Olivia gave her farewell talk in in our ward this Sunday. She did an amazing job. After church she was set apart as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She will start her Online MTC on January 20th in Las Vegas at her Grandparents' house.
She had a few friends who could come to her farewell.
Here is her talk
Good morning brothers and sisters
It is so good to be back in the ward today, for those who don’t know me. My name is Olivia Brunner.
I have been assigned to labor in the California LA mission and my primary assignment is the LA visitor
center. Spanish speaking.
I have been in this ward for a while now since probably 2002. but my face might not be so familiar
because I moved to Ogden in 2019 to go to school at Weber State. If I seem nervous it might be
because I am up here speaking but it is also because I will be getting set apart as a missionary at
noon. I remember being 12 years old having to speak up here for 5 min and thinking that was so long.
I remember after my first talk that I gave being 12 years old afterwards someone came up to me
and said “ your talk was really good, you basically said it all in one breath.” so I hope that I have
improved since then.
Today I was asked to speak on “what would it mean most for those thinking of or preparing to serve a mission?” Also how to assist those who are preparing or serving a mission. And to emphasize coming unto christ.
First I would like to mention how we can help those who are serving missions right now. For this question I reached out to the missionaries in the ward Elder Mata and Elder Nelson, asking what are ways we can assist them, they said it really helps when members introduce us to their non member friends that they have seen the most success when members tell us about friends or neighbors of who they can teach and get to know. So what I recommend is go to the gospel library app and go under your account it will say Missionaries and the missionaries in our ward will show up with ways to contact them, and if you know someone that they can help to reach out to them.
I am not a return missionary yet, so I am definitely not an expert on this but I thought I would share my experience, I thought I would share on why I chose to serve a mission and what I did to prepare.
When I first thought about a mission was in primary when they asked all us little primary kids to raise their hand if you were going to serve a mission and I still remember seeing all my friends raise their hand so of course I raised my hand.
Then next thing ya know it is my senior year of high school when making big decisions where to go
to college and such, and I wasn’t 100% sure on the mission, I prayed and I decided to go to school.
My freshman year of college was hard, it wasn’t til covid hit I really started thinking about a mission again, which I still remember being so frustrated because I was like I just moved into a new house that I liked, I had good roomates for a change, I was finally making friends, I liked my job and I still remember crying to my roommate at the time mckenzie at like 1am saying I was thinking about going on a mission and telling her all my concerns and her saying “just do it, go on a mission. It is never convenient to go on a mission”
Anyways next thing ya know I was working on my papers, but unfortunately I was going through a hard time that delayed my mission which was the most heartbreaking to me. It made me question whether to serve a mission.
So this is where I wanted to talk about what I think it would mean most for those planning or thinking on serving a mission
Whether you have decided or not I think the best thing to prepare for the temple, I had the opportunity to go through the temple last week and it was such an amazing experience even with temples being closed it was nice to have close family and friends there. if you talk to bishop about it he will give a card with a picture with the temple on it with scriptures to read and there's the booklet you can find it on the gospel library app called “preparing to enter the holy temple” and there's temple prep that I am sure will start up again, but the lessons are already on the app too. When I was first talking to the bishop about serving his amazing wife Amy really helped, she told me that even if I decide not to go, that preparing to go through the temple is also a vital part of serving so to start preparing.
The next thing that I strongly encourage is to get a priesthood blessing, when I first was told that my mission was delayed because of the trial I was going through, one of the first things I did (besides cry) was I got a blessing from one of my friends in the ward. If you don’t know someone that can give you one, I know that the bishop could offer one or any of the members in the bishop brick or they can even direct you to some of the young men in the ward that could help with that.
One of the things mentioned in my blessing talked about not to ignore any past or future revelations,
and I share that because I think it’s an important thing for everyone to hear.
Another thing I wanted to talk about is preparing more spiritually or physically and I think that for everyone preparing is different. In the scripture Mathew 19:20
Let’s consider the New Testament account of the rich young ruler. He was a righteous young man who was already keeping the Ten Commandments, but he wanted to become better. His goal was eternal life.
When he met the Savior, he asked, “What lack I yet?”3
Jesus answered immediately, giving counsel that was intended specifically for the rich young
man. “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and … come and follow me.”4
The young man was stunned; he had never considered such a sacrifice. He was humble
enough to ask the Lord but not faithful enough to follow the divine counsel he was given.
We must be willing to act when we receive an answer.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack
I yet?
I feel that for everyone it could be different ways to prepare, it could be spiritually, financially, physically. So I really encourage you to pray individually for how you can prepare.
For me it was prioritizing church my first two semesters of schooI really wasn’t good at making church
a priority. With me going to school full time and working 40 + hours a week I would make excuses
not to go to church. But I decided to make a change, I decided to ask my job if I could have
Mondays off so that I fulfill my calling during FHE, I decided to always make an effort to go to church
meetings, even if I worked till 12 or 1am that Saturday before. And to work on ministering
For me understanding the spirit was another challenge, for me it was hard to understand answers.
One of the things that I would recommend would go to LDS website and search the #hearhim there are many 3 min videos of apostles talking about how they #hearhim. I can go over a few
Elder Uchtdorf talked about how love is key
Elder Ballard talked about to find a quiet place
Elder Renlund talked about how him drawing closer to him and having an ever increasing desire to be
like him
Elder Holland talked about “muscular prayer” and to have a prayer in your heart, and to say a prayer
out loud , to kneel and be vocal.
In preach my gospel there is an entire section called how to recognize the spirit and what I really liked was it talked a lot about D&C and josephs experience but what I really liked was D&C 8:2
2 Yea, behold, I will atell you in your mind and in your bheart, by the cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
Which I thought really summed up how I got my answer for a mission because I dwelt on it all the time, it was constantly on my mind
And the last thing that I wanted to talk about was I wanted to talk about how Satan is going to be your worst enemy. Satan is going to try to tempt you in different ways, he's going to make you feel unworthy and make you question a mission. I remember one day, I don’t think I even told my parents this story. But over fall break my family and I took a trip to Bryce canyon.
I remember the first day we got there I was feeling super down, I had just got another call saying my mission was still being delayed. And I remember telling myself that I am no longer going on a mission. And I remember my parents went to the motel we were staying at to check in, and my siblings were out playing on a dinosaur at the gas station. And I said a prayer saying “heavenly father if you want me to go on a mission I need a sign” and I kid you not the second I opened my eyes two elders walked past the van. I wanted to jump out and hug those elders but that might have caused some problems. So I guess that’s one of the revelations not to ignore. Now I wouldn't recommend praying like that, because there isn’t always a “sign’ or answer that comes that quick. If you have been wanting to go on a mission and needed a sign.. This is your sign.
I would like to end my talk from a quote from Elder Rasband in a talk called a Divine Call of a Missionary (which I recommend to everyone it is such a great talk he talks about how they get revelations of which place you get to serve) he says:
"At this time in your life, a mission call from the Lord, my young friends, is the most important work that you can do. Prepare now, live righteously, learn from your family and Church leaders, and come join with us in building the kingdom of God on earth—accept your divine appointment in “so great a cause.”
And with that I would like to bare my testimony
