Homecoming Talk

Introduction

Good morning, brothers and sisters. I’m incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to speak to you all today. I remember about a year ago I was living in the bottom of the Czech Republic and there was my companion behind me, he was conducting. And I had three or four members right there. And two of our friends were there—seven of us at church. It was crazy, but it’s incredible to see all you guys here today.

The last two years I’ve had the opportunity to live in the Czech Republic. And I’m sure when I say that, half of you have no clue what that is. But the Czech Republic is a small country in the middle of Central Europe. Some of the main things that everybody will tell you is how atheist they are. They’re the most atheist country in the world.

We’d walk around the streets all day and every single person would tell us—or ask us—why are you in the Czech Republic? Why don’t you go anywhere else in the entire world? So we’d be walking around and every single person: “I’m atheist.” And then they weren’t actually atheists, but they would say that.

The other thing is they’re super well known for their beer. I served in a place called Česke Budějovice and Pilsen—Budweiser and Pilsner, that’s where those beers come from. And so every single person I knew pretty much drank beer. So it was kind of interesting that way as well.

But kind of on a more spiritual aspect: the Church there is truly incredible. When I got there, I didn’t really know what the culture was like. It was kind of strange and all interesting. But when I started learning the conversion stories of many of the amazing members I was serving around, it was incredible.

About 100 years ago, the Church originated in the Czech Republic. Then communism hit, and the Church could not run through communism. It kind of just fell apart. But there were some very strong members that kept it going by teaching yoga classes. They weren’t allowed to talk about the actual gospel principles or say “Jesus Christ” or “God” or talk about them, but they could teach the principles of the gospel by doing yoga with people. And through that, the Church was able to stay alive.

I met so many amazing members that are super strong today all because of those yoga classes. The Church is super amazing there. I learned a lot in my two years. I can’t say it all today—I only have about 10 more minutes. But I hope that what I say today can touch some of you, and you can ask the Spirit that comes from it. Because my life has completely changed.

Understanding the Atonement of Jesus Christ

One of the biggest ways it’s changed is through my understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I always had a testimony of Jesus Christ—of who He was, our Savior, the Son of God, everything. But I never really understood that. I could never put that in my personal life.

There was a time in my mission where I was struggling a little bit. It was pretty hard. But there was a scripture I read that really touched me, and it was Mosiah 7:33:

“But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.”

When I was reading that scripture, it just completely touched me. It was exactly what I needed to read at that moment in my mission. And from that point on, I really understood more of what the Atonement was. That was just the start of it—part of what really touched me and helped me understand why I was on my mission and who I was teaching, or why I wanted to teach people.

Later, we were teaching this one lady. She was amazing. When I got there, she had already been taught for about 10 months. She was really cool. But in the very first couple of her lessons with fellow missionaries, she would give about one-word responses. They’d ask her questions and she’d say, “No.” They’d ask if she had a testimony of the Savior and she’d say, “Yeah.” Just one-word responses.

Then when I got there, we were helping her with some other things, and she finally decided she wanted to be baptized. From that point on, after she was baptized, she was a completely different person. It was insane to see how the Atonement genuinely affected her and her own conversion. She was participating in Relief Society, she was giving talks, and now she’s going to go to the temple soon. It was incredible to see the change in her over a year—coming to know who her Savior was and building that relationship.

God’s Awareness of Us

The next thing I want to talk about is how aware God is of us all the time. God loves us so much. He’s our Heavenly Father, and He knows us personally. I can’t count how many times I’ve noticed God’s hand across the years—whether it be daily occurrences, a certain companion at a certain time, or just with my mission leaders blessing my life.

Through prayer, I was really able to find out who God was for me—for that personal relationship. I remember when I got to the Czech Republic, I was in a city called Prague my first six months, and it was huge. Every single person was saying they didn’t believe in God, they’d never really learned about God. I just didn’t understand that because here in Arizona, everybody knows who Jesus Christ is, knows who God is, and they have a relationship with Him in some type of way. It kind of shocked me for a little bit. Some doubts came to me—I didn’t really know if God really was there.

But then through prayer, that’s how I figured out that God truly loved me and that God is always there for us. I can think of many other situations in my mission—hard day, hard companion, whatever it may have been—the only place I could turn to was scriptures and prayer. I had nothing else. I was two hours away from every other missionary in the entire world, just at the bottom of this huge country, with no clue what to do. But all I could do was go to prayer. And I’ll forever be grateful for those moments that I had when it was just me and my Heavenly Father communicating.

Mission Leaders and Christlike Love

Another thing: my companions and my mission leaders. I have a strong testimony that you get called to your mission leaders.

I had two sets of mission leaders on my mission. The first one was a man named Pres. Skousen, and he was the biggest example of Christlike love and attributes I’ve ever seen in anybody. Every single time he talked to us, he was centered on Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Every single testimony he gave, it was him reading out of the Bible, the words of Jesus Christ. And I needed that in my life. I didn’t know how to use the Bible in my life. But thanks to him, I was able to grow my relationship with Jesus Christ in that way.

The Book of Mormon

One of the biggest things I learned is the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel. I remember reading the scriptures every single day of my mission. I’d always open up the Book of Mormon in the morning and just read. And every single time I opened the Book of Mormon, there was always something that touched me. No matter if it was one word, one verse, a whole chapter—there were always different parts of my mission when I needed to read a certain verse at a certain time. The Book of Mormon always had the answers to my questions.

I know that as we continue reading the Book of Mormon every single day, our lives will change. Blessings come from reading the Book of Mormon.

I remember I was in the MTC. It was my first week, our first Sunday, and we had like a two-and-a-half-hour personal study. I remember just reading the Book of Mormon for about an hour straight. Then I watched a talk from President Holland about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. That was the first moment in my life when I think I truly recognized the Spirit.

I know I had felt the Spirit my entire life—I’ve been around some amazing parents, family members, in church always. But the first time I truly recognized that it was the Spirit was in the MTC. The Spirit just overcame me. I remember writing in my journal for like 45 straight minutes—all the feelings I was feeling, the thoughts I was getting—because I was just overfilled with the Spirit. It was incredible.

The Power of the Holy Ghost

The last thing I want to talk about is the power of the Holy Ghost in our daily lives and in our conversion.

When I look back at my mission, I think about all the daily, the hourly moments in my life when I had a confirmation that my testimony was true—because of the Spirit. Whether it was on the street, testifying to somebody that I know Jesus Christ is our Savior; or testifying that I know God has a plan for somebody—I could feel the Spirit so strong when I was testifying.

I’ve seen the countenance of people’s faces change when my companions and I would testify together, or when we were teaching principles, or when we asked a certain question that got someone to think. I could just tell they were feeling the Spirit.

One lesson I’ll never forget—we were teaching this man about prayer. We asked him, “Have you ever prayed before?” He said no. We asked if he would end with a prayer. He started praying, and it was the most heartfelt prayer I’ve ever heard in my life. During the prayer, he started crying. Afterwards, he said, “I’ve never felt this feeling in my entire life. I know that God loves me.”

We were able to testify so strongly that what he was feeling was the Spirit. He said, “I want this in my life all the time.” I’ll never forget that experience with him.

Closing Testimony

I would just like to end my testimony in Czech: