Homecoming Talk - August 13th, '06

As my subject today, I have elected to speak about a topic that was very central to the theme that one branch president in my mission adopted for the branch in the center of Athens while I was serving there. It was a full program which we implemented in that branch for the purpose of strengthening the active members, reactivating the less-active members, and bringing still more people into the church at a more rapid pace. The branch president labeled this program, "Come Unto Christ," and in introducing it and its aspects to the members of the branch, he asked me to give a talk on "Pondering Your Mission In Life Daily," which itself is an essential step in coming unto Christ. Throughout my mission, I've given a lot of thought to this topic because it interests me a great deal, and helping people to start pondering their mission in life and helping them to take the steps necessary to return to Heavenly Father was central to my purpose as a missionary.

DISCOVERING OUR MISSION IN LIFE (OUR PURPOSE)
I discovered that in Greece, as is the case in most of the world I imagine, many people are rather confused as to what the purpose of life is. I listened to many philosophies from the Greeks about this, and the most common "purpose in life" according to them is simply that we become good people, nothing more. However, since many of those same people don't believe in the existence of an afterlife, I would reason with them by asking what the reason was for becoming a good person if there's not going to be some kind of consequence or reward for that in some life to come. People who believe in this way have no sure knowledge of an afterlife; no hope for the future, and so therefore they can't possible figure out how they are going to live in order to achieve those potential awards that we look forward to as Latter-day Saints. In that way, they are somehow lost. I have a quote about this of which the author is unknown: "Nothing is more conducive to arriving nowhere than be going nowhere. That's the spot where with no guideposts and little urge, one arrives with utmost certainty." However, if we determine where we want to end up, then we can begin to think about what we have to do to get there. I really tried hard on my mission to help the Greeks realize taht there is a place prepared for them in the Kingdom of Heavenly Father. I also tried hard to motivate them to do the things required for the realization of those blessings.

PONDERING THE NECESSARY STEPS TO BE TAKEN IN ORDER TO FULFILL OUR MISSION IN LIFE
Each of us here has decided that we want to return to live with our living Heavenly Father. We know where we are going, and so in an effort to arrive there, we consider our time on earth as preparatory for the moment in which we will return to face God. We are here to follow the guideposts that have been granted to us through modern prophets and the scriptures. In the Book of Mormon, Alma mentions this when he says that "...this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (Alma 34:32). The labors that we have to perform include, among other things, the various ordinances of the gospel.

Another one of our labors here on earth is keeping the commandments that God has given us. This requires obedience. Sometimes, it may seem difficult to practice obedience. I had many investigators on my mission who asked me why they had to avoid having sexual relationships outside of marriage, and why they had to avoid drinking beer and coffee when essentially everybody in their country does the opposite. In those moments, the commandments seemed to my investigators more like restrictions rather than guideposts (which should lead us to our desired destination). That's why I had to explain to them that these commandments, in fact, are the signposts that lead to eternal life with God and I, actually, am not the one who came up with them. Nor did the leaders of the church invent these "rules." Rather, it was God himself who did so, so they ought to keep them if they really want to arrive at their desired destination - the Kingdom of God. President Thomas S. Monson spoke about this at a General Conference during my mission. He said, "Remember that oftimes the wisdom of God seems as foolishness to men, but the greatest single lesson that we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks, and a man obeys, that man will always be right." I love this quote because it gives me extra strength with which I can more fully live up to my gospel commitments. It really helped my investigators to gain an understanding as well.

PONDERING OUR PERFORMANCE IN OUR MISSION IN LIFE
Okay, we've now talked about how to discover our mission in life (a step that each of us has already passed), and we've mentioned how there are things that we have to do in order to realize our goal. Now we can begin to ponder about how well we are doing in this journey. And this, Brothers and Sisters, is where "pondering our mission in life daily" comes into the picture. I was originally introduced to this idea by a sister missionary who gave a spiritual thought at the beginning of one of our weekly district meetings. She shared a scripture from Alma 5:27, which she said is a scripture that she reads every night before she sleeps for its thought-provoking influence. It reads: "Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?" By reading this scripture, Sister Karlsson essentially had a personal worthiness interview with herself to determine what things in her life needed amending. We should do the same. We should ask ourselves honestly: If Jesus Christ came to earth today right now, would I be ready, or would I feel a bit unprepared? The Second Coming is approaching, Brothers and Sisters, so we'd do well to take this seriously.

Some people however, like myself, if they do too much of this self-analyzation, can get pretty discouraged with the apparent weaknesses and downfalls that beset them from time to time. Nephi, for example, ripes himself apart in 2 Nephi 4 because he is discouraged with his own weaknesses. I passed through quite a few similar moments in my mission in Greece. It is in times like those, while pondering about how well we are doing with life, that we have to remember the Atonement. "...for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength" (Mosiah 4:27). However, we should read also the end of that scripture and remember that "...it is expedient that [we] should be diligent, that thereby [we] might win the prize..." We've got to give it our best effort. That's why we ponder this.

I remember a Russian woman I taught while in Cyprus whose name was Natasha. She was clearly dissatisfied with her own level of spirituality because she explained to me right as I finished teaching her about the Plan of Salvation, that she didn't believe that it was possible for her to make it into the Celestial Kingdom due to the mistakes she had made previously in life. This is actually one of my more fond memories from my mission because I understood from her words that she was humble and ready to hear about the gospel. So, I did my best to share with her the words the Spirit had for me to say, and I think I was effective in that moment in explaining how we are here on earth to learn and grow, and in order to do that, sometimes we are bound to make mistakes. But God knew that we'd make mistakes like that. That's why he sent us His son. It was a fabulous discussion with Natasha because I really saw an understanding of the Atonement distill on her mind as we discussed it.

APPLYING THE NECESSARY CHANGES SO AS TO FULFILL OUR MISSION IN LIFE
The only step left in fulfilling our misison in life, and achieving the goals that we've set for ourselves is that of application. Obviously, we have to apply the principles that we talk and think about. We have to pick out those flaws that we find in ourselves and fix them! We have to, as James phrased it, become "...doers of the word, and not hearers only..." (James 1:22). You can see how through contemplating and applying each of the principles I have mentioned here today on a regular, daily basis, surely it will help an individual to develop Christ-like attributes, and progress towards eternal life. That is why "Pondering Your Mission In Life Daily" is a central theme to the "Come Unto Christ" program. I feel that I have grown quite a bit in my mission as I have strived to do just this. I remember many mornings in my study time on my mission where I would sit and read the words of Moroni where he exhorts us to "deny [our]selves of all ungodliness..." (Moroni 10:32). I did this to motivate myself to work harder to fulfill my own journey towards eternal life. I would just try to do a little better each day. By doing this, I became more effective in helping others to progress as well. It is my prayer that each of us here will do our best to set aside all distractions which obstruct our progression. May each of us do a little better in the coming week to live up to our gospel commitments.

I really loved my time in Greece. In my exit testimony meeting with the missionaries on Mars Hill, I explained to them how I love Greece, Greeks, and the Greek language. It's been such a blessing for me to serve as a missionary because I've learned a lot about the love that God has for his children. The Greeks are a very choice people. God loves them very much. I love them very much. I know with all my heart that what I've been doing for the past two years is exactly what God wanted me to be doing. I've felt confirmation from His Spirit that he's accepted the work I've done on my mission, and I know that He is pleased.

Now then, I guess it's time for me to keep a tradition that exists among returned missionaries who have served in foreign countries, I will now close with my testimony in Greek... (Testimony in Greek)