Chu Chu Garrard - "We'll build up his kingdom with earnest endeavor"

Objective:  How we are blessed by others sharing the gospel.

Chu Chu was raised by loving parents in Beijing, China and she is the only child in her family. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics in Beijing. In her junior year of college, she met Steve Sessions, a business professor from Denver who is a member of the Church. In 2010 she came to the United States for her master's degree in public administration at USC. Upon her arrival in Los Angeles, she was introduced to the Church by Steve. She started to investigate the Church at the Institute of Religion at USC and was baptized six months later in the Los Angeles Stake. In 2012 she received her endowment in the Los Angeles Temple. In 2013 Chu Chu met her husband Ricky Garrard and got engaged after dating for two months. They were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple in April 2014 and started a life together in Arcadia. Chu Chu works for the USC Keck School of Medicine as the Operations Manager for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She loves reading, drawing and music. In 2019 she received a merit award in Salt Lake City from the Church's International Art Competition. She has served in the Relief Society, Young Women and Primary organizations. She is grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the light it brings into her life. 

We’ll build up his kingdom with earnest endeavor

“Joseph’s conception of humankind was as radical—and as well timed—as his views on deity and revelation. I am not sure which answered the greater hunger of the seeking soul. Here are the four truths about human nature that Joseph taught that would reinvent man.

We are, he declared, eternally existent, inherently innocent, boundlessly free, and infinitely perfectible. These notions simply had to have resonated with special force in a time, as I mentioned earlier, when—even more forcefully than in the Renaissance—traditional strictures on man’s self-understanding were bursting.”

--Terryl L. Givens “Lightning Out of Heaven”: Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community

Self-honesty is the foundation for developing other spiritual strengths. Self-honesty will determine whether obstacles and problems we face in life are stepping stones leading to blessings or stumbling stones leading to spiritual graveyards. Marcus Aurelius, an ancient Roman philosopher, observed the connection between honesty and spiritual growth nearly two thousand years ago: “A man’s true greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self-examinations, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does.” According to Marcus Aurelius, then, self-honesty is both a prerequisite to greatness and the core quality of integrity.

--Jutta Baum Busche, “The Unknown Treasure,” in Women and the Power Within: To See Life Steadily and See It Whole, ed. Dawn Hall Anderson and Marie Cornwall (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991), 21–28.

For most of us, however, what is required is not to die for the Church but to live for it. For many, living a Christlike life every day may be even more difficult than laying down one’s life. I learned during a time of war that many men were capable of great acts of selflessness, heroism, and nobility without regard to life. But when the war was over and they came home, they could not bear up under the ordinary daily burdens of living and became enslaved by tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and debauchery, which in the end caused them to forfeit their lives.

Some may say: “I am a simple person. I have no stature or position. I am new in the Church. My talents and abilities are limited. My contribution is little.” Or they may say: “I am too old to change. I have already lived my life. Why should I try?” It is never too late to change. Discipleship does not come from positions of prominence, wealth, or advanced learning. The disciples of Jesus came from all walks of life. However, discipleship does require us to forsake evil transgression and enjoy what President Spencer W. Kimball has called “the miracle of forgiveness.”21 This can come only through repentance, which means that we forsake sin and resolve each day to be followers of truth and righteousness. As Jesus taught, “What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”22

Many think that the price of discipleship is too costly and too burdensome. For some, it involves giving up too much. But the cross is not as heavy as it appears to be. Through obedience we acquire much greater strength to carry it.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”23

Our true claim as disciples comes when we can say with certainty that His ways have become our ways.

--Elder James E. Faust, “Discipleship”, Oct 2006 General Conference

我們將竭盡全力建立祂的王國

「約瑟對人類的概念與他對神和啟示的看法一樣深遠、適時。我不確定是哪一個回應了尋求靈魂之人更大飢渴的問題。以下是約瑟教導關於人性的四個真理，這四個真理將重塑人類。

他宣告，我們是永恆存在、天性純真、無限自由，和無限完美的。正如我先前提到的那樣，這些概念只需要在人們對自我理解的傳統束縛不斷爆發的時代，與特殊的力量產生共鳴，而這個特殊的力量甚至比文藝復興時期更有力。」

--Terryl L. Givens “Lightning Out of Heaven”: Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community

自我誠實是發展其他靈性力量的基礎。自我誠實將决定我們在生活中所面臨的障礙和問題，是通向祝福的墊腳石，還是通向靈性墳墓的絆腳石。古羅馬哲學家馬可·奧理略在將近兩千年前就觀察到誠實與靈性成長之間的聯繫：

「一個人真正的偉大在於對人生誠實目標的意識，這個目標建立在對自我和其他一切事物的公正評估的基礎上，建立在經常地自我審視上，並堅定地服從他所知是正確的規則，不會被別人可能會想或會說的事情而困擾，或被別人是否會做如他所想、所說和所做的事情而困擾。」那麼，根據馬可·奧理略的說法，自我誠實既是成為偉大的先決條件，也是正直的核心素質。

--Jutta Baum Busche, “The Unknown Treasure,” in Women and the Power Within: To See Life Steadily and See It Whole, ed. Dawn Hall Anderson and Marie Cornwall (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991), 21–28.

然而，對我們大部分的人來說，我們被要求的不是為教會而死，而是為教會而活。對很多人來說，每天都過著基督般的生活，可能比捨去生命還要困難。我得知在戰爭期間，很多人都能夠展現無私、英勇、高貴、不惜一死等的各種偉大行為。但是當戰爭結束、返回家鄉時，卻無法應付一般日常生活的事物，於是沉迷於煙、酒、毒品、放蕩縱慾，終至斷送了一生。

有人會說：「我是個凡夫俗子，既無過人之處、有沒有地位。我剛來到教會，才幹、能力都很有限，沒有什麼可貢獻的。」或者說：「我太老了，不能改變了。我來日不多了，為什麼要嘗試？」改變永遠不嫌遲。門徒身份不是從崇高的地位、財富或高深的學問而來；耶穌的門徒來自社會各階層。然而門徒身份的確要求我們捨棄惡性，樂享甘賓塞會長所說的「寬恕的奇蹟」，而這只能透過悔改而來，也就是說，我們必須棄絕罪，每天都下定決心作個跟隨真理與正義的門徒。誠如耶穌教導的：「你們應當是怎樣的人呢？我實在對你們說，應當和我一樣。」

很多人都認為門徒身份的代價太高、太沉重。對某些人來說，這意味著要放棄太多的事物。但是，十字架並非像它看起來的那樣沉重，透過服從，我們可以獲得更多的力氣來背負它。

「凡勞苦擔重擔的人可以到我這裡來，我就是你們的安息。

「我心裡柔和謙卑，你們當負我的軛，學我的樣式；這樣，你們心裡就必得安息。

因為我的軛是容易的，我的擔子是輕省的。」

--雅各·傅士德長老，「門徒身份」，2006年10月總會成員大會