What my membership in {The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints} means to me

Note: This is the talk I gave at my friend Jaymee Brugman's homecoming from her 18 month mission.

It is a treat to be with you this beautiful Sabbath day and on such a happy occasion. My name is Joan Koplin. I am the daughter of Joan Beaton and the Granddaughter of Helen Beaton who are also members of this treasured ward. My husband Brandon and I have lived in Phoenix for the majority of our almost 11 years of marriage. We met at BYU as freshman both attending summer term and were just friends. Brandon served his mission in Santiago, Chile while I worked and continued my education only exchanging half a dozen letters. We started dating several months after his return home and were married in May of 2004. We have four sons, James 10, Maxwell 7, Benson 4 and our youngest Lewis who is a year and a half. Many of you think I am the one who wears the pants in the family but let me assure you, it’s baby Lewis.
I was Jaymee’s youth leader throughout her high school years and it has been a joy for me to watch her blossom into a confident, capable woman.

It truly is a privilege to speak with you today, Jaymee. Welcome home and thank you for your service as a missionary, for your faithfulness, example and friendship.

I was asked to speak today on the topic: What my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints means to me. The Bishop said the following in his email with my assigned topic: “Joan, you may feel like boiling the ocean or world peace is a more containable task.” He took the words right out of my mouth but I cannot think of a more poignant topic and feel honored to share this message with you.

 As I consider the blessed and happy state of my life I am led to ponder, “What decisions led me to this point? How have I come to find so much peace, satisfaction and joy in the life I live? What causes me to feel fulfilled, content and purposeful?”

An Apostle, L. Whitney Clayton said: “The decision to believe is the most important decision we ever make. It shapes all our other decisions. Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not just happen to us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it.”

What does my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints mean to me? It means: ANSWERS. What do I mean by that? This Gospel answers every conceivable question, solves every problem and gives clarity to every challenging circumstance. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints provides the framework and proper tools to make sound decisions and move forward in life with confidence, faith and hope that all things will work together for our good.

Does that mean that if we follow the principles of the Gospel life will be smooth sailing? That we won’t find ourselves on the verge of capsizing our little ships on the ocean of life, time and time again. Of course not! That is the very purpose of our life: to gain experience often through hardship and learn for ourselves.

An Apostle named Jeffrey R. Holland said, “Are we all just hanging in a cold canyon somewhere in an indifferent universe, each of us searching for a toehold, each of us seeking for something to grip—with nothing but the feeling of sand sliding under our fingers, nothing to save us, nothing to hold on to, much less anything to hold on to us? Is our only purpose in life an empty existential exercise—simply to leap as high as we can, hang on for our prescribed three score years and ten, then fail and fall, and keep falling forever? The answer to those questions is an unequivocal and eternal no! With prophets ancient and modern, I testify that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.” Thus, from the moment those first parents stepped out of the Garden of Eden, the God and Father of us all, anticipating Adam and Eve’s decision, dispatched the very angels of heaven to declare to them—and down through time to us—that this entire sequence was designed for our eternal happiness.”

God has given me and each one of us the gift of agency. We all have the ability to choose for ourselves. Sure, we all can find excuses perhaps even viable reasons why we can or can’t accomplish or overcome something. The truth is, “If it is to be it is up to me” as so eloquently stated by William H. Johnsen.

The most important decision I have made up to this point in my life next to my decision to devote myself to the Gospel is when I decided to marry Brandon. It is a bit of an elaborate story and I hesitated in sharing it b/c these stories can be a bit cliché in the LDS culture. I kept coming back to it though and know that throughout this story you will notice the Gospel tools that enabled me to make that monumental decision.

I remember it was a Monday and Brandon and I planned to go to the Provo Temple that day. That morning I knelt down and asked my Heavenly Father to help me know how HE felt about Brandon. I knew how I felt but I wanted confirmation that my feelings were valid and that Brandon was the kind of man I believed him to be. I also specifically asked Heavenly Father to make himself very clear in his response. I wanted to be knocked over the head so that I would know without a doubt that Brandon was the man I should choose and that God supported that choice.

I brought my scriptures to the Temple that afternoon and opened them to Alma 48 at random and read verses 11-13 & 17. These verses describe the great Captain Moroni and I quote: “He was a strong and mighty man firm in the faith of Christ.” Verse 17 continues with: “If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.”

I know Brandon is thoroughly embarrassed but for those of you who know him know that description isn’t one bit generous but entirely accurate.

Later that week on Sunday I had been fasting and continued my search to know about Brandon and our potential future. I read section 8 in the Doctrine and Covenants verse 9, which says, “And therefore, whatsoever you shall ask me to tell you by that means, that will I grant unto you and you shall have knowledge concerning it.”

This scripture was powerful as it reaffirmed my initial prayer asking God to knock me over the head with an answer. “Whatsoever you shall ask me to tell you by that means and you shall have knowledge concerning it.”  The answer in the Temple was bold. There was no way I could deny how Heavenly Father felt about Brandon.

Later that night we went to a CES Fireseide at the Conference center where President Monson was the 1^st counselor to President Hinckley at the time and the keynote speaker. His message was about the three most significant questions in life: 1.What will be my faith? 2. Whom shall I marry? and 3. What will be my life’s work?

President Monson said the perfect formula for making decisions concerning whom to marry is found in Doctrine and Covenants section 9: 8. I read section 8 verse 9 during my own search earlier that week in the Temple. He read section 9 verse 8. The verse he read shared a similar theme to the verse I had read earlier that day: “But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”

The feeling I had while President Monson read that scripture was overwhelming. It was as if I had the wind had been knocked out of me. I was short of breath, tears welled up in my eyes and I felt the Holy Ghost wash over me in a powerful, undeniable way.

Each of the pieces distilled to form an insight I could recognize as the answer I had been seeking. Through prayer, fasting, attending the Temple, attending my church meetings, scripture study and living the commandments I was able to receive an answer to one of three of life’s most significant questions.

A word to the youth in the ward, I did not reach this point in my life without suffering and trial. There were many mistakes made, consequences suffered, sins to overcome and tears shed. It wasn’t until the Lord prepared me through my own Gethsemane of sorts that I was blessed with this extraordinary experience.

My membership in the church of Jesus of Christ provides me with monumental answers: such as whom I should marry but also answers small, simple, daily questions. Am I teaching my children enough about the Gospel in our home? Am I providing them all the opportunities they need to enrich and expand their natural talents? Those answers come through my children most of the time. The following is an excerpt from a journal I keep for James. May 19, 2013: This morning I was watching “Mormon Messages” with James and Benson (Max was still asleep). I told James, “I cry during almost every one of these. I must be a cry baby.”

James looked at me, smiled and said, “No, Mom. You’re a Spirit feeler.”

At age 8 James could not only feel the Spirit but also identify that feeling to me.

I found a story in Max’s journal dated March 2, 2011. Max was 4 years old at the time and I heard him singing, “A Child’s Prayer” in his room alone. These were the words he sang, “Heavenly Father, are you really there because there’s something I need to tell you is, I really like you and you’re a good boy.”

Reflecting on stories like these remind me that the Gospel has directed me and by extension my children. There is nothing sweeter than to witness that power and strength in your home and family life.  

In closing, I echo the words of an apostle of our church named, Richard Hinckley. He said the following:

"What does my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mean to me? It means everything. It influences, enlivens, permeates, and gives purpose and meaning to everything in life that is important to me: my relationship with God, my Eternal Father, and with His Holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It teaches me that through obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel, I will find peace and happiness in this life and be invited to live in God’s presence, with my family, in the life that surely will follow mortality, where His mercy will satisfy the demands of justice and encircle me and mine, and you and yours, in the arms of safety."

I know the God lives and loves us. He sent his son to suffer our every individual sin and sorrow. That very Gospel that Jesus preached as He loved and served those around Him has been restored today in its fullness through the Prophet, Joseph Smith. He was directed by God to translate “The Book of Mormon” and I know that it is a companion to “The Bible” and testifies of Christ and his great purpose. I owe all that I am to my Heavenly Father and prize my membership in His great church above all else. I devote all that I am to Him and his cause.

And I leave that testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.