Holy Men of God

This week has been full of experiences never to be forgotten in my missionary service. I’ve been drowning in all the thoughts, impressions, and exhaustion. I pray that the Holy Ghost may inspire my writing to articulate these past experiences. As a fleeting shadow of the sunset, the moments of time have faded too quickly. Like watching the sun sink below the horizon, I am left to wonder where the time went. My appreciation behind these moments has been difficult to sustain, due to their rapid nature and succession. But I am deeply grateful for them, and I’ll hope and try to get the most I can out of them. I feel that I am reaching a turning point in my mission.

Reflecting back on my mission, I’ve realized that the whole North America West area Presidency has visited over the course of my service. During the mission tour, Elder (area President) Mark A. Bragg, visited and ran the conference. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Peter M. Johnson at the Stake Conference in Nanaimo; he also came to an MLC meeting and shared some council with us at the beginning. And now, Elder Neil L. Andersen visiting, and was accompanied by, Elder Takashi Wada, and Bishop L. Todd Budge (presiding bishopric). At this point we’ve seen the whole area presidency for our area, consisting of: President Bragg, Elder Wada, and Elder Johnson. Pretty remarkable to look back on!

As we arrived early in the afternoon for choir practice, we found the parking lot to the temple view chapel completely full. We were instructed to park at specific sections of the parking lot, but that plan quickly was tossed out the window as we drove around; we just located the nearest parking spot. As we walked towards the chapel, we were told that the lunch which was being held was running late, the missionaries were asked to wait. So we wandered around and waited, in confusion as to when we should enter. We eventually entered in with some missionaries, and began practicing.

Missionaries gathered and sat in a multitude of seats for a big mission photo featuring Elder Andersen and his accompanying authorities. We all sat quietly and studied, awaiting the arrival of an Apostle of the Lord. At this point everything is running quite late, but eventually President and Sister Gill enter into the room with Elder Andersen, Elder Wada, and Bishop Budge. Side note! All of these general authorities spoke at the most recent October 2024 General Conference. Definitely will go back and review more of their talks later. Everyone stands up acknowledging their presence. Despite Elder Andersen requesting complete silence, he commented on our reverence, and then proceeded to crack some jokes prior to the mission photo. I’m sure you can imagine the layer of awkwardness that was added, when we try to maintain our silence haha. After getting our photo, each missionary had the opportunity to shake Elder Andersen, Elder Wada, and Elder Johnson, and all of the Stake Presidents in British Columbia hands. It was a welcome surprise to see all of the Stake Presidents there. We learned later on in the meeting that that was not the original plan.

There was a comment that angels would be singing with the choir. After hearing what President & Sister Gill said and impressions from other missionaries that definitely was the case. I believe I have forgotten to mention that I wasn’t supposed to even be in the choir haha. As Zone Leadership we had the opportunity to make suggestions of members of the Zone who could be a part of the missionary choir. I thought I lucked out of it, because of course I wouldn’t suggest myself haha. Elder Blake was originally (we think) supposed to play the piano. But that got changed to Elder Takazawa. President insisted that Elder Blake should sing in the choir despite it going over his Farsi class. As we arrived for the first choir practice I was going to sit down with the rest of the companions that weren’t a part of the choir. President Gill then stopped me and asked if I were a part of it, to which I responded nope; he replied, “we’ll now you are.” And now we are here, I’ve begun to get a bit sick and my voice was not at all ready for this. So I guarantee you, there had to have been angels to make that work.

I’m not going to lie, I was not expecting so many one-liners and humor to come from the general authorities in this meeting. Elder Wada shared that people are naturally drawn to us by the Spirit, he boldly declared “you are all attractive.” Not really sure if that was the message he was trying to convey but it was hilarious nonetheless. Elder Neil L. Andersen was speaking about our example as missionaries and the profound impact that we have on young people that may become missionaries. He said, “when you put your arm around that sixteen year old,” and then tried to avoid misconception, “but not of the opposite.” And then he just left it there, not something I would expect out of an Apostle but I think we understood his message. Commenting on the prophet’s health, he said he’s doing incredible. President Nelson shared in a meeting that every morning when he wakes up his first thought is: “I’m still here.” Haha I mean if I were a hundred years old, I’m sure that would be my first thought too. Honestly, jokes aside, the experience with him was incredible.

Prior to Elder Andersen’s address, his wife talked briefly and prepared us for what was to follow. She shared that she is more sure of her husband’s Apostalic call and speaking on behalf of the Lord than she is sure of us in the room. She encouraged us all to take as many notes as possible. All of the blessings and council he will share today will be applicable to all those present including her. She shared that whenever he speaks she takes notes and can hear the mind and will of the Lord through them.

When Elder Andersen spoke he had an interesting structure in his speaking, including first and foremost a joke, and immediately following spiritual insight that would distill upon our souls. This pattern repeated as he spoke. It was interesting because you could feel the sudden shift each time he moved on from his jokes. It was clearly discernible when he was speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. He began by giving us marriage advice, which I don’t think anyone saw coming. He said, here is the key to finding your future spouse: find someone of deep, deep faith. Make that your number one priority. He shared that it is a privilege to know a prophet of God. He witnessed the experience in the room when he was ordained as President of the Church. He brought up the process of assigning missionaries to missions, which was interesting because Elder Johnson and Elder Bragg spoke about that very process previously. We live in a scientific world, he said. One that has turned away from thoughts, feelings, and impressions, and has turned to evidence, and physical witness. Nothing is stronger in scriptures than the lessons of faith. A great focus of his teaching was on the principle of faith. Faith is garnered over years, it’s not that you have it or you don’t. He added, I want to infuse in you more faith. He shared some more thoughts and a blessing upon us. I will omit the most sacred topics that were discussed, including the blessing. Before leaving his blessing, he had all of the Stake President’s come up and share a very brief council to all the missionaries. Here’s my notes on what each one said:

• Do all things cheerfully that lie in your power and you will see the salvation of your God.
• Remember the spiritually defining moments in your life and help remind others of theirs.
• Speak up, confidently invite everyone. And promise them that they will experience the Savior' reality.
• Learn the Savior, and learn His love.
• Put in the work necessary to receive the blessings that our Heavenly Father has in store for us.
• If you come to this mission you better be prepared to work. “We cannot be stopped.” Keep working, and eventually things will come around.

The following day we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Wada at the YSA breakfast. By the power of the Holy Ghost he shared some excellent thoughts to the YSA. He talked about how we need to define our land of promise. Nephi and his brethren, despite being in the wilderness, had joy. He brought up the daughters of Ishmael and how Nephi said he was exceedingly blessed. Despite having joy, Nephi knew that he needed to keep pressing forward to the land of promise instead of staying where he was happy. As you might have imagined, Elder Wada gave us marriage advice as well– I mean, pretty fitting for a YSA I guess. Ether defined the wilderness as a place where no man had walked. Your wilderness is something that no one but you have ever walked. He added that the Book of Mormon helps us know our place in the Plan of Salvation. We must see the scriptures spiritually and putting ourselves into them. Just as the Liahona, new writings and direction from God will appear according to our faith. God will provide you with the writings that you need today. Move beyond pointers and find new writings; go to the House of the Lord.

After breakfast, we had the Abbotsford Stake Conference. This was a pretty pivotal day for British Columbia, there were three stake conferences occurring this day. Elder Andersen went to the Surrey Stake, Elder Wada to Abbotford, and Bishop Budge to Vancouver. Right before the Stake Conference was to begin, the Sister Training Leaders told us that Elder Wada was requesting the names of the Zone Leaders and them. At this point we are all nervous knowing that he’s most likely going to be having us come up at the Stake Conference. We handed him the names, and as you may have guessed he called us up. He then added that he was going to test our scriptural knowledge. Oh boy! Here we go, now the nervousness really kicks into gear. He has both Elder Blake and I stand side by side with him. He then links arms with both of us and keeps us nice and close. He had his scriptures turned to 2 Nephi 32 and turned the mic to Elder Blake to read one of the scriptures. Luckily he wasn’t testing us too much, he said that he’s a nice general authority so he wouldn’t do that. We answered his questions, shared very brief thoughts and insights. He stopped linking arms with Elder Blake, and put his hand on his back, but he kept me linked tightly throughout the whole experience. I’m sure it’s fully out of love, but man I can’t help but feel even more uncomfortable haha. Anyways, it was quite the experience, I didn’t get quite as much out of Stake Conference because of it, but it was still pretty good.

Over the past transfer, I’ve had to rely on the Lord more than I have ever relied on him in my life. I’m grateful for all of these wonderful experiences, and I know that through the Lord’s help all things are possible.