Farewell Address

Martin gave his farewell address to the Grass Valley Ward on August 24, 2008

Here is the talk he gave:

When I was at BYU, the first things I noticed was that the textbooks were really expensive.  And so, thinking to outsmart the BYU bookstore, I searched online until I found the same book, but at a quarter of the price.  After two weeks of waiting, the package finally arrived.  By then, the semester had already begun, and I was desperately in need of the textbook, which contained the principles I needed to pass my first test in the class.

 And so, I eagerly tore through the packaging … and saw that the cover was in Chinese.  Panicking, I checked the first few pages.  They were also in Chinese.  I was crushed.  Here I was with only a few days before a major test, and a textbook that I couldn’t understand.  All the answers were there, but I didn’t know how to access them!

About to give up, I searched deeper in the book, and struck English.  Fortunately for me, while the cover and introduction were Chinese, all of the chapters, and the answers that I needed were written in a language I could understand.

 In a similar way, the scriptures can sometimes seem confusing.  Even though we might not understand them at first glance, if we truly search them, we will find the answers that we need, whether they are the great questions of the soul, or just out everyday needs.

 The Book of Mormon specifically can provide these answers.

 Someone who wants to understand the purpose of life, can turn to Alma 34, where Amulek describes the plan of salvation, through which we can return to out Heavenly Father.

 King Benjamin’s speech on the tower can direct us on how to unite our families and protect them from the influences of the world.

 If someone struggles with repentance, they can recall the situation of Alma the Younger, one of the most powerful and inspiring repentance stories in the Book of Mormon.

Richard G. Scott shared an experience he once had as a mission president:

 “On one occasion, a missionary came to my office with a problem that troubled him greatly.  As he spoke, I began to formulate in my mind specific comments to help him resolve his challenge.  When he concluded, I said, ‘I know just how to help you.’  He looked eagerly toward me, and suddenly my mind went blank.  I could not remember anything I had prepared to tell him.

 In anxiety, I began to thumb through the Book of Mormon I held in my hand until my attention was drawn to a very significant scripture.  This occurred three times.  Each scripture applied perfectly to his situation.  Then, as though a curtain were raised in my mind, I recalled the advice I had planned to give him.  Now it had far greater meaning, for it was based on a foundation of valuable scripture.  As I concluded, he said, “I know that the council that you have given me has been inspired because you have repeated the same three scriptures that were given me when I was set apart as a missionary.

 This treasured experience is one of many that demonstrates how the Lord respects words recorded by His servants in scripture, and how He expects us to use them often to find the kernels of truth that we need to resolve difficulties in our own lives.”

 My stake president at BYU warned me that between the time of my mission call and my mission, there would be a lot of temptation.  And in that time, there has been a lot of temptation not to go.  But while at college, I was able to have a memorable experience with the scriptures.

 As part of a Book of Mormon class, we were assigned to read 30 minutes a day.  I was extremely busy with my other classes, so at first I felt that reading was a low priority.  However, in my daily reading, I read in Alma about the Nephites fortifying their cities.  They made the weakest places Strong, so that when an attack came, they would be more fully prepared.  I realized that in order to resist temptation, I needed to prepare myself, and keep the spirit with me through out the day as a constant defense.

 When I read that, I was shocked that the answer to my prayers was in the chapter I had happened to read that day, and I knew that it was the spirit that had prompted me.

 Even if you don’t get an answer directly from the text of what you read, it will be given to you by the spirit.

 In ( 2 Nephi 32:3 ), Nephi tells us that,

 “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore they speak the words of Christ; wherefore, I say unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”

 The Book of Mormon is an inspired source of guidance, and we should take every opportunity to obtain the blessings of studying it.

President Ezra Taft Benson told us that,

 “The Book of Mormon was written for out day.  God is the author of the Book.  It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for our blessing today.  Those people never had the book – it was meant for us.  Mormon, the ancient prophet after whom the book is named, abridged centuries of Records.  God, who knows the end from the beginning, told him what to include in his abridgement that we would need for our day.”

 These scriptures are not accounts of old and irrelevant people.  They are directly applicable to the challenges that each of us is facing now.  All problems, whether it is a major crisis, or important life decisions, or the desire to understand doctrine, can be met with sound council from the Book of Mormon.

 There is a saying, that we should “Teach our children scripture, and the scriptures will teach our children.”

 President Boyd K. Packer noted the same thing, saying,

 “True doctrine, understood changes attitudes and behavior.  The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”

 And it’s true.  While at college, there was a notable difference between days when I read the scriptures, and days when I did not.  No matter how busy or overwhelmed I was, if I read my scriptures that day, I could always complete my work on time.  Even when there was no time to spare, choosing to read would always ensure that everything would work out by the end of the day.

 And in addition to receiving answers and gaining blessings, Nephi promised that reading scripture would serve as a protection to us.  We have been told to “hold to the rod,” which Nephi describes as, “the Word of God, and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, the would never perish; neither could the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away unto destruction.”

 This is the kind of power and protection we should be seeking every day.  But we need to make the effort in order to gain it.  Sincere prayer, and diligent searching is required for us to have the blessings of the Book of Mormon.

 One of our Hymns, “As I Search the Holy Scriptures,” has an interesting, and humbling history.  “Our Latter-Day Hymns” notes that,

 “It was a conscious decision on the part of author-composer Marianne Fisher to use the word search instead of read.  To her, searching involves being able to read and reread, ponder and pause in meditation, search for other related passages, and underline.

 Marianne Fisher’s method of underlining is to copy a particularly meaningful passage in Braille, since she has no way of marking passages in her Braille scriptures, which total 32 large volumes.  Blind since birth, she commented:

 ‘How fortunate for those who read the ink-print edition to have their scriptures always at hand.  Those of us who are blind cannot always have our scriptures literally ‘at our fingertips.’”

 The prophets have warned us not to take the Book of Mormon for granted.  The early church members experience great trials and sacrificed much to allow the Book of Mormon to be so readily available today.  It gives us daily strength, invites the Holy Ghost, answers our questions, and strengthens our testimony of Joseph Smith, and of the restored gospel.

 M. Russell Ballard shared an experience he had as a mission president, about a young missionary who had read some anti-Mormon literature, and felt like he was losing his testimony.

 Elder Ballard gave the missionary an assignment to read from the Book of Mormon for at least an hour each day, for two weeks.  In two weeks, Elder Ballard promised to have an answer for every question that was raised by the anti-Mormon literature.

 When the missionary returned two weeks later, Elder Ballard began to give the answers, but the missionary stopped him.  He said that the answers were unnecessary.  Through reading the Book of Mormon, he had regained his testimony.

 I’d like to leave you with my favorite quote from President Ezra Taft Benson.  He said,

 “There is power in the book which begins to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book.  You will find greater power to resist temptation, you will find the power to avoid deception, you will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path… When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.”