Here is a copy of Matthew's "Farewell" talk. It is the written version . . . the actual talk was altered a bit.
Farewell Talk
20 July 2014
Good morning brothers and sisters… I am glad you could
all be here today… today I am going to talk to you a little about the first
principles and ordinances of the gospel…. I pray that I can speak with the
spirit and be able to share the message I have prepared… I also pray that my
dear brother will not have his usual red bench lines across his forehead by the
time I’m done today… lolz.
So the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are
taught to us from a very young age.. the
only problem is that not everyone realizes what the first principles actually
are… So I would like to read you the fourth article of faith..
“We believe in the first
principles and ordinances of the gospel are, first; faith in the lord Jesus Christ,
second; repentance, third; baptism for the remission of sins, fourth; laying on
of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost…”
These are called the
FIRST principles and ordinances of the gospel for a reason… this is what our
gospel is based on… each day we need to strive to live what these principles
teach… as a missionary your purpose is too…
”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…”
So as you can tell the
principles are very important in our lives… it is also essential for me as a
missionary to fully understand and have a strong testimony about the first
principles and ordinances of the gospel as it is my purpose to teach others
about…
As such I would like to
share a little about each of these principles and how I was able to gain a
personal testimony of each of them…
First I would like to
talk about faith…. Faith is something we all must have and strive to keep
throughout our life time… The Apostle Paul
stated that faith is “ the assurance of things hoped for, which are not seen.”
As a child, faith is
hammered into us in Primary… one of the lessons taught is that praying isn’t of
much use to use without having the faith that what we desire can actually be
given… this is where I believe my first seeds of faith were planted… growing
up, my family, and my sister in particular, lost important things to her quite
often… she would look for it, have my mom look for it (usually a guaranteed
find) but if not, the stakes would go up to a “family search time”. I can
remember numerous occasions where once we were asked to help in the search, I,
being a sneaky little kid, would get down on my hands and knees and say a
simple prayer to find what my sister was missing… this was almost always
followed by quick success… although this seems simple enough… It has helped me
greatly to have faith that we have a Father in Heaven, he loves us, and is
watching over us each day…
In True to the Faith it
says this about faith…
“Having faith in Jesus
Christ means relying completely on him… trusting in his infinite power,
intelligence and love. It includes believing in his teachings. It means that
even though you do not understand all things, he does.”
One of my favorite
scriptures is in Proverbs 3, and it simply says, “Trust In The Lord.” I love
that because your life is going to get chaotic, and you think you wont have
enough faith to get through your current trial, but all we have to do is trust
in the Lord, because he truly does know all things, and is doing it for our
benefit….
I would like to quickly
share a second story about my experience gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon
and how I realized that exercising faith was vital in that search…..
After you get your
mission call, one of the things you are instructed to do is to make sure you
have read and gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, so I of course tried to
do so… I finished reading the book a little before school ended on a Sunday… so
I decided I should go and pray to hopefully gain a stronger testimony of the
book…. So that Sunday I planned to go up to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple after I
was done with work and pray to my Heavenly Father for a witness….
So once I got off work I drove up to the parking lot, got on my
knees in the back seat of the car and asked Heavenly Father if the book I was
holding was true… I knelt there for awhile… but eventually my knees starting
hurting, waiting for my answer.. so I sat in my seat and just looked over the
valley as I thought and waited more… but nothing ever came. I just felt like my
same old self… eventually I left, and went home really scared and saddened….
Here I was about to leave to go down to El Salvador to teach about the Book of
Mormon that I didn’t even know was true myself!
I quickly scheduled an
appointment with the bishop to see what he had to say about the matter… I met
with him later that week and the gist of what he said to me was, “Matthew you
already have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you just need to have some
faith!”
I sat there a little
frustrated as I wanted to argue with the bishop that I didn’t think it would
hurt Heavenly Father much to give me that awesome feeling that so many people
often talk about…. But you don’t really argue with a bishop so I left…
A few days later I
finally got my answer as I was in church listening to the music… Heavenly Father
had blessed me with a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I knew that. And I may
not have a perfect knowledge, so I needed to exercise some faith. A quote that
my buddy, Hunner, I believe shared last
time he spoke in church…
“You may not know everything, but you know
enough” that Elder Neil Anderson shared.
I was really glad I had
that experience because it taught me a lot and I know that it will help me as I
testify to others of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon throughout my
mission.
So next I would like to
talk about repentance through the atonement… my favorite story that best exemplifies
repentance is that of Enos is the Book of Mormon. Enos had a change of heart
and knew that he needed to repent for the life he had previously lived, so he
went out hunting and knelt down to pray…
“Open scriptures to ENOS”
I really liked that
scripture, especially the verse that states that Enos was forgiven of his sins
because of the faith he had… thus repentance is the SECOND principle and
ordinance of the gospel because we must have faith that repenting will actually
do something for us!
I asked my sister who is
serving in Argentina right now what she thought I should say regarding
repentance and she wrote back quite a bit.. she being quite the writer and
loves sharing her thoughts… She said,
“”What I have found is that it is really just a change in
ourselves we are willing to make. I don´t think we have ever lived a perfect
day in our lives. Every day we make mistakes. Thus, every day, repentance
should be a part of our lives. You can read more all about it in Preach My
Gospel. It´s great””
I thought it was
interesting the view she had… its generally the big things we do that we
instantly think goes hand in hand with repentance, but it can also be viewed as
a tool we use to better ourselves each and every day. So I would challenge all
of you, as you pray each night, to carefully go over the things you feel as a
person you need to improve, and work on making one of your weaknesses, a
strength, by the atonement…. We came to this life to learn and grow, and by
changing one thing each day through use of repentance, we will become the best
person we can become by the time we return to our Heavenly Father…
FINALLY I would like to
talk about baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost… the third and fourth
principles and ordinance of the gospel…
Baptism is the first
covenant we make with our Heavenly Father, and we can only do so once we have
enough faith and have made full use of the atonement. When we are baptized, we
covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember him
and keep his commandments. This is renewed every time we take the sacrament. I
have received a witness of the sacred power of baptism by going to the temple
and doing baptisms for the dead… While doing that work you can always feel the
spirit and the warmth you feel is like nothing else, so as if we don’t get
reminded enough,,, go to the temple!!!
So after we are baptized
we get the blessing of the Holy Ghost. I really like what Preach My Gospel says
about the Holy Ghost…
“The Holy Ghost provides
the power by which we teach and learn. The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of our
Heavenly Father’s most precious gifts. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we
can feel of God’s love and directions for us. The gift is a foretaste of
eternal joy and a promise of eternal life”
That’s such a powerful
statement to me, especially that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a foretaste of
eternal joy. I am very excited to share such a promising message with the
people I will be serving…
The Holy Ghost does a whole
variety of things for different people. Some people have it as their constant
companion. Some are calmed and kept at peace through it, and others are guided
or warned from spiritual and physical danger.
For me personally, the
Holy Ghost has made a significant impact on life and Real quickly I want to
share how the Holy Ghost has been to comfort and reassure me when I need it the
most…
The Holy Ghost, for me,
has become essential for knowing that serving a mission is what God really
wants of me. While I was preparing to turn in my papers, I thought a lot about
my decision and couldn’t really get the confirmation I was searching for…
Instead I made the choice to serve, from the beginning, mostly off of what I
thought was right… I then later got my call and felt the Holy Ghost witness to
me that YES a mission was for me and I had made the right choice. Sooo, Anyone
that is struggling to make big life decisions, know that Christ does care about
what you decide… and even if you don’t get that overwhelming feeling of
reassurance, continue to search things out yourself, make a decision and then
see if you get that peaceful feeling through the Holy Ghost, telling you that
what you have done is the right decision. I promise it will come. Life is about
making big decisions and learning from them… the Holy Ghost won’t just tell you
right from wrong every time. Just put faith in Christ and eventually you will
get the confirmation from the Holy Ghost that the decision you made was right…
or else it was wrong, but you probably have learned a valuable lesson in the
mean time. And that’s how God works…
Alrighty……in closing I
would like to bear testimony that I know that the first principles are a true.
God based his gospel after Faith, Repentance, Baptism and The Holy Ghost
because they are an essential part of our lives.
I am grateful for the
opportunity to share these truths with the people in El Salvador and I know it
can change peoples’ lives.
I know President Monson
is a living prophet of God and if we listen to the messages he shares, we will truly
blessed.
I know the Book of Mormon
to be true, and as long as you exercise a little faith, you can gain a witness
of anything you are searching for…
I’m so thankful for the
opportunity to grow up in the ward I have. Everyone one of these boys have
helped to make me the person I am today and I am truly grateful for it. I
couldn’t be more proud to call these guys my brothers.
I would also like to say
how much I love my brother. I’m grateful to be around such an awesome guy all
the time.. He’s gonna be an amazing missionary someday. My sister, for the
perfect missionary example she is. For my mom and the unconditional love she
has always given me. And finally for my dad and the amazing priesthood holder
he is. What a blessing that has been to have a home centered around the power
of God on Earth…
I’m grateful to speak to
you all of you today, and I can’t wait to be standing here again in another two
years!
I say these things in the
name…
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