Light and Truth

At the time I completed my two years of full-time missionary service in New York I returned home with full determination to continue serving as if I'd only been transferred. I soon learned that this was exactly what the Lord wanted me to do. I was called to serve as a ward missionary, had many missionary experiences on the bus and at the University of Utah, and was later called to serve as a ward mission leader. Overall this resulted in at least four-and-a-half years of unceasing involvement in missionary work, all of which I tried my best to make as effective as possible. And it produced quite an intriguing concoction of exhaustion and joy. In addition, I also served as an ordinance worker in the Bountiful Temple for about six hours each Saturday. Assisting in temple and family history work was another large priority of mine, which brought invaluable blessings into my life as well. With this, combined with my missionary efforts, one could easily say that the work of salvation was

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."           1 Ne. 3:7 Many times in my life I've realized, as probably many people do, that the commandments given by God aren't exactly what we would call easy. In fact, it seems sometimes as if it may be nearly impossible from our perspective. One distinct memory of when I faced this dilemma was when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Utah. Due to pursuing a double-major in mathematics and physics combined with church responsibilities, dating, and all the normal necessities of life this was a very busy time for me. Most of the time I barely had enough time to finish everything. But three different times I came to the point where I had a long and time-consuming ass