It's been 9 weeks

It's been 9 weeks. Nine weeks since Syd went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center). I've heard from most missionary moms that the last few months are the looongest for them, but I've heard from missionaries, themselves, that the last several months of the mission fly by for them. So, with that in mind - since I am much more concerned about my kiddo being unsafe or sad or lonely or homesick or just plain sick, than I am about us missing her (which we do, tremendously), I've decided that after the 1st 52 weeks, I can be much less worried about most of those things. Therefore, I am only counting down the 1st 52 weeks! :) Which means Sydney's already almost 1/5 of the way through. See how I cope. ;) Well, this week has been an eventful one. She made it from the Utah MTC to Japan in one piece with a few bumps along the way. Missionaries are allowed to call family from the airport, if they have time, and unfortunately, Sydney did not have much time. Since we did not know exactly what day or time she would be leaving (she thought she'd told us, but if she did, it was in Japanese — which, is not one of the many languages I speak - do you sense my snarkasm in that?) Yes, we weren't happy about that, but diligently and faithfully slept with the phone by our ears for a couple nights around the time we knew she would probably be leaving. And then, one early, early morning, we got the call. Yes, she was at the airport. Yes, she had gotten all her stuff into her luggage. (She had gone to the MTC with luggage stuffed to the brim and weight limit, and I had since sent her stuff). Yes, her bags were still under weight (well, 1 lb over but they did not charge her). Yes, she had her Yen with her (thoughtfully provided by her Uncle Clint who was the only one with foresight to covert some cash into Japanese currency even though we've all traveled internationally in the past.) Yes, she knew where her gate was, etc, etc, and yes, she had almost no time to talk because everything had taken longer than expected, and her companion still needed to get something to eat before they took off. But not to worry, she told me quickly before hanging up after just a minute on the phone, she would be able to call me on her layover in Oregon and have time to say hello to everyone. That would complicate things — her dad would be at work, and siblings would be at school. I calculated logistics of a 5-way conference call and alerted the family while I waited for the next hour when we would hear from her. 1 hour went by. Then another 1/2. Then I started counting minutes. Over 2 hours went by and though the worry never set in, the disappointment did. That was our 1 chance to talk to her until Christmas. (Christmas and Mother's Day are the only other magical days of her 1 1/2 yr mission that we would be able to hear her voice. And she would be able to hear ours - which I sensed was probably more important at the moment.) And then the phone rang. I snatched it up (as all missionary families do - if you know any who seem like they are taking it all in stride, they are faking it :D) and heard a wavering voice on the other end. Sydney had obviously put as much hope into this phone call as we had, and it wasn't going to happen. Her plane had been delayed from Utah, so they had arrived in Oregon late, with just enough time to make the transfer. She was on the next flight already, and as I got her dad on the conference line (there wasn't enough time to contact any of the siblings), we could barely hear her as the announcements began blasting through the cabin over the din of the engine. Bless the beautiful soul who kindly gave her his cell phone to make the call to at least tell us what had happened so we wouldn't be waiting a day, with no word, before getting the "I have arrived safely" 2 sentence email that she'd be able to send once she got to Japan. My 19yr old. Bless that man. Angels among us. He's had more prayers said for him over the last couple days than he's ever had in his life. :) I have to say it was awful hearing the sadness in Syd's voice, saying she only had seconds to say she loved us and goodbye, but I wouldn't have given up that phone call for the world. We hung up, and I passed the news onto the rest of the family. There were tears over the missed chance, and repeated "why?"s from frustrated siblings who had been waiting for the call for days, as we all had. Sooooo, oh, you can imagine the joy when we got an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night, after Syd's day-long flight to Japan. "Mom, I'm in the airport in Tokyo. I didn't know we were going to have a layover before a local flight to another city, but we do. It was 4 hours long, but I spent the last 2 1/2 hours trying to get the international calling card to work. The phones weren't taking it, here, but I finally found another place that sells local cards, and it worked! We won't have a lot of time because they are so expensive, but we can talk!! I've got about 20 minutes." And with that, the phone got passed around to each person in the house who pulled themselves from a sleep-drugged state to happily, happily, happily talk to "the other piece that's been missing" from our little family. It was such a blessing to listen in on the conversations. Gone was the wavering voice; the disappointment and the frustration. She sounded wonderful. She sounded excited and determined and intelligent and confident. She sounded exuberant. She sounded like herself. She loved it there immediately, as she knew she would since she 1st got her mission call - as we all knew she would. She is in her element and is excited to get to work. We did get the 2 sentence "I made it safely" email after she got settled into her living quarters then next day. Along with the added, "I love it here, and I love my new companion!" She'll be amazing - if for no other reason than because she loves the place and the people, sincerely. She's lucky to be there, but even more, Japan is lucky to have her.

Important commentary from Sydney regarding this picture :)  : "Quick thing--you might want to use a little discretion in posting this picture, because of the hands. It TOTALLY looks like my hand is on Panganiban's shoulder (but that is actually C. Chourou's hand) and that C. Chourou's hand is on my shoulder (it's really douryou's - my companion's). So... Um... I laughed really hard, but looks, at 1st, are misleading."  For those of you who don't know, missionaries are not suppose to hug or touch members of the opposite sex in any affectionate or intimate way - including hands on shoulders. Sydney just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that she is following protocol! :)

 Hello to everyone! This is Sydney's mom, and I will be updating her blog throughout her mission. For those of you who don't know this kid of mine very well, she is often sarcastic (but never mean or unkind), so if you are reading something she's written and you think she might not be serious, there's a good chance you are right. She is having an amazing time at the MTC learning and stretching, with all the ups and downs that come with growing and improving. In weekly emails, she shares her journal entries with us, and I will be including much of them in the blog. I have shortened all other missionary names to initials out of respect for their privacy - I personally don't care but I know there are others who do, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will correct it.

If you want to drop Sydney an email (please notice that it is a .net address, not .com) or letter (dearelder.com is a super convenient way to do that!!!) then PLEASE do!!! Missionaries LOVE mail. More than that, I firmly believe in the power of prayer, so it would be tremendous if you could keep her in yours! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. And most of all, "remember I love you all!" from Sydney. :)

Sister Sydney Sands

Japan Kobe Mission

Provo MTC

2005 N 900 E

Provo, Utah 84604

USA

sydney.sands@myldsmail.net


My journal

Day two, 10/2

We got books, and according to the chouroutachi sempai, all of them have names--Sumo, ninja, samurai, shiroi, orenji, Miyagi-sama, magikarp, etc.

"The Spirit is here. I had an enormous, almost startling revelation just today--I was sitting in a class and a pic of Pres. Monson popped up on the projector and said that God lives. Immediately, a feeling began to swell within me--a VERY physical feeling that augmented until I literally couldn't breathe. It was bizarre, but so real and so powerful and so filling that my cheekbones began to hurt. I can honestly say I've never had such a visceral reaction to doctrine before, but I was certain of it when it was through.

A lot is expected of us. I like that. Miracles happen. I like that, too."

10/3

We taught a pretend investigator named Taira-san, and I really loved her.

The gift of tongues worked, but mostly on my French, for the first couple days, btw.

"Fun with nihongo--"scriptures" is "seiten." Seiten. Read your seiten. Carry seiten with you at all times.

And the difference b/w shite (to do) ("shtay") and shitte (to know) ("shi-tay"). Here's my mnemonic: 1.) If you want to do, you have to shite. 2.) Know your shitte. I and one of the elders thought it was funny. It IS funny."

10/4

Last night, we all jumped in bed, but I felt a strong desire to pray, since I hadn't been doing well teh past couple days. So, at the end (I'd been praying for some time) I wanted to feel the spirit, and so I was like "I should ask if God loves me." then "No, that's a stupid question" then "No, it's not, unless you don't believe that he'll answer." So I asked, and I felt like a literal river of warm air was flowing into me and over me. So I asked "Do you love all your children?" and the feeling continued until it overflowed. It was really comforting.

(The next morning, Y Shimai (Sister Y.) asked if I was okay b/c she had seen me get out of bed. I told her I'd been praying and she said that I'd been on my knees for half an hour!)

General Conference was fun, too, which was a first. I actually left the first session adn thought "That was fun! I can't wait for the second session!" So dorky. I especially liked Lynn G. Robbins' talk and Elder Oaks' talk.

Also, Y Shimai (Sister Y.) told me that the night before last, she heard me or my doryo (companion) sleeptalking in nihongo. I hope it's me, haha. But really."

10/5

"With GenCon and whatnot, I've found myself lackign time to read my scriptures, which has resulted in a very literal, very physical craving for the Word. I was craving the scriptures like one craves chocolate or water. I was surprised at how immediate this desire was.

"Next, in GC, I dropped my highlighter under the chair of the courou (Elder) in front of me. I explained the situation, and he looked for it under his and his companion's seat. No dice. So he was like "I think it fell under the bleachers." (we were sitting on the bleachers, btw). I was a little upset (not terribly, but it was my favorite highlighter) and the chourou (Elder) and his doryo (companion) stood and walked down the stairs while an apostle was talking, to look for my highlighter. After a little more than 5 minutes, the chouroutachi  (elders) returned highlighterless. I was too stunned by the display to be remotely disappointed, and I thanked them for trying. Then the chourou went "?" and knelt down. My highlighter was underneath is OTHER neighbor's chair. I laughed and thanked them and gave them a thank-you note, after which he handed it back and said "Email?". So I wrote mine down and asked for theirs, and the chourou's doryou gave him a fistbump. It was really funny, and I was really touched by their display of charity.

On another note, I think I want to marry Elder Bednar."

10/7

"I am now positive that I want to marry Elder Bednar. We listened to a talk he gave during a devotional a while back. He talked about how to feel the Spirit. Answer: "Don't worry about it." Most impressions won't feel like impressions, and you probably won't ever know they were impressions. Just do what you're supposed to and it will happen. It was a very good eye-opener.

In other news, our lesson with Taira-san didn't go too well. Hopefully the lesson tomorrow will be better. Ganbatte yo.(Do your best/Good luck)"

10/8

In today's lesson with Taira-san, we taught her about prayer. Unlike with everyone else, though, she refused to pray immediately. Thus ensued a trying time of broken nihongo (the Japanese dialect), but we eventually got her to try out a prayer. It was very cute. However, when I tried to explain to her that God listens to and loves everyone, she said she wasn't quite sure "everyone" applied to her. She iddn't know God loved her, so I said the way to know is through prayer. However, I mixed "shiru" (to know) with "shinu" (to die) She was super confused, adn when I found out what I had done, I laughed so hard that I scared her. But everything else went well.

P-day tomorrow!"

_________

Mom, dad, Abby, Hanna, Slade, I promise you all that you're in my prayers every night and that I love you all a ton. Abby, congrats on the new phone, and I hope you're having fun in Yellowstone and with Jurgis or whatever his name was.

Write me again! Love you love you love you!

Sanzu Shimai (Sister Sands -- at least, as close to it as possible)

There is no Jurgis, there is a Jordan. Sydney always, intentionally, renames Abby's and Hanna's suitors. You would think that after a certain number it would get old, but for some reason, it's still funny to all of us

_________

10/9

"So... Apparently everyone wakes up at 6 AM on p-day. To do laundry. Well.

P-day may even be more stressful than our normal days. I had a nice, long shower, but that nad replying to famiry was the best part of my day. Nemui desu. Nemui desu. 

F Chourou (Elder F.) was hit in the face with a softball by a water polo player. His face has swelled up to the size fo the offending missile.

Wee had literally NO time to prepare--we had two pictures drawn and I drew the rest during the lesson. Phew. But, believe it or not, it was one of our better lessons and she agreed to be baptized. But it was oru last lesson together, so she might have been told to be easy on us."

10/11

"Douryou (companion) and I are getting along great. Nihongo is going well, too, and Fletcher Chourou's swelling has gone down a ton. Nothing much to report.

We have a new investigator and Taira-san is now our assistant teacher.

P.S. I am a little sad I couldn't tell dad happy birthday."

10/12

"In three days, it'll be my 2 week anniversary. I like Sundays; it was busy, but we did have a bit of downtime. Flashcards were made and planned for. A temple walk was made and I took pictures. We had a devotional today and it was all about using tech to help people "bump into " the Gospel. The guy giving the devo was the head of the tech/ads dept., and he was really funny. He also showed us the prototype of the incoming Mormon Message. Everyone went crazy. It was like he had told us that he was going to sow us the preview of the third Hobbit movie. It was very funny. Later, we watched a BoM vid where, at one point, a couple kissed and the crowd erupted into cheers, boos, gasps, and most prominently, "Are we allowed to watch this?!" (said jokingly).

Later: I just had to get up to kill a bug for S and Y Shimai (Sisters S and Y). Haha---got my good deed done for the day."

10/13

"Things went well today. We did a really cool mogi, where we could only teach by asking questions and sharing scriptures. I was paired iwth Y Shimai, which was a BLESSING that I had been asking for for a while. As I was talking to her, I tried to search her book (I forgot my own seiten) for scriptures that I couldn't find. Then I KNEW that I had to share the story of the woman who touched Christ's robe and I thought "Mark 5." I Then I was like, "Okay, let's look though the topical guid." Then, "Mark 5." I gave in and flipped to it and there it was. It was really inspiring, and Y Shimai said it was what she needed to hear."

10/14

"Right after that experience, I faltered and I'm a little ashamed of myself. We did another mogi today (roleplay), I shared the story of Moses talking to God. A scripture came into my mind and I didn't share it b/c I only had the chapter and I was worried it would take too long to find the verse. Later, I turned to Moses 1, and not only was it on the first page, I had HIGHLIGHTED it. Yeah. Well, I'll apologize to Ten no Otousama (Father in Heaven) tonight and do better next time.

On a more spiritual note, my prayers have been working! Y Shimai is sleeping better than she has been, and my douryou was able to feel the spirit in a way she understoo; which is something that I had been praying for."

10/15

"More mogis (role plays) and not much else to report. When douryou (companion) and I finished with our mornign workout, the sky was beautiful--blue with orange and pink clouds. I wish I'd had my camera on me, but I'll try to make it a priority from now on.

Tomorrow I get to email family! Yaaay!!!

___________

~Oyasuminasai"

I love you, family! So many miracles have happened in the MTC, so I know that miracles (kiseki) are happening at home, whether you notice them or not. I love you and I'm excited to hear from you. Have a good week!

Kazoku, aishitemasu!

___________

Farewell Talk: The Restoration

For my farewell, I was asked to speak on the Restoration (which, ironically, was the one topic on which I did not want to speak). In the end, I was fairly pleased with what I came up with, and I think it's a pretty good overview of the topic I was given, so I thought I should stick it up here. I hope you learn as much from it as I did.

--

Ohayou gozaimasu, brothers and sisters. Good morning. I am Sister Sydney Sands, and I have been called to serve in the Kobe, Japan mission. Thank you for showing up to my farewell, whether intentionally or not, and you’ll wanna buckle up—I’ll be up here for the next twenty minutes. For your listening (and my speaking) convenience, I have planted people throughout the pews to laugh at all my jokes.

Take a step back from this Sunday morning and think for a moment about your favorite book or your favorite movie. Does it have at least one sequel? I’m sure it does—all movies have sequels these days. I’d like you to take a moment and think about how long it felt, waiting for that sequel. Got it? Wasn’t that a long wait? Now, imagine the next sequel coming out in two years. Now imagine five years. Now imagine waiting 1700 years. No joke—seventeen hundred years. It wouldn’t be in your lifetime. It wouldn’t be in your children’s lifetime. Generations of lifetimes would pass and you would still be left waiting for the end of the story. When the next part of the trilogy came out, you wouldn’t even recognize it as a sequel.

Two hundred years ago, that’s where the world was—unable to recognize the continuation of its most influential story—the story that I’m about to tell you today: The restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This story begins at the very beginning of the creation of mankind—Adam and Eve. Adam was made the first prophet. He walked and talked with God and taught his children the gospel. Soon, the people fell away and were left in spiritual darkness. Noah brought back God’s light after the flood and taught his children. Their children fell away and into darkness. The same cycle happened with Enoch, Abraham, and Moses. These “cycles” are called dispensations, and have always ended with a spiritual darkness called an “apostasy,” where it is “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). An apostasy begins when the people shun the word and God removes his prophets from the earth, cutting off mankind from priesthood authority. However, God loves his children, and each apostasy ends with the beginning of a new dispensation. With each new dispensation, God provides two things: A prophet, and new information on the Gospel.

Prophets are given the priesthood. They are the only ones authorized to speak for God and reveal new doctrine, among other things. Prophets learn by revelation, and in turn reveal that to us. When there are no prophets on the earth, there is no proper authority, and so the gospel falls from heavenly interpretation to human interpretation, which is, of course, faulty, fractured, and sometimes, straight-up false. Without prophets, no new revelation is given, basically severing our connection with God. After all, the scriptures are all testaments of Jesus Christ.

In the parable of the vineyard in Mark 12, the dispensations are compared to a man who owns a vineyard. He builds a tower, then let the workers, the “husbandmen” handle the vineyard. “And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.”

God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. Christ was sent to overcome death and at one for our sins. During his short thirty-three years on earth, the Savior also taught the Gospel, organized his church, called the twelve Apostles, and gave them priesthood authority by the laying on of hands. He fulfilled prophecy and was ultimately killed by those he saved. Before his death, as mentioned, he gave his apostles the priesthood, which meant that they were able to perform saving ordinances and establish his church through the world. However, shortly after Christ’s death, the world fell apart. Paul was beheaded, Andrew was crucified, Thomas was speared, James was clubbed and stoned, and most of the other apostles were also brutally martyred. The priesthood was gone, and the world fell into the great apostasy.

Without the main pillars of the church to rely upon, people turned to human wisdom to interpret the scriptures and principles of the church. The Romans, who persecuted the Christians, then became Christians themselves, used a council to settle important religious questions. They debated over philosophies and physically changed the scriptures. Not just the Romans, of course—entire books have been lost as a matter of course. Don’t you remember Ahijah, Iddo, and Shemaiah? Of course you don’t—they don’t exist anymore—they were lost. My favorite Old Testament prophet, Nathan, had a book. It’s gone. Samuel had another book. Disappeared. On top of that, the Bible used to be hand-copied by monks. If you had to copy page after page every single day with no spelling errors and no change of pace, what would you do, other than go crazy? Well, to make the work more efficient, you might cross off a word or two. What if, instead of a monk, you were a cardinal in politics? “Vote for me and you’ll go upstairs, vote for him and you’re going downstairs.” And some people, like the commonwealth, simply couldn’t help their misinterpretation—there was no Google, no howtocatholic.com, no phonelines. How were they supposed to know if their beliefs were 100% canon? How were they supposed to know the scriptures when most of them couldn’t read Latin, much less read at all?

Some people realized that they felt uncomfortable with the Gospel, and wanted to reform it. First evidence was the great Catholic schism, where the church divided into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic. Next was the great Protestant divide, when Martin Luther protested against corruption in the Catholic Church. William Tyndale translated the scriptures and made them available to the common people. John Wycliffe preached that the church should have no part in political power.

All of these reformations played a big part in what people looked for in a church, but God’s power was still absent. Every Church has truth in it—some a little, some a lot—but the priesthood was gone. That’s why reformation, as much as it helped, didn’t fix the problem. Every apostasy requires restoration. And these reformations opened the doors to that restoration.

That same restoration was in the works since before Christ was born. In 1Nephi 13, an angel is showing young Nephi the history of the land of promise. Nephi sees the Gentiles (that’s us, the non-Jews) go through a struggle to religious freedom, despite the darkness and apostasy. As he watches the Gentiles cross the Atlantic ocean with the Bible in hand, the angel promises that the Lord will not “suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that awful state of blindness…For behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and…these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles.” Once again, we’re the Gentiles. The Lord promised Nephi, a prophet who lived almost two thousand years before us, that the Lord would give the book that Nephi wrote to us. Everyone here in this room was promised two thousand years ago that we would receive the sequel to the Bible because God loves us, and will never let us be in the darkness for long.

However, I can’t read Egyptian, Hebrew, Aramaic, and ancient Arabic, all of which featured in the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. We needed a seer and a revelator—someone ordained of God with the power to administer the ordinances outlined in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Sound familiar? We needed a prophet. Someone old and educated and learned. A theologian. A local hero to rally the people, to spread the word of the new scriptures and the new dispensation. At least, that’s who I would have chosen.

God had very different plans. Instead of pulling a Goliath from the masses, he picked a David. Fourteen years old, farmboy poor, third-grade education, cheery disposition. The Lord chose Joseph Smith Jr. to reestablish the church and translate thirty pages a day, six days a week, with some archaic glasses he found in a box buried in a hill. Why? It may be because he was young, and had his whole life to preach the gospel, it could be because his heart hadn’t hardened against new doctrine, it could be because his parents were religious, it could be because he lacked wisdom and could not have possibly written the Book of Mormon. It could be because he lacked wisdom and so he asked of God.

The Second Great Awakening was a phenomenon peculiar to the United States, and some historians believe that it is the reason why we have higher church attendance than any other country in the world. It was a huge ordeal—hundreds of new churches in buildings, on soap boxes, parading around on the grass collecting members, shouting fiery words, preaching in the road to passersby. Every which way one was bombarded with doctrine—all from the same book, but thousands of interpretations, everyone threatening spiritual death if you didn’t listen. How was one supposed to know where to go? What church to choose? Young Joseph Smith Jr. was in this position. His parents belonged to different sects, and both were very adamant in their faith. However, the family often shared in scripture study, and so the scriptures were what Joseph turned to when in doubt. And so he read the fateful words: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5)

And so he did. “I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me,  and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

“It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

And Joseph Smith did. His vision led to the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the translation of the Book of Mormon.

This is an incredible story, especially considering that it only took a little more than a century for the church to increase from six members to one million.  Sixty years after that, and the church went from one million to fifteen million. Wow. Wow.

I’m not a prophet. I’m not a leader of millions. I wasn’t born in the Second Great Awakening, and I can’t put “translated a companion to the Bible” on my resume, so I had trouble relating to the story of Joseph Smith. What makes the restoration so important, so impactful, other than the fact that it happened? After prayer and study, I’ve decided that the restoration provides us two messages: a declaration of love, and a call to action.

The Restoration is a message of love. 1John 4:8 states that “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” God is love. Salt is salty. Water is wet. God is love. Water doesn’t try to be wet—it doesn’t see you jump in the pool and say “Oh, let’s get him wet.” It just is. God just is. He doesn’t look at someone who’s doing poorly and go “Oh, I need to love him.” He just does. Despite the death and persecution of His Only Begotten, the Lord of the Vineyard still loves us. We are ignorant, so he sends a prophet. We are weak, so he sends the comforter. We are imperfect, so he gives us a Redeemer. God so loved the world, but he didn’t love it in the way that we love green grass or the sky or clouds or sand on the beach. God loved the world because he loves you. He knows your name, he hand-crafted your body and wept when you were hurt, and you never saw Him, but He was there, holding your hand when you were summoning the courage to squish that spider, or when you were taking that physics test, or when it felt like everyone had abandoned you. He is perfect, and He is love, and what we do matters to Him. He wants us to grow up to be like Him one day—happy and perfect and loving, so He gave us the chance to know everything He does.

That’s what scriptures are—testaments of Jesus Christ. We have the Old Testament, the New Testament, and Another Testament, the Book of Mormon. All these have been written to testify that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2Ne. 25:26) The rest is just extra. For it is “upon the rock of our Redeemer…whereon if men build, they cannot fall.” (Helaman 5:12) If religion does not bring you closer to God, it is useless. It will not comfort and it will not save.

The Restoration illustrates God’s love—his proof that he will answer any and all questions. As he told Nephi, he will not let us be blind. We’ve been given the tools—now it’s up to us to use them.

There’s a book that I love by C. S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters—a collection of letters from the devil Screwtape to his young nephew Wormwood. All of these letters are guides to lead his “patient” down to hell. On the very first page, he tells Wormwood that argument is useless in convincing a man away from God. “Jargon,” he says, “not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to think that materialism is true! Make him think that it is strong, or stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about.”

In today’s society, much of the debate around religion and morality deals in jargon. We judge their value on whether they’re ‘conservative’ or ‘progressive,’ ‘academic’ or ‘practical.’ ‘Conventional’ or ‘ruthless.’ ‘Popular’ or ‘unfashionable.’ We throw in all these reasons—Oh, the word of wisdom is ‘practical.’ Oh, the Book of Mormon is ‘well-written.’ The Prophet is ‘a good man.’ That’s why you should follow it. Rarely do we ask the most important question: ‘Is it true?’

The Restoration is a call to action—demands us, through example, that we ask the important questions, not the convenient ones. You heard in Anna’s lovely musical number—“Oh, what a beautiful morning,” and you’ve heard the phrase “in the first morning.” Those who rise early—those who do not hesitate to take action—are the ones who will succeed, who are called of God. I compare waking up in the gospel to a personal conversion, because it is only through the light of Christ that we can truly see. We are commanded to wake up and set our eyes on that light of the world, the husband of Israel, the Redeemer of our souls, and so we must have faith that it is true.

A familiar parable on faith is that of the Ten Virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” The five foolish ones had no oil, and so were not able to attend the marriage. Although some people believe that the five wise ones were selfish in not sharing their oil, I liken it to sharing flashlight batteries. You can’t just expect someone to give you one of theirs. It doesn’t work that way—then you just get two people with no light. Just like you can’t share oil or flashlight batteries, you cannot share faith. I stand here today as a witness of the Gospel, but I cannot stand here in your place.

Don’t just assume that the Book of Mormon is true. Don’t just assume this church is the right one or that President Monson is the prophet. Ask. God is waiting for you to ask. He could be waiting to give you the most spiritual experience of your life. The very title page of the Book of Mormon invites you to question the validity. It is up to you to ask.

But there is a catch. A special way to ask, illustrated in Moroni 10, verses 4-5. You’ve heard them a million times before, but they’re important, so humor me and try to find something new in them, this time. “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if you ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”

Did you catch the special technique? You need to have two things: a sincere heart and real intent. Both are things you’ll need to develop inside yourself.

Sincerity is freedom from hypocrisy and integrity in your desire. Your question has to be one that you want to know the answer to. If you just ask about the Book of Mormon because you figured “Hey, why not?” you’re not likely to get a sincere answer.

This next part, real intent, is what I consider to be the most important part of the prayer. Real intent is the resolve to change your life according to the answer you receive. This one’s harder, because we are creatures with a high moment of inertia—meaning that it’s really, really hard to get us moving. Often, this is because we don’t quite understand the magnitude of whatever principle we’re praying about. Boyd K. Packer illustrates this point, saying that “True doctrine, understood, changes behavior and attitude.” When we truly understand a piece of the gospel, we change ourselves to fit it. That is the morning of our conversion. It is the moment, or the accumulation of moments that tell us that what God has to say is worth our time. It’s humility, when we understand and demonstrate meekness to the Lord. It is progression—because the closer we adhere to the principles and ordinances of the gospel, the more blessings that we’re given. Real intent is the respect in understanding that God is higher than we are, and the love and clarity of understanding that He is just waiting to give us the world.

Obedience is the final step—the only way to cement our feelings in stone. It is the little things, the everyday effort, which keeps us in the church. In The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape warns Wormwood against action. “The great thing is to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about his new repentance. Let the little brute wallow in it. Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilizing the seeds which the Enemy [God] plants in a human soul. Let him do anything but act…The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” Once our prayers are answered, it is our duty to live our lives according to the answers we receive. It sounds like a big burden—it is a big burden, but as Christ says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Brothers and sisters, everything that I have said today is either true, or it is not. I have a testimony that every word that I have spoken is the truth, and as perfect a truth as can be revealed to someone as imperfect as I am. I stand here as a witness of the restoration of the Gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church is true. Prayers are answered, and God loves his children. I testify that the veil is thin and that he is always, always close. I testify that he loves you, and that he loves me, and because He loved the world he sent his only Begotten Son. I testify that he is a God of Love and a God of Miracles. I testify of perfection, and for the next eighteen months, I will testify and introduce those who are ready to God. I testify that God is waiting for the introduction, and that he will direct my paths. I testify that prayer with sincerity and true intent, followed by action is the most certain way to know anything in the gospel, and I testify that that kind of knowledge is necessary in these latter-days. Learn it for yourself. Love it. Live it.

Brothers and sisters. Good morning.

I say these things in the name of the one Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, amen.

The Three-day Countdown

I suppose I’ll need an introductory post to inform everyone as to where I’m going.

I am Sister Sydney Sands (Sands Shimai), and I’ve been called to the Japan Kobe Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love my church, and I’ve wanted to go on a mission since I was a little girl. In this mission, I’ll spend eight to nine weeks at the Provo MTC learning Japanese, then get shipped off to teach the Gospel.

Perhaps I should have titled this “An American Procrastinator’s Life and Adventures,” because, well, it’s the three-day countdown, and suddenly all the time I had over the summer has just disappeared. But it feels real, now. I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity, and now it’s finally in my hands.

Here am I, dear Father. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Can’t wait to travel with y’all.