FAREWELL TALK AND PARTY
2/25/2024 FAREWELL TALK
Good morning brothers and sisters. I have been called to serve in the Puerto Montt Chile mission. My mission is so far south that in one of my areas there will be more penguins than people.
I will start home MTC next Monday, March 4th. Then I will depart for the Mexico MTC on march 13th for 6 weeks of jam packed missionary training. I then leave the MTC for the mission field on April 19th. I am super excited to serve the people of Chile and it will definitely be an adventure.
Before I go any further I want to take some time to thank some people. First I want to Thank my seminary teachers. A lot of the time I was only thinking about how early I had to get to seminary I didn’t actually realize that they had to get there earlier.
I want to thank Brother Cropper, and Brother Harlow who put up with a lot of black screens and muted mics on zoom. Brother Williamson who would always try his best to get us in the mood for a spiritual discussion at 6 in the morning. Sister Wirig who would always try and put together a game for us to play then always tie is back to the gospel.. And finally brother Halverson who would let us play basketball and pickle ball on fridays helping us build relationships and enjoy being at church. Even though it was early, and sometimes I was late I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in seminary and grow closer to my savior. If I could make it to seminary my day would always go better and I am extremely grateful for my teachers and classmates that made it so enjoyable.
I want to thank all my youth advisors I’ve had in the young men’s program. Wednesday night activities were always well planned and the leaders always went above and beyond. Even if we were just playing ultimate frisbee at the park it was always good to be able to go and hang out. It was because of these activities that I first learned how to share the gospel. On more than one occasion I would bring one if not more of my friends to mutual. In a world that has created so many stereotypes about members of the church they would often leave with a better understanding of us and who we are. As people would come they would always be impressed with the kindness and inclusivity of our group. Several people expressed that they would love to come back whenever we have activities. These same friends would then want to play pickleball or ultimate frisbee at the church. Being able to share our church gym with my friends grew my testimony that as we strive to include others by bringing them around church and around church members they will be able to grow closer to God and feel a little bit of His love.
It is a little bit of a unique situation that I am in as I am leaving a little earlier than a typical missionary would. I was supposed to graduate in june of this year but I formed a new plan about a year ago after going on a swimming recruiting trip to BYU. They started talking about how generally they prefer when guys go on their mission after their freshman year of college just because the BYU semester gets out before my high school would get out. By leaving in April for a mission as opposed to june or july, I would get an extra 6-8 weeks to get back into shape for the up and coming swim season. After hearing this I proposed the idea of graduating from high school early and leaving on my mission even earlier. I thought that I would rather have 4 solid years of high school than 4 solid years of college. They said they would have no problem with that as long as I graduated high school and seminary.
In order to graduate early I needed to transfer to Horizons, which is an MDUSD alternative/homeschool education. There I was able to jump forward by co enrolling at DVC and taking a couple of classes at northgate, classes at DVC, institute and still participate in all the fun sporting and social events at northgate. Now here we are. I was able to graduate a semester early.
This taught me a valuable lesson that sometimes in life it doesn’t always have to follow the path you thought. As you put the Lord first and pray for a path He wants, he will provide a way. This path just kind of came together and had a lot of great blessings to it. I was having a rough time in some of my northgate classes so making the switch to DVC and cutting down my Northgate classes was a huge blessing. It allowed me to spend a lot of time with my brother, Tyler and family before leaving which was fun. It allowed me to get a lot of college credits. It allowed me to study at institute. It also allows me to get back a have months before BYU swimming starts to get back in shape. I am sure there are other reasons that I do not know of why this path was best for me. I think that as we follow the Lord and His plan, life always goes better.
Although I will not be getting to participate in the traditional end of senior year activities I am excited for what the future has in store. When I first started preparing to graduate early about a year ago I had a much different mentality about the process. I thought that I would be missing out on the end of senior year. That I would miss out on my senior swim season. I thought that I would miss all my friends. I was largely focused on everything that I would be missing or losing because I was going on my mission.
Going on a mission, coming to church, taking on a busy calling, joining the church, we can all focus on the things we are missing. Those things and sacrifices are different for everyone.
As my mission departure date approaches although part of me is sad to leave I am now largely excited that I am able to leave early. I will miss some things, but the way life has panned out in recent months has really changed my attitude about leaving. Now I focus on all the things I will be gaining by going on my mission. I think about how lucky I am to be able to travel and live in a foreign country for two years. I think about all the cool people and new friends I am going to be able to meet. I think about how lucky I am to be able to serve in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I think about how not only will I be able to strengthen my relationship with Christ but I will also be able to help others come unto Christ too.
Preparing for my mission has been a really cool and unique experience.
One of the best things I was able to do was attend Institute at the Pleasant Hill building. I started off just going Thursday nights in order to help supplement my seminary. Starting with Brother Fowler we would dive into the Book of Mormon and discuss its teachings and the doctrine. It was great being able to study the words of Christ during the week. Sometimes we would have over 10 people and other times we would only have a couple. No matter how many people we had there was always a strong spirit when we studied the scriptures. It helped me realize that even in small semi-formal environments the Lord will recognize our efforts to better understand him and his scriptures.
I was then also able to take an institute class during the day on tuesdays. this class only consisted of Me, My brother, and Wyatt Halversen, who is now serving his mission in the Great Britain Birmingham mission. Wyatt was a huge example to me of how to prepare for a mission. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to take a class together.
Because of the small class our us and our teacher changed the class into more of a gospel discussion/conversation. During the week we would each study the scriptures in our own time and then on Tuesdays we would share our insights and thoughts on what we had read. Since the class was largely based on our own insights it forced me to read the scriptures and bring things to say. It also kept me accountable to reading my scriptures. This was a total game changer for me. When I read with the intent of bringing something valuable to our meetings, it allowed me to better relate the scriptures to my life but forced me to then write down what I learned. As I studied the scriptures with the intent of sharing what I learned I was able to grow my testimony of the truth of the scriptures and the doctrine that they teach.
One of my favorite scriptures I was able to share with our small was Mosiah 4:6-7 It reads
“...the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the lord and should be diligent in keeping his commandments and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body,
I say that This is the man who receivers salvation through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind.”
This is an excerpt from King Benjamin’s speech. He says that the atonement was prepared from the beginning of the world. That means that It was created because Heavenly Father knew that we would not be able to be perfect, and it was prepared for the world to be able to use. Because he knew that we where not going to be perfect he was able to prepare the atonement for us to be able to return to live with him again. He then goes on to say that it was created for everyone. Everyone should feel like they should be able to utilize the atonement. In a world that can be so divided and polarized the idea that we are all able to use Christs atonement is a powerful unifier and a reminder that as Elder Holland states that
” It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”
Because of my mission a lot of people have actually asked me questions regarding the church. It has allowed me to try and explain some of the church's teachings and try and erase some of the stereotypes surrounding our beliefs. I was recently hanging out with a couple of people because we had mutual interests in cars. I bring up my car and how I won’t be able to drive it for two years because i’m going on a mission and stuff like that. Naturally they want to know more about the church and why I am going. Eventually they ask a question along the lines of what makes us different from other church’s . On the surface it seemed like an easy question, I mean we have so many things that are different, but I had to think about it for a second. I didn’t want to start throwing out some crazy answers like how we think you can baptize dead people, because I didn’t want to over complicate things. Eventually I was able to tell them one of the biggest differences is that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints we believe that God is continually talking with the world and specifically the current prophet. I was able to bear a short testimony that I know that God wants the best for each and everyone of us and he uses prophets to help guide us along in our journey. It was a great experience for me because not only was I able to help them better understand the church but also I learned that a lot of the time a simple answer is the best. I could have tried to explain other aspects of the church that make us unique but I stuck to a simple answer. They understood what I meant and acknowledged that it is pretty cool that we think that God is still watching over the world.
Because I am serving in South America a lot of my friends jokingly make fun of me that I am going to be taken by the cartel, or that I won’t be able to get back into the United States. Although neither of this things will likely happen there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I am essentially as a newly minted adult, traveling to a foreign country 6000 miles away to live there for 2 years. Most people would think I am crazy when I phrase it like that. But although it might be a bit scary and unpredictable I am reminded of Alma 56:47. These are the words of Mormon as he is describing the 2000 stripling warriors he says
“Now they never had fought yet they died not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt God would deliver them”
Although I don’t think going on a mission is quite as serious as going to war there are several reassuring truths in this scripture. The stripling warriors were taught to have faith and God would deliver them. As I head out into the mission field I know that it will be hard, and that It probably won't be all sunshine and rainbows (quite litterly is will not be that sunny… it rains a lot in chilie and it is cloudy most of the time) but I do have faith that in the end it will be good. I know that in the end The Lord has a plan for me and my mission and I just have to be willing to listen and do.
I want to close by bearing my testimony that I know that I am called to go on a mission. I know that Heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ love us all more than we can know and all they want is for us to return to live with them again. I know that They created a plan of salvation for us to be able to return to live with them again. I know that even though the mission is going to be hard, and that we all go through hard trials in our life, but that we will never be alone. That Heavenly Father has prepared a way for all of us to overcome any trial we are given and that everything is for the better. I know that we can all be missionary’s in all aspects of out life.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
3/4/2024 FAREWELL PARTY
The only thing Scott really wanted to do before being set apart was have an open house to say goodbye to his friends. We hosted a graduation/farewell party for him the weekend before he got set apart and it made him so happy to see everyone and say good-bye. His coaches and friends from school, swim, church and Brentwood came to wish him well. He has been blessed to have incredible people in his life from all facets. I wish I got more pictures but we all soaked in enjoying all the relationships that he had made over the years. Here is the one pic I got of his friends. He probably had 200 people come to say good-bye and celebrate his decision to serve a mission. People wrote cards that he loved reading. His Grammy (Danny's mom) made him a quilt from high school activities he participated in which he loves and his Aquabear family made him a poster which he loves.
2/25/2024 FAREWELL TALK
Good morning brothers and sisters. I have been called to serve in the Puerto Montt Chile mission. My mission is so far south that in one of my areas there will be more penguins than people.
I will start home MTC next Monday, March 4th. Then I will depart for the Mexico MTC on march 13th for 6 weeks of jam packed missionary training. I then leave the MTC for the mission field on April 19th. I am super excited to serve the people of Chile and it will definitely be an adventure.
Before I go any further I want to take some time to thank some people. First I want to Thank my seminary teachers. A lot of the time I was only thinking about how early I had to get to seminary I didn’t actually realize that they had to get there earlier.
I want to thank Brother Cropper, and Brother Harlow who put up with a lot of black screens and muted mics on zoom. Brother Williamson who would always try his best to get us in the mood for a spiritual discussion at 6 in the morning. Sister Wirig who would always try and put together a game for us to play then always tie is back to the gospel.. And finally brother Halverson who would let us play basketball and pickle ball on fridays helping us build relationships and enjoy being at church. Even though it was early, and sometimes I was late I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in seminary and grow closer to my savior. If I could make it to seminary my day would always go better and I am extremely grateful for my teachers and classmates that made it so enjoyable.
I want to thank all my youth advisors I’ve had in the young men’s program. Wednesday night activities were always well planned and the leaders always went above and beyond. Even if we were just playing ultimate frisbee at the park it was always good to be able to go and hang out. It was because of these activities that I first learned how to share the gospel. On more than one occasion I would bring one if not more of my friends to mutual. In a world that has created so many stereotypes about members of the church they would often leave with a better understanding of us and who we are. As people would come they would always be impressed with the kindness and inclusivity of our group. Several people expressed that they would love to come back whenever we have activities. These same friends would then want to play pickleball or ultimate frisbee at the church. Being able to share our church gym with my friends grew my testimony that as we strive to include others by bringing them around church and around church members they will be able to grow closer to God and feel a little bit of His love.
It is a little bit of a unique situation that I am in as I am leaving a little earlier than a typical missionary would. I was supposed to graduate in june of this year but I formed a new plan about a year ago after going on a swimming recruiting trip to BYU. They started talking about how generally they prefer when guys go on their mission after their freshman year of college just because the BYU semester gets out before my high school would get out. By leaving in April for a mission as opposed to june or july, I would get an extra 6-8 weeks to get back into shape for the up and coming swim season. After hearing this I proposed the idea of graduating from high school early and leaving on my mission even earlier. I thought that I would rather have 4 solid years of high school than 4 solid years of college. They said they would have no problem with that as long as I graduated high school and seminary.
In order to graduate early I needed to transfer to Horizons, which is an MDUSD alternative/homeschool education. There I was able to jump forward by co enrolling at DVC and taking a couple of classes at northgate, classes at DVC, institute and still participate in all the fun sporting and social events at northgate. Now here we are. I was able to graduate a semester early.
This taught me a valuable lesson that sometimes in life it doesn’t always have to follow the path you thought. As you put the Lord first and pray for a path He wants, he will provide a way. This path just kind of came together and had a lot of great blessings to it. I was having a rough time in some of my northgate classes so making the switch to DVC and cutting down my Northgate classes was a huge blessing. It allowed me to spend a lot of time with my brother, Tyler and family before leaving which was fun. It allowed me to get a lot of college credits. It allowed me to study at institute. It also allows me to get back a have months before BYU swimming starts to get back in shape. I am sure there are other reasons that I do not know of why this path was best for me. I think that as we follow the Lord and His plan, life always goes better.
Although I will not be getting to participate in the traditional end of senior year activities I am excited for what the future has in store. When I first started preparing to graduate early about a year ago I had a much different mentality about the process. I thought that I would be missing out on the end of senior year. That I would miss out on my senior swim season. I thought that I would miss all my friends. I was largely focused on everything that I would be missing or losing because I was going on my mission.
Going on a mission, coming to church, taking on a busy calling, joining the church, we can all focus on the things we are missing. Those things and sacrifices are different for everyone.
As my mission departure date approaches although part of me is sad to leave I am now largely excited that I am able to leave early. I will miss some things, but the way life has panned out in recent months has really changed my attitude about leaving. Now I focus on all the things I will be gaining by going on my mission. I think about how lucky I am to be able to travel and live in a foreign country for two years. I think about all the cool people and new friends I am going to be able to meet. I think about how lucky I am to be able to serve in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I think about how not only will I be able to strengthen my relationship with Christ but I will also be able to help others come unto Christ too.
Preparing for my mission has been a really cool and unique experience.
One of the best things I was able to do was attend Institute at the Pleasant Hill building. I started off just going Thursday nights in order to help supplement my seminary. Starting with Brother Fowler we would dive into the Book of Mormon and discuss its teachings and the doctrine. It was great being able to study the words of Christ during the week. Sometimes we would have over 10 people and other times we would only have a couple. No matter how many people we had there was always a strong spirit when we studied the scriptures. It helped me realize that even in small semi-formal environments the Lord will recognize our efforts to better understand him and his scriptures.
I was then also able to take an institute class during the day on tuesdays. this class only consisted of Me, My brother, and Wyatt Halversen, who is now serving his mission in the Great Britain Birmingham mission. Wyatt was a huge example to me of how to prepare for a mission. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to take a class together.
Because of the small class our us and our teacher changed the class into more of a gospel discussion/conversation. During the week we would each study the scriptures in our own time and then on Tuesdays we would share our insights and thoughts on what we had read. Since the class was largely based on our own insights it forced me to read the scriptures and bring things to say. It also kept me accountable to reading my scriptures. This was a total game changer for me. When I read with the intent of bringing something valuable to our meetings, it allowed me to better relate the scriptures to my life but forced me to then write down what I learned. As I studied the scriptures with the intent of sharing what I learned I was able to grow my testimony of the truth of the scriptures and the doctrine that they teach.
One of my favorite scriptures I was able to share with our small was Mosiah 4:6-7 It reads
“...the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the lord and should be diligent in keeping his commandments and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body,
I say that This is the man who receivers salvation through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind.”
This is an excerpt from King Benjamin’s speech. He says that the atonement was prepared from the beginning of the world. That means that It was created because Heavenly Father knew that we would not be able to be perfect, and it was prepared for the world to be able to use. Because he knew that we where not going to be perfect he was able to prepare the atonement for us to be able to return to live with him again. He then goes on to say that it was created for everyone. Everyone should feel like they should be able to utilize the atonement. In a world that can be so divided and polarized the idea that we are all able to use Christs atonement is a powerful unifier and a reminder that as Elder Holland states that
” It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”
Because of my mission a lot of people have actually asked me questions regarding the church. It has allowed me to try and explain some of the church's teachings and try and erase some of the stereotypes surrounding our beliefs. I was recently hanging out with a couple of people because we had mutual interests in cars. I bring up my car and how I won’t be able to drive it for two years because i’m going on a mission and stuff like that. Naturally they want to know more about the church and why I am going. Eventually they ask a question along the lines of what makes us different from other church’s . On the surface it seemed like an easy question, I mean we have so many things that are different, but I had to think about it for a second. I didn’t want to start throwing out some crazy answers like how we think you can baptize dead people, because I didn’t want to over complicate things. Eventually I was able to tell them one of the biggest differences is that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints we believe that God is continually talking with the world and specifically the current prophet. I was able to bear a short testimony that I know that God wants the best for each and everyone of us and he uses prophets to help guide us along in our journey. It was a great experience for me because not only was I able to help them better understand the church but also I learned that a lot of the time a simple answer is the best. I could have tried to explain other aspects of the church that make us unique but I stuck to a simple answer. They understood what I meant and acknowledged that it is pretty cool that we think that God is still watching over the world.
Because I am serving in South America a lot of my friends jokingly make fun of me that I am going to be taken by the cartel, or that I won’t be able to get back into the United States. Although neither of this things will likely happen there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I am essentially as a newly minted adult, traveling to a foreign country 6000 miles away to live there for 2 years. Most people would think I am crazy when I phrase it like that. But although it might be a bit scary and unpredictable I am reminded of Alma 56:47. These are the words of Mormon as he is describing the 2000 stripling warriors he says
“Now they never had fought yet they died not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt God would deliver them”
Although I don’t think going on a mission is quite as serious as going to war there are several reassuring truths in this scripture. The stripling warriors were taught to have faith and God would deliver them. As I head out into the mission field I know that it will be hard, and that It probably won't be all sunshine and rainbows (quite litterly is will not be that sunny… it rains a lot in chilie and it is cloudy most of the time) but I do have faith that in the end it will be good. I know that in the end The Lord has a plan for me and my mission and I just have to be willing to listen and do.
I want to close by bearing my testimony that I know that I am called to go on a mission. I know that Heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ love us all more than we can know and all they want is for us to return to live with them again. I know that They created a plan of salvation for us to be able to return to live with them again. I know that even though the mission is going to be hard, and that we all go through hard trials in our life, but that we will never be alone. That Heavenly Father has prepared a way for all of us to overcome any trial we are given and that everything is for the better. I know that we can all be missionary’s in all aspects of out life.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
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