Mission

Now that I have been home for 2 weeks, I can see how much harder it is to keep up the simple habits I have made. The second I was released, I felt those “angels round about you” leave. It was a bittersweet moment and I miss having that presence. I miss not having the opportunity to help people, to meet them and get to help them grow closer to Jesus Christ all day.


It is such a privilege to get to serve people and be in such a privileged spot. If there is anything I have learned on my mission, it is that service has and will change your life.


Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. It truly is wisdom.


When I went on my mission, I really was worried about myself, learning the lessons, being a good teacher and looking good in front of others. When I turned outward and upwards, instead of inward and down, my mission changed and my life changed. I can only imagine how I felt in the pre-mortal life knowing that I would had the privilege to know and share His gospel.


The mission has changed my life in many ways, too many ways to list here. If you are thinking about going on a mission, go. You won’t regret it, because I sure did not. Though it was hard at the beginning and a constant diligent effort to keep going out everyday, life is no different. God gave us agency and we can write a lot of our own story. My mission taught me that if I want something, I have the agency to chose it and God can help me if it is His will.


God wants us to reach our full potential. He never said it would be easy, but that it would be worth it. Everything in life is that way. Everything hard and valuable is that way so fight, endure and don’t give up, God WILL help you!


There are so many times I felt for a moment that I was done, but I always had the spirit tell me I could do more, that I wasn’t done. Many time I prayed for strength to endure, and keep going, and everything always seemed to work out in the moment or on God’s time table. I know He answered my prayers on my mission. I know He listens and I know He wants to talk to us. Just as a loving father wants to talk to us, so does our Father in Heaven.


I know that faith is a principle of action and power. I know that faith is shown by what we do. We increase our faith when we do the simple little things, when we do it with real intent, when we are a “cheerful giver” of our time and our “broken heart and contrite spirit.” We grow by what we give and do for God.


I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have read it and felt the spirit it has brought into my life, into the lessons, into my questions and into my understanding of God’s nature. It truly is a book for our day. It is the “book of books” and I have grown closer to God by reading it than any other book. Instead of reading it, I searched it for how it can apply to me and that changed the way I study forever.


I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church. It is His church! The people are not perfect, never have been, but the church is the vehicle for the ordinances and principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other church that holds the Priesthood, the power of God, the power of God that heals, that authority too baptize, that gives us the authority to seal families forever, the authority to endow us with power from on high, that is so real. What an extreme privilege it is to be in .2% of the world population who has this knowledge and to be called “His people,” and “His fold.”


This I know, when I was going on my knees, with real intent, Christ converted me, not myself, He did it. He did it all for me. I cannot claim anything that I am or will be because it has all been a gift from God. That is how I have seen God’s love in my life. The moments when I was alone, and almost desperate for an answer, begging for it, I have seen His endless mercy and His patience with me, which I truly don’t always feel I deserve. That is how a testimony is gained. It sometimes is gained through the furnace of affliction and I think we all know how hard life can be, embrace it. God is carrying you, He is there. When you don’t feel it, He is there. We, in a sense are all the lost sheep, He is in “endless pursuit of you.” As I have learned about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it humbles me to know that I caused Him to suffer for the things I do and that He chose to pay the price for me to return to Him. He loves me and wants to dwell with me eternally.


The 2nd greatest truth is as Elder Holland said, God loves us with all His might mind and strength, so the least we can do is the same. All I can say is thank you so much Jesus. Thank you so much God for sending your son so He could atone for me and remove every single barrier that makes me weak and imperfect and short of the glory of God. Thank you for letting me share it with your children.


I say this in the sacred name of His Son, Jesus Christ, Amen


My homecoming will be

Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 10:30

125 N 400 W

Hyrum, UT 84319

United States


Nick Kendrick

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