Friday, November 12, 2010

"A Farewell and Words of Inspiration"

Austin gave a wonderful talk in church as his farewell talk on October 31, 2010. We were blessed to have family and friends join us that day and give support. Austin's friend from U of A drove all the way up to lend his support, as well as uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and flagstaff friends. Austin shared examples from the scriptures and from his life of those who have exemplified characteristics that helped to shape his life and inspire him. We were inspired by the reminder of the brother of Jared, Benjamin Johnson (great great great gr?? grandfather), Joseph of Egypt, his experience shoveling snow for widows in the ward and his scout leaders when he was young. Each example demonstrated a quality of Christ that each of us must master if we hope to be like Christ; faith, hope, obedience, charity, virtue, dliligence, knowledge, humility and patience. Austin concluded "...all of these stories have one thing in common, these people all did their best to follow Christ. That is what we are here to learn- how to follow our Savior." He showed us a plain piece of paper and talked about what it takes to make this piece of paper into a paper airplane with the features to fly. He then molded it into a paper airplane and encouraged us to allow Christ to help mold us and point us in the right direction. "My hope," he said, "is to allow myself to be molded into what the Lord needs me to be."

It is evident that Austin is ready to serve and we were inspired to do our part here at home inorder to support his efforts in the field.

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