Sacrament Farewell Talk

So to start off, I would just like to thank everyone for coming! I am very grateful for all of you and for how you have changed and impacted my life. So, I am Jacey Petersen soon to be Hermana Petersen. I have been called to serve In the Peru Lima South Mission and I report to the Mexico MTC on Tuesday, August 7^th. Which is coming very quickly. I am so excited to serve in Peru, and to be honest I am also very nervous.

For those of you who I haven’t mentioned it to, serving a mission was not really part of my plan. But a line from a song by Thomas Rhett saying, “You make your plans and you hear God laughing, Life Changes and I wouldn’t change it for the world” has often come to my mind recently. I had very different plans for myself, but I am grateful I am not the one in charge.

So now I will quickly explain the reason I am going on a mission. In 8^th grade I met 8 girls who became my best friends. They changed my life back then when I was just 13 years old, and since then they have taught me so much and have changed my life even more. One of these friends was in a car accident 2 years ago and passed away, and that was one of the hardest thing for me. I struggled with it, but because of my testimony and my faith I was comforted. I could not have gotten through that without my Heavenly Father. I am going on a mission because I love the gospel, and I am going on a mission because I want others to have the gospel in their lives because I know it brings so much happiness even in hard times. I am going on a mission because of Sofie who I miss every day.

I went to the youth devotional with my family the beginning of June, and when we got home my mom mentioned to me that there were multiple times in the prophet’s message she thought of Sofie. Everyone has a mission and I know she is serving hers on the other side or the veil, and it is no coincidence that every single one of my 8 friends I met in junior high is serving one way or another.

Ally is serving in the Chile Santiago North mission.

Abbi is serving in the Mendoza Argentina mission.

Liza is serving in the Idaho Falls, Idaho mission with her primary assignment in the Idaho Falls Temple visitor center.

Kayla is serving in the Charleston West Virginia mission.

Dani is serving in the Georgia/ Armenia mission and

Nina and Meg are doing Humanitarian work in China.

I wouldn’t be who I am without them, and I would not be who I am without Sofie. In short, I am going on a mission because the gospel has changed my life, and I know I would be very lost without it. It is something I want to share with anyone and everyone who is willing to listen because I know it changes lives, and is a source of so much joy.

So with the 24^th of July being on Tuesday, I am speaking today on Missionary work and pioneers. When I started my talk I had no idea which direction I wanted to go with this topic, but as I have been preparing I realized that the pioneers and missionaries today are very similar. The pioneers are more than just a group of people who walked across the plains to gain religious freedom, more than having campfires with “MARSHMALLOWS” and s’mores, and more than singing songs as they walked. They were doing the same things missionaries go out and do. They are showing their faith by leaving the comforts of their lives to stand up for what they believe.

There is a quote by Dallin H. Oaks that says, “The foremost quality of our pioneers was faith. With faith in God, they did what every pioneer does- they stepped forward into the unknown.”

Faith is a huge part of missionary work, and was a quality instilled in each and every one of the pioneers.

Like I mentioned before, going on a mission scares me. Moving to Peru scares me. For me it is only 18 months, for the pioneers it was a change forever. They moved across the country and left everything because they knew it was what they needed to do. I am sure they were scared too, but I know  I am not alone, and the pioneers knew they were not alone either. They believed in a higher being that knew and loved each one of them individually. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and I know he watches out for each and every one of his sons and daughters and loves them all so much.

I got a text recently from my mom that ended with “It will all work out somehow” and that is basically what we have been saying over and over at our house. We are choosing to have faith because we know what we are doing is a good thing, and we know what we are doing is right. We know what we are embarking on right now is what the lords wants us to do, and while it doesn’t seem easy looking at the day to day things, in the end it will be wonderful.

Something I have tried to do in my life is to keep a positive attitude and look for ways  I can serve. I have recognized I am happier when I am serving others and not focusing on myself. Just as everyone here, I have had trails in my life. Everything has not gone according to plan. However, I am grateful for the things I have learned from my trials, and how I have grown both in the gospel and as a person.

There is a poem I have often thought about when I think about my actions and it has come to mind every time I have tried to write this talk, it doesn’t talk about the pioneers or missionary work but is called:

A Builder or a Wrecker.

As I watched them tear a building down

A gang of men in a busy town

With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell

They swung a beam and the side wall fell

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,

And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”

He gave a laugh and said, “No, indeed,

Just common labor is all I need.”

“I can easily wreck in a day or two,

What builders have taken years to do.”

And I thought to myself, as I went my way

Which of these roles have I tried to play'

Am I a builder who works with care,

Measuring life by rule and square?

Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan

Patiently doing the best I can'

Or am I a wrecker who walks to town

Content with the labor of tearing down?

“O Lord let my life and my labors be

That which will build for eternity!”

I don’t know any better way to help others build their lives for eternity than by being a friend and an example and sharing the gospel so they can build their own testimonies of Christ.

 A Pioneer is a person who leads the way, showing others the correct way to follow. By this definition, any modern person who sets a good example and stands up for his or her beliefs can be called a pioneer.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, “The days of the pioneers are not past. … In every nation, in every worthy occupation and activity, members of this church face hardships, overcome obstacles, and follow the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ as valiantly as the pioneers of any age.”

It is obvious to me that it is so important today that we do have faith and we act as pioneers. The devotional that President Nelson gave recently invited every single youth in the Church to “enlist in the youth battalion of the Lord” and take part in “the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth.” He invited all to assist in the gathering of Israel. This is missionary work.

He gave a list of 5 things he wanted the youth to do so they could show they were followers of Christ and willing to do whatever needed to share their love of the gospel. The last point on this list the Prophet asked was “Stand out, be a light, set a standard”. Being a missionary and being a pioneer does not have to be difficult. You do not have to leave your home, and you do not have to put on a tag or pull a handcart. You truly are a pioneer and a missionary today by being a friend and an example. By showing others what you believe in by your actions and by the way you live your life.

During the Sermon on the Mount Christ shared, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Christ counseled those people to do the exact same thing President Nelson did in his address. He taught us to live life in a way that others can know what you stand for. That is standing out, being a light and setting a standard. Christ also doesn’t leave us to figure out how to do this alone. In Timothy 4:12 it says exactly how. It says,

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

This was the reason I had a hard time losing my friend Sofie. She was an example of a believer in every sense of the word. She was beautiful. People gathered around her always and she was a friend to each and every person. I always knew what she believed, and she was never afraid to share her testimony whether it was in word or how she acted and treated others. It was a hard thing, but the relationships I have with her, and her family, and the friends that went through this with me as well as their families is eternal. As hard as it was to lose Sofie, It has strengthened me and made me a better person so that I am now ready to be able to serve the Lord. Even though I am nervous to go to Peru, I know that is what the Lord wants me to do. So I am willing to make sacrifices and put my life aside for a minute to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands, and I know I will not be alone.

Like Sofie has done for me and my friends, pioneers are something that truly unify us as a people. Whether you have pioneer ancestors that came across the plains in the traditional sense that we celebrate this holiday for or not, pioneers are our collective heritage. It is something that binds us together. They unify us because they are the reason we have the gospel in our lives. Because of them we can practice our beliefs. We value what they represent to us. They represent hard work, dedication, faith, sacrifice, courage and so much more. Those are all things that are important to us as people in our daily life or during the trails of life.

We too have to endure trials in our life. It is true the pioneers had to go through hard things, but while they are definitely different than what was happening as the pioneers walked the plains there are hard things today that take great strength to overcome and use the exact same qualities the pioneers had to use.

Ultimately the Greatest Pioneer that leads and guides and shows people the way is the Savior. We could discuss any part of his life and find ways we could follow him. He did a lot to teach us what we needed to do as far as the gospel and ordinances to return to live with our Heavenly Father, but the biggest thing that stands out to me is the way He loved. In Howard W. Hunters Teaching of the Presidents he says, “as the trials of Gethsemane and Calvary fast approached, with much weighing heavily upon his mind, the Savior took time to notice the widow casting in her mite. Similarly, his gaze took in the small-statured Zacchaeus who, unable to see because of the size of those congregating around the Savior, had climbed a sycamore tree for a view of the Son of God. While hanging in agony upon the cross, He overlooked his own suffering and reached out in caring concern to the weeping woman who had given him life. What a marvelous example for us to follow! Even in the midst of great personal sorrow and pain, our Exemplar reached out to bless others. His was not a life focused on the things he did not have. It was a life of reaching out in service to others.”

“One of the most important questions ever asked to mortal men was asked by the Son of God himself, the Savior of the world. To a group of disciples in the new world, a group anxious to be taught by him and even more anxious because he would soon be leaving them, he asked. “What manner of men ought ye to be?” Then in the same breath he gave this answer: “Even as I am”.

I am choosing to go on a mission to the people of Peru because I want to be like my Savior. I want to serve as he served and love as he loved.

I am so incredibly grateful for a gospel in my life that I know, without a doubt, is true and for a Heavenly Father that loves me. I am beyond excited to be able to go to Peru and share something that means so much to me.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen