Farewell

May 21, 2017

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters!  It is so wonderful to look down on the faces of those I grew up with, and those I have come to know before I leave.  I want each and every one of you to know how much I truly, deeply love you.  

I am standing before you all today because I have recently been called to serve a mission.  I am so honored and so very excited to say that I have been assigned to labor in the Denmark Copenhagen mission!  I am anxiously awaiting the adventures and trials the Lord has in store for me as I serve Him for 18 months.  I feel so blessed to have the incredible opportunity to travel back to the land of my ancestors.

Receiving my call was one of the happiest days of my life.  I remember my hands shaking so violently that I could barely read the words on the neatly typed page.  The trembling was so great that it caused the blank paper covering my call to slip ever so slightly, revealing the words that I had waited for so many months to hear.  My eager eyes couldn’t resist and they flew down the page to read, “the Denmark, Copenhagen Mission.”  It felt so right.  My first thought was “oh, of course I’m going to Denmark” but my second was, “there is absolutely nothing that will keep me from serving the people of Denmark.” It was confirmed to me with such force That God knew ME and no matter how much I loved Him, He loved me more.  I quickly realized that I hadn’t said where I was assigned out loud and my family and friends were anxiously waiting with politely confused expressions as I had been having my internal spiritual awakening.  I corrected this and they promptly joined in my jubilant and spirit filled tears.  

However, even with a call in hand and a determination to serve I still faced conflict.  Every moment of every day was a battle.  Was I doing the right thing?  Is this what God wanted me to do? Is this even what I wanted to do? I felt as if the full range of human emotion was thrust upon me and I didn’t have an outlet.  I tried to encourage myself with the conviction that a mission would be great for me; I would strengthen my testimony, I would learn so much about how to improve myself,  I would change.  The comfort these justifications brought didn’t stay for long.  Just last week I sat alone in my room, sobbing and trying to convince the empty space that I didn’t need to leave, I could develop just as spiritually by staying here.  I wouldn’t miss my cousin coming home from his mission, I would be there when my brother Saul got his call and left.  I would finish school much faster, I would be close to my home and to my family.  I could even go and volunteer abroad for a couple months.  There is so much that I could do if I didn’t serve. What do I gain by leaving?

I opened my scriptures in thirst for any reassurance and came across D&C 118:3, which states, “Let the residue continue to preach from that hour, and if they will do this in all lowliness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-suffering, I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will provide for their families; and an effectual door shall be opened for them, from henceforth.”  My tears immediately ceased and a calmness enveloped me.  This isn’t about me.  In fact serving a mission is about everyone but me.  I came out of my room with a new resolve.  If my choice to serve will bless my family even in the slightest, I will go without hesitation.

Not only will my service bless my family, but through God’s power I will be able to change the lives of those all the way across the sea.  If I can change the life of only a single soul, whether they be an investigator, a little girl on the street, or my companion I will be satisfied, for in D&C 18:15 Christ tells Joseph, “And if it so be that you… bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”  I want to do something that matters.  What matters to me is sacrificing 18 months of my life to serve and love God’s children.  The moment I began to think about my mission in the perspective of helping others, it has become so much easier and so much more meaningful to prepare to leave.  

I was asked to speak on why I decided to serve a mission.  I haven’t decided, I am deciding.  I wake up every single day and make the deliberate choice to act as a missionary for Christ.  That choice won’t simply go away after I come home, it is a lifetime commitment that all of us can make at any age.  To be a missionary is “to share the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and example.”  Choosing to be a missionary is a lifestyle.  It’s waking up to serve others when you don’t want to, it’s being kind to those that annoy you, and it’s being obedient despite the devil’s temptations.  Life isn’t easy, but if it were it wouldn’t be so beautiful.  I’m going to make the choice to not only endure to the end, but love every minute of it.  I invite you all to do the same.  We can show our appreciation for this brilliant earth to our Savior by acting as missionaries advocating His gospel.  

But above all, I am choosing to serve because I LOVE.  I love my family to pieces.  They have done such a fantastic job of encouraging me and preparing me, and I cannot imagine or ever desire living with anyone else for eternity.  I love this gospel, and I believe with my entire soul that the Book of Mormon is and will forever be the most correct record of Christ’s teachings.  I already love the people in Denmark, and I can’t wait to introduce them to the gospel.  The first and great commandment is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and I do.  Whenever we face spiritually confusion it is vitally important to remember this simple, irrefutable fact: that God loves us.  If we keep in mind that everything we do is because we love God and we love Christ then we will be able to do amazing things, and everything will feel right.  

So my dear brothers and sisters I bid you farewell

I’m off to serve, in Denmark I’ll dwell

My heart is filled with love beyond compare

Let us remember that Christ hearkens unto our prayers

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

RAYA ANNE ESPLIN--SETTING APART

May 30, 2017

President Blair:

" Have we got enough room for everyone?  So . . . I think let's do this.  Let's set you apart.  And, I don't know where we are going to fit people to do this.  All Melchizedek Priesthood holders, please join me.

Raya Anne Esplin, by the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which we hold, and with authority and keys delegated to me, we lay our hands on your head to set you apart as a full-time missionary in the Denmark Copenhagen mission in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to serve as a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ. To be His witness, to be His messenger, to take His life into the lives of people that you encounter.  Both the people you serve WITH and the people you serve.  You will be a RAY of hope and light to everyone you encounter.  You can't even imagine the hope you will give people just by your countenance, just by your smile, just by the confidence that you carry because of who you are. Because of the love you've been given by your parents, and siblings, and extended family who have prayed for you, and prayed over you all your life.  And now we bless you as part of this everlasting Gospel, and everlasting Priesthood.  We bless you with an incredible ability to learn the Danish language, and to be able to communicate through hard dedicated effort, but in miraculous ways.  To communicate both in word, and especially in Spirit, that you will be given the gift of fluency in the language, but more importantly fluency in the Spirit.  To be able to reach into people's hearts and help them to feel and realize who they really are and who they really can be and TURN them to their Savior, Jesus Christ.  We bless you that you will do this not only for the people you teach, in their home and in their churches, but with each and every companion you have and all the other missionaries you serve with; that you will help them to see who they really are and who they really can be and help them to feel the love that God has for them.  Your confidence will wax strong and allow you to love people with a depth and understanding that you will recognize again and again comes from heaven.  You will feel it in your heart, you will feel it in your soul, and in your prayers you will thank your Heavenly Father for trusting you and allowing you to reach people in ways that change their hearts.  We bless you with the assurance that your family will be ever close to you, that they will be held together and protected, and blessed with the everlasting love and wrapped in the arms of safety, wrapped in the arms of mercy, because of your dedication, and your hard work.  And this will extend not just to people you know here, but to people beyond the veil, who smile down with gratitude and hope and faith, knowing perfectly well of the reality of the Atonement of the Resurrection, of the Restoration.  And now they see you as a KEY link in that chain of faith and testimony.  You will take that and build your own testimony as you help others to build theirs.  And that will carry you, and assure you of a lifetime of living the gospel and sharing the gospel and building faith of other people. You will go so far on your mission in learning about building the faith of other people and that will be part of what the Lord gives you as a gift, that you'll spend the rest of your life, building other people's faith.  Raya, you have prepared so well and done so much to recognize the Spirit and to carry that Spirit.  You've earned the Lord's trust. He will place and does place great trust in you.  You'll be given tremendous responsibility that you will be given the strength and power to rise to and to take on with happiness with a smile without being weighed down, without taking yourself too seriously, just as you've learned.  But to take on the challenges and responsibilities with a perfect brightness of hope.  And you'll do it in such a way that you'll give other people hope.  That will be one of the main reasons, it IS one of the main reason, that you're called to this mission, is to carry that perfect brightness of hope to give other people.  We are so grateful as Priesthood holders to represent this whole family and extended family in the miracle of God's Priesthood Power, in extending this blessing to you, and we pledge as we do this, that we will raise our faith, and raise our hope because of the way we are blessing you.  We are grateful for your dedication and bless you now with the Lord's protection.  We promise you that there will be angels to go before you that your prayers and the prayers of your parents and your siblings will be heard and answered, and you'll be protected, because of their faith, and because of the love they have for God and He has for them. And we give you this blessing in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."