Smithsonians: August 2022

Welp, I am behind on my blog by A LOT. A lot, a lot, a lot. Hopefully I can piece together half way decent posts, but I got to start somewhere. Jorja went up to Logan to say good-bye to people. She was able to stop by Stockton and Alyssa's apartment and see where they live. I'm glad she was able to do that before she left.

Jorja, Stockton, Alyssa

While Jorja was in Logan she sent me messages asking me to look for this card that was with some of her mission papers. It looks like her mission will be ending February 12th. I forgot about that card. Stockton had one that said his mission would end on February 5th, and his mission did end on this exact day. It will be interesting to see if this works out the same for Jorja.

Alexa, Jorja & Reagan

Maya and Jorja went and got icecream together

Preston passed his drivers test today! He sent these pictures to our family group chat. Haha. I love him!

Stockton found out that his science class involves going on quests. Haha. That will be interesting. He also found out that his and Alyssa's calculus 3 class that was supposed to be online has been changed to in person. It is a super late night class, so that is quite disappointing. I'm totally annoyed about that. How can they change a class AFTER everyone has signed up? What if you worked your entire schedule around that class? Well, it is what it is and I suppose they will manage. School starts back up for them today.

Jorja had her mission farewell today, and in true Jorja fashion, she killed it. She was so great. She was the concluding speaker after Judge Waddoups, who gave a great talk. My three primary girls also sang so beautifully! It was so cool for me to have them be the musical number. That was not planned, just a tender mercy. Mike asked Brother Lowe if he could do the zoom today. That way he could make sure everything worked perfectly for my family that was watching by zoom. Most of my brothers and their families all listened to it. How awesome is that! I love that they could hear her even though they live in different states. Matt and his family were there in person. They came last night.

Jorja & Mike

This is Jorja giving her farewell talk. She was fantastic. I'm going to transcribe her talk below because you can't press play in book format.

I felt so much love and support these past few weeks as I've been leading up to this. I see so many of my family and friends and youth that I taught at FSY here, and I'm just so grateful for each and everyone of you and I'm very happy you're here.

In one week I will be set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-day Saints, and I'm assigned to labor in the China Hong Kong Mission; where I will become an official representative of Christ and I will teach his restored gospel, just as He did. Except I will be speaking Cantonese, which I'm a little nervous about. But I'm so excited to go to Hong Kong and meet the people there and be able to share the light and the joy that living this gospel brings to me.

As I was growing up, serving a mission was not in my plans at all. I remember my freshman or my sophomore year of high school, I was talking with my brother Stockton, and I don't know if you remember this, but I was saying that being a girl is so much harder than being a boy in every single way. But the one good thing about being a girl is that I wouldn't have to serve a mission. Obviously I've had a change of heart since then, surprisingly. The first time I remember considering serving a mission, I was sitting in my senior advisory class. It was college education week, so the counselors came and they passed out these papers that were like 'what are you going to do in the future?' and they had the seniors fill them out; but this was like September, so applying for college was a whole two months away. So, out of sight, out of mind. I had no plans, I didn't really know what I was going to do. I looked at that paper and I wrote down two words, which you might be able to guess what they are. But I wrote down mission period and school period. And that was it, that was the whole thing. I looked at the paper and I stared at it for so long. What did I just write? I had never really considered serving a mission at all, because what kind of crazy person choses to leave their family, leave everyone that they love to go to some place that they know nothing about and eat weird food they know nothing about and maybe speak a language that they know nothing about. That was insane and that was scary. I looked at it and I was like, "Why did I write that?" So I go home and the next couple of weeks, next couple of days, I'm just wondering what possessed me to write that down. I thought back on my life and experiences that I've had with the gospel: girls camp and EFY and different things that built my testimony up. And I realized that every single good thing in my life was brought to me because of Jesus Christ and because of His gospel. And every single good attribute, good thing about myself was brought to me through Him. And because of Christ, I have a loving family who supports me so much and because of Christ, I know that I can live with them forever. Because of Christ, I met every single friend, because of Him every person that was brought into my life that I needed. And because of Him I achieved every thing, every single small victory that I have achieved so far. And it's because of His plan I am able to repent of my sins, I'm able to become the person that I'm meant to be. And it's because of His gospel that I'm able to experience such joy and peace in my life.

A lot of people here today are my friends that I've met in college or in high school, but a lot of you here met me when I moved into the ward so many years ago; and you know that I was the absolute shyest, most quiet person that you will ever meet in your whole life. My friends back there are laughing at me because I'm not like that anymore, as you can tell. But that was one of the reasons that I never really thought about serving a mission because I was so shy to the point where if somebody came up to me, and like talked to me, I just started crying. Because that was so scary, like why was somebody talking to me. And I just did not have courage to like talk or function as like a normal human of society; but I've come a long way since then. Through God and His plan for me, He put me in so many positions, and gave me so many opportunities for me to grow and to become the person that I am today.

D&C 50:24 tells us "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continuity in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." As I followed His guidance and as I drew nearer unto Him, as I walked in His light, He provided me with those specific opportunities that I needed to grow into the person that I am now; and he molded me to who I am today, by helping me develop specific Christlike attributes that were needed for me to continue on His plan for me. I know that those Christlike attributes and these talents that I have now were essential for me in my decision and my preparation to serve a mission. And as I walked in His light, I became a daily missionary. You do not need an official mission call or a little black badge on your chest to be an example of Christ. Let your light shine, and in your own way you will bring people to Christ; by setting an example, people will follow you and draw strength from you and the way you live your life.

Alma 17:11 says, "...show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." How amazing is it that God, all powerful, almighty God, provides us with the opportunity to be able to teach and minister His restored gospel. God is all powerful, and He can do anything, so I'm sure he has much easier much more efficient ways that He could spread His gospel to people. But He chooses to let us be the ones to spread His perfect gospel, even though we're imperfect people. Because He knows that by being an example, by following in His light and sharing the gospel, that's the way that we can progress and we can become more like Him. And He wants us to be able to have that experience. I testify that as you live your life walking in His light, He will provide you with those specific opportunities and experiences needed for you to progress in your life.

One of the things that I struggle with, that Christ is able to make whole as I walk in His light is that I'm a perfectionist. I'm not a perfectionist in the way where I have everything put together and my life figured out and that my room's all clean, because it's definitely not, and if you have ever seen my tornado room you know that that is far from the truth. But I'm a perfectionist in the way where if I make just one little mistake, I'm just sent spiraling into darkness and the only thoughts going through my head are how I've disappointed my family and my friends and myself and God. And if I ever make the same mistake again or if I make another mistake no matter how big or how small, I just sink deeper and deeper into this darkness until it consumes me and I convince myself that I don't deserve to come out; and that somehow Christ's Atonement reaches everyone and everything but me and my own sins. Because how could somebody so perfect love somebody that keeps sinning. Some of you maybe have felt this way in your life, but I promise you that this way of thinking is absolutely not true. You are never too far gone, you are never too far lost and Christ is always there waiting for you. One of the greatest blessings I've begun to realize is that when you experience the fulness of Christ's Atonement in your life, it changes the way that you feel about yourself when you make a mistake. Christ will never leave you. He is always waiting there with His hand outstretched pleading 'let me heal you' and He wants to heal you. Because not only did He suffer and die so that your sins can be made light and that you can be forgiven and you can live with Him again; but He suffered and died so that you can have joy in this life. And He wants you to have joy in this life, and the only way that you will is if you take His hand and let Him pull you out.

In his October 2016 general conference talk, Elder Dale G. Renlund said, quoting President Packer, "The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces..... The Atonement... can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated." The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel of perfection, but it is a gospel of change, a gospel of growth and a gospel of redemption. When we sin, Satan wants us to believe that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are ashamed of us and that they don't love us anymore. I have never felt Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for me more powerfully, more closely than I do when I humble myself, and I come unto Him, and I bring with me all my sins and all my imperfections and all my shortcomings and I look at Him, and I tell Him that I want to be more like you, but I can't do it alone and I need your help. And little by little he helps me progress to become more like Him. And sometimes I have to take a few steps back and sometimes I stop moving altogether and sometimes I'm strong enough to walk on my own, but sometimes I'm too weak and He has to carry me; but the one thing that never changes is that He will never leave my side, and He will never leave your side because He loves you and He wants you to be happy, and He will never leave you comfortless in this life. Christ's Atonement is not a back up plan, it's not just a plan B because you messed up and now you have to fix it. It is the only plan. You're not meant to be perfect in this life, you're not meant to overcome all of the temptations and all of the sins in this world just in one day and then live perfectly for the rest of that time. You're meant to keep trying, day by day, week by week. As you find joy in daily repentance, little by little you will be transformed and He will help you become more like Him. If you find yourself feeling like you are living in darkness, I plead with you to turn away from whatever it is that's turning you away from Christ. He's waiting there with His arm outstretched, waiting for you to hold onto Him, so that He can pull you out of that darkness and He can help you find that joy.

Brothers and Sisters, your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you so much, and they want you to be happy. As I have experienced Christ's Atonement, I have experienced peace that this world could never bring me. He is the way, the truth and the light. And I promise that as we turn to them and live in their light, you will be directed to exactly where you need to be, and you will meet exactly the people you need to meet at exactly the right time. Because He knows what's best for you and He's here to help you if you just put your trust in Him.

And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Anyways, I tried my best in transcribing... but in short, Jorja was amazing. Jorja had many friends there. From growing up, from high school, from college and from FSY. Lots of family there too. I'm glad they were able to see her shine and I'm glad my family on zoom got to see her too. Lots of Jorja's high school friends had to take off quickly after so they could get to Luke Bjerregaard's mission farewell. Now, here are a million pictures.