Homecoming Talk June 19, 2016

Elder McOmber’s Homecoming Talk Outline

Introduction 

 Just returned from serving in the England London Mission. I served in 6 areas – Maldon, London North, Dereham, Norwich, Aylesbury, and Chelmsford – and had 15 companions. Sorry, no British accent!

President Uchtdorf’s Talk 

I’ve been asked to base my talk on President Uchtdorf’s April 2016 General Conference address “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home.” The main point that President Uchtdorf makes in this address is that even though we may sometimes feel hopeless in our lives, God can still rescue us and enable us to improve. President Uchtdorf illustrates this principle with one of his own life experiences. As a boy, President Uchtdorf witnessed the devastating events of World War II in his home country of Germany. During the war, a neighboring city named Dresden was bombed many times until it was almost completely destroyed. To President Uchtdorf and many others, the future looked hopeless; however, even though the city of Dresden was “utterly destroyed” in World War II, years later it was “restored and even improved” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home”, April 2016 General Conference). In his talk, President Uchtdorf makes the connection between man repairing and improving the city of Dresden with God’s ability to repair and improve us.

As I read this talk, the thought came to mind again and again about our Heavenly Father’s grace, the redeeming and enabling power of the Atonement. It made me think about my experience of serving a mission. At certain points on my mission, I felt hopeless. I felt like I wasn’t doing well and that I was never going to get any better. To those who may feel lost or hopeless, the Savior invites, “Turn to me” (Joel 2:12), “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28), and “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you” (D&C 88:63). President Uchtdorf promises that as we do so, “God will extend His love toward you, and His work of rescue and transformation will begin” (“He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home”, April 2016 General Conference). Throughout my mission, I saw this promise fulfilled in my own life and in the lives of those around me as we faithfully followed this counsel. There were many lessons my mission taught me that helped me to turn more fully to the Savior, and I definitely felt an enormous difference in my joy and success as a missionary as I applied them.

Lessons I learned on my mission that helped me turn to the Lord 

1.       Need to find joy in the work! This is a gospel of joy! Probably the biggest lesson I learned.

a.       “WWJBD?! Stay Positive!” – big turnaround in my mission when I was in Dereham.

b.       1 Miracle & 1 Funny in missionary journal every day – idea from Courtney. No matter how good or bad the day was, it helped make the day better.

c.       Make friends with everyone! – investigators should be friends! Goal as zone to use the word “friend” instead of “investigator.” Example of Caroline & Joanna in Aylesbury vs. example of Dan the Christian in Norwich.

d.       Don’t compare yourself with others – “A Successful Missionary” in PMG. Success not always reflected in key indicators. Difficult one for me, but made a massive difference.

2.       Importance of developing Christlike attributes
Some of the attributes I strove to develop were:

a.       Patience

                                                               i.      Needed to improve patience with myself, companion, and others.

                                                             ii.      Tina, Taylor, and Angel. Always cancelling appointments, didn’t ever seem to progress for a long time. Do everything you can, leave the rest to the Lord.

                                                           iii.      Companions sometimes did things I didn’t understand. Sometimes everyday situations and things to accomplish required patience.

b.       Charity & Love

                                                               i.      Need to love those I serve in order to be patient with them and help them.

                                                             ii.      Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

                                                           iii.      Example of the Holdens in Chelmsford. Needed to love them so we could adjust our teaching to their needs.

c.       Obedience, especially exact obedience

                                                               i.      Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.

                                                             ii.      Example of Samson given at every 3-Week New Missionary Meeting.

3.       Be diligent!

a.       “Make Every Last Day Count!” – Sister Jordan quote that helped me to make sure I was staying focused and getting everything done that I could.

b.       GAPs! – Explain “Mind the Gap” and where the GAPs came from, what it stands for, what we do, purpose, etc.

Testimony – 

Father’s Day – my dad has been an amazing example to me. Grandpa Pittard & McOmber have both been wonderful examples to me as well. Grandpa Pittard shared his conversion story with me, and it was wonderful to see how the members had made such a big impact on him.

Favorite scripture from my mission: D&C 100:4-8