My Farewell Talk!

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,

My talk today will be modeled after President Monson’s talk given in the October 2010 General Conference entitled, “Charity never faileth.

I’d like to begin with a short story which illustrates a point I’d like to make today in my talk. It’s a classic account of judging by appearance and was printed in a national magazine many years ago. It is a true account—one that you may have heard before, but is worth repeating.

A woman by the name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic.

One evening a truly awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, his face was lopsided from swelling, and his skin had a painful red and raw appearance. He said he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the porch.

As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d find him a place to sleep.

At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome anytime.

In the several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by trade, always gave Mary and her family gifts of seafood or vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail.

When Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next-door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary’s home that first morning. “Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by housing such people.”

Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”

After the man passed away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting out in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it in the garden.”

Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and now in God’s garden how tall his lovely soul must stand! 

Appearances can be so deceiving. They’re the first thing a person notices, but they’re such a poor measure of a person. Which is why in John 7: 24 the Savior admonishes us to “Judge not according to the appearance.” 

President Monson posed the question: If attitudes, deeds, and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features, would the criticizing neighbor be as lovely as the old man she refused to house?

Brothers and Sisters, as many of you know I have been called to serve in the Chile, Viña del Mar Mission. For those of you not familiar with the country I’ll give you a brief overview.

There are cities with paved roads, and there are towns with dirt paths. There are those who are educated with college degrees, and some never learned to read.  Some Chileans live in nice modern homes, others live in plywood shacks. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate outfit. And these are just differences among the Chilean people. When I compare myself, these differences become almost endless.

Do these differences lead us to judge one another more easily?

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”  In John 15:12 the Savior commands us that we love one another, as He has loved us.Is it possible to love one another, as the Savior commanded, if we are busy judging each other? I answer with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot.

In order to follow Christ’s commandment and love our brothers and sisters the same way Jesus loves us, we need to develop charity, for charity never faileth, and except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God.

What is charity? The prophet Mormon teaches us in Moroni chapter 7 verse 47 that, “charity is the pure love of Christ.”

I consider charity, or “the pure love of Christ,” to be the opposite of criticism and judging. There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, and to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.

Jesus Christ’s entire life is an exemplary example of charity, for it is His love and sacrifice that make it possible for us to overcome our shortcomings and erase our mistakes.

In John 8:1-11 it gives my favorite example of Christ refusing to judge, and instead exercises charity.

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst. They said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

None of us are perfect. I know of no one who would claim to be perfect. And yet for some reason, despite our own imperfections, we have a tendency to point out the imperfections of others. We make judgments concerning their actions.

There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: “Judge not.”

In a hundred small ways, all of us wear the mantle of charity. Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ. May we recognize that each one is doing his or her best to deal with the challenges, which come his or her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.

I pray that while I am in Chile I will be able to withhold judgment; that I will be able to see the people of Chile as glorious children of God. That I will be able to look past an individual’s appearance, circumstance, or behavior, and see them as my Father in Heaven sees them, and know that they are never out of reach of Christ’s gospel and his infinite atonement. I pray that I will have the courage to speak to those who’ll listen, and the humility to follow the spirit. And above all, I pray for charity, for charity never faileth.

I’ve been incredibly blessed to live in a community where I have the opportunity to know so many friends who are out on missions, and so many more who are preparing to go. There’s a primary hymn that sums up perfectly this neat opportunity, and I’d like to share a couple verses…

1. We have been born, as Nephi of old, 

To goodly parents who love the Lord.

We have been taught, and we understand,

That we must do as the Lord commands.

2. We have been saved for these latter days

To build the kingdom in righteous ways.

We hear the words our prophet declares:

"Let each who's worthy go forth and share."

3. We know his plan, and we will prepare,

Increase our knowledge through study and prayer.

Daily we'll learn until we are called

To take the gospel to all the world.

 Chorus:

We are as the army of Helaman.

We have been taught in our youth.

And we will be the Lord's missionaries

To bring the world his truth.

I’d like to say thank you to all my friends and family who’ve traveled to be her today, and for the great support they’ve been in my life.

I’m so appreciative to be a member of this ward family, where I feel like I have 5 sets of  grandparents, 50 nieces and nephews, and 30 crazy aunts and uncles.

I’m so grateful for my grandparents and the example they’ve been to me in serving a mission, and for my parents and how they raised me in the gospel.

 But mostly I’m grateful for my knowledge of Jesus Christ and his restored church, and the opportunity I have to share His message with the people of Chile.

I know that there is a God, and that he is my Father and I his daughter. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that Joseph Smith restored the true gospel on the earth and because of that my life has been eternally blessed. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God, and I know that the apostles received direct revelation from God when assigning me to the Chile, Viña del Mar Mission.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.