The Last Autumn Leaf

November 8th seemed impossibly far away when Gerrit opened his mission call back in June and learned of his assignment and reporting date. As he’s watched his friends get their calls after his, but leave before him, he’s said that he feels like the last autumn leaf clinging to the tree. But the day has finally come.

Over the months of waiting, he managed to keep reasonably well occupied. He took over Ethan’s job at Great Harvest to earn money to cover mission expenses, and in recent weeks has been working nearly full-time hours. In addition to money and mad kneading skillz, Gerrit’s job also resulted in some great tickets to the last (ever?) October General Priesthood session, since his boss’ dad is a general authority.

Another pastime was watching car videos on YouTube. And car shows on Netflix. And pointing out cars he liked on the road. And wishing he had a car. Maybe a Grabber Blue Mustang. He had one for a little while, but it turned back into a pumpkin.

Although we wish that he had studied a bit of Cantonese in his waiting time, he did manage to work on some cultural skills, like using chopsticks.

Maybe his favorite thing, though, was really diving into the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel. He was thrilled when the bishop asked him to speak in sacrament meeting about the importance of the Book of Mormon. He had to give his talk a little faster than he had planned and practiced, though. Before the meeting, he joked to the other speakers that they could take as much time as they wanted because he only had a 5 minute talk — and that’s about how much time they left him. I’ve included the text of his talk below, in case you weren’t able to make it to the meeting.

Shannon described last night as a perfect night. We spent a little time on a video chat with Ethan, who is down at Southern Utah University. We had a dinner at home that we all (except Ethan) like. Gerrit was set apart by the stake president, and we cuddled up to finish reading aloud the family book we’ve been enjoying together.

Today, we had German pancakes for breakfast, pizza for lunch at The Brick Oven, and a stroll around the Provo Temple grounds with the dozens of other families preparing to send off their missionaries. When it was finally time to drop Gerrit off, the reception at the Missionary Training Center was fantastic. Missionaries that have been at the MTC for a while cheered the new arrivals as we drove in, and the missionary who randomly met our car to be Gerrit’s host was genuinely excited for him to be there — he’s going to Hong Kong, too, and was glad to have another Chinese missionary arrive.

We said our last tearful goodbyes then he was off with his host, and we were driving away with Afton sobbing in the back seat. I’m so proud of Gerrit and his willingness and preparation to serve. And now the missionary tree is bare.

Gerrit’s Talk

Its funny — due to me spending four years on a martial arts performance team I had the Incredible opportunity to perform in some very large venues. For example I have performed at Vivint Smart Home Arena three times as well as Rio Tinto Stadium, both of which seat around 20,000 people. Yet somehow today standing in front of my friends and neighbors I am more nervous than I was at any of those performances.

Last Sunday during Stake Conference I was sustained as an Elder.

My name was read along with about 6 other young men, many of them my friends, who’ve already left on their missions. I was the only one standing there. I’m not going to lie, I felt a little like the last leaf stuck on the tree.

Five months ago I received my mission call. In part it read, “Elder Smith your are hereby called to serve as a missionary of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the China Hong Kong Mission.” Not that I’ve been counting but, —-that was over 130  days ago– now I just have 9 left.

There’s a group I’ve been looking forward to joining for a long time. There are 11 members in this group. Their names are Sister Lauren Lindsey, Sister Madison Laurence, Sister Meckenzie Laurence, Elder Easton Fielding, Sister Annie Estes, Elder James Coca, Sister Vidi Castaneda, Elder Ethan Michaelis, Sister Mary MacGilvray, Sister Laura Castaneda, and Elder Kyle Bell. They are the missionaries who’ve been called to serve from the 26th ward this year. And now I am finally just days away from joining them.

Today I’ve been invited to talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon. President Russell M. Nelson told a story, in conference, that really impressed me.

President Nelson said in 1986 he’d been invited to lecture in Accra, Ghana. He said he met many important people including an African tribal king.

Before his lecture President Nelson had only been able to visit with the king through an interpreter.

After President Nelson’s speech he said, “the king made his way directly to me, but this time without his linguist. To my surprise, he spoke in perfect English!”

The king asked, “Just who are you?” and President Nelson replied, “I am an ordained Apostle of Jesus Christ.”

The king asked, “What can you teach me about Jesus Christ?” and in return President Nelson asked, “ what you already know about Him?”

President Nelson learned the tribal king was a serious student of the Bible and that he loved the Lord. President Nelson then taught the king a little about the ministry of Jesus Christ to the people of ancient America. This learning was a new and welcome gift to the king.

President Nelson explained that after the Savior’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, He came to the people of ancient America, where He taught His gospel. He organized His Church and asked His disciples to keep a record of His ministry among them.

“That record,” he continued, “is what we know as the Book of Mormon. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is a companion scripture to the Holy Bible.”

At this point, the king became very interested. President Nelson asked the mission president accompanying him if he had an extra copy of the Book of Mormon with him. He pulled one from his briefcase. and then presented the copy of the Book of Mormon to him.

the king responded by saying,“You could have given me diamonds or rubies, but nothing is more precious to me than this additional knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ.”

As I have had a lot of time to think about my call there have been times that I have worried that preaching the gospel in China might take away some of the beautiful culture that the Chinese people have but the gratitude of the king has helped me understand and realize that I am bringing a priceless gift to the people of China and like the king the truth that I will bring to them will bring joy into their lives.

I think we all need to consider if we’re relying on the Book of Mormon as we should. Ask yourself, Are we truly feasting on the Book of Mormon?

If someone saw how much we rely on it’s teaching would they think it is something valuable  to us?

In Chapter 5 of Preach my Gospel it talks about the Book of Mormon being the “keystone” of our religion. A Keystone is a pretty important thing. Joseph Smith said, “Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none”

Ezra Taft Benson said the Book of Mormon is a keystone in three important ways. He said it
witnesses of Christ, records the fulness of the doctrine, and is a foundation of testimony.

He also explained that if someone can learn the truth of the Book of Mormon a complete testimony can follow.  “… The only problem a person has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation.”

Recently, as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I came across a scripture that showed me how much the writings in the Book of Mormon can affect people. I’d like to share Mosiah chapter 25 verses 7-11.

Ok what’s going on here, is that the people of Alma and the people of Zeniff after escaping from much affliction are joining with the people of Nephi.

To help everyone become one people King Mosiah reads to his people the records kept by Alma and Zeniff.

In verse 7  it says, “And now, when Mosiah had made an end of reading the records, his people  were struck with wonder and amazement.

8 For they knew not what to think; for when they beheld those that had been delivered out of bondage they were filled with exceedingly great joy.

9 And again, when they thought of their brethren who had been slain by the Lamanites they were filled with sorrow, and even shed many tears of sorrow.

10 And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.

11 And again, when they thought upon the Lamanites, who were their brethren, of their sinful and polluted state, they were filled with pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.”

Reading this really made me think. Even at the time that the scriptures had just happened, and was brand new it still was very powerful in the lives of the people in the Book of Mormon.

The scriptures explain this even better than I can. In Alma 31: 5 it says, “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them”

In the April 2017 conference we had the opportunity to hear from our beloved prophet though only briefly. Despite the short length of time President Monson gave an inspiring message in which he says:
“If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so. If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you. If it is true—and I solemnly testify that it is—then Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

I took our Prophet’s challenge to re commit and improve my daily study of the Book of Mormon. I made reading the Book of Mormon a priority and even started waking up earlier so that I would have more time to read before going to school.

I felt the spirit of the Book of Mormon in my life as I made my study more meaningful. I was happier and found myself more able to feel the promptings of the spirit showing me people that I could serve.

Along with a desire to recommit I set a goal I tried to find one scripture every day that I could share with someone and reading the Book of Mormon while trying to share it changed my perspective on the book. I had to think about the scriptures that I liked and find ways to relate them to my life. Trying to share a scripture with someone made me more comfortable about talking about the Book of Mormon with other people.

For example, I recently went on a trip with my mom to see my Grandparents in Memphis. On one of our flights I was sitting next to an older woman who said she was from the east coast. While she was in Utah she said that she visited a pioneer museum. I took the opportunity to steer the conversation towards the gospel and told her about my call and talked a little with her about the Book of Mormon. Near the end of the flight I shared Moroni 10:3-5 with her and challenged her to seek out the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon. It may be unlikely that she will ever end up reading it but because of my goal to share the scriptures with others I was able to talk about the Book of Mormon with someone I don’t know. Which is a skill that I think I might use a few times on my mission.

It is strange but according to my mom we moved into this ward when I was exactly 18 months old so my first week here was my first week being old enough for nursery. I’m told I saw those toys at church and never looked back.  Here I am 18 again but this time years instead of months and now I hope I’m ready to leave you.

There are too many people from our ward and family to thank individually but I’m grateful for primary teachers who put up with me when I acted like a raccoon in class and those, who encouraged me to read the scriptures or do pushups. I’m thankful for men who took me camping and set great examples of honoring the priesthood.

To close I would like to share another scripture from the Book of Mormon it is in Alma 5: 45-46
It says:
“45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.”

In this powerful scripture Alma the younger,who had experienced a mighty change of heart, with the help of the thunderous voice of an angel. Said to come to the knowledge of the truth of the gospel and Book of Mormon he had to pray and fast for many days before he received a witness of the spirit.

My testimony of the Book of Mormon hasn’t come with much thundering instead my testimony has come as I have read, prayed and fasted about the Book of Mormon.

Because of the spirit that I feel in my life as I daily read the Book of Mormon I know, just like the tribal King, that the Book of Mormon is priceless and that it is true. And because the Book of Mormon is true Joseph Smith was a prophet. And we have a modern prophet who has called me to share what I know to be true with the people of China.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.