Mission Farewell Talk

Good morning my brothers and sisters! 

    As most of you know, I will be leaving for my mission in 3 days. I have been assigned to labor in the Chicago West Mission. Am I ready for this? Probably not, but it wouldn't be as exciting for me if I was a hundred percent ready for it. That would not leave much for me to learn while I am out there.     So, you guys are probably wondering what I have been sentenced to talk about today. I am going to turn to the most recent General Conference to answer your question. In the words of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, "I speak about the power of the Book of Mormon and the critical need we have as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings to our lives."(April 2017 Gen. Con. "The Power of the Book of Mormon). That's right! I am going to speak on the power and importance of the Book of Mormon in our lives. Let us begin with a very simple explanation of what this book is. As stated on the cover, the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. We know that the angel Moroni led Joseph Smith to find the plates in the Hill Cumorah, which contained the records on them. Joseph translated these plates, and we got the Book of Mormon from them. If we go to the introduction of this volume of scripture, we read, "It is a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel." So, what we have here is a complementing resource to the Bible that can help us to gain a further understanding of God's plan for us.

     It and the Bible go hand in hand with each other. For starters, we look at the bottom of the pages in both the bible and the Book of Mormon that we use and find that on every page, they are cross-referencing each other, both explaining and supporting each other. Now for some scriptures. I would like to give an example from the Bible and two from the Book of Mormon that show their support of each other. First in the Bible, we turn to Ezekiel 37:15-17. This reads: 
"15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and the Children of Israel and his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel and his companions: 
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall come together in thine hand." 
    To make it clear here, the sticks being talked about here are not literal sticks, but as explained in the footnotes below, are wooden writing tablets that were commonly used during Ezekiel's day. Anyway, we have here the stick of Judah, being the Bible, and the stick of Joseph, which is the Book of Mormon, and they are being joined together. To me, this means that both volumes of scriptures can and should be used to testify of Christ and the truthfulness of the gospel. Now over to the Book of Mormon. I want to first look in 2 Nephi 29. This is an excellent chapter as a whole that explains the necessity of both volumes of scripture, but I would like to focus on two verses in particular. We read in verses 8-9: 
"8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together also 
9 And I do this that I may prove that I am the same Yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever." 
   
 Having the testimony of two witnesses is always better than just having one person say what is true. If two people are both saying the same thing about what is right, is is way more believable than if one person is saying it. Likewise, having both the Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of Christ, can we really deny what they say to us? And finally, I would turn to the book of Mormon. In Chapter 7:8-9, we read: 
"8 Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record shall from the Gentiles unto you. 
9 For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them." 
    
The Book of Mormon was never meant to replace the Bible. Rather, it is there to give us further understanding and enlightenment. I have come to learn of the supporting power that the Bible and the Book of Mormon have for each other this through something that everyone here that has gone to high school knows about. Seminary. This class, as early as it was, helped me to understand the relationship that these two books had. Now, I was not perfect in this class. I fell asleep probably more often than I should have, but on the days that I actually made a commitment to pay attention and to try to learn something, I began to better see the correlations between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, during the years that I studied those books in particular. I have a testimony, that though Seminary may seem like a burden while you are in it, the lessons and things I learned have greatly helped me in my life so far, and I know that they will continue to bless me as I remember the things I learned. 
   
 The Book of Mormon provides to basic questions that we have in life about the gospel. The answer to the existence of a God can be found in Alma 22. The book of Enos testifies to us that God truly answers our prayers. If we want to know what Christ expects of us in this life, we can look to 2 Nephi 9. There is a plethora of knowledge that can be gained from reading the Book of Mormon that can help us in our daily lives, and I urge you to read it and discover this knowledge for yourself. One very simple truth that I have discovered for myself is that of listening to the teachings of my parents. One day, I was reading in the book of Alma, and I was reading about the sons of Helamen, and I came across this passage of scripture, which reads: "...yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it." (Alma 56: 47-48) This got me thinking. What had I learned from my parents? I reflected on my life and began to see that they had taught me so many things, be it through lessons or by example, and I began to see how much better I am for it, and how much better my life ahead of me can become. 
    
I would now like to return to the talk that I mentioned earlier. It is titled "The Power of the Book of Mormon". I would like to start with how the Book of Mormon is true. President Monson says, "Because the Book of Mormon is true, The Church if Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's Church on the earth, and the holy priesthood of God has been restored for the benefit and blessing of his children." The phrase that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion should not be taken lightly. Everything about our religion is tied to this book being true. If you have not yet taken up the challenge that Moroni put forward to us, I urge you this day to read his words and pray earnestly to know for yourself of its truthfulness. I know that some people may feel that they do not need to pray that the Book of Mormon is true. They believe that by just coming to church every week, learning about it in their classes and reading it either in their families or by themselves is enough. This is not true. All you are doing is reading and listening to the testimonies of others of how the Book of Mormon is true, but never gaining a testimony for yourself. In the world that we live in today, we cannot just rely on the testimony of others. We must gain a testimony for ourselves. I was one of these people to be honest. For the longest time, I was of the mindset that I didn't need to pray that the Book of Mormon is true, because everyone around me was constantly telling me that it was, so I just went with the flow. Then I started to go on splits with the missionaries a few years back. I did not go very often with them, mostly because I was a hard guy to pin down because I was usually doing something when they needed a guy to go with them. But on some of the times that I went with them, I noticed something. Whenever I heard them testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to people, it really felt like they they knew what they were saying, and that they completely believed in what they were saying. This hit me really hard, and I wanted to know how I could be as certain as they were. I was drawn to Moroni's challenge in Moroni 10:4-5, and I read it, but I didn't immediately pray about it. I went back through and read the Book of Mormon first, and then I prayed about it. It was at that moment that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Book of Mormon was true, and subsequently, everything else that I had learned about the gospel thus far was also true. That was a pretty amazing feeling to have, and I began to look for more opportunities to try and expand my testimony.

    Now, I would like to share my testimony with you. I know that God lives. I know that he came down to sacrifice himself for us. I know that he came and ministered to the Jews, and that he also came to the Americas and interacted with and taught the people here. I know that his teachings to them are recorded in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and that both together are needed to gain a full understanding of the gospel. I know that in these latter-days, Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, and began the restoration of the gospel. I know that Joseph Smith did truly translate the Book of Mormon for our use today. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet called of God. I know that today, Thomas S. Monson is called of God to be our President and Prophet, and that we are truly in the last days before the second coming of Christ. I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.