Good morning brother and sisters, I am glad to be here today.
For
those of you who may not
know, I have been called serve in the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission.
I report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on Wednesday,
March 27, 2013.
I would like to start my talk with a quote by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He said, "To follow Christ is to
become more like Him. It is to learn from His character. As spirit children of
our Heavenly Father, we do have the potential to incorporate Christlike
attributes into our life and character. The Savior invites us to learn His
gospel by living His teachings. To follow Him is to apply correct principles
and then witness for ourselves the blessings that follow. This process is very
complex and very simple at the same time. Ancient and modern prophets described
it with three words: 'Keep the commandments' —nothing more, nothing less."
In
1 Peter 2:21 we read, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps."
Most
of you know that in high
school I loved participating in soccer and track. I had to work very
hard in order to become
successful. Both sports have obstacles that you have to overcome in
order to reach
your goal. In track I ran the 300-meter hurdles. This is not an easy
race to run as it is a demanding race that requires strength, speed,
poise and
strategizing. You have to be able to
keep yourself at a fast pace and to be ready to sprint at important
parts of the
race. You also have to be able to step over not just one, but eight
hurdles. It is
important to pay attention to what is coming ahead of you in this race,
all the time having the faith, patience and confidence that you need to
endure to
the finish line.
There are a few important dimensions to
hurdling that are key. Your flexibility and that you have mastered an important
technique to go over the hurdle. You have your 'lead leg' which extends in front
of you and have your 'trail leg' which follows behind you bent at a 90-degree angle all while bending at the hips.
I would like to use hurdling as analogy in my talk today.
Let's
say that each hurdle is an 'attribute of Christ' that we would like to
develop, our 'lead leg' is Christ and we are the 'trail leg' following
His example. Through faith,
patience and confidence we can develop these attributes of Christ. It
is all up to us how badly we want to become more like Christ. We can
choose to struggle and stumble over the hurdle or we can choose to go at
it full force, with perfect formation, while Christ is our 'lead leg'
and as we trail behind Him we can clear that hurdle and hit the ground
running side-by-side to the next hurdle.
Faith
is my foundation to achieving every attribute of Christ. Faith is my
endurance to run the race. When preparing to run a race I was always
focused on having the endurance to make it to the finish line just like
our goal here on Earth is to endure to the end.
Faith without works is dead, just like hurdling without practice is worthless.
The
Prophet Joseph Smith said, " Faith is the first great governing
principle which has power, dominion and authority over all things."
To
have faith is to “hope for things which are not seen, which are true”.
Each day we act upon things we hope for, even before we see the end
result. Faith in God is more than a theoretical belief in Him. To have
faith in God is to trust Him, to have confidence in Him and to be
willing to act on our belief in Him.
In
a rural, quiet religious farm community, there was a drought and crops
were dying. In desperation, the local preacher announced that the whole
community would assemble at the edge of one of the fields and pray for
rain. A large crowd gathered, and the preacher climbed on a bale of hay
and surveyed the flock. He said, "Brothers and sisters we have come
here to pray for rain!" "Amen!" said the crowd. "Well,"
said the preacher, "do you have sufficient faith?" "Amen!" shouted the
crowd. "All right, all right" said the preacher, "but I have one
question to ask you." The crowd stood silent and puzzled. "Brothers and sisters," said the preacher, "where are your umbrellas?"
President Thomas S. Monson said,
"It was by faith, nothing wavering, that the Brother of Jared saw the finger of God tough the stones in response to his plea.
It was by faith, nothing wavering that Noah erected an ark in obedience to the command from God.
It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Abraham was willing to offer up his beloved Isaac as a sacrifice.
It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.
It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joshua and his followers brought the Walls of Jericho tumbling down.
It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Joseph saw God our Eternal Father and His son, Jesus Christ.
There
is a golden thread that runs through every account of faith from the
beginning of the world to the present time. Abraham, Noah, the Brother
of Jared, the Prophet Joseph Smith and countless other wanted to be
obedient to the will of God. They had ears that could hear, eyes that
could see and hearts that could know and feel."
They never doubted, they trusted.
Through
personal prayers, through family prayer, by trusting in God with faith,
nothing wavering, we can call down to our rescue His mighty power. His
call to us is as it has ever been, "Come Unto Me."
President
Dieter F. Uchtdorf tells us, "Patience means active waiting and
enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can
working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude,
even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply
enduring; it is enduring well!"
I would like to share a story about myself.
I
was nearing the end of
my Senior year of high school and my track career was coming to an end.
My focus was taking
home the State title in the 300-meter hurdles for the third consecutive
year. I had trained
myself all season for this one race; my hopes also included breaking the
standing school
record. I had a rough start at the beginning of the season due to minor
knee injuries,
but by the time District came I had recovered and was where I needed to
be. Just a few weeks before the State track meet I really started to
improve on my
hurdling. I was reaching my peak at the right time of the season. My
formation and flexibility were really coming along and I was building
more
endurance and speed in between my hurdles. My time had dropped and I
was just a
shy of breaking the school record. I went into State prepared. I had
waited
patiently for this one race. Prelims came and went and before I knew I
was
placing myself into those blocks of my finale race. I remember shaking
in my
blocks and being more nervous than usual. My mind was racing faster
than my legs
could run. Trying to focus on the race in front of me, my nerves began
to get
the best of me, but like every race I believed that no matter the
outcome of
the race I would always have the 'faith to endure' to the finish line.
For
those of you who have ever watched me run hurdles, you know that I run
my race a little differently than most hurdlers. I usually had everyone
sitting on the edge of their seats, especially my coaches. They tried
to break my routine every year, but it worked for me and I stuck with
it. My coach would say, "Kourtni, you take it too easy!" I was never
the first one out of blocks; in fact I was probably the last one to
leave my blocks. I never was over the first hurdle before everyone else
either. Actually I was hardly ever was in the lead until the last
straight away. On the curve I slowly caught up to the runners in front
of me and when I hit the straightaway I would give it everything I had
until I reached the finish line.
{Okay, getting backing to my race!}
I
remember hearing the sound of the starting gun. What makes this race
different from all of my other races was I pushed harder out of blocks
and had a quicker start. I was one of the first runners to the first
hurdle. As the race is going, we start to approach the curve and I
began to move up faster on the other runner in front of me. My race was
turning out to be better than I had planned. I was making good time
and I was stepping each hurdle smoothly until I got to the straightaway.
I am just about tied for the lead with another runner, so I start my
usual burst of speed on the straightaway and as I approach the oncoming
hurdle I began to over stride my steps and my formation was a complete
mess. I remember hitting the hurdle and falling to ground. I still
remember the feeling of rolling across the track into the lanes next to
me and watched seven girls speed past me. It was the first and the only
hurdle I had ever fallen over in my entire track career competitions. As
you would guess I was pretty upset with the outcome of my final race.
I thought about all those years of hard practice and patiently waiting
to run this one race. It was over before I knew it and all I had to
show for it was some scrapes and bruises. My emotions quickly over took
me. I was angry, I was embarrassed and I was disappointed. Knowing
that those feelings would have taken me nowhere, I did the only thing I
knew I could do. I picked myself up and endured to the finish line.
In Hebrews 12:1 the apostle
Paul writes, "...let us run with patience the race that is set before us..."
"Each
of us has been given the
opportunity to run the race of life. We are given two guidelines as we
run the
race — to run with patience and to look to Christ. Running with
patience
suggests rhythm, pacing yourself and being able to endure. Looking to
Christ helps us understand that we are not sent to run the race alone.
He is given two
names as our race partner — the author and the finisher. The author
suggests one
with authority, who helps us align our course, someone who knows every
step of
the race and who can encourage us through the journey. The finisher
suggests
one who completes and perfects. If we choose to let Him, He will assure
that we
run the race correctly and that we will be able to reach the finish
line. This
name is one of comfort. He promises the victory. He will sustain us,
even carry
us if need be. He is the finisher.
There
will be times, however,
when we contemplate quitting the race because we cannot see the end in
sight. We
may feel there are pro-s and con-s to giving up early, and we spend the
majority
of each day weighing each decision. We forget to include our partner
and try to
find our own rhythm and pace, ending up exhausted and lacking the energy
to
continue. When this happens we experience pain. We cannot run the race
alone. He knows we cannot make it without Him. We are told things
that have happened, the
things that are, and the things that will come. He does not leave out
any part
of the course but he does offer relief in the form of the strength to
endure. He invites us to turn to our Father in Heaven with our needs as
we continue the
journey. He asks us to pray.
As I come to the conclusion
of my talk I would like to share one attribute I wish to develop. I have always
struggled with this attribute and I am constantly working to develop it as characteristic
of who I am. That attribute and characteristic is confidence. I think most of time we do not stop to
think about confidence being an attribute of Christ.
Confidence is the feeling or belief that
one can rely on someone or something with firm trust. I know that believing in you
or in others is confidence."
In
Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s talk
'Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence' he says, “Cast not away
therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For
ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye
might receive the promise. If any man draws back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. We are not of them who draw
back unto perdition.”
Having
confidence is an
attribute of Christ and confidence is something all of us have, some
lack more
than others, but we see confidence all around us. This is a
characteristic I
see in ancient prophets, and in modern day prophets. It was Noah,
Abraham,
Moses, Joshua, Joseph and many more who had the confidence to do the
Lord's work
no matter what the Adversary was trying to say. I see and have
confidence in President Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. I see it
many other church leaders too. Looking back on
my races, soccer games, schooling, work, preparing for a mission and
preparing
this talk I have come closer to developing confidence in myself.
I would
like to close my talk with a scripture found in 1 Corinthians 9:24. It reads, “Know ye not that they which
run in a race run all, but one recieveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”
I
am
grateful for the opportunity to speak to each of you today, and more
than that I
am grateful to spend the next eighteen months serving the Lord and doing
his work. I am glad to have shared just a few attributes of Christ. I
know that as we all
strive to become more like Christ we will be able to endure to the end.
I am very grateful
for the gospel, to have had in my life and to be able to share it with
others. I know without a
doubt that this is the true church and that Joseph Smith restored it on
the Earth
and that today we have a living prophet. I have read and prayed about
The Book
of Mormon and I know that everything it teaches is true. I am so
thankful for my
family and friends, and the great examples they have been to me.
I leave these things with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Wow, I can't believe I gave this talk 6 months ago! I was TERRIFIED. To say the least. I was so scared to even come on a mission, I thought I was never going to make it at times.
A mission is by far the hardest, scariest, most stressful thing I have ever done in my life.
I remember my first day out in the field. I was so excited, but so overwhelmed, and just scared...then I realized I have 18 months left of this.
AAAAHHHHH.....
What did I get myself into? I'm never going to make it home! My family isn't going to remember me! My friends will forget about me! I here for the rest of my entire life!!!
(6 months later)
It's going by too fast! I only have 12 months left. That's not enough time! I'm only here for 18 months of my entire life! A mission should be longer!
I have loved my mission. I have learned so much! Things that meant so much to me before my mission, don't mean that much anymore. The many years of hurdling and playing soccer, and the athletic events and awards I was involved in don't mean near as much as what the Gospel means to me now. In just the past 6 months I have develop so many talents and gifts. I have gained a stronger testimony of the Gospel. And, I am so much happier than I would have ever been.
It is such a blessing!
I love you all! I love this Gospel! I love good ole' West Valley!
I love all my mission companions! I just love my mission! There is so much to love in this world!
:)
Love, Sister Ashcroft
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