Homecoming Talk

Good morning my name is Meredith Jones and I’m so excited to be here today. I recently returned home from serving my mission in the Utah Salt Lake City temple square mission.

I could stand up here today to tell you about the cool run-ins I have had with church celebrities like Jeffrey R. Holland, Emily Bell Freeman, President Oaks, and more or the weird encounters we had with people showing up carrying a cross claiming they are Christ. Although those stories are fun, my mission was so much more than that. A year ago tomorrow would have marked my 1 year as a set apart full time missionary. Most of you know I have had an interesting mission experience this past year so I figured I’d walk through it with you all today. 

Towards the beginning of my mission I remember hearing someone say, “The biggest miracle of the mission is a change of heart” and it is so true. I have seen my heart change during this process as well as the friends we were teaching change their hearts and go toward Christ.

Exactly a year ago I decided I wanted to make a word for my mission and that word was “willing.” Willing to submit my will and do whatever it took for me to be the best possible missionary I could be. I kept reminding myself that when I submitted my mission papers I also submitted my will to the Lord. 

I was over the moon excited to start my mission, it was something I had been looking forward to for 8 months and the day was finally there. I then got a little humbled sitting behind a computer for hours a day during at home MTC but that couldn’t get my greeny energy to go away. I went to the MTC in Provo and was on a spiritual high. Living with hundreds of set apart missionaries 24/7 was such a privilege. The spirit was there constantly. 

I was looking through my journal and found this from my first week of being a missionary “I just love this gospel! There is no way for me to fully and properly express my testimony here but I hope to more fully bear it through my missionary service and throughout my whole life. I am giving it all to Him even though it will not be easy. I am so grateful for the opportunity to glorify God through my mission. I know the joy that comes from the gospel and I hope to share it with all who will listen.”

So after a month of MTC I took an hour train ride to my mission at Temple Square. I was there for three weeks and then decided to come home in the beginning of March.

Coming home from my mission was not an easy decision. I can genuinely say I’ve never been happier than I was on my mission. But the whole time I was out there I had feelings of guilt and remorse for past transgressions. It got to a point where the guilt was taking over all my thoughts and making it difficult to focus on missionary work. So, I humbled myself, took a leap of faith, and talked to my mission president. This ultimately resulted in me getting sent home to fully use the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Once I got home, I was heartbroken. After only seven weeks of being set apart I wasn’t a missionary, I could no longer spend time in the temple, and it felt like all my preparations to serve were going to waste. I had some of my lowest moments those first three months at home, but, as I turned to Christ and deeply studied the atonement, I felt peace. With time, prayer, fasting and help from priesthood leaders I was able to be forgiven and live in accordance with the covenants I have made. 

Throughout this whole experience I was reminded of the story of the woman who got caught committing adultery. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the story. While Christ was doing his earthly ministry a crowd would often gather at the temple to hear him teach. One day as he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd and said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the sand with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.” When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” She replied and said “no lord” And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

The woman was brought to Jesus, she may have been naked or barely clothed, being caught in the act. Surely, she felt naked as her sin was uncovered and bare for the world to see. Although my situation and choices were different I sat in front of the same God, having transgressed and feeling exposed. Similar to the woman; a Savior was provided, love was extended, and I was able to come closer to Christ. Forgiven instead of condemned, saved instead of stoned, exposed yet covered in grace. Just like the woman picked herself up and changed her habits, so did I, turning over a new leaf without forgetting what I learned from the last one.

During my time at home I became the unofficial ward babysitter and have probably watched at least 80% of the kids in the congregation at least once. I enjoyed the nice Southern California weather and continued to prepare to return to serve.

After a very long six months and lots of prayer I made the decision to return to my mission in Salt Lake. I was scared and probably more nervous than I had ever been. I went back and forth on my decision more times than I can count. Missions are hard and knowing from first hand experience what it was going to be like made me a little less excited to return. But the whole time I remembered Nephi. 

In the beginning of the Book of Mormon Lehi commands his sons to get the brass plates from Jerusalem. After they had just spent many days walking through the wilderness to flee Jerusalem. I would definitely be a little frustrated but in 1 Nephi 3:7 Nephi says, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” Nephi knew he needed to get the plates, he didn’t know how he was going to do it but he had faith so he acted upon the commandments knowing that everything would work out the way it needed to. I knew I needed to complete my mission service, I didn’t know how I was going to do it but I knew the Lord would provide a way. 

The moment I stepped foot on Temple Square it felt so natural. I was so excited to be back and start teaching guests again. But this time my motive was a little different. I was no longer focused on teaching as many people as possible but instead it was to bear a testimony of Christ everyday. Christ has done so much for me, the least I could do was bear my strong witness of him and his great atoning sacrifice. 

Like in basketball, at Temple Square we have a home court advantage. We are in the buildings we serve in for a majority of the day everyday. With our mission boundaries being less than a square mile almost everywhere we walked was dedicated ground. This is super helpful when we have a guest come to visit, with the help of the spirit we can determine their needs and take them to the best spot for them to feel Christ's love for them. 

One time we had a lady from Croatia show up for a tour, she was in Utah for business and her boyfriend was sick so she decided to come explore temple square. In the Conference Center there is a 35 foot long painting called “Come Unto Christ '' by Michael Malm. It was the cover photo for this past General Conference so I am sure most of you have seen it. But for those that haven’t it is a modern depiction of Christ coming to the Americas. People of all different walks of life coming towards him and kneeling down beside him. In the painting it looks like Christ is glowing and behind him are angels disguised as clouds. The Spirit is always there when we stop at this painting regardless of the guest but with Zuzanna it was different. My companion and I pointed out how everyone was on a hill to get to Christ but no matter how big the hill was they all had hope in their eyes. We were all in tears while Zuzanna stood there admiring the painting with so much amazement. When we asked her how she felt she was speechless. At the end of the tour we got her contact information to continue to teach her online. She later shared with us that she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer hours before she came to visit Temple Square. Zuzanna didn’t get baptized or even make it past the first lesson but for a moment she got to experience some peace while on sacred grounds. The spirit had the ability to touch her heart in a way that was perfect for her. That is what the mission is about. We are instruments in the Lord's hands, every “success” I had was because of him.

After being in Salt Lake for 3 weeks I started experiencing really bad headaches and migraines. I could hardly push through but was trying my hardest and doing my best. After 10 weeks it got to the point of having a migraine everyday. It was difficult to go to our online teaching center and look at a computer screen, I would be in so much pain that I wouldn’t want to talk to guests and I was spending lots of time at Doctor appointments. I was no longer being an effective missionary so we decided that coming home to get further medical testing would benefit me more than completing my full mission.  

Most Utahns can't stand California. So as you can imagine 90% of the time when people found out I'm from California I got a hard time. On many occasions I've said the words, "It's a good place if you Focus on the good parts not the bad ones." I said this more times than I can count but it didn't click until my last night on the mission. This statement applies to everything. It is a good life if we focus on the good not the bad. Coming home again and seeing a dream slowly slip away was heartbreaking but I was able to look at the positives. I was home days before Christmas so I was able to spend the holidays with my family, I got in to see doctors months before I could have in Utah, I could start taking new medications that the missionary department wouldn’t approve for me and I missed almost all of Utah's snow.

My mission experience looked very far from normal but I would not trade it for anything. It was exactly what I needed and I am excited to take the lessons I learned and apply them throughout the rest of my life. 

I know that Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. His Atonement is infinite and perfect and has helped me endure my greatest trials and has enabled me to feel my greatest joys. I am filled with so much joy knowing that I got to go serve the Lord and people from all over the World in my couple of blocks in Salt Lake. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord knows each of us and longs for us to come unto Him. I know that I am not alone and that I am loved perfectly by my Father in Heaven. The knowledge of my divine identity as a daughter of God is so sacred to me. All my confidence, light, hope, optimism, and strength comes from that knowledge and from Christ's infinite Atonement. Although my full time mission service is completed I am excited to continue to glorify God throughout the rest of my life.