of my friends or my family members
asked me to. I am not going because I feel obligated or pressured. I am not
going just because I am 19 and now I can. I am going because of my love for my
Father in Heaven. I am serving a mission because I prayed about it and I know
that it is the right thing for me right now. I know that it is the best way for
me to share the happiness of the gospel with others. I am grateful for the
opportunity. I am excited that I get the chance at such a young age. I am
excited to make the sacrifices and receive the blessings. I am nervous, of
course, because I am going to another part of the country, a part I’ve never
been to, to spend a year and a half telling people who don’t know me about the
thing that I hold closest to my heart. I a, prepared for the rough days, and I
already know they’ll be harder than I think. I know in my mind and my heart it
would be selfish of me not to go. There are people there who need to hear what
I have to say in the words only I can use. I am so lucky to have the trust I
have from the Savior and my Heavenly Father to be able to preach their words. I
have not always been the type to wear my religion on my sleeve, but now I
literally do that. I am beyond… words. I am just pumped. And I intend not to
lose this vigor.
I had been
thinking after graduation last June, as all of us do, about what steps I wanted
to take in which direction. I was prayerfully deciding what to do with my life.
I had thought about plenty of different schools, services missions, singing
options, a mission, even service missions. I had considered just staying home
and continuing to be a full-time nanny. I love/d my job. In February of last
year I made a “final” decision to attend BYU-I and made plans to visit the
campus in March, audition for the music department, look at apartments, etc. I
went and had an AMAZING time with the Carstens. I saw a lot of my friends, and
the town felt just right for me. I had pictured my self in a singles ward,
living in an apartment, all that cool stuff but never as a student. Not saying
it was wrong, just wrong at the time.
Right after
graduation I was asked if I wanted to serve a mission for my church. “Oh, that
wouldn’t be for at least another 3 years,” I replied. “What if you had to pick
RIGHT NOW?” She asked.
THAT made me
think. I just teased “Just give me time to pack.”
The question
came up several times in the next couple weeks but honestly I thought nothing
into it. “Sure,” was my general attitude. Then I went to EFY in the very
beginning of August. One (HOT) day we made a mile trek up to the temple to sit
on the grounds for our morning scripture study. For the time at the end the
boys split up from us and went around to the other side with the female
counselors. We, girls, stayed and got to talk with Marcus, the male EFY
counselor, who, was of course a returned missionary. We were told “Ask me, a
guy, anything.” Of course hands SHOT up about dating and marriage and what goes
on in the ever confusing mind of a boy. After an awkward pause I raised my hand
and asked “What was the best part of your mission?” His yes just lit up. He
spoke so highly of his mission. I was so impressed by his words and his
radiating testimony that I promised myself in that second that I would have
that one day. Walking back to the cafeteria Marcus asked me “If you could go on
a mission today, would you?”
“Just give
me time to pack,” I felt myself instinctively say. But this time it was
different. This time I meant it.
The
announcement was made in the 2012 October general conference. Thomas S Monson’s
words rang true to my heart and I knew he was speaking to me. I did the math
(still being 18) as to when I could submit my papers. 126 days. OR SIX days
before I could turn in my papers. I called this bishop THAT night and told him
of my desire. I don’t think he was surprised. And he answered the phone even
though I’m pretty sure he was in a different time zone. Because of medical
stuff, my papers went in the week of Christmas. I FINALLY got my call on
January 26th and I report March 6th to the Provo
Missionary Training Center before I head into the field. I have been called to
serve in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission and I only have TEN day! I can’t even
believe I get set apart a week from today. I AM GOING TO BE A MISSIONARY!!!
However we
ALL have been called to serve. Jesus explained “Ye know that the princes of the
Gentiles exercise dominion over them. But it shall be not so among you: but
whosoever will be great among you, let him e your minister; and whosoever will
be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life.” (Matthew 20:25-28)
True greatness can be measured by your service ability. Jesus expects us to
give our lives also: “greater love hath no man than this, which a man lay down
his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)Laying down our life does not mean
dying, it means living for them. It is being willing to sacrifice our time and
efforts for them. In order to bless their lives. We often think that the
greatest among us are those who are presidents, directors, CEOs, and others who
hold such titles of leadership. Christ, on the other hand, said “I am among you
that serveth.” (John 22:27) If those who are leaders ware truly serving as
leaders, they are great, according to the Lord’s definition of greatness.
“Then said
Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew
16:24-25) Losing ourselves in the service of others is serving God. There is a
short poem that reads:
I sough my
God, but my God I could not see;
I sought
myself, but my soul eluded me;
I sought my
brother, and I found all three.
Losing
ourselves in the service of God and his children results in greater blessings.
“If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” (John 12:26) Here are some
examples of men who gave their lives in the service to Jesus during his life
time: James and John, sons of Zebedee, “forsook all, and followed him. (Luke
5:11) Matthew Levi “left all, rose up, and followed him.” (Luke 5:28)
A certain
ruler asked Him (Jesus) saying “Good Master, what should I do to inherit
eternal life?” Jesus reviewed with him the basic commandments that had been
around for centuries. “And he (the ruler) said, All these have I kept from my
youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things he said unto Him, Yet lackest thou
one thing: sell all thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven and come, follow me.”(Luke 18:18, 21-22) Treasures in
Heaven are far grander than any accumulated treasures on Earth. This rich ruler
may have had much potential. This rich ruler may have had such potential. Who
knows? Maybe he could have become a leader in Christ’s church. But he
apparently declined Jesus’ invitation to sacrifice and serve. On the other
hand, Peter announced, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee. And Jesus said
unto them, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or
wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake who shall not receive manifold
more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” (Luke
18: 28-30)
There is no
way to get the God of Heaven in our debt. He is the prolific paymaster, the
abundant rewarder of whoever does good. Latter-day Saint gospel scholar Andrew
Skinner described God’s offer in this way: “The magnitude of the promise is
incomprehensible and the unevenness of the offer staggering: everything we
possess in exchange for everything God possesses.”
But her is a
word of caution. It is possible to lose ourselves in the service of other for
the wrong motive, such as just to secure earthly and heavenly reward.
In the Book
titled Happy Like Jesus, the author, D. Kelly Odgen, tells a story that
illustrates this: “A man called me at my office at Brigham Young University
three times in two days concerned about choseness- about having one’s calling
and election made sure. He said he had been studying the matter for years and
was confused and worried. After talking with him for some time, I sensed he was
excessively preoccupied with this one doctrine and shared with him something I
recalled while reading in The Words of Joseph Smith. It was an entry Williard
Richards, who copied into what he called his Pocket Companion the notes others
had made of Joseph Smith’s sermons. In an address sometimes because August 8th,
1839, referring to John 14:23, the prophet commented on the elevated concepts
of the Father and the Son abiding with a righteous person, and about
perfection, the Holy Spirit of Promise, and being sealed up to eternal life. An
endnote says:
“As Joseph
Smith here defines it, making one’s calling and election sure, it is the
crowning achievement of a life of righteous devotion. However, the prophet
(Joseph) apparently senses that if his concept is too commonly taught it could
easily generate within the Church a misguided devotion to a principle that
could divert the Saints’ energy from the equally important principle of
selfless devotion to others. Seeking blessings for one’s self is contrary to
the principle that ‘He that loses his life for my sake shall find it. ‘
(Matthew 10:39)”
At one of
the most sacred occasions of his mortal ministry, Jesus spoke these poignant
words to his best friends, to whom he was about to leave the leadership of his
kingdom: “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so am I. If I then,
your Lord and master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have
done for you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than
his lord; neither he that is sent greater then he that sent him.” (John
13:13-16)
As Eli said,
when you have a testimony you have an obligation to share it. You have been
called to serve, which means give and give and give. “In fact, if you are not
happy,” D. Kelly Odgen writes further in his book, “ you are not serving
others. Your assignment it to change lives, and because your exposure to each
passing person in life is often brief, it is wise to touch them quickly and
deeply. During your early years on earth you had parents, teachers, leaders and
older friends and relatives whose duty was to create a spiritual atmosphere for
others. You are now called to be continually seviceable like them—like Jesus”
In the
gospel principals manual it say “We do not need to know the people we serve. We
should look for ways to serve as many of our Heavenly father’s children as we
can.”
How can
having a testimony help us serve others? A quote by Dallin H Oaks says “We all
act upon or give obedience to knowledge. Whether in science or religion, our
obedience is not blind when we act upon knowledge suited to the subject of our
action. A scientist receives and acts upon a trusted certification of the
content or conditions of a particular experiment. In matters of religion, a
believer’s source of knowledge is spiritual, but the principle is the same. In
the case of the Latter-day Saint, when the Holy Ghost gives our souls a witness
of the truth of the restored gospel and the calling of a modern prophet, our
choice to follow those teachings is not blind obedience.”
As I have a
testimony, I have decided to share that with the people that the Lord has
prepared for me.
I am getting set apart in one hour. My mom will be posting for me. But if you want to write me, here is my address in the field:
Sister Molly Fields
Nevada Las Vegas Mission
9270 South Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas, Nevada 89123
God be with you 'til we meet again.
~Sister Fields
