Spencer’s Mission Farewell Talk
January 27, 2013
My name is Tippetts, Elder Tippetts and I'm going on a mission! For those who are not of our faith, all young men are encouraged to serve missions as part of their Priesthood responsibility. We serve in the mission field for two years. Normally the minimum age to begin missionary service is 19 but just recently our prophet, President Monson, lowered the age to 18 (for men). After I heard the announcement I called my mom and said, “You know I'm going to leave right away!” she responded with tears and said, “I know.” My dad then told me not to walk but to run. I have received my assignment to serve in the Finland Helsinki mission and I leave in two weeks.
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| We took a picture outside the church after Spencer gave his farewell talk. |
My friends and family, it is good to be with you this morning. I’ve been given the topic of elder Ballard’s general conference address entitled “Be anxiously Engaged”. After much thought and minimal preparation I learned that he is referring to engaging ourselves in the work of the lord. Preparation is kind of like Italian dressing. I’ve been filling the bottle up for 18 years and now I got to shake it up to get it all mixed together. Now, I have not seen the sea parted or the Savior heal the sick but I see the Lords hand in my life and it compels me to anxiously engage myself in his service.
For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a disease called hyperhidrosis. It had a severe effect on my physically and emotionally. Hyperhidrosis seems very serious but really it means I have really sweaty hands. To you this doesn’t seem very severe but to me it was devastating. Every time I shook someone’s hand id have to watch in horror, as my moist hands would grasp there’s and after the shake they wiped their hand off on the pants. For years I had prayed for the lord to take this ailment away from me and a few weeks ago my prayers had been answered. A fellow ward member had referred me to a doctor who could cure my sweaty hands permanently. After a consultation I fearlessly scheduled the surgery 3 days later. I arrived on operation day and was immediately hooked up to all the machines that were necessary to preform the procedure. I was wheeled into the operating room and was knocked out cold by a very interesting cocktail of drugs. After three hours of surgery, two lung deflations and a few incisions I awoke in the recovery room. As I regained conscience, I felt my hands… bone dry! It worked! I began to lose sight of who actually allowed for this procedure to be possible. I began to think, “I had just cheated the system” “I have improved my bodies weakness.” “I am no longer sweaty!” and I thought how great it was that I had figured it out. The next day as I was lying on the couch, watching a show about Mount Everest, my hands became a little sweaty. I became worried and kept watching the show. As the show became more intense, so did the sweating in my palms. I frightened alerted my mother who alerted the doctor who baffled, replied, “that’s impossible.” This went on for 24 hours exactly and just as immediate as the sweating stopped the first time, it stopped again and the results of the surgery were restored. I then had the overwhelming impression that God had done that on purpose. Our Father in Heaven knows the channels for which sweating is possible better than any doctor and for sure more than me. He did it to prove to me that he was still in control and if I didn’t use my new confidence wisely he could take it away just as easily as he gave it to me.
Never had I seen Gods hand in my life more clearly than I had with this experience.
Read D&C 88:104
104. And this shall be the sound of his trump, saying to all people, both in heaven and in earth, and that are under the earth—for every ear shall hear it, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, while they hear the sound of the trump, saying: Fear God, and give glory to him who sitteth upon the throne, forever and ever; for the hour of his judgment is come.
In the mid 1950’s, my great-grandfather, Marion Tippetts owned and operated a large farm and cattle ranch in northern Wyoming. Naturally he needed a rather large work force; luckily he had 10 children. It was that time of the year to begin planting crops. The crop produced this year was the entire families income and was very important that everything be done on a tight schedule. This meant the fields had to be plowed, that day. Dean, having reached the age of 8 meant he was now allowed to operate a tractor. The young boy Dean left the family and rumbled along on his tractor towards the fields. He began plowing one straight line after another. Being only 8 years old one could imagine that his attention span would be quite short. After spotting a rabbit run across the field he shut the tractor down and bolted after it. This rabbit took him on the adventure to end all adventures. After chasing this rabbit for an hour or two he spotted a deer. Naturally he was compelled by his 8-year-old mind to chase it. He describes this experience today as being Daniel Boon for 4 hours. At this point, he is deep into the woods. He was having the time of his life while exploring the woods when he suddenly realized that the sun was setting and the fields were not plowed yet! He sprinted back to the fields and jumped on his tractor fired it back up and kept plowing.
Darkness was falling upon him faster and faster. At this point Dean learned that the headlight on his tractor was broken. He became frightened not only of what lay in the darkness but of letting down his entire family and having to face the wrath of his father. He finished one field at the same time it became too dark to continue working. Realizing how difficult returning to his family would be, he turned the tractor off and put his face into his hands. As tears of fear and sadness filled his eyes and over the sound of the howling coyotes, he heard a voice. “Dean… Dean… DEAN!” Dean responded to the shouting of his name, “im over here!” he could see the light of a tractor getting brighter as it approached him. Once it got right next to him the driver turned his tractor around and looked at Dean and said “its time to come home Dean.” Dean’s oldest brother Tom had navigated through the darkness and found his frightened younger brother. As Dean followed his brother home he inquired about the fields he hadn’t plowed. Tom replied, “don’t worry about that, lets just get home.” As they passed the last of the fields Dean saw in the glow of his brothers light that the rest of them had been plowed. Dean’s older brother had finished his work and helped Dean with his. That night Dean and Tom returned to their family and said to their father, “All the fields have been plowed.”
At one point or another, it will get dark in our lives. We will become sad and depressed, lost and confused. Guidance will be sought and will be found in no other place than in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Wentworth letter:
“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
Whether by our own hands or by the hand of Jesus Christ, the work will be done. I am anxiously engaging myself in a good cause. No other way can I show that than by serving My Father in Heaven? This is why I am serving a mission. To help my brothers and sisters from the other side of the world to realize that Christ will lead them home.
Elder Ballard says,
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. …
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37, 39–40).
The Savior’s words are simple, yet their meaning is profound and deeply significant. We are to love God and to love and care for our neighbors as ourselves. Imagine what good we can do in the world if we all join together, united as followers of Christ, anxiously and busily responding to the needs of others and serving those around us—our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow citizens.
