Farewell Talk

What next? In each and everyone’s lives there are the inevitable truths, the sun will rise every morning, the sock goes on before the shoe, and a chicken should never be served raw. But to every truth there is the unknown, or the “what next” as I call it. To the young child who after months of practice just rode their bike without training wheels they think to themselves cool while constantly wondering “What next?” The new mother who has tried everything to calm her troubled baby calls up her mother and asks, “What next”.   For the recently graduated senior without plans for college asks, “What Next?” 

From the time I was a young child I have encountered many inevitable truths, if Dad looks in the closet before bed there will never be a monster while I am sleeping, Dessert is ALWAYS better before dinner, No matter what my older sister thinks one day I will be older then she is, and when I get big I would serve a mission.  When it came to serving a mission there was never a doubt in my mind, no “what next”s.  

Serving a mission was always a part of my future though my reasons why changed.  At first I wanted to serve because I would get to wear dresses all the time, and who didn’t love dresses?  As I aged it would be a time when I would get to be a big girl which meant  mom couldn’t tell me what to do, time moved on and it became the “extended sleepover” phase, then it became the NO SCHOOL phase.  In some time I started to move towards the God wanted me to do the best I could in life. I learned in school that my best might not always get me the grade I want, but compassionate teachers gave me extra credit so I could be an A student. And because God wants me to be an A student in life, a mission would give me the “extra credit” I need. I came to realize I not only wanted to serve a mission, but I needed to.

So now that I had decided to serve a mission, “what next?” How was I going to prepare? What would I need to do in my life to prepare to be the best missionary I could be?

  At the age of 12 I dove right into my personal progress.  My favorite virtue was Good Works, “Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (3 Nephi 12:16) In the personal progress manual under experience 7 we read. “Through your good works, others will see your example and may want to know more about the gospel. “  I love that.  A lot of times we feel the spirit of conversion works if we share our spoken testimony with others, I would like to tell you that is not true. It works through example. If I may share an experience that happened to me just a couple of weeks ago?  I had the opportunity to attend the Chicagoland YSA conference up at the Naperville Stake Center. Each day we received a tag that said, “Hello my name is.”  On the second day me along with one of the girls decided to go to McDonalds for lunch.  When we had arrived one of the employees looked at me funny. Considering my personality I started talking to her immediately.  Within a couple of minutes she had me talking about the church.  She asked why so many people came in so happy wearing “hello my name is” tags.  After we had eaten we invited her to come and meet some people at the church which she did gladly. Within five minutes of being at our church she left with an invite that if she wanted she could join us at the dance that night.  Let’s just day we did not think we would ever see her again. That night at the YSA dance someone came running up to me telling me my five minute friend was here.  She had in fact returned with two of her friends.  In that short time I had spoken to her there was no missionary lessons given, no testimony shared, just the simple sharing of thoughts, jokes, and friendships. When it comes to missionary service the “what next” is really important.  While speaking with my new found friend I forgot to ask and tell some major components.  For one I have no idea what her last name is or how to get in touch with her. There is some stuff in which I could have probably done. I should have told her how to get in touch with someone or when our church meets. I learned to remember the what next is relevant when it comes to speaking with people.

This time of the year is especially a hard time when the question “what next” is asked.  Some moms finally find they have some much wanted and needed downtime as their children return to school. Kids find themselves once again surrounded by friends, in and out of the church. Others have now sent their youngest away to college and find themselves “empty nesters”. No matter where you are in life, I would ask all of you to ask what next when it comes to serving the lord, as I have been doing.  I am not asking you all to serve missions or go stand on a soap box in downtown Chicago and preach but I am asking you to think about the service in your lives.  Recently the sisters have asked my family to pay attention to our neighbors, to talk to them, and to go out of the way to do something nice.  I remember when I was still rather young, or 10 depending on who you ask, me and my next door neighbor would spend time in the kitchen baking cookies for our neighbors.  Each time we made some the cookies came out flat even though the dough was probably the best I had ever eaten.  Together we would gather the fresh and flat cookies put them on a couple plates and run around to our neighbor’s houses to see the surprised happy look they gave us when they received this delightful treat.  I learned a lot from this experience, for starters no matter how small doing something kind goes along way. Second people will appreciate your kindness no matter how much you bring to the table, and third ALWAYS ask your mom for help when you don’t know how to bake cookies.  It is not always as easy getting to know your neighbors as it was as a child.  With age comes new responsibilities and worries that don’t involve what our neighbors are doing or how their family is.  It is nice to however take a step back from our worldly duties and remember what is found in the Ten Commandments “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Another thing we can do is pray for missionary experiences.  God works in mysterious ways and so each time we pray for a missionary experience we need to be ready to act.  A lot of times when we pray we do not fully expect the outcome.  One year my mom decided to take some of us girls from church spring breaking in Florida; as per tradition before we left for the long journey in the car we prayed that if God was willing we would have a missionary experience during our trip.  On what was probably one of the hottest days of our vacation us girls decided to all wear tank tops as to get the perfect tan.  While waiting in line at the Fountain of Youth a group of older women behind us were talking about their recent trip to Utah. I remember how they talked about the Mormons and how amazing temple square was. This had been the moment that was prayed for but when looking down at our attire we decided not to speak. Many times we pray for an experience and when the opportunity knocks we are not ready to open the door.  One of my favorite pictures is that of Jesus standing outside the door with no door knob.  I love this picture because it depicts that we must first be willing to open the door.  I often look back on that experience and wonder if in some way God was testing us.  We were obedient in most ways when it came to the gospel and many of us would probably have had great stories to share about our faith but because we were not ready we were not able to share our example with others.  A lot of times we do not see the influence of our actions on others.  Many times we do not even see when we are being a missionary. When I was not much younger my parents took us kids on a trip to Greenfield Village in Michigan which has activities much like you see in Nauvoo or “This is the Place.”  While at the candle shop a woman repeatedly glanced at our family and upon leaving she came up to my dad and asked where we were from.  My dad replied, “Utah.” What surprised me is she didn’t seem shocked at all.  I remember she told us that we had to be from Utah because we shone.  At the time I thought she meant something completely different but as I have grown I have come to know that we are seen differently in others eyes.  I came to learn and understand the impact we have on others.

I cannot tell you the exact moment I decided to serve a mission.  I guess you could say I have always wanted to serve I have known as long as I can remember.  I can however tell you when my family first knew.  It was the summer I turned 13.  We were visiting my family in Utah.  One of my cousins was just returning from his mission and another was just about to leave.  It was the only summer when all of us cousins would be together.  For one of the pictures my uncle told all of the cousins who were going to serve missions to get together with the cousin who had just returned.  I remember marching up to the spot where it was being taken head held high.  My aunt told me I must have misunderstood and I told her I was going to serve a mission my husband would just have to wait.  To this day I still have the picture of me and all of my male cousins standing proud thinking, “I hope they call me on a mission.”

As I have searched for answers to my “what next” to prepare for a mission, I have been blessed to have seen great missionaries in my life. I have watched my mom teach everyone from young kids to adults, she even stopped at us crazy Young Women somewhere in the middle.  I have watched my dad assist strangers with such strength and devotion. I have seen the testimonies of my younger siblings and close friends as they have grown closer to the lord. I have been out with the sister missionaries in our ward and have seen the reactions and devotion they have to serving the lord.  I have felt the spirit all around me. I have been witness to the service and love I have seen in members eyes.  My whole life I have been preparing myself to serve a mission.  I remember having this view of what would happen leading up to getting my call and what my reaction would be when I got it. I remember asking the “what next” about preparing for a mission. But I never thought about what would happen when I actually had my call.  I remember the day after I got my call I was sitting on my couch thinking to myself, “What next?” I had my call. I had spent years preparing for this moment. I had taken the mission preparation classes, I had read and highlighted the “preach my gospel” manual. I had filed all the paper work and requested my call. But here it was in my hands. I thought the “what next” was over. And there I was, only able to ask myself, “what next?”

“What next?” is a scary question, life is scary. And often, just when we think we have it answered, a new “what next” pops up. Tomorrow is always unexpected and most of the time we are not supposed to be ready for it.  Faith in God is just that complete and utter faith; unmoving faith that no matter where we are placed we will get through it.  The road map for my mission is not exact.  No one has told me exactly how many people I will baptize, who I need to focus my efforts on, what will give me hard times, and what I need to avoid.  I have not been told who I will meet and whether or not I will get homesick.  I don’t know what will happen and to be perfectly honest it scares the heck out of me but because I have faith I know that the, “what next?” is irrelevant.  I have faith that tomorrow the sun will rise, that God will answer my prayers. I know that no matter where I am at in my mission if I rely on Gods support and guidance I will be where I need to be.  I love the quote, “faith in God includes faith in his timing.” Sometimes that is hard especially when we always want the answer to “what next?” When it came to serving a mission I did not wake up one day and say this is what is going to happen this is what is next, it came with time. Part of our test on earth is to decide what is next, and when we make that decision ask God to help us through it.  God loves us and because he loves us he has given us the chance of a beautiful “what next?”

If we do not know what our what next is, if we are not sure, if we are uncertain as to whether we are in fact fulfilling whatever ” It”  is, or if we do not have the positive assurance in our lives that our actions and our performance are pleasing to our Father in Heaven, then it does not really matter what else we are spending our time doing—it is not as important as finding out what it is we should be doing and having the assurance that we are doing it. Or to put it another way, if we are really interested in doing our Father's will we had better pay the price—whatever price is necessary, no matter what are what next is. we had better pray fervently, study the scriptures and listen to the Brethren , or in short do whatever is required so that we can have the assurance that we are doing what our Father in Heaven wants us to do—that we are moving to our what next he has for us to perform. Obviously, that mission will be different for each of us.  Revelation of our what next is will not come all at once. God will unfold it to us line upon line, according to what is best for us and how capable we are of handling it, and what is best for the progress of his work. But remember that you must start somewhere. I assure you that you should and can know that you are on the right path and that your performance, no matter where you are on that path—student, missionary, newly- wed, parent, or whatever—is pleasing to the Lord.