Kristen's Talk

For those of you....Mom.....who want to read the talk I gave in church. The black is what I had planned to say. The red is what I had to improvise. :)

As was announced, my name is Kristen Christensen, which can be a lot of fun when you have to give your name out a million times. My husband, Alex, and I have been in the ward almost 2 1/2 years and we feel like we are seasoned veteran members of the ward and everyone should know who we are. So many people have been moving in and out recently, though, that we feel like we don't know anyone any more. I'll introduce you to us a little bit, then I hope you'll all introduce yourselves to us later so we can get to know more of you and become friends.
Alex and I met at Snow College in a P.E. class and the Institutes courtship and marriage class. I like that combination because it means that Alex saw me at my sweaty, nasty, grubby worst and at my flirty, cute, spiritual best and he fell in love with all of it. After some fun dating stories, that you'll have to ask us about later, we cot married in October of 2008 and shortly after that we moved to Logan. I just barely graduated 3 weeks ago with my bachelors in Elementary Education and Alex is currently working towards Electrical Engineering if he can get through Calc 3 next semester. I am 5 months pregnant and we are expecting our little girl to join us around September 22. Right now I am lucky enough to stay home and do cooking, cleaning, and craft projects while Alex works 10+ hour days doing weeding, landscaping, and other odd jobs for various employers throughout the valley. We love being outside and being with other people. We also love games and we have over 65 to choose from, so honestly, if you're ever bored, come play games with us.
(I was the concluding speaker and Alex only left me about 5 minutes when I was planning on 10, so instead of my written intro, I said this......."First of all, it's great to speak on Memorial Day weekend because there are only 20 couples here. Second, it's great to go last because half of you are already asleep. It looks like Alex only left me 4 1/2 minutes, so we'll skip the intro. We've been married 2 1/2 years. We like to play games, so come play games with us. Oh, and our little girl will join us in September, because she's a part of us, too!!")
We were asked to speak about Elder Russel M. Nelson's talk from this recent conference titled, "Face the Future with Faith". Brother Carter covered faith, Alex did hope, so I get charity. As I was first reading through the talk, I was impressed with how faith is nearly identical to testimony. We can say that we have a testimony of Jesus Christ or that we have faith in Jesus Christ. We can have a testimony of prayer, or faith that our prayers will be answered. Both faith and testimonies need to be personally developed and worked on daily. But how do we develop and strengthen our faith? Elder Nelson says that it is by being an example and by following the examples of others. He says, "All that the future holds in store for each sacred child of God [which is each of us] will be shaped by his or her parents, family, friends, and teachers. Thus our faith now becomes part of our posterity's faith later."
Going to family wards on fast Sunday is my favorite because you are guaranteed that at least a handful of kids will get up and say, usually in one breath, "I'd like to bear my testimony. I know the church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know President Monson is a true prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." This simple, scripted testimony is learned from parents, teachers, and peers and may not be completely understood, yet those kids get up faithfully every month and repeat those words because of the examples they've seen around them. As they grow older, however, those simple memorized words become the foundation of their own personal testimony and the building blocks of their faith.
Most of us don't have children yet, although in this ward many of us are working on it. :) We all have spouses, though, which can be almost the same thing. And I mean that in the kindest way possible. We can all be better examples and teachers to our spouses and we can learn from them as well. Elder Nelson talks about trials, stresses and fears in our lives that can be combated by strengthening our faith. He says, "Start with your children [or spouses]. You...bear the primary responsibility to strengthen their faith. Let them feel your faith, even when sore trials come upon you. Let your faith be focused on our loving Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach that faith with deep conviction. Teach each boy or girl [or husband or wife] that he or she is a child of God, created in His image, with a sacred purpose and potential. Each is born with challenges to overcome and faith to be developed."
Faith, as well as testimonies, have to be taught and learned and practiced for each and every principle and doctrine of the gospel. Elder Nelson mentions how we need to have faith to keep ALL the commandments, faith to be obedient because "obedience allows God's blessings to flow without constraint." We also need faith in the Word of Wisdom, faith that our prayers will be answered, faith to be a full-tithe payer, and faith that through obedience we will receive the blessings of eternal life. Elder Nelson says that "your rewards come not only hereafter. Many blessings will be yours in this life." Malachi 3:10 says that the Lord of Hosts will "pour your out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, love us SO much. They always want the best for us no matter what we've done, where we've come from, or how far we've strayed. They love us with a pure love. When we think of the 'pure love of Christ' a word should pop into your head. That word is charity. The Gospel Principles book defines charity like this...."Charity is that pure love which our Savior Jesus Christ has. He has commanded us to love one another as He loves us. The scriptures tell us that charity comes from a pure heart. We have pure love when, from the heart, we show genuine concern and compassion for all our brothers and sisters." That genuine concern and compassion for our brothers and sisters includes all acts of service to those around us. Last week the Firmages gave great talks and suggestions for how we can better seek out opportunities and motivation to serve. The savior gave many parables and stories about service as well as being a perfect example in His own life. He taught us that we should give food to the hungry, shelter those who have none, give clothes to the poor, visit the sick and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. This barely scratches the surface, but we already had a great reminder about service last week. Giving service isn't everything to do with charity, though. Charity is more about the desire and attitude behind service. 1 John 3:16-17 says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the bretheren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" To me this means that even if we do give to those in need, if we don't feel compassion and love for them, we don't have charity.
Service doesn't have to be a huge thing that takes time our of our day. Hymn 223 suggests that we reflect back on our actions of the day and ask "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?" Pres. Monson says, "There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved." The way Pres. Monson worded this list leaves no room to not have charity. How can you gladden someone's heart and not love them? How can you speak kind words if you have angry feelings towards someone? How can you give gifts, do deeds, or save souls of people you hold grudges against? It is so much easier to serve when we have charity. The Apostle Paul taught that when we have charity we are filled with good feelings for all people. Alma 7:24 says, "And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works." Doing good works with an attitude of charity is one way we can become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can learn from His life and His examples for how we can better ourselves and draw closer to our Father in Heaven.
("I did have a really long scripture to share, but since I've already gone over our time and I need to be done....charity is good. I know that the church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Pres. Monson is a true prophet. I know and believe these things with all my heart and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.")..................If I'd had more time..................
I'd like to end with a scripture in Moroni 7:42-48. It reads, "42Wherefore, if a man have ^afaith he ^bmust needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
43And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be ^ameek, and lowly of heart.
44If so, his ^afaith and hope is vain, for none is ^bacceptable before God, save the ^cmeek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and ^dconfesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
45And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be ^dpurified even as he is pure."
Through our faith and our prayers I hope that we can all be filled with the pure love of Christ that we can show charity to our brothers and sisters and as Elder Nelson said, "overcome our fears and face the future with faith." We are promised that "when we are faithful, [Christ] and His angels will help us." I know that we can accomplish anything with the Lord on our side and that He is always there to help us whenever we need. I know that life's tough and things aren't always easy, but we are so lucky to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to have all the blessings that come with it. I hope that I will be able to be a better example of faith, testimony, and charity to my spouse, who I love dearly, my future children, and to those around me. I know that the pure love of Christ is with us always. I love the gospel and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.