Hermana Chipman’s Sacrament meeting Talk 6/29/2025
President Chipman and I reported our missions in Sacrament meeting held on June 29, 2025. We were thrilled and surprised by the support by so many people in person and more than 75 who joined us over zoom. Thank you for all of your kindness during our transition home.
Hermana Chipman’s Sacrament Meeting talk:
This is surreal and overwhelming. Thank you for your support and your love, and thank you for coming today. We feel that love, and I am grateful for those who are joining us over the internet. Megan, Ethan, Allie, who can't be with us today. We felt like we were thrown out to Southern Peru, and now it feels like we’ve been thrown back, and it’s been a shock. But we are glad to be home because we are so grateful for the incredible experience we have had.
It is so cool to see many of our missionaries here today because they know. They shared it with us and it was amazing. Thank you for coming. We got home on Friday afternoon, where we were met by three cute little grandkids with signs. It was awesome.
Arequipa is a beautiful city in Southern Peru nestled under three massive volcanoes that reach 20,000 feet. To put that into perspective, that is 7,000 feet higher than anything in the state of Colorado. The boundaries of the mission stretched over vast deserts from the Pacific coast along the borders of Chile and Bolivia and into the high Andes mountains. In order to get to one of our areas, we needed to drive over a 16,000 ft pass. It is difficult to describe the scale and diversity, and beauty of our mission.
It is also very difficult to describe the scale of our experience serving there as mission leaders because even today, I have a hard time comprehending it, let alone sharing it with you. It feels much like taking a picture of the most beautiful landscape ever with a crummy cell phone camera. It just won’t do it justice.
Today, I have an overwhelming and deep gratitude to my Heavenly Father for this experience because it has changed me for good and I have never felt more loved by him. So many of us resist change because it makes us uncomfortable and because it stirs up all of our weaknesses high into the air so that others can see them. It is embarrassing and makes us vulnerable but this is what God wants from us. This is what is necessary for us to find peace and happiness in this life. We can’t overcome our weaknesses if we hide from them. Self-protection is an important survival instinct, but we must make sure that we aren’t preventing what we truly want, which is personal growth and a closer relationship with God. President Oaks from the First Presidency stated: God is more interested in who we are becoming and less about what we know. I testify this is true. President Erying has said, “To be called to serve is a call to come to love the Master we serve. It is a call to have our natures changed.” I testify this is true.
Changing our very nature is how we discover our divine nature and who we really are in God’s eyes. Patterns of embracing change can be similar to the path of conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Alma 5:14 it says:
Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this might change in your hearts?
And then in verse 26 it says:
If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
Alma’s words are inviting us to examine ourselves. Personal conversion or change cannot be seen as a one-time event, but rather a lifetime of continued growth. If you think you know enough about God today, I suggest that you are actually looking at a false summit. Any experienced hiker knows that they should always expect a false summit or two as they hike a mountain. A false summit is a point along a mountain route that appears to be the summit but, upon reaching it, reveals that the true summit is still farther away. When a person encounters a false summit, it is easy for them to become discouraged–especially when they realize that they must travel a lot further to get to the top. It is sometimes so disheartening, that people often forget their goal and choose to turn around instead.
I don’t believe that it is a journey that has an end until we see God face to face. Until then, there will always be a summit looming above us on our faith journey because we will always lack some knowledge. Because of this, we may become discouraged and tired so we are tempted to proclaim the end of our journey as if this will bring us relief, when in fact, it only stagnates our progress. Rather than seeking a point of termination, we need to accept and become comfortable with the incomplete picture and have faith that someday we will know the truth of all things as we move forward. We should focus and build upon what we already know, which is our foundation of truth and not upon our doubts or fears which may cause us to retreat at a false summit. I beg you not to turn around at the false summit. Keep going further on your path to find God. He will eventually reveal himself and you will be rewarded with the most spectacular view of his power and glory in your life.
This False summit analogy demonstrates the difference between enduring to the end and enduring well to the end. To endure is unavoidable because time never stops, but to endure well shows personal growth during that time. How much we grow is entirely dependent upon how willing we are to embrace the change, even when we are uncomfortable. It also takes a lot of humility because we are tackling our weaknesses. This is why our Savior has instructed us to become as a child. Children approach new things with curiosity and hope. Sometimes it doesn’t pay off for them, but they are always willing to try again and again. This is how they learn to crawl and eventually walk, but it only happens after they have collected a lot of bruises! But oh, is it worth it!
Missions are a great way for young people to discover this truth for themselves. Dave and I have said goodbye to many missionaries over these few years. Each of their mission experiences vary greatly based upon how they embraced personal change. Those who guarded themselves and tried to control the mission environment to meet their needs, finished with relief as if they were checking off a difficult task. However, those who put their trust in God and leaned into the obstacles, finish their missions with gratitude for what they experienced and learned. We could literally see the light of Christ in their countenances. This doesn’t only pertain to our missionaries. This can happen to us as well when we serve others and trust God.
In Ether 12:27 it says:
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
God often forces us to come face to face with our weaknesses because it is so much easier for us to just avoid them, but this temporary and comfortable strategy only prevents us from growing and limits our potential as individuals. After all, didn’t we choose to come to earth to be uncomfortable, to gain experience, to learn?
I would like to read one of my journal entries from about half way through our mission.
It reads:
I’m going to be transparent about our mission. This is really difficult and is frankly impossible sometimes. However, I am so glad that I’m here because I really appreciate what I’m learning and becoming. God really does love his missionaries and He is making the impossible possible. I’m still completely clueless about many things and I often feel foolish and vulnerable; but I’m learning that this isn’t about me. It isn’t about how I look or perform. This work is all about God and our Savior and I’m learning to trust Him–even when things seem to spiral out of control. My job is to just keep moving forward with complete and unwavering faith because we have no choice, and somehow the Lord keeps blessing us with success. Our success as leaders and as a mission is a heavenly miracle that I witness every single day because things eventually and always seem to work out!
In Alma 26:12 it says:
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength, I am weak, therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength, I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we sought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
Without a doubt, God has guided our mission. I have seen his hand and power in the lives of our young missionaries. I have a strong testimony that God magnifies our efforts and manifests Himself through our actions and works.
I want to end with a quote by President Camille Johnson, the current General Relief Society President of the Church. Her words resonate with me because just a few short years before we were assigned to the Peru Arequipa Mission, she and her husband Doug served there as well. I feel like I know exactly what she was referring to and how she felt when she made this statement.
“What if I had stuck with my comfortable narrative? I could have enjoyed spending more time with my grandchildren, and I could have been assured more financial security. I would have missed a soul-searching stretching, and faith building experience. Up hill ? Yes! Worth it? Yes! Our Savior will take us personally to places we have never imagined for ourselves. This is what happens when we let God prevail in our lives. We receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith. “
I would invite you to ask God how he feels about you. I promise you that he will give you an answer. I know this is his church. I know that my Savior lives. He is the Christ and I love him. It was my sacred opportunity to serve him for three years, and I am so grateful. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
