Farewell Address

This is the talk Elder Broekhuijsen gave this past Sunday in our Sacrament Meeting. It's so good to hear him bear his testimony of this church! It's also good to hear his sarcastic personality shining though :)

Hello. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Andrew Broekhuijsen. For those of you who do know, me, I'm Elder Broekhuijsen now. I was called to serve in the Russia Samara mission, and I report to the MTC on Wednesday. I'll be there for around 12 weeks. If that block of time ever actually ends, I'll be shipping off to the Samara area to share the gospel with everyone I meet in pitiful, broken Russian.

I was assigned to speak on Doctrine & Covenants section 11. The big verse that always gets quoted from that section is verse 21, which says, "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word." At first, I wasn't quite sure what that meant, so I looked up the "word," on Wikipedia. For those of you in the congregation who don't know what Wikipedia is, it's kind of like the dictionary, but for young people, and also sometimes it's wrong.

Wikipedia wasn't very helpful, so instead I went to the Bible Dictionary. "Word" wasn't in there. So I decided to ponder instead. I came up with a few different working definitions on my own, and then applied them each separately to the verse.

First, I thought of the obvious definition. God's word, or the word of God, is the scriptures. Everyone knows that; I think there's even some sort of a catchy tune that says so. Yet despite the fact that this is the first thing that comes to your average member's mind when they hear "word of God," it's still very important. I'm no scriptorian, but I've been making an effort to get more and more scriptures under my belt for various situations. Eventually I hope to get to the point where I can hear any question or concern out of an investigator's mouth, and immediately have a selection of chapters and verses spring to mind, prepared just to that investigator's needs and tastes. The answers to everything we need to know are in the scriptures. And the more answers I have, the more useful I can be as an instrument in the Lord's hands while declaring his word. This is one of the most crucial reasons to "first seek to obtain [His] word."

The next meaning I saw in the verse for "word" was "promise." The Lord has made us all sorts of promises, and they're scattered throughout the scriptures. Which, hey, another reason to "obtain" or strive to understand and become familiar with the scriptures. As a missionary, a big part of the "formula" for success, if you will, is promising investigators that they will receive blessings for obeying the commandments of God. One of the things that has really been emphasized in my mission prep class is the effectiveness of making specific commitments with investigators. And what better way to follow up a commitment than with a promise of blessings to come if that commitment is kept? D&C 130:20-21 says,

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

What this means is that our Heavenly Father desperately wants to bless us. I picture Him up in heaven, watching us very carefully for any sign that we are about to follow a law. And the second we do, He blesses us. He loves to bless us, and frankly, I'm not going to turn down blessings. If blessing us makes the both of us happy, then I see no reason not to give Him all the excuses He wants to do so. It's kind of a win/win situation.

Furthermore, this is a great scripture about a promise God has made to us. Phrased simply, if we keep a commandment or adhere to a law, He promises to bless us. Knowing that He has given us His word on this makes it pretty easy to extend a challenge to an investigator. If I want to commit an investigator to try Moroni's challenge—that is, to read part of the Book of Mormon, then pray fervently to find out if it is true—I can think of how doing the same thing has blessed my life, and make a promise with complete confidence based on my experience. I can promise, because I know of God's promise, that if you, Vlad, will read the Book of Mormon, and pray in faith, firmly believing that you will receive an answer to your prayer, asking to know if what you are reading is true, you will receive a witness from the Holy Ghost that it is true. I know this, Vlad, because I tried it myself. I got on my knees and tested out God's promise, and I know it to be true.

And if I commit Olga to stop drinking vodka, I can promise her, based on my own experiences with following the Word of Wisdom, that she will be able to "run and not be weary," and "walk and not faint," as promised in the 89th section of the Doctrine & Covenants. I know she'll feel healthier. Maybe she will even notice a boost in her performance at the Olympic javelin-throw competition!

An important thing to remember, though, is found in D&C 82:10. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." God has made us promises. But they are only effective when we are keeping the commandments, and doing what He says. When we don't keep our end of the bargain, God is no longer bound to the promises He has made to us.

The last definition I came up with for "word," was His commandments, or His specific directions to us. God gives us up-to-date, minute-by-minute revelation on what we are supposed to do and where we are supposed to go when we need it. And in the mission field, perhaps more than in any other place, we need it. To be the most effective tools for the Lord's work, we need to obtain the revelation He has for us regarding what specifically we should be doing and where specifically we should be going. He communicates this to us via the Spirit. Now any missionary will tell you how absolutely crucial the Spirit is to success in the mission field. It's often said that missionaries don't convert; they teach and hope that the Spirit will convert. This definition of "word" works especially well in the phrase "obtain my word." The Spirit really is something to be obtained. We have to be worthy of its presence or we are useless in the Lord's hands. A companionship without the Spirit is like a U.S. passport without a Russian visa, or a giant, frozen country without beet soup, or an analogy without a coherent logical foundation. It just doesn't get anything accomplished. Relying on the arm of flesh to do the work of the Lord is a recipe for failure. In this final way, it is imperative that we obtain the word of the Lord before trying to declare it.

So how exactly do we obtain the word of the Lord? Luckily, the answer to this is simple. The classic missionary scripture, Doctrine & Covenants section 4 says, "Ask and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." We ask, and then we knock—or in other words, we act. If we are doing what we are supposed to be doing and working constantly to improve and reach our goals, we will succeed. I'm not going to gain a deep and useful knowledge of the scriptures by asking for one and then playing Robot Unicorn Attack for 13 hours solid—not that I've tried (I generally limit myself to no more than 5). No, I'm going to gain a knowledge of the scriptures by asking for one, and then putting in hours of work, study, and experience. I'm not going to receive the Spirit's guidance and aid by saying a quick prayer and that's all. I'll need to be sure I'm worthy to be in the presence of the Spirit, then do everything I can to invite it into my life and not offend it.

I want to bear my testimony that I know with a surety that this is true. This gospel I'm going to be teaching for two years is true. And it's a good thing I have found that out for myself, because if I hadn't obtained that knowledge, how could I possibly expect to declare it? Brothers and sisters, this gospel is true. Everything from the restoration to the Book of Mormon to the Atonement of Christ is the truth. Without all these things I have no idea where I would be right now. But I know I wouldn't be standing here at this pulpit, counting down the hours until I enter the MTC. I'm so thankful for the way you have all shaped me into the person I am today. I'm grateful for my family, especially my parents, who had to put up with all sorts of fun things I did growing up. I want to express my appreciation to all the teachers that were given the unfortunate task of trying to teach me things about the gospel, particularly the ones who had to deal with the Andrew from about age 2 to age 17. I also want to thank the mission prep teachers, Shane, Jordan, and Jared. The stuff you guys taught me is pure gold. Before I took mission prep, the mission was more of a vague concept off in the distant horizons of the future than an actual event. It was awesome to do all those role-plays and gain at least a little bit of skill with how to run a discussion. I'm so grateful I was blessed with the amazing friends and examples throughout the more formative years of my life. Lots of them are on their own missions for the Lord right now, flung out all over the globe. Most of the rest are here in this chapel, supporting me right up through my last few days here.

I hope that I will have the opportunity to baptize a million people on my mission and bring them all to a knowledge of the truth. But I know that the person who will benefit most from this mission isn't going to be the Lord, or Vlad, or even Olga. It's going to be Elder Broekhuijsen. I'm so grateful for this chance I have to serve for two years. I love you all, and I say these things in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.