Good morning Brothers and Sisters. My name is Cade Stafford for any of you that
don’t know me. I have just recently graduated from high school and have been
called to serve in the New York, New York North Mission, which includes the
northern part of New York City, Manhattan, the Bronx, Harlem, Westchester County,
and much of the surrounding area in cities such as White Plains, Scarsdale, West
Point Military Academy, and Sleepy Hollow.
After getting my call, I was slightly
disappointed I wasn’t able to go to a foreign country, but that disappointment
was short lived as it didn’t take me long to realize that this is the best
mission in the world. I will be able to experience so many countless numbers of
cultures, races, languages, and personalities, that it will be just like going
to a foreign country! I’ll be able to experience new things each and every day!
The New York area is one of great
historical significance to not only the Church, but also our country. This
mission, although much more broad at first, including most of the Eastern
States, was founded in 1839 as the second formal mission of the Church.
The reason that I am going on a
mission is because I know that what I will be sharing with the people of New
York is true. I am not going to sightsee, or to shop, or to spend lots of money
to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to walk around for 10 hours and get doors
slammed in my face. The reason that I am going on a mission is because I know
that what I have to share with these people can change their lives. The peace
and happiness that comes from the Gospel is something that needs to be shared
with everyone, and I truly believe that.
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One of the principles that I will
be teaching on my mission regards THE most significant event in the history of
the world: none other than the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Before this world was organized,
our Father in Heaven chose our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior
and Redeemer. This sacrifice by both Father and Son has made it possible for us
to overcome the obstacles given to mankind after the Fall of Adam and Eve.
Every human being that has lived,
is living, or will live, will suffer physical death. When speaking to Adam and
Eve, the Lord said, “By the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground—for thou shalt surely
die—for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou wast, and unto dust
shalt thou return.”
Jesus Christ overcame the bonds of
physical death for us through the Resurrection. On that fateful day on Golgotha,
He suffered on the cross and died. His spirit was separated from his body which
was then buried in a nearby sepulcher. After three days, his spirit and his
body were reunited forever, never to be separated again. This reuniting is
called resurrection and this gift is promised to every one of us, whether we do
good or evil. This resurrection makes it possible to return to God’s presence,
but not to live in His presence.
To live in God’s presence, one must also be clean spiritually. God sent His Son to not only overcome
physical death, but also the obstacles of sin. Because of Christ’s Atonement
for us, and through His grace and mercy, we are able to become clean so that we
can return to live with our Heavenly Father.
In a quote by M. Russell Ballard
during his April 2004 General Conference address, he talks about his feelings
on Christ’s Atonement after a recent tragedy in his family. He says:
(quote)
“This past January
our family suffered the tragic loss of our grandson Nathan in an
airplane crash. Nathan had served in the Russian-speaking Baltic Mission. He
loved the people and knew it was a privilege to serve the Lord. Three months
after I officiated at his eternal marriage to his sweetheart, Jennifer, this accident
took his life. Nathan being taken so suddenly from our mortal presence has
turned each of our hearts and minds to the Atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. While it is impossible for me to put into words the full meaning of the
Atonement of Christ, I pray that I can explain what His Atonement means to me
and our family and what it might also mean to you and yours.
The Savior’s precious birth, life,
Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane, suffering on the cross, burial in
Joseph’s tomb, and glorious Resurrection all became a renewed reality for
us. The Savior’s Resurrection assures all of us that someday we, too, will
follow Him and experience our own resurrection. What peace, what comfort this
great gift is which comes through the loving grace of Jesus Christ, the Savior
and Redeemer of all mankind. Because of Him, we know we can be with Nathan
again.
There is no greater expression of
love than the heroic Atonement performed by the Son of God. Were it not for the
plan of our Heavenly Father, established before the world began, in a very real
sense, all mankind—past, present, and future—would have been left without the
hope of eternal progression.”
(end quote)
My favorite concept that I will be
teaching to people is that of eternal families. Through the Atonement and
Resurrection of Jesus Christ, He has fulfilled His Father’s plan to create
families that will be together forever. Because of my Savior, I know that Elder
Ballard will someday be reunited with his grandson, and that I will someday be
reunited with members of my family that have passed on. And I look forward to
the day when I can see the relief and happiness on my investigators’ faces when
I tell them that they will be able to be with their loved ones again.
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We have all made mistakes; some
bigger mistakes than others, but mistakes nonetheless. We have all felt guilt.
Guilt is something we feel when we have done something that we know is wrong.
Guilt has driven many people into the sad thought that they will never be
forgiven of something that they have done. This is one of Satan’s most powerful
tools. If he can not only get us to sin, but also to decide that forgiveness is
an impossible gift, then he has surely won.
I would like to read a quote from President
Boyd K Packer’s October 2012 General Conference address. He says:
(quote)
“Throughout your life there may be
times when you have gone places you never should have gone and done things you
never should have done. If you will turn away from sin, you will be able, one
day, to know the peace that comes from following the pathway of complete
repentance.
No matter what our transgressions
have been, no matter how much our actions may have hurt others, that guilt can
all be wiped out. To me, perhaps the most beautiful phrase in all scripture is
when the Lord said, “Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is
forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.”
(end quote)
I personally relate to what
President Packer is saying very well. I’ve committed sins in my life before
that I thought that I would never be able to be clean of. I have lost hope in
myself and felt that I would never be able to turn away and be forgiven of my
sins. Hope is not lost brothers and sisters. Through the Atonement of my
Savior, I was able to repent, get out of those dark places, and come into the
light that I feel when I am living the way that I am supposed to. The peace of
finally repenting of a sin completely is an overwhelming feeling that is worth
more than any amount of money or any amount of worldly pleasures.
My favorite story of repentance is
the one of Alma the Younger as found in the book of Mosiah in the Book of
Mormon. In Chapter 27 it reads:
(Verses 8 and 9)
8. Now the
sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the
sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless,
he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of
many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore
he led many of the people to do after the manner of
his iniquities.
9. And he
became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of
God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension
among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise
his power over them.
So as
you can see, Alma and his friends were not exactly what you would call very
righteous people. From what it tells us, the common person might say that these
young men were far past the point of no return when it comes to sin. Not only
were they being terrible people themselves, but they were trying to get as many
people as they could to fall away and join them in their wickedness. However,
it tells us that an angel of the Lord appeared unto them and spoke with a voice
of thunder, calling them unto repentance saying:
(Verses 15 and 16)
15. And now behold, can ye dispute the power of God? For
behold, doth not my voice shake the earth? And can ye not
also behold me before you? And I am sent from God.
16. …And
now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more,
that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast
off.
And it
says that Alma and those that were with him “fell again to the earth, for great
was their astonishment” and that “the astonishment of Alma was so great that he
became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even
that he could not move his hands”. Alma
was then taken to his father where he lay there, unmoving, for two days and two
nights. When he finally awoke, he recounted to his father, and everyone present,
what had happened.
(Verses 24-29)
24 For, said he, I have repented
of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the
Spirit.
25 And the Lord said unto me:
Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues
and people, must be born again; yea, born of
God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of
righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and
daughters;
26 And thus they become new
creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the
kingdom of God.
27 I say unto you, unless this be
the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast
off.
28 Nevertheless,
after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto
death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of
an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.
29 My soul hath
been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity.
I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My
soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul
is pained no more.
And
from then on Alma and his brothers went and taught the people the things of the
Gospel, repairing the damage that they had done and repenting of the sins that
they had committed. From this powerful
story we learn that no one is so far lost that they cannot be saved by the
power of the Atonement of Christ. Not only were they able to rise up from the
bonds of iniquity, but they were able to go and be some of the greatest
missionaries of the scriptures.
I pray
that I am also able to use the Atonement to rise up from my bonds of iniquity
to become a great missionary, teaching the people of New York of the peace that
the Gospel has to offer them if they are but willing to open their door and let
a simple teenager from Idaho preach powerful truths that can eventually lead
them back to their Heavenly Father.
Another
great missionary of the scriptures, Abinadi, who actually converted Alma the
Younger’s father, Alma, said to the people of King Noah that “it matters not
whither I go, if it so be that I am saved.” Brothers and sisters, I concur with
what Abinadi says. It really does not matter what we have to do to be saved,
because being able to look our Father in Heaven in the eye to tell him that we
have done what he has asked us to do will be worth it.
Although what that entails may not
include going to the land of your enemies to call them to repentance, only to
be burned at the stake as Abinadi was called to do, he may still ask us to do
something hard. However, we need to do
what Nephi did when he said to his father, “I will go and do the things which
the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto
the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may
accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
Our
Heavenly Father knows us each individually more than anyone could ever possibly
hope to. He knows our weaknesses, our strengths, our joys, and our sadness’s.
He would never give us a trial or a sin that we couldn’t overcome. With the help of our Savior and those that
really care about us, there is nothing that Satan can do to stand in our way.
He may push us down and throw in some cheap shots, but if we but lift a humble
hand to our Heavenly Father, in sincere repentance, he will send the arms of
His servants to lift us up.
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In the
second verse of my favorite hymn, it says:
I
need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.
I
need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
These words are my source of comfort when I need it most. When I sing
this beautiful song in my head, nothing else can enter, and I can feel the
Spirit much easier. Each and every one of us need our Father in Heaven with us
every moment of every day, because when don’t, we must go through the anguish
and sorrow that Alma the younger felt and the loneliness that Jesus Christ felt
when he had to hang on the cross without His father there to comfort Him.
I’d
like to close by thanking everyone that has helped me over the past 18 years to
get to this point. The list is extremely
long because there are just so many people that are willing to give up their
time to help me and all of the other young people in this ward. I’d first like to thank Bishop Jensen. He has
not only been an amazing leader for me in my Priest’s quorum and ward in
general, but also a friend and someone I can turn to when I need help. Next is Brother
Butler for putting up with me for four years in his seminary class, not only
teaching me the things of the Gospel, but giving me a love for the Gospel as
well. All of my leaders and teachers that have prepared me for this mission, I
couldn’t have done it without you. My
best friend, for coming from quite a ways away to be here today to support me.
And last, but not least, my parents, grandparents, and extended family, for
being the greatest people I could ever ask for. There is a reason I chose to
come to this family. They have been the support that I’ve needed, and the
foundation I’ve been able to base my testimony on.
I would like to bear my testimony,
now, that I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that His Atonement
provides the ladder that allows me to climb out of the treacherous pits of sin
that are ever so present in this wicked world. Through repentance and the power of the
Atonement, we can clean ourselves of the many sins that we commit, and
eventually become like our Father in Heaven. He wanted so much for us to return to live
with Him, that he sent His Son to suffer and die for us, and He would have done
it even if it had meant saving just one of us. That kind of love can never be
fully repaid, but I want to live my life each and every day so that I can pay
my part of the debt, so that Christ can pay the rest of it.
I’d also like to bear my testimony
that I know that the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the words of our modern-day
prophets are the words of God. Heavenly Father has a mission for each of us. My
mission involves two years in the great state of New York, and I know that I
was given that calling by revelation from God to His prophets. Thomas S. Monson
is our prophet today and there is nothing that will shake my testimony that he,
his counselors, and all other prophets, seers, and revelators of the Church are
called of God. I know that we can all receive our own personal revelation today,
if we but listen to the Spirit and recognize it when it is there. Brothers and
sisters, friends and family, this is the true Church. I know that the Spirit is
here today, and I believe that many of you have felt that what I have said is
true. I close my testimony and everything that I have said today in the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen.
