Twenty-five years ago this month,
I returned home from serving
a full-time mission
for the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
.
I had the opportunity
to serve in the
Taiwan Taipei Mission.
I learned to speak
Mandarin Chinese
by spending eight weeks
in the Missionary Training Center
in Provo, Utah.
Well, let's say I began learning
to speak Chinese!
It took a few months more
to really start communicating.
I rode a bike (in a skirt)...
.
I ate lots of unfamiliar foods...
.
And I grew to love a country
that was so different from my own.
.
.
But my mission
was about
much more than that.
To help you understand
what my mission meant to me,
you have to know why I went.
.
Ever since I was very young,
I have had a burning testimony
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I know that He is the
Savior and Redeemer of the world.
I have been taught
since I was a child
about living prophets
and restored priesthood
and Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
When I was nearly twenty-two,
I felt an urgent need
to share that message.
I have been so blessed
by having the gospel in my life--
it hardly seemed a sacrifice
to take the time
to share it with people
who had never heard about it before.
And so I submitted
my missionary papers--
and a few months later
I was in Taiwan.
The next eighteen months
can best be described
as life-changing.
I developed courage,
a love for teaching,
and discipline to do
hard things.
But most of all,
I grew to love the people.
And I watched their
lives change
as they embraced the principles
I knew to be true.
.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
is still what my life
is all about.
It gives me purpose,
and clarity,
and meaning.
Every day,
I read from the Book of Mormon---
probably more than any one thing,
that's what invites
the spirit of the Lord
into my life.
And because of this--
no matter how hard,
or how hectic
or how mundane
life can be--
my life is really good.
.
