I have a few more entries on my blog before it closes, but this will be the last entry. It is my homecoming talk! Think of it I AM A RETURN MISSIONARY! I gain a lot of satisfaction out of realizing that. I did it. I did something that was really hard and totally outside of my comfort zone, and I did it with everything I had, each and every day. It was probably one of the highlights of my life and I think that my talk that is attached will explain it a little better. This is the legacy that I hope to leave to my children and my grandchildren. My legacy.
Gratitude
I am honored to be able to speak today on the subject of gratitude. It is a topic which I feel I know a great deal about, since I have so very much to be grateful for. If you remember a little over two years ago at this time, our family had been through some very harrowing and life changing situations. Through a very long process however, I knew that the Lord had not forgotten us and that we must continue to push forward in faith. The Lord surely heard our prayers and we have many miracles in our family to prove it. I was hesitant to go on a mission, I frankly was feeling worn out and beaten down. But I eventually agreed to go and did so with the thought in mind that it would be my way of expressing gratitude to my Heavenly Father for standing by us. Little did I know that in this opportunity to express my gratitude I would be as those stated in Mosiah 2:20-21….”I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another- I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another- I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.”
I stand here today as an unprofitable servant. In my efforts to serve I gained so much more than I gave and I would like to tell you about a few of those blessings, all things for which I express extreme gratitude.
I am grateful for reminders that I am important to my Heavenly Father and that he is aware of me. I know that I have a Father in Heaven and that He loves me. I have known that since I was a small girl searching for Him. I would like to share some experiences from my mission. The Nauvoo Mission has to be the most unique experience in all of the world. I thought that the MTC was hard and stressful and then I hit Nauvoo. The learning curve was high and we arrived in time for the busiest season. We literally had to hit the ground running, with no leniency for being new. Last year we gave approximately 100,000 tours with people from over 70 different countries. I worked at a new house every day, with new information to learn and memorize at each one of them. We had two different shows that we were part of and had a very stressful part that we were put into, three weeks after we arrived. I cried for several months all the while trying to do my best. One day I was working at the Brigham Young Home. As a side note, we raised our children in Kansas City and went often to Nauvoo, when there wasn’t very much there. We used to take Richard’s parents and his father happens to be related to Brigham Young through the first wife and the first daughter, Elizabeth Young. People usually are asked to sign a decendency book if they are directly related to the individual. So as I am sitting there I am thinking, I wonder if my father-in-laws name is on the list? I checked through the books that went back to the early 1990’s and couldn’t find his name. So I gave up. As I was sitting there I got a strong impression to keep looking. So I looked through everything again and again found nothing…… was prompted again to look, I found a very small folder on the shelf with 10 loose leaf papers in it. On the very first page was my father-in-laws name and each one of my children, who had signed in 1987. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that he and those on the other side of the veil, wanted me to know that they knew what I was doing, they knew that it was hard, and the family was proud of me and would support me as well. I literally felt the presence of angels. I felt so strengthened and it gave me courage to go on. I had several more experiences similar to this one that were priceless to me. I am grateful for reminders that I am important to my Father in Heaven and that He loves me.
I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it’s fullness. There is so much to learn, but I know for a surety that it is the Lord’s plan, the Plan of Salvation, this great Plan of Happiness. I gained a more personal understanding of what took place in the early days of the Church and the people who sacrificed everything so that I have the blessings that I do today. My knowledge of Joseph Smith and the early founding saints has grown exponentially. How grateful I am. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a prophet of God, a righteous servant, a martyr, who sealed his testimony with his blood, and a human being with frailties as well. I know that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ. I have born testimony in the Carthage Jail and have had my own personal witness to his divine calling. I am overwhelmed with the responsibility placed upon the shoulders of the saints. At the height of Nauvoo, between 1839-1846, the average age of the Quorum of the Seventies was 25 YEARS OLD. Imagine, 25 years old and look what they did. We had the opportunity to reenact the Exodus march down Parley Street on a very cold day in February. We reenacted the founding of the Relief Society in the Red Brick Store. We commemorated the martyrdom of the prophet at the Carthage Jail. Experience after experience increased my gratitude
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I am grateful for the blessing of living in a Zion type community. Brothers and sisters, it was a real opportunity. I have never had friends like this, 260 of us at the height of the season, spending almost 12 hours a day together every day, serving one another, all working for the same cause, all striving to live the best life we could, all sacrificing and serving the Lord with all of our heart. One of the great lessons that I learned is that life is a challenge, for all of us. It is not meant to be easy, but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all things can be made to our good. Each one of the missionaries there, without fail, had had serious challenges, trials, loss of children through death, children who had fallen away, children in prison, and other faith challenging seasons in their lives. Several of these missionaries had not been active their whole lives. All levels of suffering and growth by so many good people. Should we be angry with the Lord? No, there is purpose in all things. There was one particular couple that I will tell you about that has changed my life forever. The Christensen’s from Cleveland, Utah. They had had a pretty rough life, lots of problems and they came to Nauvoo knowing that he was dying with Lou Gehrig’s disease. A big tough cowboy, working for Facilities Management or Nauvoo Restoration, laying concrete and any number of other physically challenging jobs, watching him each and every day trying his best, with a smile on his face. How we loved him. Working every day never complaining, he continued to get sicker and sicker. I remember one particular day as it was cold, he couldn’t use his hands anymore and a big 6’5’ teamster, Elder Dahl kneeled down and button his coat! As we were walking along Parley Street for the exodus to the Mississippi, I remember talking to his wife and she said, “Maybe we could have done this, if we had each other!’ Brothers and sisters what a blessing, we do have each other and wherever we are we have the opportunity to make it a Zion experience, to love and support one another, to not judge. The blessings are phenomenal.
I am grateful for the understanding that obedience brings forth blessings. Alright, I will admit that It was a little struggle for me, no perfume, no big earrings, no gum, no tv, no family, no sleep, no free time, but I had consecrated my time to the Lord and when we do, he is bound to bring forth blessings. Brothers and sisters, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our children were blessed, above and beyond our expectations. I also know that when you do all that you can the Lord will qualify you and make up the difference. My husband is the greatest example of obedience I have ever known. He is obedient. Because of our obedience the Lord qualified us to do the things that we were asked that we would have considered impossible. Teaching, singing, dancing, bearing testimony, teaching 260 missionaries at a time. Richard became the Zone Leader over the whole mission, along with his job of being the scheduler, he was the executive secretary, responsible for the finances of the mission and the computer and phone systems. We were able to do things that make me shutter now thinking of it. When we do all that we can the Lord qualifies whom He calls. How grateful I am to see the blessings of obedience and to have a husband who is such an incredible example and inspiration to me. How grateful I am to have had the time with him and to solidify our own relationship. There is so much about him to love and appreciate and I do.
I am grateful for testimonies, both heard and spoken. I had the opportunity on several occasions to take apostles through the Brigham Young House. If you don’t think that was a humbling experience, I can assure you it is, but what a blessing. Here I am, no ancestors at all, being a convert and I am bearing my testimony to apostles of the Lord! We also had a unique opportunity to hear their testimonies. On one occasion, Elder Oaks was addressing very high ranking authorities in the government of the United States. We were having the reenactment of the extradition trial of Joseph Smith. The highest ranking appellate Supreme Court justice in the US that was LDS, was there and many of the highest court judges in the state of Illinois, plus governors from several states were in attendance for this two day celebration. We listened as Elder Oaks gave an hour presentation to this group and related to them on several different levels, but all throughout this presentation he was an Apostle of the Lord first and foremost, and bore witness to them of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the reality of Joseph Smith’s call. It was breath taking as I sat in his presence and heard him bear testimony with strength and humility, and such conviction.
I am grateful for the temple and for the ordinances that allow us to move forward through the eternities as a family and individuals. The saints sacrificed everything to build a house unto the Lord and to have the strength of the covenants made with the Lord. There are stories after stories of sacrifice by the early saints, giving their all to do what the Lord had asked them, time after time. They completed the temple in December, for ordinances, and were driven away in February. We got to attend the temple nearly every week of our mission. I love the Nauvoo Temple. How blessed we are today to have temples so near. I had the opportunity to be the site leader over Land and Records. I loved every minute spent there. We do research on the early saints and then put a packet together on them with all of the records that the church has, even to property in Nauvoo. As people would come in and connect with their families, you could see a tangible feeling of connectedness come to them. They belonged. They had a sense of pride and appreciation in where they came from and identified with their ancestors immediately. Families never end, how grateful I am for those sealing ordinances.
I am grateful to understand what it means to be a witness of Jesus Christ. I cannot tell you what an honor and privilege I considered it to be to wear my badge……Sister Jardine…..The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, me a witness for Christ! I got to share my testimony and knowledge with so many people. Each meeting we would repeat D & C Section 6 and the missionary statement. We each have the opportunity to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. In Nauvoo 80% of the visitors were church members. Not a high baptizing mission, but we knew that mostly, we would never see the fruits of our labors. I had many experiences where people shared with me their feelings after being in Nauvoo. I had the opportunity to take a family through a site and established a connection. He had come with a prayer in his heart. He was trying to decide about moving his family from Utah to Oklahoma. Being from Oklahoma roots I had said something and then talked about my conversion in the mission field. Through the Spirit, he got an answer to his prayer to move. They were down there a few months when the big tornado in Moore, Oklahoma took place. Guess who was one of the first men on the scene, bringing 5,000 gallons of fuel from his company for the generators? I also know that to bless “others,” means everyone including our families and the missionaries we served with. I had a difficult time taking my badge off and laying it aside but I tell myself, I wear a badge each day, in my heart and through my countenance and the choices I make. I know of the divinity of Jesus Christ as my brother, my Redeemer, my advocate with the Father, my friend. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that when we come to Him, He will lead us through. I know that the Atonement is not just for transgressions but for all of our needs. How grateful I am for it.
Last but not least, I am grateful for our wonderful children and grandchildren, parents and extended family who have supported us with their prayers, faith, and sacrifice while we tried to serve. How we love them, and pray that we have been a good example and that they will feel of our faith and love. We are grateful for each one of you and for your friendship and prayers as well. We are so grateful for a wonderful bishop and stake president, they have been true heroes in our lives.
I am grateful for the scriptures, grateful for peace, grateful for joy and happiness, for answered prayers, grateful for life and the ordinances that allow us to move forward through the eternities. Gratitude!!!! Am I an unprofitable servant, absolutely, but I am a grateful one!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Before we gave our talk, we had the opportunity to report before the High Council. It’s amazing since my mission, how things don’t really scare me anymore. I guess you could say that I have already been “scared to death “.
I guess only I would have the High Council and Stake Presidency pose with me, but hey, it’s a memory for my children and grandchildren!
We are officially civilians!
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