Sunday Special, June 23rd, 2013…As we come to the close of the month of June and enter the heart of summer with the onset of July, today I wanted to look back almost two years into the past and recall how in August of 2011 I returned from serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Fort Worth, Texas area. It is incredible to me that time can fly by so quickly. It seems only a few months ago that I boarded the airplane for perhaps the most unusual journey of my entire life. Coming home to a family after 2 years without any real or consistent contact is quite an experience. It can be a little strange. Luckily, I had a priesthood leader who was there to help me make the transition an easier one. This same man made the end of my mission a memorable experience. In just a few days’ time, this man had a profound influence on me. And in just a few more days from now, this man will be experiencing the same thing that I did just two short years ago. This man will soon be going home after serving the Lord with diligence and honor. This man’s name is Joseph Sagers, and he was my second mission president. Mission presidents in The Church are usually called to serve for a period of three years. They give up much and sacrifice their time to serve the Lord in directing the work of missionaries throughout the world. I’ve been told by many that within the LDS church, the calling of mission president is one of the most stressful and demanding. Joseph Sagers gave up a lot to serve the Lord. As I served under his direction for the first year or so of his stay in Fort Worth, I saw how his love of the gospel infused him with the determination to lead and inspire us missionaries to preach the gospel with zeal. I respect President Sagers a great deal. I respect him not just because he was my mission president, but because he was the mission president who sent me home. Whenever missionaries in our church prepare to return home, they have an interview with their mission president. I remember my interview very well, and I especially remember the feelings I felt as President Sagers and I talked about our testimonies of the gospel. However, the best part of the interview—the most powerful, the most memorable, and the most influential—was when President Sagers looked me squarely in the eyes and made me promise that I would never leave The Church no matter what happened. I remember having tears in my eyes as I made that promise. It was a promise I made, not to him, but to myself. I will always be grateful to President Sagers for his inspired wisdom in prompting missionaries like me to make such promises. Rest assured, President, that I will never forget that moment we shared in your office on Airport Freeway in Euless, Texas. That leads me to my final memory of spending time with President Sagers. On the night before the departing missionaries drove to the airport, we all spent an evening with the Sagers in their home. At the end of the evening, President Sagers asked us all to kneel and pray with him. I don’t remember the words of the prayer, with the exception of one line. It was the line in which President Sagers invoked the power of the priesthood keys which he held to ask for a blessing upon us missionaries that we would “remember.” And what were we supposed to remember? Well, that was the beauty of the prayer. Every missionary learns something different from his experience; something essential to his or her spiritual growth. For me, I can yet again promise President Sagers that I have not forgotten the lessons I learned while serving the wonderful people of the Texas, Fort Worth Mission. Thank you, President Sagers, for your service and for the love you showed us missionaries. The same goes for your good wife. Tell her that we missionaries loved her more than we could say. As you head home to Idaho, I hope that you will feel an assurance that you have fought the good fight and that you have truly made a difference in the lives of those around you. Now…as the Texans say…God bless!!! PS…Sorry, President Sagers, but Ronald Reagan is still my favorite president. Tell Sister Allison Meiners that I said hello!
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:52:01 +0000
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