Monday, April 27, 2015

Speak The Truth, Even If Your Voice Shakes

"Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes"

I might have shared this quote before but it explains how this week of teaching felt.

There is a returned missionary in our ward who just got back from Provo, Utah. He is so much fun because he randomly says things in English. I hope I can do the same with Spanish some day!

This life is like a race. If we run super fast for 80 meters in a 100-meter dash, but stop 20 meters short, we won’t get the prize.  We visited with a family who had been members for 35 years, but when they got promotions at their jobs they stopped going to church because they already "knew it all".  They sat there arguing with us about attending church, saying the church only sees us as statistics or numbers anyway.

As I listened to them I realized the only thing I could do was testify why I went to church.  Even though I was a little intimidated by the family who "knew everything", I told them the most important reason I go to church is because I need a constant remission of my faults, mistakes, and sins only made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  We obtain this cleansing when we partake of the sacrament--weekly repenting of our sins and renewing our covenants with God.

Though it was a little out of character for me, it felt right to tell them they had forgotten God, and at the current moment no longer had a remission of their sins. They did not “know everything” because they had forgotten the reason why this church exists. If they were to die at that moment, they would not be counted among those who fought to the end—they had stopped 20 meters short of the finish line.

My voice shook, my Spanish stumbled, but I felt a power beyond my own. The room was silent and their faces changed.  I spoke out of love for them but told them the truth.

I don’t tell you this to show how cool I think I am. I’m just a 19-year-old band boy :)  I tell you because I wish I had spoken the truth earlier in my life.  When opportunities came my way in school and other situations why didn’t I speak up for what I felt inside?

I’ve realized this is not the time in our world to be wishy-washy.  The opposing voices are too strong for that.  We don’t need to be louder, only more powerful. When we speak what we feel, we will be joined with the voices of heaven.

Thank you for your thoughts and kind support!  I’m glad to be here--even when I feel the need to speak the truth in broken Spanish with a shaking voice.

"We ought to live life sacrificing, singing, and dancing" -Plato

Everything is awesome,

Elder Phillips :P


Didn't know freezers could ice over #missionaryproblems


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