Light and Truth

 One of many experiences I've had that confirm Moroni's declaration that faith must precede miracles ( Ether 12:6,12 ) occurred in October, 2022. At the time my family and I were just short of one year living in our newly bought house in Layton, Utah. I had a great job at Spiff and everything was going very well for us. Our daily routine consisted of me working a few hours in my office, taking a lunch break around noon, and then working four more hours before dinner. After my lunch break it was time for Isaac's nap, and my wife Bethany certainly needed a nap as well due to being in the midst of pregnancy. So it was normal for Aaron to get a half hour or so to watch some toddler shows that we checked out from the library (so as to avoid the risk of inappropriate commercials and an unending flow of shows). In the middle of October, we discovered that Aaron was really interested in watching recordings of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. But since that was so old, the library didn'

 It's always very memorable when I find out that God sent me a prompting to do something that turned out to be in answer to someone else's prayer. But it is absolutely unforgettable when I am the one on the receiving end: having my own prayers answered by other people who are faithful enough to both receive and follow heavenly promptings. One such experience happened very recently, but started almost exactly four years ago in 2018. At the time my wife and I were living in New Haven, having just started my Ph.D. program in statistics & data science at Yale University. While working on the intense homework for a nonparametric estimation course I was in, I got a text from one of our local church friends asking if I would be able to teach the Sunday School lesson in church the upcoming Sunday. Of course, I gladly responded in the affirmative, it being completely out of my personality to say no to such an invitation. It turned out that the lesson for that week was on the Old Tes

Ever since I became a father of young children, my wife and I have put a good amount of effort into making the most of holidays by establishing traditions centered on the meaning of those holidays. One of our intentions was to at least highlight the meaning of the day instead of just letting it be a day off of work or school. Naturally, this lead me to study in depth before each holiday about the meaning. Recently, as the month of June 2021 came to a close, I began looking forward to the next upcoming holiday that we enthusiastically celebrate as a family: July 4th, which is also called Independence Day. As I asked myself what the meaning behind this holiday is, I came to the rather quick conclusion that it is the American values of freedom and liberty that we celebrate, among others. And yet, something about this didn't seem to sit well with me. For nearly my whole life I had heard in the news, on social media, and in personal conversations a heavy focus on one, and only one, part

 Throughout my life I have found that often times the most memorable revelation from God comes during the most trying times. The three months marking the turn of the year 2020 to 2021 were certainly such a time for me, and likely everyone in the world. The United States of America particularly was in the midst of multiple memorable difficulties. The COVID-19 pandemic, and all of its associated social and political chaos, was at a rising height throughout November, December, and January. The presidential election had resulted in so much contention and misinformation from both sides that it was nearly impossible to discern the truth of the matter. Despite the prophetic call for greater unity and cooperation in October 2020, divisions only deepened in almost every possible way throughout society. And mobs had ransacked entire cities earlier in the summer, and the U.S. capitol building at the beginning of January. It did not take much thinking to know that all of these were paths towards r

 As the very challenging year of 2020 finally began to come to a close, the wonderful day of my birthday at the end of November came around. Along with many other wonderful gifts, I received a telescope from the Stewart family who lived a few blocks away and were among our best friends in New Haven, Connecticut. Having always been interested in astronomy, which was certainly evident in the research I was doing at Yale in pursuit of my Ph.D., such a gift filled me with excitement. What amplified that excitement was finding out within a couple days that Jupiter and Saturn were going to align closer than they had in over 800 years on December 21st, less than a month away. What a beautiful opportunity to use my very own new telescope! I immediately began preparing for this upcoming opportunity. My wife, Bethany, and my nearly-two year old son, Aaron, helped as I put together the telescope in our very own living room so that I could have a practice at assembling the pieces well in advance.

In the early spring of 2019 I was in the midst of my second year at Yale University pursuing a Ph.D. in Statistics & Data Science. With my wonderful wife, Bethany, and our newborn son, Aaron, things were going very well for us in many aspects. But fatherhood and graduate school can certainly require a large amount of energy and time. Consequently, I attended the local Institute of Religion class on Tuesday evenings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I found to help me relax and focus on things that matter most. At one such class the teacher, Randy LaRose, shared a quote from one of his friends who served as secretary to the  First Presidency  of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Paraphrasing the quote, I remember it indicating that the mindset of the members of the First Presidency is much like the advice given by the professional American entrepreneur Jim Rohn: "Focus on the solution, not on the problem." The moment Brother LaRose s