If receiving the white envelope in the mail is the symbolic start of a mission (it actually starts years before that), then giving your "homecoming" talk is the symbolic end of a mission (even though it will continue for years). Today, Hermana Tonini gave her homecoming talk not once, but twice.
In her home ward, Minot 2nd, she was the concluding speaker and spoke about King Lamoni's father as an example of repentance and shared a quote from President Kimball about forgiveness: we are required to forgive all; it is not conditional upon the offender to ask for forgiveness first. For both principles, she was able to illustrate with an example from her mission. I have always enjoyed it when she speaks in Church because she is so comfortable when she speaks which enables the Spirit to testify of what she is teaching. The meeting was threatening to run over so she simply ended her talk in such a way that no one know (other than me and her mom) that she still had one more principle to cover.
In the afternoon, we attended our original ward, Minot 1st, and this time, she was the first speaker. As she started, Bishop Clark whispered in her ear to take as much time as she wanted. In addition to the two principles she taught in her first talk, she now had time to tie in a third principle, the value of trials.
After the service, a member of the high council came up and told her what a powerful message she had taught: she taught a principle, backed it up with scriptures, and used examples from her mission to illustrate the application. If this had been the format of the talks that all return missionaries gave (as opposed to travel logs), there might still be such a thing as homecoming talks in the Church!
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