Good morning brothers
and sisters. Thank you so much for
coming today and for supporting me in my decision to serve a mission for the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I will be serving in the Boston
Massachusetts mission English speaking.
I report on September 9th to the Provo MTC and I will spend 10 days
there before heading to Boston.
I want to take a minute and brag to you about
this wonderful, historic part of our country where I will be spending the next
year and a half. My mission covers all
of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, part of New Hampshire and a small
corner of New York. In addition, it has
a temple, which I am so grateful for. It is located in Belmont, and was the 100th
operating temple in the church. There are 114 universities in the state of
Massachusetts alone. You might have
heard of a few of them for example Harvard, Wellesley and Tufts, and I think
It’s going to be just a little intimidating to be serving among some of the
brightest minds in our country.
The New England
area is home to some of the most important events in our nations history as
well as the church. Among the first
twenty-six men to be called as general authorities of the restored church
following its organization in 1830 eighteen of them hailed from New England.
The legacy continues as many of the
apostles today have some connection with New England whether they served as mission
presidents, were students or spent time living & working there.
As many of you may already know Boston and the
east coast in general have a special place in my heart. Six years ago my family
and I moved from our home of fourteen years in Pennsylvania to Salt Lake City,
Utah. Some people in the ward can attest to the crazy runner man that my dad is
so naturally he paced my Aunt Emily in
the Boston marathon while we were living back east. We had some family living
there and others coming to visit that week while we were in Boston which so
happened to be around the time I turned eight years old so we decided that I should
be baptized in Boston. When I read my call I knew without a doubt that that was
the place for me and I felt such comfort in that and I am so excited to serve
the people in New England and help them to come unto Christ like I did in the
beautiful town of Boston.
Today I will be
speaking about, “ coming out of the world” and being separate. This is a very
important topic for missionaries because as a missionary I will be asking
people to change their way of life that they are accustomed to and come unto
Christ to build up His kingdom. In the scripture Alma 5:57 it reads, “and now I
say unto you all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good
shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate” I believe that we
must truly take this commandment to heart and that the Lord is speaking to us
for our day-- especially living in Utah it is easy for church to become a
culture more than just simply a religion. It is essential to keep in mind what
our focus is in life. In a recent
conference talk Randall L. Ridd stated “our savior has given us the hope that
inspires us to become like our father in heaven… there is joy in the journey to
perfection. Great purpose comes into our life when we make it our quest to
follow the will of the lord” end quote. I think for many if not all of us the
promise of purpose in life is a key factor in determining who we are and what
we do on a day-to-day basis.
Regarding this
topic of coming out of the world I have thought of three simple (concepts) that if we keep in mind will help
us and I testify have helped me in being separate from the world while still
being in the world and can help us to maintain purpose in our lives.
The first concept
I would like to talk about is a common phrase that we begin to learn the meaning
of at a young age and continue to learn throughout our lives. It is keeping an eternal perspective. Keeping
an eternal perspective is so helpful when life gets hectic or when we’re making
tough decisions. One thing that a lot of people struggle with is prioritizing our
time and responsibilities. Life only gets busier and not simpler so we can’t
keep putting off what we are asked to do. For example the go to answers for any
church related questions are read the scriptures and pray. If these things are
stressed so heavily then why aren’t we all doing them daily? It’s like brushing
your teeth we all know we should everyday, but what happens if we miss one day
of brushing our teeth? Do we have a cavity the next day? Probably not but if we
continue to “not brush our teeth” there will be consequences. The same thing is applicable with reading our
scriptures and praying maybe we can’t see the immediate consequences of missing
one day but consequences positive and negative will come over time. Daily
scripture study and prayer are a wonderful way to literally come away from the
things of the world and just spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation. It also allows the spirit of our Father in
Heaven to flow into our hearts. In my
life and especially in high school I would become stressed and constantly
worried about the little things in life but when I was able to step back and
really looked at the big picture I could more clearly discern what was
important and what was essentially going to bring me back to my Heavenly
Father. In every decision we make we need to ask ourselves how is this going to
affect me in an eternal perspective. The basic principles of the gospel are
such good things to return to when we are feeling overwhelmed with the world
around us and can help us put things back into perspective.
The next concept
I would like to speak about is maintaining an attitude of gratitude. I love
this one first of all because it rhymes and secondly because it is such a good
reminder of how to stay humble and appreciate things that we are blessed
with. A question that all of us have
asked ourselves at one point or another is why are things so challenging --why
do we go through pain and suffering? We must remember that things only seem
good when compared to the bad so we must have bad things to experience good
things. One of my favorite scriptures that I think explains this idea very well
is in Doctrine and Covenants 29:39 it says “for if they never should have
bitter they could not know the sweet.”
We can get so caught up in feeling bad for ourselves and worrying about
what is going wrong in our own lives that we forget to think about others. If
we are only focused on the things of this world we can miss a whole spiritual
world that is all around us. We might not be able to recognize spiritual
promptings that the Holy Ghost is anxious to give us to direct our lives and to
bless others. In the church it seems we are asked to make many sacrifices. We
sacrifice our time, and talents we are asked to show great faith through
obedience in things that we may not always understand. We need to realize and
observe all the blessings that we receive because in the eternal perspective
they far out way what we “sacrifice.” We are always told that blessings will
come but what are these blessings? These blessings are all around us we just
have to look. They come in the form of friends, fellowship, understanding,
communication, spiritual insights, and the ability to live better lives. Always
having an attitude of gratitude is essential for coming out of this world and
being happy.
The last concept
that I have come up with is a common saying in the Brooks household and
something that my grandfather has taught me from day one it is spreading sunshine.
Spreading sunshine can be done in so many ways. It can be as simple as making
someone feel welcome with a smile. One of the best ways to spread sunshine is
through service. For a while you can live off of others sunshine but eventually
you are going to have to learn to make your own sunshine and to be a light and
example for others to look to.
I want to end by
saying thank you so much again for all the support thanks to everyone you have
all influenced me in some way or another in my choice to serve a mission. I
want to bare my testimony of this gospel and the comfort that it constantly
brings to me. I love that the way the gospel can be so simple and how anyone
who has a desire to know the truth can come to know for themselves that this is
the true church through sincere prayer anyone from the brightest of the bright
to someone with only a simple knowledge of the gospel can come to know the
truth of it. Im so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for the unconditional
love that he has for each and every one of us. I am so excited to serve and to
learn with the people of New England and to build up His kingdom--- I say these
things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
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