Good
morning everyone. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to speak to you
today. For those of you who don’t know me my name is Auburn Remington. As
many of you know, I leave for my mission to Thailand in a few weeks. I am so
grateful to have this opportunity to serve the Lord.
This
past year has been busy. I finished my first year of school at BYU, and was
able to go on a study abroad to France. This year was full of experiences and I
learned so much.
Today
I will be speaking on a topic that really stuck out to me many times this past
year. It’s about being faithful, having hope and enduring to the end, and the
good things that will come if we do this. Many of us have heard the familiar
saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to
continue that counts.” In
a talk given by Robert D. Hales, he tells the story of a young runner.“In 1968 a marathon runner by the name of John Stephen
Akhwari represented Tanzania in an international competition. “A little over an
hour after [the winner] had crossed the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari …
approached the stadium, the last man to complete the journey. [Though suffering
from fatigue, leg cramps, dehydration, and disorientation,] a voice called from
within to go on, and so he went on. Afterwards, it was written, ‘Today we have
seen a young African runner who symbolizes the finest in human spirit, a
performance that gives meaning to the word courage.’ For some, the only reward
is a personal one. [There are no medals, only] the knowledge that they finished
what they set out to do” When asked why he would complete a race he could never
win, Akhwari replied, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the
race; my country sent me to finish the race.”He knew who he was—an athlete representing the country of
Tanzania. He knew his purpose—to finish the race. He knew that he had to endure
to the finish, so that he could honorably return home to Tanzania. Our mission
in life is much the same. We were not sent by Father in Heaven just to be born.
We were sent to endure and return to Him with honor.”
While we are on earth we will have many experiences. Some of
them happy and joyous, and others that are just plain hard. However, we have
been promised in Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 that, if we, “Search diligently,
pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your
good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenants wherewith ye have
covenanted one with another.”This scripture speaks so peacefully to me. It lets me know that
if we are trying hard to be faithful, and doing the things that we know are
right, all our experiences will end up coming together for our good.
Many of you may know that I am a worrier. Growing up, I worried
about all things…..be they little or big. When I was in elementary school, I
was so worried about being on time, that everyday without fail I would ask my
mom upwards of 3 times on the ride to school, “Are we going to be late, early,
or right on time.” Or if it was a costume day at school, like Halloween, I
would make my mom wait with me in the car until I saw someone else in my class
walk in wearing a costume. Through these experiences, and many others my mom
would always tell me, “Auburn, don’t worry… things are going to be alright in
the end, and if its not alright its not the end.” I can’t tell you all how many
times my mother’s words have echoed in my mind, and now when I worry about
things I try and remind myself to be happy and have the faith and hope that
things will all work out.
Near the beginning of the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon,
the story is told of Ammon and his brethren and their missionary work. They
endured many trials (being thrown into prison, almost being killed many times,
and not to mention many would not listen to their word) We can only imagine how
discouraged they could have chosen to feel. However, they had faith and kept
working hard and pressing forward, until they eventually had success. In Alma
25:17 it reads, “And now behold Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and
their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for the success which they had among
the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their
prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular.”
They could have chosen to give up, but they chose to have the hope and faith
that Heavenly Father would answer their prayers, and keep the promises he had
made to them. We cannot choose to ever give up.
President Uchdorf reminds us of
this when he says,“Those who come unto Christ, repent of their sins, and live in
faith will reside forever in peace. Think of the worth of this eternal gift.
Surrounded by those we love, we will know the meaning of ultimate joy as we
progress in knowledge and in happiness. No matter how bleak the chapter of our
lives may look today, because of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may
hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will exceed our
grandest expectations. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him.”
We must not ever give up, we need to have faith and to keep
working at it. We have been promised great things. With this in mind, I
would like to share with you all a poem that I have read many times when the
going gets tough.
Don’t
Quit
When
things go wrong, as they sometimes will/ When the
road you’re trudging seems all up hill/ When the
funds are low and the debts are high/ And you
want to smile, but you have to sigh/ When care
is pressing you down a bit/ Rest, if
you must – but don’t you quit./ Life is
queer with its twists and turns/ As every
one of us sometimes learns/ And many a
failure turns about/ When he
might have won had he stuck it out/ Don’t give
up, though the pace seems slow/ You might
succeed with another blow./ Often the
goal is nearer than/ It seems
to a faint and faltering man/ Often the
struggler has given up/ When he
might have captured the victor’s cup./ And he
learned too late, when the night slipped down/ How close
he was to the golden crown./ Success is
failure turned inside out –/ The silver
tint of the clouds of doubt –/ And you
never can tell how close you are/ It may be
near when it seems so far/ So stick
to the fight when you’re hardest hit/ It’s
when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
In one of my favorite talks given by President Monson called
“Finding Joy in the Journey”, he says, "This is
our one and only chance at mortal life--here and now. The longer we live, the
greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they
are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this
short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what
is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important
things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when
you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the
journey--now." Our lives here on earth are short, but I know that heavenly
father wants us to succeed and be happy!
In a talk given at BYU by Richard G Edgley he tells this story:Some
30 years ago I was working for a corporation headquartered in the United States
that had international operations. We had recently hired a Jewish man to run
our European businesses. It was known by many in the corporation that as a
young boy he had been torn from the safety and the love of his family and
thrust into a Nazi concentration camp for the duration of World War II. Since
he and I shared some responsibilities for our European operations, we
occasionally traveled to Europe together. On one such trip, after we had become
well acquainted and I felt it not inappropriate, I inquired about his terrible
experiences during those several years of his life.As
I remember the details, he told me that when he was five years old, his father,
mother, and older sister had already been taken by the Gestapo. He and his
grandmother were traveling by train to find refuge when the Gestapo boarded and
searched the train. He and his grandmother were discovered and taken separate
ways, and he never again saw his grandmother. In fact, he never again saw any
of his family members.It
is not my intent to describe the already known atrocities that occurred to
those so confined but to relate a lesson my co-worker taught me while enduring
those terrible years. As he concluded recounting his experiences, and after
several minutes of contemplative silence, he then asked me this question: “Do
you know what the most powerful force in the world is?”Without
hesitation I answered, “Love. Love conquers all. If only your persecutors had
love for you and for their fellow man, you would not have suffered as you did.”He
responded, “No, it is not love. All those years I was in the concentration
camp, I had love. I had love for my mother, father, and sister. I had love for
my grandmother. But that love did not sustain me. It did not keep me alive.”
And then he said, “Hope. Hope is the most powerful force. It was hope that kept
me alive. It was hope that I would survive. It was hope for freedom. It was
hope that I would someday be reunited with my loved ones.”
While
on this journey we need to have the hope and faith to keep going towards our
goal, and trust that things will work out. Heavenly father has promised us many
times throughout the scriptures, that if we keep his commandments and endure to
the end we will have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all gifts of
god.
In
Doctrine and Covenants 59:23 it says, “But learn that he who doeth works of
righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal
life in the world to come.”
This
is a great promise.
I
would like to bear my testimony, that I know the gospel is true. I know that
having hope can get us through dark times. I know heavenly father loves me and
each one of you. I know that Christ lived and atoned for the sins of all of us.
We will all make mistakes here on earth, but we can repent, and our mistakes
won’t have to weigh us down. I know that if we keep the commandments and endure
well that we will be able to live with our loving heavenly father again. I am
so grateful for the knowledge that my family can be together forever, and I am
thankful for all my family has taught me.I
would like to close with a scripture, that reminds me that while we are on this
journey of enduring to the end Heavenly father and Christ are always there for
us. It goes: “And whoso recieveth you, there I will
be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on
your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about
you, to bear you up.”
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
