Well, I have 17 days until I actually report but with our
primary program next week and Conference the next, you all get to hear me
early!
Speaking of conference though…in two weeks marks the 1 year
anniversary of an amazing announcement. President Monson started the October
general conference of 2012 by announcing the age of young men and women being
eligible to serve a mission was lowered. Now, that was an exciting announcement
across the world but let me tell you what the impact was at BYU-Idaho. 3 out of
5 of my roommates decided almost immediately to go talk to their bishops about
serving. My mom called me shortly after conference and all the girls in my
apartment complex could be heard running back and forth from rooms to talk
about it with friends. In classes the next day, more and more girls I talked to
were already positive they were going to serve as soon as possible. Guys
jokingly complained that now they would have no one to date since everyone was
leaving. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how I felt about everything and I knew
other women would be in my position too. Deciding to go on a mission for a
woman can be difficult. While sisters in the church are not required to go on a
mission, they are needed. I knew from reading both of my brothers and other
friends letters home that a mission was hard and there was a lot of work to be
done but they could see how it was letting them grow and learn and change for
the better. Of course I knew that it would be an amazing experience but I was
also just finishing my freshman year of college and not even sure about the
major I was in anymore. Even after getting home, I struggled a lot with the
idea of a mission. I had doubts about putting my life on hold for 18 months. My
brother was getting married soon. Another brother was coming home from a
mission. Another brother was starting senior year and my last brother was going
into freshman year. I wanted to be there with my family. I also had always
assumed that if I wasn’t married by the time I was 21, I would go on a mission.
I felt too young and inexperienced to take on the responsibilities of a
missionary. Shortly after getting home, Sister Bishop was speaking in this
ward. She and her husband were senior missionaries assigned to help with property
and maintenance and that Sunday, had been asked to speak about serving as
senior missionaries. She was encouraging those eligible to serve as senior
missionaries and right when I was thinking what she said didn’t apply to me,
she said something profound. If you are deciding to serve a mission, you have
to let go of all doubt and just serve. Sure she was talking about senior
missionaries but I realized that my personal doubts were the only things
keeping me from starting my paperwork. In that moment I was so grateful for
having the gift of the Holy Ghost affirm
to me the correctness of her words and of the choice to serve a mission.
Now after that rambling story, I started my mission
paperwork, ran into a lot of discouraging obstacles but finally got my call to
the Oregon Portland mission. I’d been spending the last couple of weeks
preparing to leave physically and spiritually when the bishop reminded me that
I would need to give a farewell talk. Needless to say, I was not as excited as
I should have been. The topic I was given was preparing for revelatory
experiences and I spent about 3 days totally stumped on what to say. While
praying about it, my experience with Sister Bishop came to me and I realized
that that had been a revelatory experience. Other moments kept coming to my
mind of difficult decisions I’ve had to make or even just questions I had that
I had found guidance and answers to through the Spirit of revelation. So now I
would like to share with you what Elder Bednar told us in the April conference
of 2011.
First, Elder Bednar explained what the Spirit
of Revelation is and how we can have it. He said “Revelation is communication
from God to His children on the earth and one of the great blessings associated
with the gift and constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “The Holy Ghost is a revelator,” and
“no man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations”
The spirit of revelation is available to every
person who receives by proper priesthood authority the saving ordinances of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and the
laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost—and who is acting in faith to
fulfill the priesthood injunction to “receive the Holy Ghost.” This blessing is
not restricted to the presiding authorities of the Church; rather, it belongs
to and should be operative in the life of every man, woman, and child who
reaches the age of accountability and enters into sacred covenants. Sincere
desire and worthiness invite the spirit of revelation into our lives.”
Everyone in this room who has been baptized and
is striving to keep the commandments has the Spirit of Revelation available to
them as a tool and gift. Our job is to learn recognize when the Spirit is
speaking to us and to act on what we are told.
There is a variety of ways that we can receive
revelation including visions, dreams, conversations with heavenly messengers
and inspiration. Some happen immediately and intensely while others are gradual
and subtle. I’ve found the most common form of revelation I receive is
inspiration and it is quiet and subtle which is also a trial of my patience. Elder
Bednar even said, “We as members of the Church tend to emphasize marvelous and
dramatic spiritual manifestations so much that we may fail to appreciate and
may even overlook the customary pattern by which the Holy Ghost accomplishes
His work. The very “simpleness of the way” of receiving small and incremental
spiritual impressions that over time and in totality constitute a desired
answer or the direction we need may cause us to look “beyond the mark.” There
are many times that I am not even expecting inspiration or maybe not even
prepared to receive it but things happen in the Lord’s time and it is important
for us to try and be prepared for that.
Elder Bednar explains “In many of the uncertainties
and challenges we encounter in our lives, God requires us to do our best, to
act and not be acted upon, and to trust in Him. We may not see angels, hear
heavenly voices, or receive overwhelming spiritual impressions. We frequently
may press forward hoping and praying—but without absolute assurance—that we are
acting in accordance with God’s will. But as we honor our covenants and keep
the commandments, as we strive ever more consistently to do good and to become
better, we can walk with the confidence that God will guide our steps. And we
can speak with the assurance that God will inspire our utterances. This is in
part the meaning of the scripture that declares, “Then shall thy confidence wax
strong in the presence of God.” In preparing for revelation, part of the
process is just to continue enduring to the end and trust that the Lord will
reveal things to us in His time as we need it.
Another story I would like to share actually
happened recently to me. While waiting for my mission call, I decided that I
needed to find a job and begin saving more money for my mission. I thought with
the beginning of summer, a nanny job would be best to get. I spent hours online
looking for and applying to positions in the area. After a few weeks, a woman
began contacting me about a well-paying position in Council Bluffs. For a month
and a half, we emailed back and forth attempting to figure out details. She
claimed she was in the middle of moving and her children were with her
grandparents in Cyprus. The story got stranger as her son became ill and she
had to go to Cyprus. She was wanting me to pick up her stuff that was being
shipped from another state and have it ready in their apartment when they got
back. I was so focused on trying to figure out how to help that I didn’t
realize that her story was getting shadier and shadier. By the end, she sent me
a check for $3500 to pay off the movers and get my first week of pay.
Thankfully, my mom and I were both in tune with the strong feeling from the
spirit to NOT cash that check or send any money on. We were able to get in
contact with our bank and the one the check came from and discover that it was
a fake check and I had almost been scammed out of a lot of money that I didn’t
have. I was so angry at first. I had to spend the day after my temple endowment
talking to police about the details. I had wasted a month and a half not
earning money. I had been taken advantage of and left in a rut. My mom kept
telling me to be grateful that we had caught it and that it could have
definitely been worse. I knew that but it was still a prick in my side that I
needed to let go of. As I prayed about it in the days after, I asked why I had
been so led on and why I couldn’t have known sooner that I was falling into a
trap. Gradually, I began to feel the answer. It was a trial that I had to come
through to understand the Lord better. I had been driven partially by the want
of money and other than praying about the job initially, I hadn’t been asking
for direct guidance through the rest of the process. I wasn’t being open to
listening to the Spirit. I realized that the Lord always wants to help us but
he can only do that if we let him. D&C 88:63 tell us to “ask, and we shall
receive, knock and it shall be opened unto us.”
Looking back on the experience, I had also
learned about blessings in disguise. I had learned a great lesson and a few
weeks after, had a job offer land in my lap that I took and that already
understood I would only have a little over a month to work for them. I have
felt Christ’s love for me so strongly recently and been blessed to be able to
go to the temple often and feel it more strongly.
I testify to you today that as we keep the
commandments and live in harmony with the teachings of our prophets, apostles
and most importantly our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will always have the
Spirit of Revelation available to us, to guide us and protect us. I am so
thankful for the opportunity I have to serve the people of Oregon and for the
knowledge I have of loving friends and family here in this ward that will
support me and pray for me. I thank you for that support. I pray that we can
all feel our Savior’s love every moment of our lives.
