Today I got to stand in front of hundreds of people
and talk all I want and they just had to sit there and listen:) What sounds
better than that, right? I tried my very best to write down what I said today
at my farewell in my talk. I might not have caught everything word for word but
I still think it's worth reading! Enjoy...
Introduction
Hi! My name is Emily Curtis and I am very happy I
get to be here and talk to you guys today. I’ve practiced this talk in front of
the mirror a couple times and it is a whole lot better getting to stare at your
beautiful faces rather than mine the whole time.
Missionary announcement
So, not sure if you guys heard, but there is a new
missionary announcement! Young boys are now allowed to leave on their missions
at the age of 18 and girls at 19. It hasn’t exactly been broadcasted around the
world so I just thought I should share that with you that way you will
understand why I am up here giving my farewell talk.
I received my call almost 5 months ago to the
London, England mission; English speaking and I report June 27th.
Google Search
I have to be honest, I have been pretty nervous for
this talk. In fact, I’m a little embarrassed to admit this but I actually went
on to Google and searched “I’m incredibly nervous to give a talk”. Apparently
80 million other people feel the same way so that helped me feel a little
better, at least I’m not alone. What also helped me was asking for advice from
my family members, friends.
Mom’s advice
I asked my mom one day for her insights for my talk
and for ideas for a topic since the bishopric was allowing me to choose. She
gave me a few ideas and one of them was that I should mention something about
my dad.
Dad’s shout out
Let me start by saying how grateful I am for my dad
He has supported me in every decision that I have made. He knew that going on a
mission would be an incredible blessing for my life and he was with me every
step of the way in the decision process.
He actually got up at 3 this morning to go hike a
mountain to find my sister-in-laws lost phone and never once did I hear a
complaint about it.
Mom’s Shout out
Oh, also, my mom in her words, said, “make sure you
let them know that you are mentioning your dad because it’s fathers day. I don’t
want them to think that I’m just a lousy mom so you only mentioned your dad.”
Well… Mom, your birthday happens to be in 2 days so this one’s for you: Thank
you for buying me all of my mission clothes when I knew dad would not want to
pay for them, and thank you for your wonderful example in my life. Not only
have you taught me how to have fun, you have also taught me how to be a
follower of Christ.
Pokie and Chickies advice
I also asked my little sister and chicky Clark for
advice. There only advice was to be funny; I guess this trumped giving a
spiritual message, and touching lives in their minds. It’s nice to know that
the future of our church is in good hands.
How I chose topic
So, like I mentioned before, I was given the option
to pick my own topic and
After contemplating it for a while I realized that
I want to talk to you guys today about the importance of trusting in the Lord
in all that you do. 2 scenarios that can show our trust in the lord are 1) when
we are making decisions, and 2) when we are going through trials.
Elder Scott said this, “your joy in life depends
upon your trust in Heavenly Father and His holy Son, your conviction that their
plan of happiness truly can bring you joy.”
I’ll start with talking to you about trials. It is
important to remember that trials can come in so many different ways, big and
small.
A few weeks ago a sister posted a story to a Facebook
page dedicated to future sister missionaries. This was her post: I tried to
edit it to make it sound a little less dramatic and like a teenager but I
couldn’t fix everything…ok she said:
I am about to cry, and this is stupid, but I just
need help. For the last 4 months or so I've felt like I was supposed to go to
this certain location for my mission. I felt I was needed there for some reason
and it was weird. This other boy from my town and I have both put in our
papers. My call hasn't come yet, but his came today. He got his call, and it's
to the place I've felt I was supposed to go. I know we're not supposed to hope
for a place and we're supposed to want to serve with the location not
mattering, but I've just felt so strongly like that was the place I am supposed
to go. There is no chance they're going to send both of us to the same place,
and when I heard his call this evening.... my heart sunk. It's just stupid for
me to have all these feelings anyways, so now I am really confused. I just need
love, support, and advice.
THEN weeks later she posted this:
UPDATE! So I have a very special story about my
call. A few weeks ago I posted in this group about how my friend was called to
the mission that I had felt for 6 months I needed to serve. Today, I received
my call. Now, it wasn't to the same place as him. It wasn't even close, but now
I know why everything happened the way it did. He was called there and will
definitely take care of those people for me. I though, needed to serve a
different mission. 23 years ago my mom decided to serve a mission. My dad was
an older convert that wanted to serve, but did not have the opportunity. He
said he would wait for my mom. She received her call. She went 8 times to be
set apart, but the stake president said he just couldn't do it. He placed her
on the plane, and said they would set her apart at the MTC. She got there, and
her mission president flew in to set her apart. As he went to do it, he began
to cry. He set her apart and released her at the same time as serving a
full-time mission and said that her mission was a mission of obedience. He said
that she needed to have a certain child at a specific time, and so she needed
to go home. She went home, married my loving father, and then had me. As I
opened my call this morning, many thoughts went through my mind. I read the
words, and I was called to the same mission my mom was assigned to serve 23
years ago. As I sit here typing this, it all makes sense. I will honorably be
serving in the San Jose, California Mission. I am overjoyed. This IS the real
Church. All mission calls are inspired of God.”
This sister received the answer to her trial within
just a few weeks. Some answers, however, might not come as quickly as we want
them to.
Tennis shoes trial
For example, this past week I lost my tennis shoes.
Anybody who knows me knows that I can’t live without my tennis shoes. I use
them literally every day. Well, I have prayed over and over again since I
misplaced them a few days ago. Unfortunately, I have not found them yet. But I
have so much faith that Heavenly father will help me find them! I know it’s
something so small but that is what’s so incredible about the Lord.
Running a race scenario
When we go through trials we get discouraged. Just
like fear, Discouragement does not come from God. A little while back I was
listening to a speech and they gave the scenario of running in a race. You’re
running you’re hardest and trying your best then, quickly, you get passed by
the super fit guy. The speaker talked about how this could be discouraging but
how it is important to keep going. Then I started thinking about when I was
running my race and how I didn’t only get passed by the superhuman guy, I got
passed by the pregnant lady, and the 80-year old grandpa too! He didn’t tell me
what to do in that scenario! Don’t fret though; I came to my own conclusion
that that cannot discourage us either.
Elder Uchtdorf said this; “I know this for
certainty it is often in the trial of adversity that we learn those most
critical lessons that form our character and shape our destiny.”
Decision Making
I now want to talk about trusting in the Lord when
making decisions. If you have not already, you will face the world. It has been
promised to us that all of our decisions, especially the big ones—marriage,
mission, school, careers—will be easier to make if we pray in faith, truly
trusting the Lord, and then follow the promptings of the Spirit.
I realized that it was important for me to share
with you guys how I got to where I am now. The decision for me to serve a
mission wasn’t easy. Just like any decision to be made, there were 2 steps that
I needed to take in order get my answer. I, first, needed to go to the Lord to
ask him what he wanted from me. Then, I needed to trust that what he told me
would be what was best for my life and I needed to act on it.
My Story
Unlike a lot of my friends, when Prophet Thomas S.
Monson made the announcement of the mission age change I did not have the
incredible impact that I was going to serve. It took 2 1/2 months for me to
decide. The announcement was made in October and I turned my papers in on
December 25th.
The week after the news came out BYU campus went
CRAZY with excitement. I, however, went crazy with decisions. How would I ever
know if a mission was the right choice for my life? I knew that I had a
lot of praying and searching to do; so I started.
Things holding me back
Admittedly, I realized that the things that were
holding me back from wanting to serve were the material things that life
offered. To name a few, fitness, dating, work, school, family, and friends.
These are silly temptations but still seemed to be filling my mind with doubts
about my mission. Big enough temptations that they were seriously
holding me back.
Satan
I know that we are supposed to love
everyone but I really don’t like Satan. He has decided to try to become my best
worst friend these past few months. I know that he will try to get at anybody
who is trying to be righteous and the decision to serve a mission was most
definitely something that he knew would help me reach my full potential and he
didn’t like that.
One night, over Christmas break, I recorded the
following entry in my journal:
1-9-13
“Satan will make you feel that you are not worthy
to serve a mission. The other night I lied awake for hours and I could feel
Satan so strongly trying to make me feel unworthy. His presence was so strong.”
I just remember feeling awful inside. Every sin, whether it be big or small,
that I had committed had crept into my thoughts and camped out there for the remainder
of that never-ending night. When I think back to this night I think the
following quote is appropriate: “When Satan reminds you of his past, remind him
of his future”.
BYU MISSION FIRESIDE
Only a few weeks after the announcement was made,
BYU held a missionary fireside for anyone planning to or thinking about
serving. I was so excited for it! Maybe this would give me my answer to my
question! As soon as the fireside started I got a gut wrenching sick feeling. I
felt nauseous, tired, and horrible all the way around. It got so bad I almost
got up and left but decided to push through it and make it through the whole
thing. I thought to myself, “maybe this is it. Maybe this is my answer.
This sick feeling is Heavenly Father telling me that I do not belong here; a
mission is not for me".
Submission Date
I remember the day that my papers were submitted by
the Bishop my thoughts went crazy! I was lying down in bed and kept thinking
about it. For some reason I kept having the feeling, “I need to put them in 1
month from now. It’s too soon”. I went home and told my roommate. I asked her
if it is final once the bishop presses submit or if there is anyway that I
could have them postpone it for a month, or so… She then told me that it’s
final. She told me that the doubts are only coming from Satan, though. She told
me that once I open my call it would be so much better. These words helped, but
still the doubt lingered and I just brushed off the words because I had already
been trying to tell myself the same thing for months.
I would try so hard to get the excitement to serve
just like most of my friends had. Before bed I would watch clips of
missionaries, or read talks about serving. It was at these times that I would
get a glimpse of the excitement I wanted..
Differentiating between god and Satan
One of the hardest things for me was
differentiating between what promptings were from God and which were from
Satan. What if I really wasn’t supposed to go on a mission? What if it
was not in Gods plan for me? And what if these doubts were not coming from
Satan but rather from God?
Patriarchal blessing
I read through my patriarchal blessing a lot during
this process. It reads, “I bless you, that as you counsel with the Lord, you
will have the gift of discernment to be able to distinguish between what is
right and wrong and what is true and false.” If I was blessed with this gift
then why am I finding it so hard to tell the difference?
To be 100% honest with you, I never truly received
my yes answer.
It was not until I read through my patriarchal
blessing one night that I knew that I had made the right choice. It reads, “You
have a special mission to perform. Satan recognizes your potential for good and
will seek to mislead and discourage you. He will attempt to distract to you and
entice you onto pathways leading to discouragement and transgression.” Things
were starting to become clear now.
My patriarchal blessing has helped me so much
in my life. It has been my lighthouse in my dark storms. I have such a strong
testimony of my blessing and I continue to find blessings from the Lord in it
that comforts me in times of need.
It came down to me looking at it as if it was the
perfect thing for me to do for my life rather than am I supposed to go on a
mission or am I not supposed to go on a mission. I did not need a firm yes or
no answer. I needed to know that my Heavenly Father would support me and that
this was a good plan for me. I needed to know that he would look after me and
take care of me throughout the mission and throughout my life. He would make it
the right plan for my life. I look at it a lot like choosing your spouse for
eternity; you pick and then you never look back and never think of what could
have been. You make it work and there will be struggles beyond belief but you
do your absolute best.
Papers
My papers went in on Friday, January 25. I got my
call just a couple weeks later. My friends and family started all came to
support me. As soon as I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, my eyes
started flooding with tears. They got so blurry I could barely read the
letters. I took a deep breath and began reading:
Dear Sister Curtis,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the
ENGLAND LONDON mission. The tears rolled down my face. Everybody screamed and
clapped and I knew immediately this call was exactly what I needed.
It was inspired. It was absolutely perfect for me. There is no doubt in my mind
now that this is what Heavenly Father wants for my life. It was an incredibly
challenging decision process for me but it was all worth it. Because of the
questions I had and the struggles I went through trying to decide, it made it
that much better when I opened my call from the Lord. It is safe to say that I
absolutely could not have done this without relying on the Lord for his help. I
know that the struggles are not over. There will be so many times during the
mission that will challenge me but, if I stay strong, they can only help me to
grow.
Quote
I like to think of my mission not as the best year
and a half of my life, but the best year and a half for my life.
One of my favorite quotes by Elder Russel M. Nelson
says, “The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual destiny of the
missionary, his or her spouse, and their posterity for generations to come. A
desire to serve is a natural outcome of one’s conversion, worthiness, and
preparation.”
Take home message
I hope that you will start to look to the Savior
more often in your lives. Family and friends are great, but we should always
remember to look up to our Savior for guidance first before we look to our left
and right to our peers.
Testimony
Now, normally you hear missionaries bearing their
testimonies in the language that they spoke on their mission only in their
homecoming talks. However, I have been a diligent sister and have been able to
prepare for my mission so well that I have almost perfected the language
already. So here it goes, I’ll now bear my testimony in the language that I
will be speaking for the next year and a half of my life.
I know with absolute certainty that I belong to the true church and I
feel so blessed to be able to be a part of it and bring others unto it. I also
have a strong testimony of the temple. I hope I don’t offend any die-hard fans
out there when I say this but Disneyland was wrong when they claimed to be the
happiest place on earth. The temple is the happiest place on earth. I cannot
wait to spend the next year and a half of my life spreading the Gospel and
bettering myself. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and looks after me. I
love him so much. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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