Farewell Talk

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters

My name is Hyrum Wride. I have been called to serve in the San Diego, California Mission, and I start the MTC on September 6th.

I would like to start off just by going over the summer I had, out working in Pennsylvania with my older brother Joseph. It was my first time on my own, and man-oh-man did I get a whoopin’. I started off the summer as a door to door salesman, where for about 8 hours a day, I would walk around knocking doors trying to get people to sign up for the service. And as it turns out, 99% of people do not want to buy Pest Control from a door to door salesman. And if you don’t make any sales, you do not get paid, regardless of how many hours you spend on the doors. Well I was not making very many sales, and it became harder for me to not get discouraged over the next couple of weeks. After knocking doors for a little over a month, something had to change, because I needed to make money for college. So, I talked with my boss, and I was able to switch to technician work, where I would be servicing the houses instead of selling.

In June, I came back to Utah for my High School Graduation and to kind of take a breather from work. And when I returned to Pennsylvania was when I switched to technician work. Because I was only 17 I was an Assistant Technician, so I would be working with another Technician for the day. We would be assigned more stops for the day because we could service the houses almost twice as fast. But technician life was no smooth sailing either. We worked 12, sometimes 14 hour days, 5-6 days a week, and it as not fun. Even though I was now making money, I was still getting discouraged. I was definitely not making as much as I would like to have, and would even worry that I wasn’t making as much as I needed to have.

Before the summer, I had always thought that payday was everyone’s favorite day, but funny enough, the times I would get the most discouraged was when I would get paid. With each paycheck I would think “That’s it?”. The realities of taxes and rent were hard for me to deal with. And in times like this I would question why I was still there. I was working long days away from my friends, family, and free rent. I could avoid having to spend much on food or rent because I would be living at home. I was only there because I was there and said I would be.

But through one Sacrament meeting I was able to really change my mindset. Moment of truth, I have literally no idea what the speaker was talking about, because I was off in my own little world. But all of the sudden they said something that hit me and it was just the phrase “Trust in the Lord”. And that really stuck with me. I was doing what I thought was right, and what was in my control, so I just needed to leave it to the Lord. I would also like to share my testimony of the Restoration of the Church. On the drive back from Pennsylvania, my older brother Joseph and I visited many historic sites like the Priesthood Restoration site, Palmyra NY, Kirtland OH, and Nauvoo IL. Each of the tour guides jumped at the fact that “Joseph and Hyrum” had come to their historic site. I did not necessarily learn a whole lot, as I have been well taught about the restoration of the church. But I can now more distinctly remember what happened at each place and not get them mixed up. There were also smaller details that I was able to learn about, or had missed when reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

One being from the story of the Whitmers. You guys already know the story, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery asked the Whitmer family if they could stay with them to finish the translating of the Book of Mormon. David was willing and eager to bring them to their home to take part in the work of God. But before he could go, David needed to plow 20 acres of their farmland. He worked as hard as he could for the day, but he had not made very much progress. The next morning, they were astonished to see that 5-7 acres of the 20 had been plowed overnight. His father Peter said (quote) “There must be an overruling hand in all this”(quote) and he encouraged David to finish plowing and bring Joseph and Oliver as soon as possible. But, Heavenly Father had not plowed the whole field. David still had at least 13 acres of land to finish before he left. And from my summer experience, I am a witness of how much land that would be in that weather. I was just doing Pest Control, with a little spreader thing, and the most I had ever treated was 4 acres. That took like 40 minutes to an hour. The worst part being, the East Coast in the summer is ridiculously hot and humid so you're basically melting. So, going back, David still had a lot of work to be done. This to me is a perfect example of the principle that God will not take away our burdens, but make the light. God had done some of the work for David, and had given his family the reassurance that they were doing the work of God. Joseph and Oliver were there able to complete the translation of the Book of Mormon without interruption.

While Joseph and I were on the road, we got a message from our Grandma telling us that while we were in Historic Nauvoo, to make sure and stop by the Old Bakery site. That Bakery we learned, was run by our 4th Great-Grandfather, Lucius Scovil. He wasn’t actually a baker, but a really good businessman. And like many of the other saints in Nauvoo, he had given a lot to help fund the Nauvoo Temple. In 1846, at the time the Saints were making preparations to make the Journey West, Scovil received a Mission call to England. I would like to share a quote from him upon receiving this call. (quote) “It seemed like a painful duty for me to perform, to leave my family to go into the wilderness and I to turn and go the other way. But inasmuch as I had been appointed to go, I was determined to fill my mission if it cost me all that I had on this earth ... I thought it was best to round up my shoulders like a bold soldier of the (kor) corps and assist in rolling forth the kingdom of God (close quote)”.

While on his mission in England, he also commissioned the creation of this Plate with the Nauvoo Temple on it, as well as the names of the Apostles at the time. There were 50 plates that were made at the time. With the plates, he was able to use them while performing missionary lessons and spread more awareness about Nauvoo and the temple. After his mission, Scovil made it to Salt Lake and reunited with his family.

Out of all the stops we went to, my favorite was Carthage Jail. On the tour, we saw the rooms the Prophet and his friends stayed in while they were there. Being in the original building, I got a better understanding of how they lived there. Being on the same spot kind of changes how you see the whole thing. We saw the window Joseph jumped out of, and the original holes in the door from gunshots. While we were sitting in the room where they were martyred, we were given a moment to ponder and sit in silence. That moment brought a very strong spirit to me of humility and peace. And in that moment I wanted to pause and recognize the spirit I felt so I could not forget it.

I cannot say that I know that the Church is true, but it’s because of spiritual anchors like these that remind me why I believe in the Church and why I am devoting two years of my life to spreading the word of this church to the people of San Diego. For most of my life I have worried about whether or not I am in the right church or doing the right thing. But something I have realized is, we shouldn’t worry about such things if we are doing what we honestly believe is right, for the things that are in our control. So while I may not know for a fact that this Church is true, I feel at peace with my decision to serve a mission and believe it’s the right thing that I need to do. I know it will be hard and there will be times I wish I was home, but I believe it is what I need to do and where I need to be. As President Thomas S. Monson said “May we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong”. I would like to now extend that invitation to you. Life is going to be hard no matter what, so you may as well do the right thing. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.