Farewell Talk:Diamonds and Discipleship

Just thought I'd post my farewell talk up on here for those who weren't able to make it, and for those who would like to read it again. I report to the MTC this Wednesday. :)

Buenos tardes hermanos y hermanas! I would like to start out by thanking everyone for being here today. I appreciate all of your support more than you realize, and I know I wouldn’t be here today with out you! Also, I’d like to warn everyone; I’m pretty sure I developed some sort of allergic reaction to public speaking, because sometimes my eyes just start to water really bad when I speak, so if it looks like I’m crying, don’t worry. Just allergies.

                As most of you know, I have been called to serve in the Peru Cusco mission, Spanish speaking. I’m thoroughly convinced that I got the single most coolest mission in the world. Honestly, when I opened my call, I was just in shock that I got to go to such an awesome place. So, needless to say, I’m pretty excited!

                In the April 2010 General Conference, President Uchtdorf gave a FANTASTIC talk entitled, “You Are My Hands.” In the talk, he begins with a story which I feel would provide a great back drop for the rest of my talk. He tells the story of a city during World War 2, in which, after a bombing, a large statue of Jesus Christ was severely damaged. When the townspeople found the statue, they were very upset because it had been a representation of their faith, and reminded them of God’s presence in their lives. Fortunately, most of the statue was able to be repaired.  However, the statue’s hands were destroyed beyond repair. Although some wanted to get the hands remade, they left the statue as it was without the hands with a simple inscription at the base: “You are my hands.” I find this to be a beautiful, though simple, truth.  Although our Heavenly Father can do all things, he often uses us as his hands on this earth to accomplish his work.

How can we maximize what we can do for the Lord? In a talk entitled “Challenge to Become”, Dallin H. Oaks writes, “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something”. Well, what does the gospel challenge us to become? Obviously, it challenges us to become better people, and always strive to be more Christ like. In a word, this gospel challenges us to become a disciple, namely, a disciple of Christ.

                How does the gospel help us become a disciple of Christ? I know this has been used before, but I couldn’t seem to find where, but I’d like to compare our process in becoming a disciple of Christ to the process of the creation of a diamond. For those of you who do not know, diamond is graphite (carbon) which, over a period of time (usually millions of years), is subjected to high pressure and high temperature, and it becomes diamond. Here, I have a piece of graphite (okay, its charcoal, but we can pretend for just a second.) It is rough, crumbles easily, and quite frankly, isn’t much to look at. Here, I have a diamond (okay, its plastic. Again, let’s just pretend for a moment.). It’s smooth, and very beautiful to look at. It’s also (in theory, as this is plastic) the hardest substance known to man. As a matter of fact, my father creates diamond at his job, and it is used for drilling oil and gas wells. So, this (charcoal) gets turned into this (diamond), through millions of years of high temperature and high pressure. So how can this (diamond) be used to look at our journey to discipleship?

                Okay, let’s talk about high temperature first. One of the reasons graphite is able to turn into diamond is through heat. First thing I thought of is the “heat” that most people use to describe the feeling of the Spirit. As stated in 2 Nephi 31:17, “The remission of sins comes by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” The gift of the Holy Ghost itself is often called baptism by fire, which, if I’m not mistaken, is usually pretty hot. How can the Holy Ghost help direct our lives in order for us to become Disciples of Christ? Well, as most of you know, the gift of the Holy Ghost is received after baptism. The Holy Ghost then becomes our constant companion. The Holy Ghost has many purposes for us. He teaches us, brings us peace, helps us find truth, sanctifies us, bears witness, and testifies of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, without the power of the Holy Ghost, it would be impossible for anyone to be truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. “If ye receive not the Spirit, thou shall not teach.” D&C 42:14. The Spirit is KEY to learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without beginning to gain a testimony of the gospel, we would never have the desire, or knowledge, to become a disciple of Christ. However, after our testimonies are started, the Holy Ghost helps us to nourish and grow our testimonies.

                An experience that stands out to me when I think of the Holy Ghost helping testify of truth to further our testimonies happened just a few months ago. When I first received my call to Peru, my mom went out and bought me the Book of Mormon in Spanish, or El Libro de Mormon. I remember taking it back up to school with me, and for fun I decided to read a little bit from it. I didn’t recognize all of the words, and I struggled to understand what was occurring in the passages I was reading. But, I do remember the burning of the Spirit in my heart. I sat there reading, with tears in my eyes, because although this book was in another language, and I wasn’t entirely sure what the stuff I was reading said, the Spirit testified to me; This book was true. That was a huge testimony builder for me. Through the Spirit’s “high temperature” fire, I was able to continue my conversion to becoming a diamond… AKA a disciple of Christ.

                 So, another reason that graphite is able to turn into diamond is through high pressure. When the graphite is subjected to high pressure, it can do one of two things; it can fracture and be destroyed, or it can endure, change, and become stronger in the process.  High pressure coupled with high temperature will help facilitate this change, or synthesis, that physically changes the crystalline structure that transforms the carbon in graphite into crystalline diamond.  The same goes for us and adversity. When faced with adversity, we can choose to be beaten down and destroyed, or we can endure, change, and become stronger in the process. Oftentimes, our adversities require outside help. This is where the spirit comes into play.  Turning to Christ (or the Spirit of God, like a fire…you know) is how we can endure adversities, grow (change), and become stronger.  Although it’s a poem I’m sure most of you have heard before, I still feel that it is very touching, and applies well here. The poem is as follows,

One night I had a dream...
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and
Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;
one belonged to me, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of my life flashed before us,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life
this really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You would walk with me all the way;
But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life,
There is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why in times when I
needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious
child. I love you, and I would never,
never leave you during your times of
trial and suffering.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.

                At the beginning of this school year, I was having a hard time adjusting to the college life. It was hard being away from home, and not having my parents to turn to. The first few weeks I really had nowhere to turn to help me overcome my adversity. So, I decided to turn to the Lord. I started making sure I was praying daily, and reading my scriptures. The change that was made in my life was immediate, and very apparent. I was much happier, and I knew I could turn to our Heavenly Father with anything I needed. Throughout the rest of the year, as adversities arose, they were easy to push past, because I was able to have my Heavenly Father and Christ at my side helping me through.

                The last point I’d like to cover in my diamond comparison is the fact that the process of becoming a diamond usually takes time. However, it’s not always a constant process. It could be subjected to the right conditions for a while, and then stop, and then start up again. This is also applicable to the path of becoming a disciple. Obviously, there’s the idea that the process of becoming a disciple of Christ doesn’t happen overnight, and that it is a lifelong process. But we could also think of it in regards of repentance. Although we may have the best intentions, we often tend to make mistakes. I am reminded of Lehi in 1 Nephi 16. For those of you who don’t know the story, after departing into the wilderness from Jerusalem, Nephi went out with his awesome bow to go hunt for food, and while he was gone, he broke it. Obviously, his family is upset that they have no food. It then specifically mentions that Lehi murmurs against the Lord because of this hardship. When Nephi approaches his father with a new bow he has made, and asks Lehi to inquire of the Lord where to hunt, Lehi was “truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of sorrow.” This is a prophet of the Lord, who has seen mighty visions, and he slipped up and made mistakes. Although we shouldn’t think of it in terms of, “sweet, I can make mistakes”, to me, it’s a comforting thought that even though I’m not perfect, through the Atonement, I can be clean again, and still be a faithful disciple of Christ.

                All right, so we have high pressure, high temperature, and time involved to make a beautiful diamond, right? So, there have to be some pretty perfect circumstances in order to create this diamond. The same applies in our lives. I know that without the things I mentioned, there’s no way that I could have come to know of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and love them. However, I definitely think I was put in the perfect circumstances for me to realize these things. I have been blessed with an amazing immediate family, who laugh, cry, and grow with me. My parents have always been there for me, although I oftentimes was thick headed, and probably pretty hard to deal with. I’ll always appreciate the fact that they taught me the gospel from a young age, but as I got older, helped me develop a testimony of my own, so that I wouldn’t just have to rely on theirs. Although my sisters and I don’t always get along, I’ve always been impressed with how spiritually in tune they seem to be, and at such a young age. To all my extended family, they are such an example as well. Many of them have served missions, and their influence upon me in that manner has been huge. And I have been very blessed with many close friends who have been spiritual mountains for me through the years, and their examples have done more for me than they know.

                Okay! So through all that stuff, now we have our diamond. It’s pretty sweet. As I said earlier, it’s the hardest substance known to man. So, let’s think for a second. Let’s say, we had a big rock we were trying to cut through. How effective would this be (charcoal)? This would break in just about 2 seconds. How about this (diamond)? You’re going to have a lot better luck, right? In my mind, this same principle applies to missionary work. You’re not going to be able to help others want to follow Christ, if you don’t follow Christ. The same comparison can be used. Often in the Book of Mormon and Bible, it is said that groups of people “hardened their hearts.” So, we can think of their hearts as a hard substance. Are we going to be able to affect them and touch their hearts if we are like the charcoal; brittle, and soft? No. We need to be like the diamond; beautiful, shining bright, and hard enough to help open their hearts to the power of the Spirit.

                All in all, Heavenly Father is going to help shape us into “his hands”, or his disciples. Through the power of the gospel, we can gain the desire to draw closer to Christ. Ultimately, this will cause us to make changes in our lives in order to make the decision to follow Christ, and become Disciples of Christ. We have been given a wonderful task to help further the Lord’s work on the earth, through serving others, missionary work, and setting an example for the rest of the world to follow. We all need to rise to the occasion, and accept this great responsibility, and start doing the work!

                In closing, I’d like to talk a little bit about an article written by President Uchtdorf, entitled, “How to be a disciple of Christ.” I’d just like to touch on the first few lines of it. President Uchtdorf writes, “The first step on the path of discipleship begins in the exact place where we stand! We do not have to prequalify to take that first step. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor. There is no requirement to be educated, eloquent, or intellectual. We do not have to be perfect or well-spoken or even well-mannered. You and I can walk in the path of discipleship today.” What an awesome truth. Don’t wait another minute to decide whether or not you want to follow Christ. Start making the choices and decisions today to start down that path, because I can guarantee that it will bring you happiness. And if you already are on the path, be a missionary! Help others to find the path. If you are truly a disciple of Christ, you will know the joy that can come through it, and you will do everything in your power to share that happiness with others. Through the path of becoming a disciple of Christ, we can go from this (charcoal) to this (diamond). It’s amazing to see the change that it can bring to your life, and others, and it’s what our Heavenly Father wants us to do.

See ya all in 2 years! My mom will be taking over my blog from here on out. Love you all! :)