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| Elder Jacob Nile Shields ~ North Carolina, Raleigh Mission |
Good
afternoon Brothers and Sisters it is a pleasure to stand before you this day,
really nerve wracking, but still a pleasure. For those who don’t know, I have
been called to serve in the North Carolina Raleigh mission and I leave on
December second. I’m a crier, so I hope I
can get through this OK.
I have been asked to speak on Elder Hugo Montoya’s
conference talk titled “Tested and Tempted but Helped.” One of the statements from Elder Montoya’s
talk that I liked is when he says that our trials can “give us strength and
growth as we successfully overcome them.” I feel I have experienced that in my
life. He also taught that us that our trials and “burdens are not to be carried
alone.” Alma taught, "as ye are desirous to come into
the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear
one another’s burdens, that they may be light.” I have learned the truth of
this principle as well and feel it is so important that we seek to bear one
another’s burdens."
In
Elder Montoya’s talk he gives us four points that can help us help each other
lighten our burdens. First, he teaches us to go the second mile. When he say
says this what I think he means is that it is important to make an extra effort
to help others and to better ourself so that we may be more receptive to
promptings we may receive to help others. Next, he teaches us that we should smile. What
this means is that something as small and simple as a smile can really help
brighten someones day. And it doesn’t have to be a smile. Any small act of
kindness can make a considerable difference in someones day Third, he teaches
us that we should express and show compassion. He teaches that it is important
that “we express words of consolation and comfort to those who are suffering or
experiencing affliction.” Finally, he teaches us to invite others to come to Christ.
The absolute best way for us to have our burdens lifted is through the
atonement of Jesus Christ. It is very important for us to help others who do
not know about this gift to learn about it so that they may utilize it in there
lives as well.
I am grateful that Brother Mecham gave me this talk as my
topic. I feel it has significant application to my life and what I have
experienced the past several years. I know that the principles Elder Montoya
teaches in his talk are true.
In
my life I have been tried and tested. A few years ago I really struggled with
anxiety and depression going through high school. I was doing a lot of asking
at the time and not a lot of work to go along with it, I didn’t feel like I was
getting answers to my prayers and I stopped feeling the spirit. I felt like God
had abandoned me. For about two years I struggled to feel the Spirit and I
couldn’t help but feel like there was no God or that he was punishing me. Then
a little more than a
year ago I made the decisions to go on pioneer trek. I had a great time with my
ma and pa and my trek family. It wasn’t a huge turn around but it was a step in
the right direction and during that time my heart softened a little bit and I
started to question my previous thinking; I started working towards finding
myself; slowly but surely I began to find my way back. When I started attending
college I decided to take an institute class, or in other words my mom helped
convince me to take an institute class, and I was able to open my eyes more and
look back on the previous years and see just how wrong I had been.
My Heavenly Father and Savior had
never abandoned me. They were always there. Watching over me. They let me be
tested and tried, but they had never left me.
Because of the trials I went through I
was strengthened in ways I couldn’t have been in any other way. These trials that I faced were the most
challenging I have ever experienced in my life, and at times I wondered how, if
ever, I would make it through, and why I had to go through it. At the time it didn’t occur to me that what I
was going through could actually be for my benefit. As it says in D&C section 122, verse 7-
“And if
thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and
the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if
the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy;
if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine
to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws
of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son,
that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy
good.”
Heavenly
Father gives us trials so we can grow and learn from them. They’re not
punishment, they are there to help us grow. And I can testify to you as well
that He will not give you a trial and leave you to it on your own. He will
always be the first one to help you if you ask for Him. The scriptures teach “Ask
and ye shall receive,” and I believe this is true.
One of
my favorite hymns is “How Firm a Foundation” and the verse that sticks out to
me the most is when it says “fear not I am with thee oh be not dismayed, for I am
thy God and will still give thee aid, I’ll strengthen thee help thee and cause
thee to stand, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.”
I
absolutely love how this hymn is worded; there are few things better than being
upheld by our all-powerful, infinitely loving Father in Heaven.
One
thing that is important to understand though is that we shouldn’t expect a
heavenly army to come down and aid every time we experience trials, even though
that would be awesome. Through my experience I have learned that Heavenly Father
works mostly through other people. The most touching experiences I had were
when I reached out to others for help. But those people can’t help us unless we
make ourselves known. We don’t have to suffer in silence, and I can promise you
nobody else wants that for you either. As we do our own work, seek help from
others and ask Heavenly Father for guidance, direction and support in faith, great
things can happen.
I would
like to testify to you now that I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is
the one true church, and we have very loving heavenly parents above and a
loving Savior who died for us and through his atonement can we be made clean
again. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a true living prophet of God
on the earth today, and that Joseph Smith was the true prophet of the
restoration.
I would
like to thank you all for the support that you have given me, and helping me
get to this point, I love you all and I will report back to you in two years. I
say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
