Jamison's Farewell Talk

 Farewell Talk

Jamison Helm • Guatemala City East Mission • September 13, 2026

Good Afternoon brothers and sisters, my name Jamison Helm, I have been called to serve in the Guatemala City East Mission.

For the past two summers I've been a River Guide on the Provo river. I've made so many friends and have learned so many important life lessons. Today I want to share a couple with you.

There's a stretch on the Provo River I know like the back of my hand—to the point where I feel I could navigate it with my eyes closed. I've guided so many groups I've lost count. I know every branch sticking out over the water, every boulder that sits just under the surface, every shallow run, and every rapid. My job is to keep everyone in the boat, make sure they have fun, and, most importantly, get every person to the river exit safely. Even on the days when someone is being difficult and a small part of me just wants to throw them in, I still have one clear responsibility: bring them home safely.

Now imagine going down that same river without a guide. You have no clue what's ahead, no sense of direction. You may get stuck, scrape on a rock you didn't see, or even get hurt. There is a lot that can go wrong when no one is guiding and directing you.

Just as a river guide has already run every rapid and knows every hidden danger, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have already run this river of mortality. They know every hidden rock and every rapid. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our guide throughout this life. We may have trials up ahead that we cannot yet see, or worries about the future that feel overwhelming. But if we have faith in our Guide—Heavenly Father and His Son—I know we will be able to return to Them someday.

Being About His Business

In Elder Patrick Kearon's most recent general conference talk, "About His Business," he taught that the Savior not only wants us to follow the Guide, but He invites us to become guides ourselves. In other words, Jesus Christ invites us to be about His business. Elder Kearon shared a story "When 12-year-old Jesus was found by His parents teaching in the temple, He told them that He had been "about [His] Father's business." And we can be too. Every calling, whatever it may be, is "His business" when embraced with a humble and willing heart and a desire to lift and comfort His children and share His good news.

We are not merely filling an assignment when we respond to an inspired call but joining the Saviour of the world in His infinite, redeeming work." That is exactly what a full-time mission is, it's an invitation to join the Savior in His work.

What does being about His business mean? To me it means taking the opportunities God has given me and using them to uplift and bless others, to look outward instead of only inward. Which brings me to a recent experience that taught me how unexpected the joy can be when we say yes to that invitation.

A few days ago I was at the temple taking my mission photos. I was standing there in my suit with the Guatemala flag draped over my shoulders when a little Asian man walked up to me with the biggest grin on his face. He asked if I would be in his Instagram post. I said sure—while in my head I was thinking, "What did I just get myself into?"

Then, without any warning, he started singing to me, almost like "Happy Birthday," but the words were "Happy, happy Father's business... Happy, happy Father's business..." For about thirty of the most awkward seconds of my life I just stood there smiling while this complete stranger waved his phone inches from my face, serenading me about being about our Father's business. When he finished, he was beaming from ear to ear.

In that moment it hit me: my decision to serve a mission had already brought joy to someone I had never met. He saw a young man choosing to go out and do the work of the Lord, and it made him so happy he couldn't help but sing about it. That little experience taught me something important. As Elder Kearon put it, when we choose to be about our Father's business we are joining the Savior in His redeeming work. Whether it's accepting a calling or putting on a name tag and leaving home for two years, sometimes the joy that comes from that choice shows up in the most unexpected ways—even in a super awkward song from a complete stranger at the temple.

Planting Seeds and Reaching Out

But being about His business doesn't always mean people immediately say yes or feel the same excitement. Sometimes the invitation is quietly declined. Sometimes the seed is planted long before anything grows.

Elder Wakolo taught this so well in his most recent talk. "Come unto Christ—Together," he shares a story that really stuck with me. He said: "In Brisbane, Australia, a seven-year-old boy pleaded with his father to join the Church so his father could baptize him. While his father had attended church for several years and had good experiences there, he had not taken the step to be baptized. When I met with them, I extended a bold invitation to the dad to accept his son's loving request. He gently declined. And yet the love remains. The invitation remains. The agency remains. Sometimes the seed is planted long before it breaks the soil."

That perspective is so important. Even when we try our best and reach out to those in need, things don't always go the way we hope. I want to share an experience I had that felt very similar.

I don't always guide when I'm at the river. Sometimes I help escort people out of the water to avoid the dangerous bridge. At times that can be one of the hardest parts of my job. You can probably imagine how difficult and frustrating it is trying to pull two full-grown adults, people who probably weigh twice as much as me, who are so drunk, and they can barely stand on their own two feet.

Sometimes I manage to get them to the side of the river. Other times they drag me down the current, death-gripping my hand and scraping me against the riverbed as I try to get a footing. Meanwhile they just sit there worrying about losing their beer or their flip-flops while I try to warn them to hop out so I can get them to safety. In those moments I used to think, "Why won't they just get out?" Then I realized something important: they don't know the dangers ahead. When people are focused on the temporary things right in front of them, it's easy to fight the very person who is trying to pull them to safety.

That experience has stayed with me. Jesus Christ knows every single danger on the river of life. He reaches out a hand hoping we will take it. He sends friends, He sends family, He sends strangers to try to get us out of the water before we hit something that could really hurt us. But not everybody wants to be pulled out. Some people don't like to be uncomfortable. Some hold tighter to the temporary things in life. And sometimes, when we try to help, we get hurt in the process.

That's one of the biggest reasons I'm choosing to serve a mission. I want to be about His business the way Elder Kearon described, not because it's always easy, but because of our Savior's relentless pursuit of us. He never stops reaching out. He never stops loving us. When I put on that name tag I'll be representing our Savior. I want to be out there reaching, the same way the Savior reaches for me every day.

Looking Forward, Not Back

Some people don't move forward because they're more focused on what they might lose than on what they could gain.

In Genesis Chapter 19 there is a story that captures this perfectly. When the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be destroyed, Lot and his family were told to run, they were given one clear instruction: "Don't look back." Most of them kept their eyes ahead and escaped. But Lot's wife couldn't do it. She turned around. She looked back at everything she was leaving, the house, the life, the familiar life she lived. And in that moment of looking back, she was turned into a pillar of salt.

She didn't die because she was evil. She died because she couldn't let go of what was behind her. The thing she was afraid of losing ended up costing her everything she still had left to gain. I see the same pattern all the time. People freeze, delay, or sabotage themselves not because the future looks bad, but because they're staring at what they might have to leave behind, comfort, identity, status, the version of life they've already built. They're so busy protecting what they could lose that they never reach what they could gain.

Deciding to go on a mission wasn't easy. I'm leaving everything behind, my family, my friends, my job. When I come home a lot will change, but I know that it's for the better, everything that God does for us is for our own benefit.

Don't look back, keep moving forward, stay on the covenant path and you will be blessed.

I'd like to bear my testimony...