Reed's Homecoming Talk

 Reed's Homecoming Talk- Sacrament mtg -Vineyard 12th ward - July 26, 2026

Vancouver, Washington mission

Good morning brothers and sisters, I am very grateful for this opportunity to speak to y'all today! As some of y'all know I recently returned home from serving a 2-year mission in the Vancouver Washington Mission. What a great opportunity it was.

An amazing, amazing opportunity. Everyone always says it's the best 2 years, and if I'm gonna be honest, for a long time on my mission I thought they were insane. But I've come to the personal conclusion that there couldn't have been anything better for me than the sacrifice of a mission. And that's what's made it my best 2 years.

I felt like it would be appropriate to start these first few minutes I have with y'all in my journal at the beginning of my mission. And I will just read this one quote so y'all know how I felt about what I was getting myself into. Now to preface, I'm still at home, day one, not even 24 hours of the @home MTC/Mission experience, and I wrote in my journal that day—quote: "Man... What Have I Done." End quote—well actually, end page, that's all I wrote! And yes, looking back at that statement, it was a super negative and a dim comment to start a mission off with, but believe it or not, it helped shape my mission.

I would like to invite y'all to think about when you've had a "Man, what have I done" moment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this experience could be ranging anywhere from like forgetting your name tag and going to church and getting called Elder Smith or Jones for 3 months, or like deciding one night that you're gonna eat an entire large pizza and then an entire tub of ice cream and then go for a run and try not to face any of the consequences that come from that decision. All hypotheticals of course, to give you a visual for what these decisions might consist of.

I know every single person here has had a couple or at least one of those experiences in their life. If you haven't, you will, and when you do, maybe try and remember something I said today.

Over the 2 years I have had quite a few of these experiences, and I would love to share some of my favorite experiences that have helped me understand why the "Man... what have I done" experiences can and will be some of the most influential and crucial decisions we can make.

Camas, Washington: Lessons with Thom

Around 6 months into my mission I was serving in a city called Camas. To describe it, it's the Utah of Washington. Strong members, great ward... the work was super slow. I think in my total time while I was there we had a total of 3, maybe 4 friends we were teaching over this 6-month time period while I was serving in this area.

Well, this is where we met Thom. Now, Thom is one of the most genuine, caring people I have ever met. He immediately opened his doors to us and to God. Now, the only problem is that Thom had been taught in Arizona, Florida, Oregon, California, Georgia, and now Washington over a 13-year time period—which, for those of you who have ever taught or kinda understand how meeting with the missionaries goes, after 13 years they know the lessons pretty well.

Well, after a couple weeks of teaching him, we were approaching that same wall that all the other missionaries had approached with Thom. I love Thom, but I didn't know what to do. So as I was drawing a blank during a lesson, probably about to close the door of hope I had for Thom, I turned to my brand new trainee, Elder Neilson. I gave him the look like, I've got no clue what to do here, got any bright ideas?

As he looked back at me super confused as to why I was making a dumb face at him, and probably just as clueless as to what to do next, he turned back to Thom, straightened himself up, looked Thom right in the eyeballs, and said without hesitation:"Thom, you know everything you need to. Get baptized."

My eyes were bugging; I think my jaw hit the floor as I sat there thinking, Man, what have we done? That was not the right move, holy crap. And as I tried to collect my thoughts—the few that were still around—I couldn't say anything. As I looked back at Thom to see what his response was gonna be, I could see in his eyes he was really thinking, probably thinking deeper than I ever have. And before Thom or I could say anything, my companion started to get teary and said:"Thom, will you think about what He has done for you? That's what this is all about."

It probably stayed silent for 10 minutes, or what felt like it. I was probably still tweaking, but Thom didn't come back with any questions; he simply just said yes.

He was baptized around 2 weeks later. Now to give you some context to this next part: Thom is a 55-year-old Black man, and I'm only telling you that because when he showed up to his baptism, he had a sentence written on the top of his wonderful, shiny, beaming head in white crayon that he wrote himself in the mirror. It read: Place your hand here.

I'm gonna be so honest, I was super uncomfortable and didn't know what to think of Thom's choice in crayon that day, but he thought it was the greatest thing ever. As he explained the "why" behind drawing on his head, he said it didn't matter to him who was placing their hands on his head—to him, it was more about God placing His hands on Thom's head and promising Thom the blessings of this gospel.

After he received the gift of the Holy Ghost, he bore the most pure and honest testimony I had ever heard. Thom, I know, had many "Man, what am I about to do's" and probably a few "Man, what have I done's," but as he came out of the font that day, regardless of the uncertainty of his decision, one thing I know we both learned that day is that there is a confidence that comes from choosing God. And it starts with taking a leap of faith, or sometimes a few leaps.

Aberdeen, Washington: A Shift in Perspective

Around 6 months later, in one of my favorite places I served—if not my absolute favorite—which was Aberdeen, Washington: a super run-down logging town where there are probably more homeless people than people with homes. This place will forever have a place in my heart for many reasons, but the main reason is this is where I saw people as Christ did more than anywhere else I had served.

This is where my shift from a negative "What have I done?" to a positive "What have I done!" happened, or truly started to happen.

It was 9:05 AM on a Wednesday in September and I was done. It felt like there was no way I could make it another day, let alone another year out there in the mission field. To be honest, I was thinking, What am I doing? Still thinking, What have I done? This sucks, everyone hates us, there is no way on earth I can continue.

Well, after I was done complaining and throwing a personal pity party, I sucked up my pride as the Spirit worked on me. He reminded me of a quote I heard from the October 2025 General Conference that had happened just a couple weeks earlier—the talk "Do Your Part with All Your Heart" by Elder Uchtdorf. The quote says this:"Oh, how I wish I could embrace you and help you understand this great truth: You are a blessed being of light, the spirit child of an infinite God! And you bear within you a potential beyond your own capacity to imagine."

Well, that put some motivation in me to seek answers, just like I had been inviting others to do for over a year at this point. So as I walked into our garage, knelt down on a crusty old yoga mat, and probably cried for a good solid 10 to 15 minutes, the only way to describe what happened to me was a change in perspective and purpose—a change of heart.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says:"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

From that day, God's light really became real for me, or at least I was more focused on it than I had ever been. That day, I think I changed more than at any other point on my mission. I had a desire to help others see their capacity because I knew God saw mine.

I wish I could say every choice I made on my mission was a positive one and that I remembered that purpose every day, but I can't. I am so grateful that regardless of my inadequacies, shortcomings, and personal disappointments that might have happened, regardless of all those things, God saw mine and every other missionary's potential out there to be great—and do great things through Him.

God allowed me to go out to Washington and become new in Him. He is the reason I am the way I am, and man, am I grateful for Him.

Each day we open and walk through new doors of uncertainty, often fearing the outcome of our choice. But as we remember Him, our perspective and life start to shift. Because as we remember Him, we remember what He truly thinks of us, and that can give us all the confidence and motivation needed to make any choice that comes our way.

So returning to the beginning sentence or quote of this talk, I will definitely continue to ask, "Man, what have I done?" But what I have learned is that too often we forget what God's done. And that is something I hope to never forget.

My mission was great, and the thousands of experiences I have had will forever continue to change who I am. All the influence and support I got from so many here with us today—especially my Mom, my Dad, and my siblings—y'all have and will forever be a blessing to me.

A growing faith and belief in Jesus Christ will always be enough to help us make the tough decisions in all the different circumstances of life. And when you have a "Man... what have I done" moment, just remember:

It's just the beginning of your journey with God. I hope regardless of where you're at, you will continue developing or start developing your love for Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.