Hi Friends and Family! I am so excited to be with you all today. For those of you who don’t know, I just finished my studies at the Missionary Training Center and am getting ready to leave for Jacksonville, Florida on Tuesday. I’m excited to be in the mission field, but I will miss my family and friends dearly.
The missionary training center has been a phenomenal experience. Even though I’m only 3 weeks in, I feel obligated to encourage everyone who is thinking about serving a mission to do so. In my (albeit limited) experience, there is nothing more rewarding than being able to focus constantly on Christ and His gospel.
The missionary purpose is to “Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end”.
It’s a run-on sentence if I’ve ever heard one, but a good run-on sentence at that. If we unpack this a little bit, we find that a missionary’s primary (and perhaps only role), is to “Invite others to come unto Christ”. What an honor it is to set two years aside and solely work to bring people closer to the most perfect and loving person that has ever walked the Earth. What does it mean to bring someone closer to Christ? I believe that it means three things. First (and least importantly), to teach about Christ – to give others an understanding of who He was, what He did, and how He loved. Second, to help others feel close to him – to allow them to feel God and Christ’s infinite and eternal love for them. Third (and most importantly) to help others understand how to become like Him.
In order to briefly teach about Christ, I would like to quote James E. Talmage. In the introduction, Talmage writes, “To the student of history this Man among men stands first, foremost, and alone, as a directing personality in the world’s progression. Mankind has never produced a leader to rank with Him. Regarded solely as a historic personage He is unique. Judged by the standard of human estimation, Jesus of Nazareth is supreme among men by reason of the excellence of His personal character, the simplicity, beauty, and genuine worth of His precepts, and the influence of His example and doctrines in the advancement of the [human] race.” Close quote.
Thankfully, we have a litany of historical records, books, and teaching of prophets that help us learn about Christ: who he was, what he did, and how he loved. Teaching and learning about Christ doesn’t seem too daunting. Now two questions remain. How do we feel close to Christ, and how do we become like Him?
I believe that there is one solution to both of these problems. This is because as we become like Christ, we feel closer to Him. These two clauses can be reversed, and it is also true: As we feel closer to Christ, we become more like Him.
Now that we’ve established that both questions have the same answer, what is the answer? Let me repeat the missionary purpose. “Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end”.
How do we become like Christ and feel closer to Him? Said differently, what are the tools that allow us to be more like Christ and feel Him more strongly in our lives. The answer lies in principles of the restored gospel. There are five parts of Christ’s gospel to help us become more like him. While these principles can be found in the Bible, I think that they are most clearly outlined in the Book of Mormon. Specifically, in the book of 2 Nephi, chapter 31. I like to think of these five principles as tools because as we use these tools, they help us become more like Christ and feel His presence more strongly in our lives. While the tools are mentioned in the missionary purpose, I wanted to repeat them once more. As we use and develop these tools, we grow closer to Christ and become more like him.
The first tool is Faith. Specifically, Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement.
The second tool is repentance which is the way that we use Christ’s atonement.
The third tool is baptism.
The fourth tool is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The fifth tool is enduring to the end.
While all of these principles are important, I want to talk about my experience with one of these tools.
Specifically, I want to talk about using the atonement to allow me to serve a mission. The atonement is a tool that we can use to perfect ourselves. As we perfect ourselves, we become more like Christ and can feel his presence more strongly in our lives.
For my friends who aren’t super familiar with the atonement, I wanted to give you a brief background on what my church believes. God is a divine and perfect being. Because of his divinity and perfection, one must be perfect in order to return and live with him in heaven. We are not perfect. All people commit sin. This doesn’t mean that we are bad people necessarily, it just means that we could do things better. Because we are imperfect, and we must be perfect to live with God, can we live with God again? The answer is yes! We can! God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to perform the atonement. The atonement is a process in which Jesus Christ, through His divinity and priesthood took upon Himself our imperfections. Basically, our imperfections were transferred onto Him.
In order to live with God in heaven, we must go through a process of perfecting ourselves. We believe that in order to go through this process, often referred to as “repentance”, we must ask God to forgive us for our imperfections and help us become perfect. As we ask God to do this, Jesus Christ steps in and helps us overcome our weaknesses.
We often think of repentance as a process we go through when we are trying to overcome sin. It certainly applies to this situation. We should use the atonement daily to repent for our sins.
I want to talk about using the atonement in a different way. I want to talk about using the atonement to drop your sorrows, problems, afflictions, and pains at Christ’s feet and tune into His power in order to overcome them. Remember that doing this is a tool to become more like Christ (and therefore become more perfect), as well as a tool to get to know Christ better.
I want to tell you about my experience of how Jesus Christ’s atonement allowed me to serve a mission.
The summer before my senior year in high school, I decided that I wanted to pursue clarinet in college. I loved playing, and I felt that I had found my calling. I chose what schools I wanted to audition for and practiced hard. I got into some and got rejected from others. My decision came down to UCLA and BYU.
For those of you who don’t know, studying music is like an apprenticeship. It is different than most other college degrees because you work intensively with one professor for all 4 years. You still take typical college classes, but your music degree is centered around your lessons – 1 hour a week classes that you take 1 on 1 with your professor for all four years. These lessons are what make or break your music education. Your professor is your biggest mentor, and if you want to be successful, you are supposed to follow of their advice. You want a professor that you click with, has skills that you don’t have, and will be fun to chat with, and play clarinet in front of for hours throughout your college experience.
I wanted to study with the guy at UCLA. He was young, insanely talented, funny, kind, and had become the principle clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic while in his late 20s – this is unheard of in today’s competitive musical climate.
Although I wanted to study with the person at UCLA, I wanted to make sure that this was the right decision. I prayed about this decision and didn’t receive an answer. To be totally honest, I was frustrated that God was not directing me as I hoped he would. I continued to pray, but still no answer came.
When the intent to enroll deadline rolled around, I chose UCLA. I was excited to attend, but because I never received an answer from God about which college to go to, I was worried (but still hopeful) that I had made the right decision.
Fast forward to my third or fourth lesson with my clarinet professor. I decided to tell him that I was going to serve a mission after my 1st year at UCLA. He was shocked and strongly discouraged me from going. He thought that if I left, I would lose my skill and wouldn’t be good enough to get back into the program. He said that if I left, he would probably not be able to admit me again. His concerns were reasonable, but I was shocked that he was so adamant about me staying at UCLA. Serving a mission had been something that I had been planning to do for more or less my entire life. It was something that I wanted to do, but also felt a responsibility to do. I remember walking out of that lesson being really sad.
I was frustrated with God for not giving me an answer when I asked what school I should attend. BYU has strong ties to the church, so if I had gone to BYU, this wouldn’t have been an issue. How could God put me in a position that made it so difficult to serve Him? I decided to pray and ask God to help me be able to serve a mission. Again, I felt like I didn’t receive an answer to my prayer. I continued going to class, practicing clarinet, and intended to finish my degree at UCLA and then decide whether a mission was right for me or not. I felt like there wasn’t a good solution and so slowly over the next few weeks, serving a mission seemed more and more unlikely. I continued to pray, but I felt that my prayers were being unanswered.
Within the weeks following that discussion with my clarinet professor, I felt particularly inspired to compose a movement of a string quartet. A string quartet is a major effort to take on; you have to write parts for two violins, viola, and cello and make sure they go together flawlessly. Because they are all string instruments and sound alike, you have to be very particular about harmonic and melodic decisions. I grew up composing melodies at the piano, but this piece was different. It was more complicated than anything I had ever written. As I was writing it, I realized that it was also better than any other piece I had written. I was using techniques that were new to me, and my ears seemed sharper and more decisive than they had ever been. The thought came into my mind, that this was how I was going to serve a mission. It was the kind of thought that seems to come from God. It was personal revelation.
I wasn’t totally sure what that thought meant. I didn’t see how it solved my issue with the clarinet teacher, but because I had no other options, and I still hoped to serve a mission, I decided to give it a shot – not necessarily even knowing what that shot would be. I finished the piece I was writing and then felt impressed to reach out to the composition faculty and show them what I had written. I began to realize that doing a double major might enable me to leave UCLA and come back after my mission. Again, when I had this thought, it was accompanied by a feeling of peace; I took this to mean that it had come from God. I still didn’t have the details worked out in my head, but I decided to give it a shot
I showed what I had written to a composition professor. He was supportive and seemed to think that doing a double major would be possible, but I had a lot of work to do in order to get there. In order to do a double major, I had to write another movement to complement the movement already written, and then write two other pieces. I had to get all A’s at UCLA, and I needed to prove to my clarinet professor and the composition faculty that I was up for the challenge of doing both. When I heard this, I was shocked. It seemed impossible. I was not a straight A student in high school, and so doing this in college, seemed all the more difficult. In addition, I felt lucky to have completed one piece that was good. I didn’t think that I could do it again, and writing three other pieces seemed impossible.
After that meeting, I realized something. I put the pieces together. I needed a way to serve a mission. God enables people to do His work. The evidence was right in front of me! I realized that the piece that I had written could have only been written with the help of God. It was no coincidence that after I had prayed, I felt inspired to write a piece of music. It was no coincidence that after I had started writing this piece of music, I felt that this was how I would serve a mission. It was no coincidence that I felt prompted to show my music to the composition faculty. I realized that God had gotten me this far. He wouldn’t leave me hanging now. I tried harder than ever to pray more often, magnify my church calling, and use his power to help me do everything I needed to do in order to serve a mission and ultimately serve God.
There were many small miracles that happened during my first year as I was applying to double major so I could serve a mission. Some of these miracles were not recognizable right away. For example, one rainy morning I was going to make cookies at the institute. I felt an impression to take one of the “jump bikes” - the kind of motorized bikes that are on the street: kind of like bird scooters. As I was riding in the rain, I took a turn a little too fast and ended up falling and breaking my wrist. I couldn’t practice clarinet anymore because I wasn’t supposed to use my hand with a cast. At the time, this was a bummer and I asked “God, why would this happen to me?” Turns out when playing clarinet soaks up all of your time, and you are trying to write a lot of music in a short amount of time, having a broken wrist isn’t such a bad thing. I was able to devote all the time that I would spend on clarinet, towards writing music. If I didn’t break my wrist, I don’t believe that I would be able to finish the pieces needed to get into the composition program.
Other miracles were clearly identifiable. I will never forget going to a mission preparation class one-night feeling stress. I had finished two pieces, and the deadline for the third and final piece was quickly approaching. I had no ideas about what to write. I was praying, studying, doing everything I could to find some music to write, but nothing came until I was sitting in mission preparation class. In my mind, I clearly heard the music that would be my third and final piece. That night, the music came out on the page faster than it ever has, and after a little editing over the next couple weeks, I was able to finish my composition portfolio in time to submit it.
When I got into the composition program, it still wasn’t clear how I would be able to serve a mission. I knew that the composition faculty could say the exact same thing that my clarinet teacher had said. Basically, if you leave, you will lose your skill, and we won’t be able to readmit you into UCLA. Because of all of the small miracles that had happened, I had faith that it would work out. I remember going into the composition department head’s office and saying, “At the end of next year I’m going to leave and serve a religious mission. Is this okay with you guys? Will you accept me back?” I was overjoyed when he said, “Of course that’s no problem. We will accept you back with open arms.”
When I told my clarinet professor about the composition faculty’s reaction, it encouraged him to reevaluate his position on me serving a mission. He is now okay with me leaving, and he has given me a good indication that I will be able to return and study with him. If not, I know that I will at least be able to study composition at UCLA.
To me, this is a miracle. Going on a mission took me one year longer than I thought and was much more difficult than I would have ever anticipated, but I have learned so much through this journey.
It was Christ’s atonement that allowed me to serve a mission. I came to Him through prayer and asked, “How can I serve a mission? Please help me.” I dropped my problems at His feet and asked him to use His power to help me. In return he strengthened my faith, helped me learn to compose, and gave me a way to serve a mission while still returning to UCLA afterwards.
I can promise that if you desire anything good, Christ’s atonement will help you achieve it. Drop your problems at His feet, rely on His perfect and infinite power, and watch as miracles allow you to do the impossible.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
This is a link to his talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hrrOaINwWo&feature=youtu.be
