Tuesday, April 8, 2008

THE END IS FINALLY HERE! (Day: Mission Boy!)


Ok guys! Well I haven't left on the plane just yet....but I will be gone as of 2:35 pm Utah Time from the Salt Lake City Airport to my mission! Thanks for everything and it has been fun! I get to Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday to go to the MTC there. Please write me at my current e-mail address of byu-i_lesueur@hotmail.com. Chances are I'll have to change it out there so keep this and I'll send it out. If you wanna e-mail me to have me put you on my e-mail list...please do that now so then I can just easily do it out there in Johannesburg or wherever I get to sit down to a computer!



Again thanks for everything and if I can post on here while I am out there in Africa.....I'll try and do that so you guys can hear all the awesome stories I have had and everything.

Good luck with life and wish me good luck out there too!




Peace Out!


This is my new home now!


Saturday, April 5, 2008

How to write or get a hold of me from within South Africa (Day: 2 More Days left of Sweet Freedom!)

Ok I got my stuff yesterday like my tag and plane tickets and all that and this came in the mail with my stuff.A yellow little slip of paper that says:

Once a missionary has arrived we request there be no contact made by family or friends except by mail. The MTC Postal address is:

South Africa Mission Training Centre
P.O. Box 6228
Ansfrere
1711
South Africa

So if people wanna talk to me......write me...again I'll be at the MTC for 19 days and I don't know how long it takes for mail to get out to South Africa so.....And again...please keep my current e-mail address of byu-i_lesueur@hotmail.com

I heard from a parent of a kid I knew in High School who is out on the same mission that you do have to change your e-mail to be under the church's system when you get there....so I'll change it and the first chance I get....I'll e-mail my Missionary E-Mail Address to everyone through my Hotmail address. So keep tabs on your e-mail and you should all hear from me soon or something.

Oh and if you do want me to write to you....please e-mail me or write to me on here between now and Monday your e-mail addresses....Please keep in touch because I want to keep in touch while even on my mission so then I know what is going on back in the USA....so please write and I'll write back any chance I get which will probably be every monday.

Thanks and I'll see you all in 2 years!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

In the words of a Missionary (My farewell talk to anyone that wants to read it!) (Day: The End is around the Corner!)

Good-morning brothers and sisters! It’s really weird to finally be here today and give this talk. You picture this day your whole life and for me, the way I pictured this was different in every way compared to the way it is all happening right now, but I guess everything can’t always happen the way you want it to play out! Anyways for anyone in here who for some reason doesn’t know me, I’m Elder Braden Karl LeSueur! And I’m going to be serving my mission in Cape Town, South Africa, which is a huge surprise for my family since one of my brothers went to Johannesburg, South Africa back in 2001. I guess my family needs to do more over there in South Africa or something. Anywho so I leave here on April 8th and I fly for 2 days out to the MTC in Johannesburg where I’ll be for 19 days. Just some other little information about me, I’m the youngest of 6 and of 10. My parents got divorced and my Dad got re-married and so it went from 6 kids to 10 kids and I was still at the bottom of the food chain, but being the youngest had its rewards here and there. In my family I have 7 brothers and they have all served missions, so now I am the last one and now we can wrap all the missionary stuff up in our family when I get back. We’re all from California! My parents and I moved here in 2004 and I love it here, but I do miss my hometown of Orange County, since it was my childhood city and the place we all grew up and everything. So anyways, I think that is all that you need to know about me.

My talk was about the little article that Elder Nelson wrote in this month’s Ensign. He titled in Faith in Jesus Christ. Before I start though I just wanted to say, I’m going to try and be pretty quick about this because it’s Fast Sunday and I personally think it would be really weird to be the only person that gets a chance to say anything today as far as a testimony or anything, so hopefully I can be quick enough that the messege is understood and the spirit is felt but also that others will also come up and say stuff so that the spirit will grow more. So from the Title of Faith in Jesus Christ you can tell that it is mostly about Faith. Faith I actually think is an interesting thing, you all probably sang the song about how Faith is like a little seed, and if it is planted it’ll grow and become a tree. You all sang this when we were little just like I did, well hopefully not really like I did since I was pretty rowdy when I was little….but you know what I mean. But the point of the song was that you have the faith that everything you are doing is right, what you believe is right and so because of that a seed is planted in your heart which is your testimony or your belief; and if you keep doing what is right it’ll grow and become a tree and it’ll bring forth good fruit which others can/will partake of and it’ll benefit them also. So faith is a cool thing that we all function on; for example, we have faith that the sun will come up, we have faith that the car will start, we have faith that we can make it to school on time, we have faith that it’ll soon be 80 degrees here and the Snow will go away for good. We all live on faith.

Anyways so I guess it would help to understand the word faith if we Break It Down! So to start I went to Dictionary.com just to see what they say Faith means or is and everything and this is what I found are the definitions of Faith:

1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. Belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. A system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

Then just to give the other side of the coin…I looked up Faith in the Bible Dictionary:

Faith is to hope for things which are not, seen but which are true, and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fullness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation.

Then it goes on with some more interesting stuff but I think a lot of good stuff was said already so I’ll move on.

A little quick story/experience I had a few years back to relate to Faith and everything and just to kind of show a way faith works and helps. I only ended up going to EFY once. Our group one day was hanging out and we had done a little lesson about something, I forget what now; but after we were done they told us to go find a little secluded spot to ourselves and to pray for any little questions you might have and see if you get an answer, or something to that effect because the lesson, I do remember, had something to do with finding answers. Anyways when they told us to do that I went and climbed up a tree since I figured it was a good spot and I loved being in a tree. So I went there and the little thing I’ve always had that I was hoping to get an answer to is even though I know everything is right and true and I have faith in it, I’ve had a little dark thought in the back of my mind that would come and say “Is it!? Is it really!?” and it would kind of make me question things. So I asked for help and just proof that this was real or that I knew it is all true even from the beginning and everything and to help get rid of this dark thought. And from that I was led to Alma 32: 18 but I wanna read 17 and 18:

17. “Yeah, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.”
18. “Now I ask, is that faith? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”

So for me when I just read verse 18 I sat there and realized that I really have known for a long time that it is true so I don’t need to really think about it or see if I believe it because I know it. And since then I’ve always loved this scripture and it has been a big help.

I think Faith is a great thing in life. Faith is everything to us. Faith is not only the thing that helps us go on in life, but is also what makes the church go and function in certain ways. Faith is the thing that converts. Faith is what helps make the church grow along with commandments and guidance. Faith is probably one thing that helped all the prophets do what they do and needed to do to keep going, like Hinckley. Faith is also what might help my family know I am safe and doing the right thing and will be home in 2 years. Faith is what is going to be taking me out to Cape Town, South Africa to preach to people and receive the little spiritual experiences I’ll have out there. Faith is what is going to help a family come together and be baptized. Faith is what we always hear about from the apostles, prophets, missionaries, and Average Joes of the Church because of what it does and how helpful and great it is to all of us. Faith is what we read about in the scriptures:

“Faith without works is dead.”

“Oh ye of little faith”

“Faith is things hoped for which are not seen.”

“By faith men become sons of God.”

And a load of other scriptures.

I wish I could stand here and say I know that God is there and everything but I haven’t seen him so I can’t. What I can do is have faith he is there and thus know he is there based off of the faith and feelings of the Spirit and all the experiences I have heard and gone through in my life…thus far.

So do I really know if God is there, since I haven’t seen him….no. But do I believe he is there and thus know it from my faith and from the spirit!? Yes!

Before I finish up I wanna bring up one more point, I was searching around for more material that could be helpful in this talk on lds.org and I found some interesting stuff in the Gospel Topic section or whatever it is called on faith which I though related really well to a bunch of the stuff I said just a second ago. The first one they called Faith in Jesus Christ. What this Faith in Christ section or point said was:

In order for faith to lead to salvation, it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can exercise faith in Christ when we have an assurance that He exists, a correct idea of His character, and a knowledge that we are striving to live according to His will.

Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love. It includes believing His teachings. It means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does. Because He has experienced all our pains, afflictions, and infirmities, He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties. He has "overcome the world" and prepared the way for us to receive eternal life. He is always ready to help us as we remember His plea: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

Then they had another section called Living in Faith which said:

Faith is much more than passive belief. We express our faith through action—by the way we live.
The Savior promised, “If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me”. Faith in Jesus Christ can motivate us to follow His perfect example. Our faith can lead us to do good works, obey the commandments, and repent of our sins. Our faith can help us overcome temptation. Alma counseled his son Helaman, “Teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Lord will work mighty miracles in our life according to our faith. Faith in Jesus Christ helps us receive spiritual and physical healing through His Atonement. When times of trial come, faith can give us strength to press forward and face our hardships with courage. Even when the future seems uncertain, our faith in the Savior can give us peace.

So I told you earlier in my talk that we all live off of Faith and I think that is so cool especially since we practice it every day also with sin. I mean like we sin and then we have faith that we can be forgiven, depending on how big it is, through Jesus and the Atonement and because of that faith, we come here every week to take the sacrament to partake of the atonement Jesus established through his actions and everything. And the little paragraph above just proved that point even more, to all of us…I think. Anyways so to kind of relate to all of that, one of my favorite movies has a line that I think is a really good way to explain the atonement and how it works and also kind of the faith in the Atonement. It’s from the movie Batman: Begins. At the beginning of the movie it shows Bruce Wayne as a kid hanging out with a friend of his named Rachel. Well they are fighting over an arrowhead and who found it and thus who is the owner of it. Well Bruce takes it and runs and hides over a well. Later on he falls through it and down to the bottom of the well. Then it shows his Dad come and gets him from out of the well. And as they are walking you hear Alfred the Butler go: Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce? Then Bruce’s dad says: And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

So from that, I started to imagine the way it looks for us all striving to get to heaven. And I came to this where we’re climbing up a fairly steep mountain and each step we take is us doing everything right so that we can go to the kingdom of God. So we are climbing and climbing and climbing to get to the Kingdom of God and if we sin we trip or fall a little and then Jesus comes down and looks at us and says the same line “And why do we fall?” And he reaches out his hand to help us up and then finishes with: “So we can learn to pick ourselves up!” And then we keep going up the mountain. So we have the atonement to help when we sin and the faith that Jesus will help us get up and to keep going after he helps us up from our little set back.

The other thing I got a kick out of the Living by Faith thing because not only did I think it helped some of my points but I think it is a great little missionary thing. It’s a nice little boost/motivation and this gets me excited to go out and preach and serve!

Anyways I wanna bear my testimony and wrap everything up; I know this church is true because of my faith and experiences. I know God is there and Jesus is his Son and our Savior from my faith and knowledge and scripture studying and reading and other little evidence I have received. I know Gordon B. Hinckley was the Prophet of God and that I know, even though it might be hard to live up to Hinckley’s charm and sense of humor, that Thomas S. Monson is the one that is supposed to be the next Prophet of this church and I know he will be just as good as any of the other Prophets and I can’t wait to watch him and see what he does. I know the Book of Mormon is true, otherwise I don’t think I’d be standing here giving this talk, be in these kinds of clothes, or be heading out to South Africa to do all the stuff I’m going to do out there. I am so happy for everyone that came out here today. I was telling my friends to come if they could because the more people that came today to hear my talk, the more excited I’d be from everyone coming, and the more I’d want to get on that plane in a little over a week and not look back. If you wanna know if I am really feeling that right now, ask me after sacrament and I’ll let you know.

Anyways, I love my family, and it’s funny how I’ve just barely realized that I never really have said that to my brothers and sisters or anyone else expect my parents, but I have to have faith that they all knew that I loved them…I think that is just a natural family thing. But I love my siblings, they have been there for me and helped me out in different ways, from going on missions, to hanging out with me, to the endless embarrassing stories that I hate to hear every Sunday but also love to laugh about with them because we all enjoy the laugh, to my ups and downs I had in the past. I honestly believe that family is the only way to get through life…and my family was the bomb at doing that for me way back when but then still is the bomb at it even to this day! I love my parents even when I do get in disagreements with them and see things differently than they do and I think this will be really hard to leave them here and go to Africa for the whole 2 years but I am happy to do it. I wanna go pick up that accent anyways because of how cool it sounds! Anyways again I thank you for letting me give this talk and change up this month’s Fast Sunday for the ward a little bit. Hopefully now there will be other people that will come up and give testimonies. And like I said, hopefully the spirit was felt and helped out everyone here, today in some way, then will continue on and grow even more through everyone else that comes up to bare their testimonies.

Anyways thanks again and I love you all, even if I don’t show it, and yes even when I get made fun of about the Lakers or whatever people love to bring up that bugs me, I still love you all! And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!