Like hearing true sounds once again with hearing aids, we feel deeper truth as we walk with Christ
Elder and Sister Marriott teaching Institute
Elder and Sister Greenhalgh teaching English
Between each tone, I could hear my breath as I sat in the quiet audiologist’s sound booth for a hearing test. They tested my left ear and my right. They tested my low and my high frequencies. They tested my word discrimination and comprehension. I’ve known for years that the dynamic response of my ears favored the low tones and diminished the high frequencies. The damage probably happened growing up around loud and high-pitched machinery in a cabinet shop. (Or did I play music a little loud during my teens?) Whatever the cause, I finally made the leap to hearing-aids. I can now hear the higher pitched cymbals of my grandson’s drum set, the higher tones in my favorite songs, the quieter sacred voices from the pulpit, and my personal conversations in a noisy restaurant. My delight includes the discreet size and cool Bluetooth features in the latest hearing-aid technology.
I’ve been missing out on some of life’s audio fidelity, especially amidst the high tones of persistent tinnitus (in my case high-pitched ringing in the ears). Some neuroscientists believe there might be a cause and effect (increased central gain model) and that the brain might be substituting ringing in place of those frequency ranges no longer received from the ear.1 Whether this is true or not, I’d like to relate this to the need for action and service in our lives to help our mind and spirit grow closer to God (increased fidelity) by walking with Jesus Christ, doing what he would do in service to others. You don’t want to miss growing closer to God.
Elder and Sister Taylor serving at St. Theresa’s meals for homeless
Elder and Sister Hardman after speaking on Moloka’i
This is our second senior service mission. As you’ve read in our letters, we are coming to know the Lord better every day. We are trying to love as he would love, give compassion as he would, encourage as he would. We of course fall short, but we grow and learn and improve with his grace and patient teaching. Recently while visiting our good friend Blaine Greenhalgh, he put this so clearly. Blaine and Janet have been serving a lot. They serve The Choir at Temple Square, and they recently served two years in the Brisbane Australia Mission. Listen to his passionate plea.
“You do not want to miss this! The experiences of senior missionary service are so sweet, so delightful, so incandescently good that you do not want to pass them by. Nothing that can happen at home will compare—absolutely nothing!
You are able to talk and facetime with your family back home more than you realize. Every day if needed. Social media technology means you do not have to go days without knowing what they are doing, or seeing the grand kids or laughing with them. You are not isolated from them! In fact, the Spirit will make them closer to you than you can imagine.”
Elder and Sister Greenhalgh at service project
Elder and Sister Marriott hosting Young Single Adults
Elder Greenhalgh continues, “Sure, serving is hard. We were tired. We were going nearly all day but it was such fun. Think of your favorite sport. The only athletic games we enjoy are those that are hard. No one plays easy games. It is the hardness that makes it worthwhile. Think of what it would be like to be a missionary when the Lord returns, or you could be home watching a ball game.
It is only 6 months, or one year or 18 months or 23 months. What are you stewing about? Go! It is not that expensive. In fact many of you will actually make money because the church pays for almost everything you need. It is not forever, it is only a few months, but the people you serve will call you blessed forever!
More than that you will have the deep inner joy that will bring tears to your eyes for the rest of mortality and beyond. You walked by the Lord’s side, you learned from Him in a personal way that is beyond my ability to express. He loves senior missionaries more than you and I can imagine but while you serve you get a glimpse into the heart of the Messiah.
Every missionary is a missionary. We talk of senior missionaries, of young missionaries, of service missionaries but they are all just missionaries. There are so many ways to serve. Full-time stay at home, Part-time at home or in other locations, stake missionaries, Family history, Pathway Education, Construction missionaries, MLS missionaries2, visitor center missionaries, and hundreds of other ways. Choose what the Lord would have you do and then go. Be a missionary.”3
Elder and Sister Hardman supporting a ward activity
Elder and Sister Taylor providing support
Elder and Sister Greenhalgh educating people on Education
Thank you Blaine and Janet for your example. But most of all, we thank you for demonstrating what we read in the scriptures and hear from our leaders frequently. For example: “Follow me” (Matt. 4:19, John 10:27), “Do as I have done” (John 3:15), “I am the way” (John 14:6), “Follow his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21), “Be perfect even as I” (1 Nephi 12:48), “Do even as I have done” (3 Nephi 18:6), “What manner of men…even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27), “true followers of his son…we shall be like him” (Moroni 7:48).
My new hearing aids are tuned to account for my weaker frequencies to help me hear and comprehend more fully the sounds around me. Similarly we are learning through our service that by acting for the Lord in the lives of others and striving to follow his way in our words, actions, and service, that he accounts for our weakness, tunes us, helps us grow through life’s ‘ringing’ noise, and we are starting to see and hear more clearly the things we may have been missing, deeper truths about him and his plan for all. As Blaine said, we are feeling deeper and lasting inner joy. We are getting “a glimpse into the heart of the Messiah.” We don’t really see it as sacrifice. But if it is a sacrifice, we testify that “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.” (“Praise to the Man,” Hymns, no. 27)
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- Brinkmann, Pia, Auditory thalamus dysfunction and pathophysiology in tinnitus: a predictive network hypothesis, Springer, Brain Structure and Function, 2 May 2021, V. 226 ↩︎
- Member and Leader Support (MLS) senior missionaries help their assigned units fulfill the Church’s divinely appointed responsibilities of living the gospel of Jesus Christ, caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel, and uniting families for eternity. (https://seniormissionary.churchofjesuschrist.org) ↩︎
- Letter to author from Blaine Greenhalgh, Feb. 2026 ↩︎
- Elder and Sister Greenhalgh serving in Brisbane Australia Mission from Pleasant Grove, Utah
- Elder and Sister Taylor serving in Maui (Honolulu Hawaii Mission) from Provo, Utah
- Elder and Sister Marriott serving in Maui (Honolulu Hawaii Mission) from Wallsburg, Utah
- Elder and Sister Hardman serving on Maui, Moloka’i, and Lana’i (Kahului West Stake), from Pleasant Grove, Utah
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