Elder Scott Takes on Spokane: Logan's Farewell....

Sweet, sweet Cindy Woodward let me use her gorgeous wooden table and chairs!

Logan gave a wonderful talk on the Price of Priesthood Power....

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! It really means a lot that you all came out to support me in my farewell talk! Except for the people in my ward they have to be here! Wow I didn’t expect this much people to come today! This is just amazing! Well first I would just like to start off with a personal experience! This is a dream I had about my mission call opening. I had this dream about 3 months before I even opened my Mission Call. Ok so in this dream I saw myself in my living room at my house, people were filing in to see where I was going on my mission, and I just remember taking a picture with my call in one hand and a cardboard cut out of someone in the other and then I read the call and saw where I was going and that was basically the dream. But here is some background information about that dream that came true. Originally I was going to open my call outside in my backyard, just moments before I was going to open it the wind picked up really bad and the farmer that lives behind me decided that it was a good time to start mowing his lawn. So my Mom decided that the wind was too bad and she didn’t want me reading over the farmer’s lawn mower so we moved everything inside. I didn’t think anything about the dream until we moved everything back inside! So with the dream on my mind I remembered there was a cardboard cut out of someone present. So I assumed that it was my sister Mckennah who is serving a mission right now in Mississippi, but I knew that we didn’t get a cut out of her, but just minutes later Maren and Bishop walk in with their cut out of their son and one of my best friends, Ryan Skidmore who is also serving a mission right now in Florida and she was requesting that I take a picture with him and my call. At this point I knew that my dream was true. I was so confident in my dream that when Nick Giacalone asked me to guess where I was going I guessed exactly there. And in that packet the mission that was said in my dream was Spokane, Washington. So if any of you don’t know me, I am Logan Scott, and I have been called to serve in the Washington Spokane Mission and I report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on July 13^th which is actually this Wednesday.

My topic today is on the Price of Priesthood Power. A talk by Russell M. Nelson in the most recent General Conference. President Nelson is actually one of my favorite people to listen to. I always learn so much and he always has some really nice teachings and great life lessons everyone can learn from. So anyway, "What does Bear even mean?" You always hear your leaders, teachers, parents, friends, ETC. that you “Bear” the priesthood, what does it actually mean? I looked it up on Google because you know Google knows everything and the definition that it gave me was: "to carry." Yes, we do carry the priesthood but president Nelson goes a little more in depth than that, he says “To bear means to support the weight of that which is held." It is a sacred trust to bear the priesthood, which is the mighty power and authority of God.” That brought new meaning to what bearing the priesthood means to me. But think of this the priesthood conferred upon us is the very same power and authority through which God created this and numberless worlds, governs the heavens and the earth, and exalts his obedient children. With that in mind we have to live up to our privileges as bearers of the priesthood. A quote by President Nelson said “in a coming day, only those men who have taken their priesthood seriously, by diligently seeking to be taught by the Lord himself, will be able to bless, guide, protect, strengthen, and heal others. Only a man who has paid the price of priesthood power will be able to bring miracles to those he loves and keep his marriage and family safe, now and throughout eternity.” I know a guy that has paid the price of priesthood power and that man happens to be my Grandpa Scott. He wasn’t a member his whole life and he was the first member in his family, so he had to pay the price and learn about the gospel for himself. I am very grateful for my grandpa and his willingness to know and pay the price to bear that priesthood. Thanks to my Grandpa’s example the power of the priesthood that was started with him, can now be passed on through my Dad and to my brothers and I. So I am very grateful for him. But how else can we increase our power in the priesthood? I’ve narrowed it down to 4 categories because in the talk he had like a billion! The 1^st one is Praying from our hearts. Are you willing to pray for more Power? The Lord will teach you. I know that if you pray to the Lord for help or for more power he will answer your prayers and he will help you. Praying can really help for knowledge of things and to help you through the trials in your life! The 2^nd thing is to search the scriptures and learn from the words of Christ! I know that in the scriptures you learn a ton of stuff! What is better than learning how to get better priesthood power than by the learning from the very words of Christ and his prophets! The scriptures have many good insights and lessons you can learn from. Take advantage of scripture study they are always there for you to learn from and to better your life in the priesthood and life in general. The 3^rd thing is to humble ourselves before the Lord. If we humbly present ourselves before the Lord and ask him to teach us, he will show us how to increase our access to his power. I truly believe that if we aren’t humble we will not learn as much from him. We will think we can do it all ourselves and the Lord will not teach us as he most often does. So being humble will increase our access to his power. The 4^th and final thing we can do to increase our power in the priesthood is worshipping the Lord in his temples. Whenever I go to the temple I always feel a difference. I always feel happy and calm when I am there. I know when I am there I am doing the work of the Lord and the Lord loves it when I do it. Someone once told me that the Lord loves to do his own teachings in His holy house. I know for a fact whenever I go to the temple I always learn something different, whether it comes from many devotionals in the temple from bishop waiting to get in, or from reading something from the scriptures while waiting, I always learn something new. This is when I would like to talk about our Priest Quorum High Adventure this year. Over our very very, very, long week on the road in our 3 RV’s we had the opportunity to go to every temple in Utah! (Well only the ones from St. George to Draper.) We attended the ones from Draper up to Logan during the year like on our Tuesday Night activities, Saturdays, ETC. There were 6 of us in our quorum that were endowed that could do all the baptizing and confirming for everyone that was there. Not only was that good practice for our missions, but it was also just a really cool experience to be the one doing the baptizing and confirming my quorum rather than being the one getting baptized and confirmed. But a funny story about that... mind you I have never baptized anyone before in my life the first person that I had to baptize happened to be Tyler Craig. And if you haven’t seen him he is much taller than me ,and he has a bigger build than I do...so I really thought that was hardest thing to do and the Lord was really testing me. But it got worse... after I was done baptizing Tyler, the next guy to walk in, just so happened to be Cameron Banks… I thought Tyler was hard but it was about to get that much worse!! Cam promised to be nice to me so that was good. So some would say that since I baptized both of them I could baptize anyone!! But switching gears back to High Adventure Garrett Olsen really set the tone for the quorum. He gave us a challenge at the very beginning of the year in January, and the challenge was for everyone in the quorum to read the Book of Mormon all the way through before High Adventure. I am very grateful for him and his challenge for us to read it again as a quorum! But without his constant reminder texts and telling us to read and constant phone calls, I don’t think I would have ever finished it! That really strengthened my testimony and power in the priesthood, and it really got me ready for my mission!! There is a quote that I really liked from reading this talk and the quote says, “Priesthood Power can calm the seas and heal fractures in the Earth. Priesthood Power can also calm the minds and heal fractures in the hearts of those we love.” I really do love that quote but are we willing to pray, fast, study, seek, worship, and serve as men of God so we can have that kind of power? The Priesthood has been really helpful in my life I have really enjoyed it. And knowing that I am worthy enough to bear the Lords priesthood is amazing to me. And that quote to me is true just anything as simple as a fathers blessing right before the first day of school can calm your mind and fill you with peace. It is amazing what the priesthood can do in your life. You just have to be continually worthy to bear such power.

I would just like to share one last thing before I close. About 3 years ago at my very first priest quorum high adventure our leaders had all the missionaries that were already out in the field at the time, write us all a letter on their advice for us, on what we can do to get prepared for our missions. And one letter stood out to me more than the others, this letter came from someone I have really looked up to my whole life in young men’s. This letter comes from Seth Bingham. I’m just going to read a little part of it. I was thinking that I would have already had my farewell before he came home so he may or may not know that I am reading this today. So sorry Seth. Hahaha (READ THE LETTER. )That advice really changed my life for the better. It really got me focused on what I want to do with my life. It showed me that a mission is what I want to do! Thanks Seth for being an awesome example to me. And helping me get to this point! Without you and your example I wouldn’t be here so I would just like to thank you for everything you do!!

In conclusion I would just like to thank all of you for being a great ward for my family and I to live in. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I feel the love every week I come to church and throughout the whole week. I would also like to thank my friends you guys are awesome you have made my life fun up to this point and you all have kept me on the straight and narrow! High School wouldn’t have been as fun as it was without you guys! I would also like to thank my Quorum and all my leaders I have now and the ones that I had in the past! You guys have really made me the man I am today you all have been great examples to me and you have all strengthened my testimony so much! I would not want to trade away this quorum and it would not be the same if any one of us had not been in it. I love you guys and Long Live The Brotherhood!! And now my dudes…. My day 1 dudes Jace, Trenton, AND Josh, and also Ryan even though he isn’t here to hear me talk about him I still will mention him. You guys have been through it all with me… I wouldn’t ask anyone else to be my core group! Ryan has really set a great example for all of us! Being a year older than all of us he has done a great job to show us that a mission is where we need to be. He’s always got my back and all of these other dudes backs. Jace you’ve helped me through the thick and thin we’ve been through a lot together too! I know that you got my back and I got yours! I know that whenever I’m bored I can just text you to see what goes on! Trenton dear Trenton you’ve been with me for the longest out of the group! You’ve been there for me since 1^st grade. 1^st grade that was forever ago!! Even though you lived in Hooper we still made the drive out to each other to hang out! been there for me for as long as I can remember. Even though Trent and I used to bully you without us bullying you we wouldn’t be as good as friends as we are now. And Josh, I saved you last for the sake of the AND...You've been there for me for as long as I can remember. Even thought Trenton and I used to bully you without us bullying you we wouldn't be as good as friend as we are now. You all have been there for me and you know that I will always have your backs!! In the words of the great band the Justice Crew they say “At the end of the day some you win some you don’t, so I’m glad that I’m here with some friends that I know, always there with a smile saying you’re not alone.... singing la la la la Que Sera” You guys are seriously the best friends a guy could ask for! I look up to all 4 of you so much! I know I don’t tell you guys enough cause I think that its weird but I love you guys and I wouldn’t trade you fools for anything!! We may not do the smartest things but we have fun doing dumb things together! Love you guys!! Now Ayden and Jaret you guys have been awesome! I know that you 2 will be doing great things these next 2 years!! I’m sorry I wont be there for any of your football games! But believe it or not you guys have really been really great blessings in my life! You guys really have a bright future and you guys will be great missionaries!! You both have really been blessings in my life and I wouldn’t want any other great young men go grow up with except you 2! I love you 2 both so much! Keep doing what you guys are doing!! My sister Mckennah if any of you in here do not know my sister, than I kind of feel sorry for you. She is serving in the Mississippi Jackson Mission and she comes home in December. Yes, I know we overlap but I thought it would be better to overlap with 1 instead of 2! So anyways my sister is the greatest, she is thee nicest girl I have every met, she has the greatest spirit with her, even if she doesn’t know you she will want to get to know you and love you anyways! She always puts the Lord and his gospel first and has been the greatest example in my life! I love her so much and I’m excited to see her again in 2 and a half years now! My guy D Scott @ large! You have really been the best dad a son could ask for! You have been the greatest example for me in my life! I love that you take time out of your day to come hang out with all of us fools! I love you so much and thank you for teaching me all that you have learned! Thanks for showing me the best way to respect a woman and to honor my priesthood! Now my mom my sweet sweet mom. I am so glad that you are my mother I’m pretty sure that I was put into the most perfect family with a mother like you. I’m so glad that you aren’t afraid to tell me if I’m doing something wrong and you not being afraid to call me out on stuff that’s what makes me a better guy and a better man. I’m so glad that you love my siblings and I as much as you do. It’s amazing what you do. I’m so grateful for all that you do for not only me but for our whole family! I’m grateful for your love for this gospel also! You have honestly strengthened my testimony so much over these last 18 years! I love you so much mom I don’t know what I’m going to do without you for 2 years!

I’d just like to end with my testimony that I do know without a doubt that this church is true. I love it with all my heart and I know without a shadow of a doubt that its true. I know that joseph smith was a true prophet and he translated the book of Mormon correctly. I also know that the Book of Mormon is another true testament of Jesus Christ and I know that the things that are said in it are true and they will help you in your life! I know that the priesthood is in our lives for a reason it is the true power of God and without it I would be lost and I wouldn’t feel as much peace as I do. I love this gospel with everything in my body! I know it to be true and I will go out to the people of Washington to preach what I know to be true. I love all of you so much thank you all so much for the support in my life up to this point. Thank you all so much and see you all in 2!!

I say these things in the name of thy son Jesus Christ

Amen

Anyone that knows my Logan, knows how much he loves Toy Story. I had my neighbor Whitley Woodward make me some cookies that looked like Woody and Buzz and had a sign that read, "Logan....helping families to INFINITY and BEYOND."