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'...

In the early parts of 2014, one of the strongest desires of my life began to swell within me. Although I was only 21 years of age and single, a yearning to be a father one day took root in my heart and mind. Even though I cannot pinpoint the initiation of this desire to a specific event, I am quite confident that it was the cumulative effect of multiple heaven-designed experiences: seeing the light in the eyes of young children, learning of God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, and the Holy Ghost prompting me towards a more complete understanding of my duties in life. While it certainly did not occur overnight, I gradually came to desire the opportunity to raise children. After about two years, I was privileged to find and marry my beautiful wife Bethany in the early months of 2016, bringing my hope for being a father much closer towards reality. Knowing that all people are children of God, I knew from the beginning that if I so desired to raise children I needed...

From the earliest of years, I have had a deep interest in mathematics and astronomy. Although I have a very limited memory of my life before the age of 12, I believe that my math interest originated in elementary school. My best assumption is that this was at least in part brought about by some internal frustration with some problems on assignments in other subjects getting marked wrong without any explanation of why they were wrong. For example, some teachers would simply mark an answer of mine to a question on a reading assignment wrong without any reason of why it was incorrect. Other times they would provide an explanation, but not one that was convincing enough of why their personal interpretation was right instead of mine. On math assignments, however, there was always a way to show why my answer was wrong and why the correct answer was truly the only one. This aspect of mathematics where everything is provable and completely void of opinion was, and has remained to this day, the...

Sooner than later, most of us find out that life has overwhelming challenges that are seemingly beyond our capacity to endure. As a young teenager with epilepsy, this was the situation I faced for many years. There were many reasons of why this challenge felt unbearable at times. Among the smallest of these challenges was the mere presence of seizures in my life. While it certainly was not fun to have unpredictable seizures, I was at least unconscious during them and therefore didn't remember them as well as my family members. Challenges of greater magnitude included not being allowed to drive, get a job, or participate in various other activities that could trigger a seizure. Perhaps the greatest challenges I faced, though, were the side-effects of my medication. These side-effects did not involve obvious reactions such as a rash, sneezing, or any feeling that might be considered "medical". Rather, the effect was deep inside my brain; my personality shifted towards pes...

While at the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center), preparing to go and serve in New York as a full-time missionary, I was informed that due to my past epileptic condition I would not be allowed to serve as called and would be sent home. This of course challenged my faith and, from my perspective, diminished it (on a scale of 0 to 20) from 19 to 1 in every aspect of the gospel. But thankfully, due to inspired missionaries guiding me to the scriptures, I was able to put a halt on the evaporation of my faith. (See  previous blog post  for a more detailed story.) At the time of being informed of the cancellation of my mission call, I was able to summon enough courage to be persistent with them of having any possible exception made for me. Their response to this was that they would look into it, but that the probability of obtaining such an exception was extremely minimal. In the mean time they would have me wait at the MTC with another district of missionaries. The day of gett...

Back in my later teenage years, about 2009 to 2011, while I was in the process of completing high school, I began greatly anticipating, and preparing for, serving as a full-time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Looking forward so much to it, I prepared in as many ways as I could think of, including studying the scriptures, attending a weekly mission-prep. course, and striving to live according to God's commandments. I also did everything within my power to eliminate epilepsy from my life by being willing to have brain surgery and attempting to get fully off of medication, as this would surely disqualify me from missionary service. And eventually the day came in October 2011 when, after finishing the application process, the letter came in the mail with my mission call from Church Headquarters. After opening it up, finding out I was called of God to serve for two years in New York speaking english, my excitement grew even more and I began further prep...

In December of 2013 I returned home after two years of being a full-time missionary, most of that time spent in New York. And after the wonderful time I had for those two years of sharing the Lord's restored gospel with as many people as possible, I had full intentions to continue doing so. Little did I realize that in my very first week of attending the young single adult ward, I would be called to be a ward missionary. I was very excited for this, as it was right in line with my determination to continue spreading the gospel. But I came to learn very quickly that this would be much harder than when I was a full-time missionary. At the same time, I needed to start going to school again. I had chosen to go to The University of Utah and pursue a double-major in mathematics and physics, which was at least as much work as it probably sounds like it would be. I also had almost no money, and therefore needed to work. Fortunately, my brother Tayson found me a job at the same place he t...