Homecoming Address

Mission Homecoming Talk

December 30, 2018

Be a Light Unto the World

The North America West and Northwest Area Plan for 2019 says, “Be a light unto the world by becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ and joyfully help others to follow the Savior and receive the blessings of the temple.”

We just spent the past six months doing that as Full-time Missionaries!

We felt like we automatically became true disciples of Christ when we put on our official missionary name badges in the MTC.  Our first full day there, we assembled in this large auditorium to hear Sister Sheri Dew speak.  As Senior Couples, we were allowed to enter first and take our seats on the first few rows.  The younger missionaries followed.  As we watched these incredible missionaries come in, young and young women, who in their youth were sacrificing so much to be there, we felt a very might and humbling spirit.  We became so grateful for their service, diligence, and worthiness!  It was an incredible experience to be there with them.

We were part of exactly 100 Senior Missionaries that were in the MTC that week.  And that week may have been one of the most powerful of the entire mission.

But we all, all 100 of us, seemed to struggle with the exact same thing.  None of us felt like we were good enough to be there.  We all looked at the other 99 missionaries and thought “we are as good as they are, not as learned in the gospel, not as able to teach, not as able to receive inspiration.”  We learned quickly that this was certainly not true at all and that thinking we are not good enough is a tool of the adversary.  A very effective tool.

Seven months ago in my farewell address, I talked about personal revelation and how one of my fears is that they would drop us into some unknown place and tell us to just go do what the spirit told us to do.  Well, that is exactly what happened!

We arrived at the Mission Office and the Mission President assigned us to work in the Highland’s Ward in Clearlake.  He instructed to go up there, contact the Bishop and ask him where to start and follow the spirit.  The next night, we found ourselves in the Bishop’s office as he told us to “go out and do what the spirit tells us to do.”  Well, he did provide us a list of names of families to visit.  But the rest was up to us and the spirit.

Those first couple of weeks were quite miserable as we tried to figure out what it was the Lord wanted us to do.  We started visiting the list of families and inviting them to come to church, but it was pretty much futile.  They all had an excuse as to why they couldn’t come to church.  It was very discouraging.

We prayed for help and further inspiration.  And went to the temple.  It was in the Sacramento Temple that we received the inspiration that we should be inviting and preparing people to go to the temple rather than to church. 

We returned to Clearlake excited, and petitioned the Lord as to who we should present this invitation to.  We found that EVERYONE had good experiences at the temple, even if it was just walking on the temple grounds.  And most easily and readily accepted an invitation to prepare to go to the temple.  As a result, dozens of people we worked with went to or returned to the temple.  And along the way of their journey, they also obviously started coming back to church as well.

As we taught these people, we came across dozens of stories of people who didn’t think they were good enough.  Again, a tool the adversary uses effectively to keep us from going where we are supposed to go and doing what we are supposed to do.  I will share a few of those stories with you.

First is the King family.  They lived in a part of the ward that experienced wildfires three times while we were there.  They were evacuated twice for several days each time.  We were inspired to go visit them after the first fire and were warmly welcomed into their home.

They told us how they had refused to evacuate, but then saw the huge fire crest over the hill to the north of their home and it scared them.  As they evacuated, they noticed the neighbor lady across the street struggling to hitch her trailer up and evacuate.  They began to help her, but the lady panicked while backing up and ran the trailer into the fence.  Brother King, praying for help in the situation, somehow miraculously managed to lift the heavy hitch off her truck, pull the trailer away from the house, then slap it back down on the truck ball.  The fire was licking at them just as they left.

The second fire, they decided not to evacuate either, but a Sherriff’s Deputy stopped by and told them all the emergency personnel had left and they would be on their own.  As the fire crested over the hill to the east of them this time, they finally evacuated.  The fire destroyed two homes just to the east of them, burned some bushes across the street from their home, left holes in the trampoline in their back yard, and burned down the neighbor behind them’s shed.  It’s as if the fire literally jumped over their home.

While that fire hit, the King’s were holed up in a motel in Yuba City, on their knees, praying for the safety of their home.

As we visited with them that first time, we noticed that their home was decorated with pictures of Christ, the temple, and other LDS pictures.  They told us they really wanted to go to the temple, but had in the past, struggled to make it.  They felt they weren’t good enough and said “they don’t let people like us into the temple.”  This really saddened us and it was obviously the whisperings of the adversary saying those words to them.

They set a goal of going to the temple and began to work on it.  As the parents progressed, the teenagers in their home, and there were three of them, noticed and wanted to be part of it.  Soon we were teaching the entire family.

On November 21^st, we were able to be with them in the temple as they received their endowments and next week we will travel to Sacramento to see the family be sealed in the temple.

The Kings’ enthusiasm built up as they progressed and they began sharing the gospel.  One of their sons’ friends was baptized and another friend in Santa Rosa was taking lessons.  As were the King’s parents.

Brother King accepted a call to be the Ward Young Men’s President the night we left the mission field.

The next story involves Brother Boardman.  Brother Boardman had been a member of Hell’s Angels while younger and had committed some heinous crimes.  He went to trial and was found not guilty due to insanity and was then institutionalized for seven years.  He then became a pastor of a church.  But as he taught, he could feel that something was missing.  He didn’t feel like he was teaching truth. 

One day, a friend of his, who also used to be a Hell’s Angel, approached him about a new religion, the Latter-day Saint church.  He had joined years earlier and was now serving as a missionary.  Brother Boardman ended up joining the church and later married his wife in the temple.

Times became tough for him and his wife divorced him and fell away from the church.  He also struggled and fell away as well.

During our first visit to his home, we challenged him to put his life in order and prepare to go back to the temple, a place he hadn’t been in almost 15 years.  He went back to his bedroom, produced several cans of chewing tobacco, and destroyed them while we watched.  And committed to go back to the temple.

Brother Boardman had lived a tough life.  He had many health issues, but he didn’t let that hold him back.  He had a lot of faith and used that faith to be healed many times.

He is preparing to go back and is very close.

Finally, we worked with a dear sister, Sister Yahn.  She was very active and worthy, but just couldn’t come to church due to her work schedule.  On our first visit, she told us “that is just the was it is and is going to be….”

A few days later, the spirit inspired us strongly to go back and challenge her to prepare to go back to the temple and church.  So we did.  She was very curious as to why we were coming back, but did set a date of December 4^th to go back to the temple.  We all knew that prayer and faith would be required for her to get her schedule changed.

We checked in with her via text weekly and she was praying and fasting for help and also looking for new employment and requesting her boss change her hours.  As her date approached, she became quite discouraged and started that think about giving up.  She said “I’m not good enough, I don’t have that kind of faith.”  Sister Stewart-Longhurst continued to encourage her and she did not give up.  Just a few days later, her boss changed her schedule and she had Sundays off.  On December 1^st, three days before her goal, we were able to attend the temple with her!

YOU are all good enough.  We all are good enough.  The Lord will help anyone who asks.

 I testify that this mission has been nothing short of a miracle.  Specific people were waiting for us in California.  Some recognized us as we entered their homes and already knew why we were there.  I am so glad we chose to follow the spirit and serve this mission.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.