For those who weren't able to make it to Adam's farewell, here is his talk in its entirety.
Coming from a musical family, I’ve grown up with music all my life. It has a special place in my heart, so I’d like to thank the choir for that beautiful number. It really set the tone for this meeting.
I’d also like to thank the speakers who spoke before me. They did a great job of bringing the spirit into this meeting and I pray that I can continue that as I speak to you today.
I remember being a little boy in elementary school and primary when the time just seemed to drag on and on. I remember singing songs like
I Hope They Call Me on a Mission or
Called to Serve but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself at this point of my life.
Then something happened. One day I graduated elementary and found myself in Junior High. It was at that point when time started to fly. Before I knew it, Junior High was over and it was on to High School. High School came fast, but it ended faster than it came. I was on to BYU for a semester and like that I had my mission call, was back up here in Bountiful, and am now speaking to you today, ready to leave for the MTC this Wednesday.
Before I go on, I’d like to issue a challenge to the youth here today, especially the young men, to start preparing right now to serve a mission, because before you know it, you’ll be up here like I am, ready to serve, and it is important that you start preparing yourself early, because it is a process that should not be rushed.
Moving on, those of you who know me well enough know that I am not a huge reader, but there is one book that I absolutely love reading. That book is the Book of Mormon. The amazing seminary program got me into the habit of reading every night and in the last four yours I have completed it five or six times on my own.
As I read, I find that some of my favorite passages of scripture come when a great prophet knows he is about to pass away soon and wants to speak or write to his people one last time. As I was visiting with Bishop Allred a few weeks ago, I was delighted to find out that my subject to you today comes from one of these discourses, and possibly my favorite one. That is that of King Benjamin.
Before he died, Benjamin gathered together all his people in what I imagine as a general conference-type setting and gave them a marvelous speech that covered many different subjects and took up four chapters, or twelve pages in modern day Mosiah.
Towards the end of that speech, in Mosiah chapter four, he brings up the subject in which I will speak to about. That is retaining a remission of your sins.
First off, what does it mean to retain a remission of your sins? I turned to Webster’s dictionary to give me a clearer image in my head that I could present to you.
To retain means to hold in one’s possession and a remission is forgiveness. So to retain a remission of your sins is to hold in your possession a forgiveness of your sins. This suggests that after we have taken the necessary steps to repent of our sins, God will give us a forgiveness of our sins and it is up to us to keep that. If we don’t, we are condemning ourselves. We must not let that happen.
Some may believe that once they have obtained that remission of their sins that they are done and can just relax and do nothing. This is false. We must do what is necessary to retain that remission so that we don’t lose it and perish.
So what is it that we must do? Starting in verse 26 of chapter 4, Benjamin covers four different areas of what we must do.
The first thing he talks about is service. Service, if done with the right attitude, helps us feel good about ourselves. It brings joy into our lives. That joy that comes after seeing another person happy and prosperous due to the service that you have performed is unmatched.
Mosiah 2:17 states,
“when you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” The Savior teaches us in Matthew 25:40,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Finally, in the Joseph Smith translation of Matthew 16:25, we learn,
“for whosever will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come. And whosoever will lose his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in the world to come.”
Now that you know the importance of service, let me give you a few guidelines. Benjamin advises us in verse 27 of Mosiah 4 that these things need to be done in wisdom and order. He gives us the analogy that it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.
In 3 Nephi, 13:1-4, the Savior presents the idea of secret service.
"Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your father who is in heaven. Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms let not they left hand know what they right hand doeth; That thine alms may be in secret; and they father who seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly."
The second thing that Benjamin directs us to do in order to retain a remission of our sins is to watch ourselves. He presents three different ways that we need to watch ourselves: watch our thoughts, watch our words, and watch our deeds.
First, watch our thoughts. Everything we do, whether it be good or evil, starts with our thoughts. If we learn to control those thoughts, and really think deeply before we do or say something, we’ll be able to avoid those stupid mistakes that we all make and we’ll learn to be more productive.
Sometimes a bad thought will enter our minds, but when it does, we must dismiss it. Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated this with wonderful imagery.
“We may not always be able to keep an evil thought from entering our minds, but we don’t have to offer it a chair and invite it to sit down.” He is exactly right. When we do entertain those bad thoughts, it is at that moment when we get ourselves into trouble. We need to treat those bad thoughts like we would a bug that decides to enter our home. If we let them in freely, we will become infested, get ourselves hurt, and leave a bad impression on those that look up to us.
The second way that we need to watch ourselves is through our words. In the New Testament, James gives us a great discourse on the power of words. Since he says it in a much better way than I could, let me quote, starting in verse 2 of the 3rd chapter of James.
"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the
same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we
turn about their whole body.
Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of
fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small
helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold
how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among
our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in
the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men,
which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My bretheren, these
things ought not so to be."
The third and final thing that Benjamin asks us to watch is our deeds. This is the most important thing for us to watch. Why is this? The greatest influence and teacher in one’s life comes though the example of another.
If you are trying to teach a principle to someone, but they notice that you don’t follow that principle yourself, then they will be inclined to not follow that principle.
The opposite is true as well. If you are trying to teach a principle to someone and they find that you do in fact live that principle, then the chance that they will follow that principle is greatly increased.
In addition to service and watchfulness, the third thing that we need to do is to keep the commandments of God.
The most important thing to remember in keeping the commandments is that they are given to us so that we can be happy. They aren’t there to restrict us and make us angry. Sometimes we may not know why it is necessary to follow a certain commandment. It may not make sense, but we must keep the right prospective and think deeply about the long-lasting consequences of breaking the commandment.
Myself being a sports guy, I’d like to make an analogy that I think fits perfectly. When you are playing a team sport, the most important thing to do is to listen to what the coach says, and do exactly what he wants you to do. Many times in a game you have a natural tendency to want to disregard the coach and do your own thing. You may think the coach is not being fair to you. However, if everyone on the team, or even just one player for that matter, decides to do his own thing then it creates chaos and the likely outcome is a loss. But if everyone buys into the system that the coach has set up and plays his own individual role that the coach asks him to play, then the team plays well.
Such is the case in life. Our heavenly father is the coach and we are all the players. If we buy into his system and do what he says with exactness, then we will succeed in life, even if we play a smaller role. Just like not everyone can be the star quarterback of a football team, not everyone can be the president of the church or the bishop of a ward.
Last, but certainly not least, in order to retain a remission of our sins,
we must remain faithful to the end of our days.
Remaining faithful has everything to do with our attitude. We must have a positive outlook on life. In a book by Ed J. Pinegar, brother Pinegar tells a story about a little girl in the fifth grade.
It is picture day at school and she is so excited. Her mother says, “Let’s
put on your white dress; it’s such a beautiful March spring day. The snow
is almost melted. You will look so pretty in your white dress for the school
picture.” Once she is dressed in her finery, the little girl runs up quickly to
the bus stop and she’s first in line. Along comes a car, and splats mud
all over her dress; oh it was horrible. She runs back home crying, “Mommy,
Mommy, my dress is ruined, my dress is ruined.”
Then she goes in the house and her mother says, “Well let’s put on
your second-best dress.” So she puts on her second-best dress and she
runs back to the bus stop. Just as she gets to the bus stop she reaches up to
grab the bus handle, but the bus driver didn’t see her and he inadvertently
closes the door and hits her right on the nose. Hemoglobin is everywhere. She takes her little hanky and tries to stop her nosebleed. She finally gets to school. She has a little scabby nose, but she has her second-best dress on, so it’s not too bad of a day.
Well, she goes to morning recess on the north side of the building. There are a few little parcels of snow still left, and some young, future missionary boys in the fifth grade are making snowballs. They decide to throw one that goes the wrong way, and lo and behold, it hits her right in the eye. Her eye begins to swell up and she
runs to the teacher. “Teacher, teacher, look at my eye.”
“Yes, it’s swollen shut. Well, Sweetie Pie, you go on the south side of the building for recess next time. It’s warm there and those snowballs won’t hit you anymore.”
“OK, teacher, I will. Next recess, in the afternoon, she climbs up on the monkey bars, all the way to the top. There she is sitting at the top when she sees her friend Sally. She goes to wave and loses her grip and falls all the way down and lands on her elbow. She screams, but as she screams, she notices something shiny on the ground and clutches it in her hand. She cries her way into the teacher and says, “My arm hurts.”
The teacher thinks, “Oh dear, it’s probably broken.” Then the school nurse comes and agrees that the arm is probably broken. “Let’s put it in a sling and call her
mother so she can take her to the doctor.” So, they put the arm in a sling and
her mother comes to pick her up. And there’s her daughter, swollen eye, scabby
nose, second-best dress on, sling on her arm, and a smile on and a smile on her
face. And she says, “Sweetheart, how can you smile on a day like this?”
And the little girl says, “Oh Mommy, it was my lucky day—I found a nickel.”
Brothers and sisters, that is the attitude we need to have. Another incredible example comes from the story of Job in the Old Testament. Job had many trials, in his own words:
"He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness
in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from
my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine
hope hath he removed like a tree. He that also kindled his wrath against
me, and he counteth me into him as one of his enemies.His troops come together,
and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.He
hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintances are verily estranged
from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten
me.
They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger:
I am an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body. Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Yet through all that, he stays faithful and manages to say the following: For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."
May we all follow Job’s example.
A quote from the movie Count of Monté Cristo says it all:
"Life is a storm. You will bask in the sunlight one moment and be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout, “Do your worst, for I will do mine.” Then the fates will know you as a man."My dear brothers and sisters, my prayer to you today is that you remember what I have said to you today so that you can retain a remission of your sins and live our father in heaven once again. I know this gospel is true and I am excited to share this knowledge with the people of Texas. I’d like to thank you all for all that you have down over the years to help me on path and get to this point in my life. I couldn’t have done it without you. I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Proud parents send off their 5th missionary.
Posing for one last sibling picture for 2 years!
