This is my talk I gave on my 21st Birthday, October 10th, 2021 in the Parley's YSA Ward in the Bonneville YSA Stake.
What I said, of course, wasn't word for word what is written. I write a talk, read it over many times, and then when I'm giving a talk, I use my written talk as reminders of where to go next/what I wanted to say etc.
My use of brackets either indicacts more improvised portions of my talk, such as "[bear testimony here]" or notes for purposes of clarifying sections to readers, such as "[I don't remember how I transitioned to the next subject, but I did]".
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[I introduced myself. I don't feel the need to put that all in this post. But I talked about Fallon. Growing up next to a Dairy Farm and next to all my cousins. What my parents do for work and what I want to do.]
I wanted to talk today about the principles of Love, Share, and Invite in regards to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ while pulling from conference talks given just this past general conference, but also several that were given many years prior.
Love, Share, and Invite have been discussed many times recently, I feel, which may seem like a lot. But considering the fact that they’re the fundamental principles behind strengthening members and nonmembers alike, it kind of makes sense.
LOVE
The General Handbook has a fantastic section on Love, Share, and Invite. I'll be quoting pretty much the entire thing spread throughout my talk today."We are all children of a Heavenly Father who loves His children perfectly. He offers everyone the opportunity to be filled with His love through Jesus Christ and His gospel.
One way we show our love for God is by loving and serving His children. We strive to love and serve as Jesus Christ did. This love inspires us to reach out to people of all religions, races, and cultures (General Handbook)."
[Something about how important love is. How with it we truly are nothing. It needs to be our motive. Transition into scripture]
1 Corinthians 13:2-3
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing
[Something about how without love, it really profiteth us nothing. Love needs to be our motive. If love is not our motive, we need to pause.]
[Something about how an awesome example of love was shown is Sister Eubank's talk]
"Some of the Relief Society sisters noticed that many Afghan women were using their husbands’ shirts to cover their heads because their traditional head coverings had been ripped off in the frenzy at the Kabul airport. In an act of friendship that crossed any religious or cultural boundaries, the sisters of the Ramstein First Ward gathered to sew traditional Muslim clothing for Afghan women. Sister Bethani Halls said, 'We heard that women were in need of prayer garments, and we are sewing so that they can be [comfortable] for prayer.'" (Sister Eubank, October 2021)
Okay, now for a segment I call:
My Adventures at Dairy Queen
Part 1:
I worked at Dairy Queen for a year before coming out on my mission. I'll be sharing parts of my experiences there strung throughout this talk and the different parts of Love, Share, and Invite.
Honestly, I'm pretty proud of myself for sharing the gospel at Dairy Queen before my mission. For not having such a focus on the principles of Love, Share, and Invite and having read only some of Preach My Gospel, I had some really cool missionary experiences during my time there.
Dealing with the principle of Love, I loved my coworkers.
At Dairy Queen, you had your night shift, which was always a good time because you're just with a bunch of other teenagers. When you just have a bunch of teenagers gathered together, some funny stuff goes down.
And then you had your morning shift, which were the adults since all the teenagers were at school. This was fun because you could have more intelligent conversations, but not fun because the manager who was in charge of the music in the morning only played country music. That may sound like heaven for some of you, including my companion, but not so much for me.
They were honestly probably the best part about the job (but considering that it was fast food/customer service, I guess there isn't much competition). We got to know each other, and cared for each other. We took each other's shifts, and just had good times with one another.
More on Dairy Queen later.
SHARE
"Because we love God and His children, we naturally want to share the blessings He has given us and help gather Israel. We seek to help people feel the joy that we feel. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we hold up His light. We speak openly of the Savior and His influence in our lives. We share love, time, experiences, and Church programs to bless God’s children and help them draw closer to the Savior. We share these things in normal and natural ways as part of personal, online, and other interactions (General Handbook)."
Elder Uctdorf in April 2011 gives a perfect example of sharing in normal and natural ways.
"Years ago our family lived and worked among people who in almost every case were not of our faith. When they asked us how our weekend was, we tried to skip the usual topics—like sports events, movies, or the weather—and tried to share some religious experiences we had as a family over the weekend—for instance, what a youth speaker had said about the standards from For the Strength of Youth or how we were touched by the words of a young man who was leaving on his mission or how the gospel and the Church helped us as a family to overcome a specific challenge we had. We tried not to be preachy or overbearing. My wife, Harriet, was always the best at finding something inspirational, uplifting, or humorous to share. This often would lead to more in-depth discussions."
My Adventures at Dairy Queen
Part 2:
Back to Dairy Queen. Over the year that I worked there, it was really cool how a culture of talking about religious topics became a thing. Many of my coworkers were members who hadn't attended church in a while, and although they didn't practice, they had some belief.
Everyone knew that I was eventually going to quit in order to go on a mission for my church.
And there were a couple coworkers of mine who were simply just curious about what I believed and my standards.
And so I got to share what I believed many many times.
But what was important was to recognize those opportunities to do so. If not consciously thought about or an integral part of who we are, many of those chances could slip by.
A couple specific examples:
I remember one particular instance when one of my managers, who still has faith and was a devout member many years ago but had fallen out of habits, when she talked about the many mistakes she had made throughout the years, I bore testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. How it is for everyone and can heal anyone.
Another was when another coworker questioned why I'm leaving Dairy Queen, I would not only explain what I'm doing (that is, going on a mission), but also why I'm doing it.
Back to DQ in a sec.
INVITE
"The Savior invites all to receive His gospel and prepare for eternal life. As His disciples, we follow His example, inviting all to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him”.
We pray for inspiration and guidance on how to invite others to:
Come and see the blessings available through Jesus Christ, His gospel, and His Church (see John 1:37–39, 45–46).
Come and help us serve people in need.
Come and belong to the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
When our invitations are based on a person’s needs and interests, he or she is more likely to accept those invitations. Often, inviting simply means including our family, friends, and neighbors in what we are already doing. For example, we can invite them to:
---I think this is a really important part right here. I think too often we think that the only invitation we can leave with people is to meet with the missionaries. And if they're not ready to meet with the missionaries, they're simply not ready. I think the following suggestions really highlight the fact that there's a lot more in-between that we can do to help people be ready to meet with missionaries.---
Join us in our homes for activities.
Join us for worship and gospel learning.
Attend special events, such as a baby blessing or baptism.
Participate in ward and community activities or service, including projects organized through JustServe (where available).
Participate in Church programs and activities. These could include Primary activities, youth activities, family history, self-reliance courses, BYU–Pathway Worldwide, and literacy and English courses.
---And of course---
Meet the full-time missionaries and hear their message."
(General Handbook)
Final part of my adventures at Dairy Queen:
I think often times we overthink things. If the feeling is right, if the relationship is good, perhaps most importantly if love is the motive, I think we can invite all over the place.
I remember often times at Dairy Queen when my coworkers that hadn't been to church in a while and I talked about church, I would chuck in a simple, "You should come. I would love to see you there."
It was a very soft invitation. It was more a suggestion than anything. But I think it's important.
And then, when the timing was right, I invited them more formally. I was having my farewell talk at church. I invited several of my coworkers. And three came :)
[Bear testimony
Include elements such as:
Christ is our Savior
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are more than willing to give you missionary opportunities and help you know what to do with missionary opportunities. Please ask.]
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[Additional quotes to add in if the talk runs short for some reason]
Elder Nash, October 2021:
Our Latter-day Saints in Liberia helped 507 friends enter the waters of baptism during the 10 months there were no full-time missionaries serving in their country. When one of our wonderful stake presidents there heard that the full-time missionaries may be returning, he remarked, “Oh good, now they can help us with our work.”
He is correct: the gathering of Israel—the greatest cause on this earth—is our covenant responsibility. And this is our time!
Elder Bednar April 2008:
We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!