Do Not Put God on Do Not Disturb | My Farewell
The Spirit of the Lord will guide you to where you need to be. Listen to the spirit at the first prompting and trust in His timing. Acting on the promptings of the Spirit, trusting in His hand and showing Christ-like love for others will lead to a stronger testimony and blessings from Heaven.
Good morning brothers and sisters. Thank you all for being here, not just for me, to show your love for the Lord. It is important to remember that we choose to come to church every Sunday, to remember the sacrifice of Christ our Savior and take his name upon us.
Today is a day I never thought would come. Being honest with you, I never had a desire to serve a mission growing up. Even sixth months ago this still wasn’t a possibility in the slightest. Yet here I am.
How many of you have your phone set to vibrate? What about completely silent? Do not disturb? How many of you are expecting a text and put your phone on Do Not Disturb to avoid seeing that text? What do you do when you inevitably get that text? Do you open it, read it, and close it, pretending to never have gotten it? Do you ever wait until someone calls you before you finally respond? Do you wait until that person will physically come up to you and talk to you before you have that conversation?
Yeah, well that’s what happened between me and the Spirit.
Do Not Put God on Do Not Disturb.
To give you some context, let’s rewind my life. I made the decision that I probably wouldn’t be serving a mission in the middle of high-school. Don’t get me wrong, I loved coming to Church, going to the temple, and youth activities, but when I came to a mission it wasn’t for me. I had a pretty solid idea of the direction I wanted to take my life and that was me turning on Do Not Disturb. I had made my decision and I was going to avoid conversation about a mission.
As I applied to colleges, I was planning on staying around home and working here and there. In a last minute decision I decided I would apply to BYU as well. On the outside I had no desire to go to BYU, but behind the act I was hoping and praying that I would be accepted as I felt that BYU was the place I needed to be. Fast forward to September of last year, I was starting at school at BYU. However, a mission was still out of the picture.
First semester was a blast. I met a lot of people, started a job with BYU Athletics, got into the rhythm of college and was loving every second of it. Second semester was just an extension of the first with one slight change: I had decided on a major! Well that and the fact that all my friends were getting their mission calls. Detroit, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Vanuatu, the list goes on and on.
I had my life planned out though, so it was okay. I’d work for BYU, move into an apartment with my roommates, apply to the advertising program and be there when my friends got back from their missions. It sounded like a great plan to me.
Just as I had decided on my life path, my Bishop asked to meet with me. And just to make things clear, I love my BYU Bishop. He is one of the people I trust most and was always there to listen to me. Being naive, I thought I would be able to escape the meeting without him bringing up a mission. I thought wrong. Without getting into details I told him I wasn’t interested. This happened maybe 2 or 3 more times and my Bishop was always respectful and listened to what I had to say. He invited me to continue praying about it and attend the temple to seek counsel from our Heavenly Father. Being stubborn I avoided doing this, I had made up my mind on what I thought was best for me (spoiler alert, I was wrong) and Heavenly Father would want me to do what’s best for me, right? If you are keeping up with our Do Not Disturb analogy, this was me ignoring the texts.
One of my favorite things to do at BYU was go worship in the temple because as I was in the temple I felt so incredibly close to the Lord and that serving there is what he needed from me. As I kept going to the temple the idea of a mission kept coming to my head. It would overwhelm my thoughts but I tried my hardest to shut them out, but it was every single time I went. These promptings weren’t mine but ones of the spirit. I knew this but I was in denial. This couldn’t be right, it wasn't meant for me. Here I was, ignoring the calls.
Inevitably, the promptings stopped coming. The Lord can only tell you as much as you’ll listen to. When the promptings stopped coming, I thought the decision was made. I finally told my parents that I had decided not to go, told my roommates that I would live with them next year, and told my friends that I would be here when they got back. Everything was set. Or so I thought.
A few weeks later a friend invited me and some others to go to the temple. I made it a goal to go every week so of course I took her up on the offer. Our time in the temple was fantastic, full of smiles and the joy of the Spirit. After our session we spent some time in the Celestial Room to reflect on our experience. As we were sitting there it was just the handful of us from BYU and one or two others. As everyone was getting ready to leave, a stranger walked over to me, handed me an open set of scriptures, told me she was prompted to give it to me, and walked away without an explanation. I thought it was a neat experience, but as I read I didn’t know why I needed to read what I did. I flipped back a page and then back again. Then it hit me. It was D&C 35:13-15:
13 Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit;
14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them.
15 And the poor and the meek shall have the gospel preached unto them, and they shall be looking forth for the time of my coming, for it is nigh at hand
All of a sudden the Spirit was saying “serve a mission” over and over again. When that happens you have to listen. My friends left and I sat there for a second collecting my thoughts. My life just changed completely. Everything I thought I had planned was out the window, but it was a sacrifice I was now willing to make.
As we left the temple, it was just me and my friend driving together back to campus. Let me tell you our car rides together are a party and this one wasn’t an exception to that. Although as we left Saratoga Springs I decided that I would tell her what happened. Why? For the sole reason that if I told her she would not let me back out. She would hold me to it. I told her what I had read and that I decided that I would serve a mission and she sat there for a second then said something along the lines of, “That’s crazy because as we were walking down the stairs together, I had the thought ‘I wonder what he is planning on doing, I should ask’ but I didn’t say anything.” That was no coincidence. It was the Spirit hinting at what had just happened so that when I told her the story she would be able to testify of the experience and confirm to me that it was the Spirit. As it says in D&C 1:39:
“the Spirit beareth record, and the record is true”
The Spirit was finally able to get a hold of me. It only took someone coming up to me and handing me the words of the Spirit to get me to listen. If you’re tracking our analogy, that was the final question:
How many of you wait until someone comes up to you and talks to you before you face whatever the conversation may be?
That is precisely what I did. I avoided my conversation with the Lord about a mission until he sent someone “to have that conversation for me.”
Brothers and sisters, I beg you to learn from my mistakes. Do not put God or the Spirit on do not disturb. Listen to the spirit at the first whisper. He will tell you where he needs you. As Elder David A. Bednar said in his April 2011 General conference talk:
“Sometimes the spirit of revelation will operate immediately and intensely, other times subtly and gradually, and often so delicately you may not even consciously recognize it. But regardless of the pattern whereby this blessing is received, the light it provides will illuminate and enlarge your soul.”
I can testify truly that it will “illuminate and enlarge your soul” as not only have I become happier and grown a stronger testimony, but it has provided me with so many experiences that I can't deny the doings of the Spirit and hand of the Lord.
God’s Timing and God’s Hand
Okay I have decided to serve a mission, now what? Well, now begins the ever so daunting task of filling out mission papers. I still had time to back out. No, that wasn’t an option. I set a meeting with my Bishop, yes the same Bishop I told that I would never serve a mission just a few weeks prior. I told him what happened and he had the biggest smile on his face then we cried.
We got my mission papers open, but he told me “You can start them here but you are probably going to have to finish them in your home ward because of how late we are in the semester.” I just looked at him. I didn’t want to wait that long, the longer I waited the more chances I’d have to back out. Plus, I wanted to get my call while I was at BYU so that I could share the experience with my friends. So I asked him what it would take to get them done at BYU. Side note: besides a few close friends, no one knew I had decided to serve a mission and I intended to keep it that way until I got called. He told me that if I could have everything done in the next two weeks he could submit them to the stake. He didn’t make any promises because he didn’t know if the stake would accept them, especially with General Conference coming up. Regardless, the possibility of being able to get them done was enough for me, so I set out to make it happen.
Here comes God’s hand. Mission papers aren’t too difficult but they are also not easy by any means, especially when you can’t ask your parents for help. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I didn’t tell my parents until over a month and a half later when I got my call. Neither of my bishops were very happy with me because of that. Whoops. Anyways, my papers opened Monday morning, the clock started. After classes, I sat down in the field and focused on them, making a few phone calls to my mom and Grandma to secretly gather information because “Athletics needed my health insurance” and “One of my friends got called to Mexico and another one to Australia."
Four hours later the paper work was done, truly it was with a tender mercy from God that I was able to focus enough to get them done because if you know me I can’t focus for more than 10 minutes on something. Now just the physical and dental exam was left.
This was the scary part, some people wait months to get an appointment so I called the doctor and the dentist praying for an appointment in the next two weeks so I could get them done. Prayers were answered. My physical was scheduled for the next day, my dental appointment the day after.
Right before my physical I decided to go to the temple, which I’ll admit was not the smartest decision as it was 5:05pm when we left the temple and my appointment was at 5:00pm. I got there hoping they’d still honor my appointment but it wasn’t looking promising. 10 minutes later a nurse comes out and tells me she’ll take me back. Another miracle. It was 100% God’s hand that made all this happen. I know that for a fact. Something that some people wait months for I have gotten done in less than 72 hours, that is God’s timing, not mine, not the world’s, it’s His.
So everything was done, I met with my bishop again and we submitted my papers. Now it was in the hands of the stake. My bishop let me know that they would probably be able to meet with me in two weeks to submit my papers. It was cutting it close to but there was nothing I could do. In case you didn’t see it coming, here comes God’s hand again. In the middle of class I get a text, “We can meet tomorrow if you’d like.” I was in shock. I very quickly accepted and that was that. I submitted my papers and now it was just the waiting game.
Two weeks came and went and I heard nothing. I was a little nervous because people that submitted their papers after me were getting their mission calls. I hit week three and still nothing. I needed something to get my mind off the fact that I hadn’t got my call yet. Just then my friend that I went to the temple with at the start of this journey invited me to hang out. Perfect, I can get my mind off my mission for a little bit. We make it to one store and then it happens, I get the text with my mission call.
Let’s pause here. I got my papers done, in what my Bishop claims is record time, and that was only done because of God’s hand. Now, I hadn’t got my call, but the minute I was with the person that I shared my experiences with, I got my call. I have no better explanation to that than God’s timing. The whole thing played out exactly how God needed it to.
Now you’re thinking, it can’t get any better than that. And that’s where you’re wrong. I got called to the Brazil São Paulo East Mission going to the Brazil MTC, which only houses 500 people, one week before my close friend who is also going to the Brazil MTC, meaning I would get to see her there. Just wait it gets better, my mission, like a bunch of others, got reassigned to the Provo MTC because Brazil was full EXCEPT for me and a handful of others which included her. So even after a ton of reassignments we will still be able to see each other in the MTC which is going to be a much needed tender mercy.
If you still chalk all this up to coincidences and accidents, I don’t know what to tell you. I just told you of about 15 different instances of God’s hand and His timing in my experience of choosing to serve a mission and that isn’t even all of them.
My friends, God’s timing is real. I can testify of that. I never wanted to serve a mission throughout high school and my first year of college and looking back it wasn’t because it wasn’t for me, but because it wasn’t the right time. God needed me at BYU to build my testimony and now he needs me in Brazil. It’s His timing not mine.
In his 2025 devotional, BYU Football Head coach Kalani Sitake shared the words of President Benson, saying:
"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will [discover] that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.”
I can wholeheartedly testify of this.
Christ-like Love
Throughout my time at BYU, every single person I grew close showed me nothing but Christ-like love.
My friend that I shared my experiences with was with me every step of the way as I prepared to serve a mission. She supported me when I made the decision to serve. She helped me the days I felt down. She was always ready and willing to help me out, whether it was the daunting task of doing my papers or picking a tie because I’m indecisive. She was constantly by my side just like Christ is. In everything we do we can have Christ by our side, loving us, supporting us, and giving us his grace.
Another friend of mine is a Christ-like example that I will forever be thankful for, she is the most loving, selfless person I’ve met. Mid-second semester she got a pretty intense surgery and was stuck at home for a few weeks. I went to visit her and I’ll be honest it was a rough day for me but I was there for her not me, as she was in fact the one that just got surgery. Yeah, she saw right through me. Even though she had her recovery she could be worrying about whether she sat me down and talked through everything with me. She was patient, kind, understanding, and loving, just as Christ is. Christ sacrificed his life so that he could sit with us through our trials. He bled so that when we mess up we can come to him for grace and he will give it to us, unconditionally.
Lastly, even though I was harsh on my Bishop he still chatted with me all the time. My Bishop was one of the most perfect examples of Christ-like love. He continued to love me even when I was harsh on him, avoided him, and didn’t listen to what he had to say. Christ is the same way. He continues to love him no matter how close or far we are from him. His love is unconditional and never ending.
Christ-like attributes are a gift. Brothers and sisters I encourage you to serve others and as you do our Heavenly father will bless you with these attributes for the goodness of others. Be the one to put the needs of others in front of your worldly worries. Be willing to sacrifice your time and do what the Lord asks of you. Your Christ-like love may just be what someone needs to keep going.
John 13:34:
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, in conclusion, I invite you to seek out the promptings of the Spirit and act on them. Big or small. For you or for others. As you do you will be blessed with the grace and enabling power of Jesus Christ. I also extend you an invite that my friend gave to me, keep track of how you see God’s hand in your life. Doing so will lead to a stronger testimony of the many ways in which he works. You will notice little things in your day to day life that are God’s way of telling you that he sees you. My friends, he loves you and cares for each one of you infinitely. He is there anytime you seek him out faithfully in prayer. Listen carefully and remember it is His timing. I testify to you of the truthfulness of all these things and of the loving hand of our Father in Heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.