A Balanced Diet

We eat, we sleep, and we repeat. The necessities of life are often plain and simple to us, a normal way of life.

My companion and I have been trying to eat as healthy as we can as of late. We make sure we get enough fruits and vegetables and stay away from sugary sodas and desserts. As I reflected on how much of a difference it has made in how we felt, I thought of how "spiritual food" greatly affects the way we feel also.

For many of us, much of time is spent taking care of our bodies needs but how often do we take some time for our spiritual needs. When was the last time you took some time to ponder about what you want to become? When was the last time you helped a friend? When was the last time you prayed? All of these things literally feed our spirits and help us live balanced, happy lives.

The Future is Bright

The other day I was pondering on the fact that our loving God would let some of his children go through trials, even devastating trials at times. The hardest thing I have seen on my mission is when innocent, kind people are hurt. I realize, the unenviable pattern of life is that everyone on earth will have ups and downs. Just looking at life logically, it is impossible to have all our days be better than average. Some days will be fantastic and others will be heart-breaking. But if God is really there, and God really loves us, why?

In the Bible, 5th chapter of Mathew it says

          "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

An instant parallel that opened up to my mind as I read that verse is like any Father and Child (or Mother and child) relationship. If the child always got what he wanted, if they are anything like me, life would consist of ice-cream for every meal, late nights, no homework, sleeping in, and simply living in the moment. That would be absolutely fantastic for the first day or two but it would slowly begin to become detrimental on the children. Likewise, more often than not, experiences teach us vital life lessons and skills. Our Father in Heaven allows these trials come upon us so that we might come out stronger.

I know what it is like to feel sad, inadequate, or discouraged. We all do. But as we look up to the future ahead and have faith, one day it will all be well. I love the quote from Thomas S. Monson at the top. "Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

Boot Camp

This morning I was thinking of one of the more embarrassing parts of my mission and some of the lessons I have learned from it. Please allow me to embarrass myself and hopefully help display the moral of the story.

The story begins back in my last area in Wake Forest when autumn was in full swing. North Carolina's trees were turning all sorts of vibrant colors and the weather was pleasant. That day, one of our friends my companion and I were teaching was talking to us after a lesson. We sat in a small circle of chairs in a gym that he owns with medicine balls and weights scattered around the room. The man then invited us to come to one of his boot camp classes in a week or so to see what it was like. My companion and I were excited and quickly said yes. Our friend then said, "Okay" with a smirk that said "You two have no idea what you are getting yourselves into, do you?"

The week leading up to our boot camp was filled with little to no preparation. Back home I played sports with my friends and was on the swim team. Needless to say, I consider myself decently fit. My companion and I ate what we wanted and did what we wanted. We went on with normal missionary activities for the week and continued to do half-hearted morning exercise routines. Finally, the morning of the workout, I did probably the worst thing I could have done; I skipped breakfast, thinking nothing of it. 

During the drive to the gym, my companion and I talked and laughed about how little we prepared. When we walked into the room we see the instructor and probably 10 or so women ranging in age from late 20's to late 60's. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "if they can do it, I can do it." Boy, was I wrong. The work out started out great! I remember doing the routines that were prescribed with ease. I felt great and rotated through each station following the exerciser in front of me. We got through the majority of the exercises and things were still going extremely well. Then we got to the sled. The sled was a metal framed box with skis on it plus the desired amount of weights on it. I got low to the ground and pushed the sled back and forth across the gym time after time to see how many times I could get it across before time was out. I don't remember exactly how many times I pushed it but when I stood up I felt all the blood rush out of my head. I still pushed forward to the next station and attempted to do the next exercise because the boot camp was almost finished anyways. I felt absolutely awful. The instructor looked at my face turning more ghostly white by the second and asked if I was feeling okay. Next thing I know, I was taken to the side away from everything and sat there drinking some cold water. I was not prepared. 

Despite the embarrassment of having to quit in front of my companion and a bunch of middle-aged women, we are able to draw a few lessons from my unfortunate story. If I only would have prepared a little more. Whether or not the events in or future are physical, emotional, or spiritual, we must prepare. Feeding our spirits by going to church, praying, or reading the scriptures is the key. The act of preparation never really ever makes the event, in this case boot camp, any easier of a task. Rather, it gives us the strength to endure. Trials will come in each of our lives and it is up to us if we will be ready or not. It is my prayer that we will be ready and not have to sit this one out.

Little Elephant

About a month ago my mom sent me a Valentine's Day package. In it there was a little elephant that bobs his ears and trunk up and down whenever the sun hits the panel on his back. For the past few weeks the elephant has lived on the dash of our car soaking in the sun, bobbing up and down, as happy as can be. 

Days went by and I barely even noticed it anymore. The sun has hid behind the clouds for quite a few days here in North Carolina. Missionary work continued to be hard as it tends to be and plans kept following through. The dreary scene soon began to get me a little down. I began wondering why the past few days hadn't turned out how I initially had hoped.

My companion, Elder Firmage and I were sitting in the car when we noticed a little reminder that all is well. Despite it being dark and rainy out side, the little elephant in the dash of our car continued to bob his little ears. It is always the little things that teach us the most isn't it? Whatever light was shinning through the clouds at that moment might not have been much, but it was enough. Life is hard and, from time to time, it's hard to be happy. It reminds me of an encouraging quote from Elder Holland "Don’t give up. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead . . . You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

I know that there is always good things to come.

Free at Last

First of all I just wanted to say sorry for not posting the last two Tuesdays. I have been super busy! I just got transferred to a new area: Lumberton, North Carolina! I love it so far here and look forward to meeting many amazing people. Every Tuesday from now on I promise!

How come some people in this world are born with disabilities while others are not? When our loved ones are bogged down with this how do we help them? These are all common questions that many of us might have had throughout our lives. I wanted to take this post to talk about an experience that I had a while ago on my mission that meant a lot to me.

There are definitely more and more people being diagnosed with some sort of mental chemical unbalances of some sorts these days.While we don't necessarily know exactly why all of the time, we have been blessed with a lot of guidance on the subject. The following video has had such an impact on my life. I remember exactly where I was and what I was thinking my first time watching it. My companion and I had just had a lesson the previous night with somebody in our area who was having serious struggles with his health. Many doctors met with him and could never really pinpoint exactly what the diagnosis was. The man we were meeting with was doing everything he possibly could to turn his life to God. Despite his constant discipleship, he was still faced with this difficult challenge in his life. We shared a brief message about prayer and how that if he sincerely asked God what he should do, God would answer. You could feel the spirit so strong as my companion and I promised him this and happiness to come, despite his health.

The next day we were watching General Conference, where two times a year church leaders prepare talks to give us all guidance. The video is one of those talks that we saw. With the pains of our friend and many of my loved ones who suffer from disabilities still weighing on my mind, this talk brought a whole new understanding to the questions I mentioned previously. Half way through the talk we got a text message that said "I got an answer to my prayer."

I know that God is mindful of our challenges from anxiety to depression to physical problems. I know that one day we will all be able to live with our families free from our shortcomings at last. As Elder Holland puts it "Free at last."

It's Contagious

On a mission, there are plenty of activities that we do with our time. Last week after a snowstorm that hit North Carolina, we got to add one more activity to the list: SNOW SHOVELING! 

Although we don't watch the news, last Tuesday we heard through the grape vines that a huge snow storm was coming. Elder Holt and I decided to make the best of this by making it into a service opportunity. After a quick phone call we were able to locate one snow shovel and one square-nosed shovel (apparently that is quite a feat here in NC because nobody owns a snow shovel). The next day we were up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for a day in the snow. We weren't sure where to start but we felt prompted to go to a neighborhood of a member in our ward.

After slipping and sliding all over the country roads we made it to our destination. We saw our first target, a man wearing a New York Giants beanie shoveling his drive way. We hopped out of the car and grabbed a few shovels to help him finish the job. He was genuinely surprised that we helped him out. He offered us money but we told him we weren't allowed to take it. We asked him who he knew in the neighborhood that might be elderly that we could go to next. His face lit up as he referred us to the house down the road of a man who had a back surgery. Later, when we were shoveling the elderly man's walk the man in the beanie seamed to appear from nowhere to help us serve his neighbor. Something is contagious about service. Once again the man in the beanie's face lit up.

The rest of our morning was spent bouncing from house to house shoveling driveways and asking the homeowner who we could visit next. All of them with similar responses to the first, first offering us money or a drink then sharing with us a friend who might be in need of help. One of my favorite comments came from a man who said, "Wow, I hope they have Mormons in Georgia! They got hit a lot harder than us." At the last house we were shoveling a white haired lady came outside. She told us how thankful she was because her husband was in a scooter and couldn't do it himself. Then we told her that we had to go for a meeting but we promised we would be back. She thanked us again and we left.

To my amazement, when we came back after the meeting she had two bags on the doorstep waiting for us. They were filled with some clothes that she wanted to donate to some people who might need clothes. Once again we learned that service is contagious.

God loves us. There is a certain happiness that comes from reaching out to somebody and doing something for them. We live in a world where it becomes easy to focus on ourselves but as we reach out for others we will see what really matters in this life.

The Man Behind the Cash Register

The story this week is an undeniable miracle that happened to my companion and I. Due to a few unexpected expenses, my companion has been a little tight on money this past month. Along with grocery money, he had set aside money for a camera at Walmart he has been looking at. We also had to make an unexpected trip to the bike shop to fix his bike. After going to the bike shop and finding out that repairs would cost $60, he knew he would have to dip into the camera fund and that he might not be able to get it.

Trying to salvage any good cheer at all, we decided to go to Five Guys (they are few and far between out here and one happened to be in Raleigh by the bike shop). Walking in I immediately caught the eye of the man behind the cash register. You see, it is easy to tell in one's eyes if they are familiar with missionaries and I definitely had that feeling. Sure enough, we went up to the counter he said, "Where are you from, Idaho or Utah?" I was slightly taken off guard because I really was from Idaho but we laughed and I said Idaho. He gave us the look that said "Ha! I knew it!" Anyway, we got our food and decided to sit outside because we felt for whatever reason we should (yes, outside in January, you can do that here in NC). We blessed the food with a prayer as usual and when I opened my eyes I caught the eyes of the man behind the cash register once again. I quickly looked away and we began eating our food. Not long after that, another man came up to us and told us how much he looks up to Mormon Missionaries. He said his name was Doc and thanked us for serving and taking time away from our families. As I shook his hand and over Doc's shoulder I once again caught the eyes of the man behind the cash register through the store window. Not a minute went by before the man came out from behind the counter and came to talk to us. His name was Bill. He told us that he, just like Doc, had a respect for missionaries but wasn't a member. He praised us for serving the Lord and told us about a time when the missionaries taught his family. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out two pieces of plastic. One was a $25 dollar gift card to a pizza place nearby and one was $25 dollars to Walmart, exactly where my companion wanted to buy his camera from. He said "I want you to have these." Shook our hands and left just as quickly and silently as Doc did. Without saying but a few words after he left we both bowed our heads and prayed a prayer of thanks to God. He now had just enough money to buy the camera he wanted from Walmart and pay for the bike repair. My companions prayer was answered by and angel disguised as the man behind the cash register.