13 October 2019 - Senior Mission Farewell Sacrament Talk - Ed Drummond

Senior Mission Farewell Sacrament Talk   ( 6 min)

Ed Drummond                   13 October 2019

Recently, a fellow complained, 'The way things are going in government, I am going to move to another country.'   His interested friend asked, 'What country is that?'  The fellow answered, 'Utah.'

Sally and I will be travelling over the mountains and across the desert to that very Promised Land.  We will serve in the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission as Family and Church History Senior Missionaries, but we will be back again in 18 months.  Our mission call to Salt Lake City brings Sally and me full circle.

On our honeymoon, Sally and I visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City on our way home from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Sally and I had been shopping around for a church to join.  When we both heard the Plan of Salvation, the story of the restored church, living prophets for our time, and that the Book of Mormon were present day scriptures, it all rang true to both of us.  We both together knew we had found the true church.   Our faith and love of the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been the heart and soul of our family.

That day in Temple Square, my heart softened as I remembered the feelings I had when I attended BYU as a non-member.    I remembered when I first sat among the priesthood at BYU, how I wanted their example as role models in my life.  I remembered when President David O. McKay first entered the devotional assembly, how my soul said to me 'He is the prophet of God, if there ever was one.'

That same day in Temple Square, we both submitted ourselves as referrals.  After we returned home, we were so impatient to hear from the missionaries, we called the local Bishop and asked the missionaries to come and teach us. We were referred to as "golden converts".   I am eternally grateful Sally and I joined the church at the same time.  Over the years, we have helped each other grow in the gospel.  Now, together, we will be serving a Senior Mission where we both found the gospel 40 years ago. 

   

We thought about and wanted to serve a senior mission together for a long time.  At Roots Tech this year, Sally and I heard Elder Bednar's urgent request for senior missionaries to serve in document preservation.  We knew he had just called us.   We went to the Ancestry vendor booth and spoke with the Senior Missionaries about document preservation opportunities.  They eagerly put our names on their list.

Document preservation has always been an object and purpose of the Gospel.  Old testament prophets recorded their messages, the new testament are a collection of epistles recording the life of Jesus in Israel, the Book of Mormon golden plates were preserved for hundreds of years for our time.  Our church history is detailed, extensive, and honest about the founding of the church.  Journals of pioneers and missionaries tell of their times.  Now the church is scanning vast libraries of family records, census, and official documents for use by Family Search.  Sally and I are excited and proud to be part of that important effort.  In addition, when we return we should be better at Family Search to help others.

To us our mission plaque scripture, Alma 31:34-35, calls us to help the spirits on the other side, to unit them as families and to complete temple ordinances.

34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.

We both feel the deep desires of those on the other side waiting so long for their genealogy and temple work.  To help those waiting spirts, has been a lifelong dream of ours.  We have been preparing ourselves for this mission all our lives.

I know the Holy Spirit will be with us daily on our mission.  Through the years, I have learned to walk with the Holy Spirit daily in my professional careers in aerospace, as a professor, and with AT&T.  I knew I could rely on the Holy Spirit for inspiration to solve technical problems.  I know I will have that same constant assurance and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.  

Leaving friends and family is one of the hardest parts of going on a senior mission.   Bill Bonderud and I were primary teachers like-forever.  I remember one Sunday a primary boy passed me in the hall and said, 'You still work here?'  In primary Bill and I read over 250 children library books each year to our classes at the end of lessions. Each primary year, we would teach about missions.  We had missionaries visit our classes.   Each year, Bill and I shared the joy of our primary students leaving and returning from their missions.  Now it's Sally and my turn to go on our mission together.

Senior Mission life will be more than an 8:30am to 4:30pm daily job, we will be missionaries 24/7.   In preparation, I began to re-read the Book of Mormon completely before arriving at the MTC.  To my surprise, as I began to re-read the Book of Mormon new, deeper and more detailed meaning jumped out of the pages.    Now, I actually love to read the Isaiah verses in 2Nephi to feel those new profound understandings.  I think this is part of the blessing of going on a mission.

 As I prepared for our mission, I had a dream a while ago.  In that dream, I was a senior missionary talking to a couple on Temple Square.  In that dream, they were asking all kinds of questions in rapid succession.  Some of the questions had an edge to them.  I replied simply, 'The only question you need to ask is …"Is there really a Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?" 

 

This dream made me realize that all else follows from this very question.  There is Heavenly Father and His son is Jesus Christ.  We can trust their words.  Each and every word in the Book of Mormon is from Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, an angel of God, or a prophet of God.  There is a true church of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and we have found it.  The true church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.