Light and Truth

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...

Everyone who knows me eventually finds out that I've had a deep interest in astronomy for most of my life. Consequently, the following verse in The Book of Mormon fascinated me when I first read it in my early teenage years: "And thus, according to [God's] word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun."     ~ Helaman 12:15 Nowadays we all know that the Earth orbits around the Sun, and  Nicolaus Copernicus  is often credited for initializing this theory in place of the, then widely accepted, Ptolemaic Universe where the Sun (and everything else in the universe) orbits around the Earth. But according to this scripture, the Nephites understood this concept of a heliocentric universe over 1400 years prior to Copernicus! So naturally I was deeply interested in this verse for that reason. But deep down I knew that there must be a more spiritual rea...

About five years ago I was serving as a full-time missionary in an upstate town of New York called Middletown. It was at the beginning of the month of October in 2012, and my teaching companion and I were gathered with many members of the local ward to listen to the semiannual General Conference when the prophets and apostles of God addressed everyone in the world from Salt Lake City. In the evening, when the brethren were gathered for the Priesthood Session of this Conference, I remember hearing a quote that forever changed my life. "We need to bear in mind that people can change. They can put behind them bad habits. They can repent from transgressions. They can bear the priesthood worthily. And they can serve the Lord diligently." ~ Thomas S. Monson When the prophet, President Monson, said this I knew it was for me. Upon hearing his counsel I learned that I needed to see others differently. Whether it was the people answering the doors I knocked on, individuals I tal...

When I was a junior at Woods Cross High School, almost eight years ago at the age of 17, I attended an LDS Seminary class that was studying The Book of Mormon. Among the many great learning experiences I had during this class, there is one that I remember most distinctly above all. The teacher, who I unfortunately don't recall the name of, based the day's lesson on the 7th and 8th chapters of 3rd Nephi. These chapters describe the circumstances of the Nephites right before a huge storm causes major destruction among the wicked people, followed soon after by a visit from the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ. After pointing out how this part of The Book of Mormon parallels the days that we live in, preceding another prophesied destruction of the wicked to be followed by the second coming of the Savior, the teacher focused specifically on the following passage of scripture: "And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many sig...

When I was about the age of 23 years old, married to my wonderful wife Bethany and attending the University of Utah as an undergraduate student, there came a window of time that I remember quite well. Having bought my first car a year or so earlier, the day came when an oncoming driver ran a stop sign and my car was totaled. Thankfully nobody was hurt. But now I no longer had a car, which was certainly something that took time to get used to. Then only a couple weeks later, my phone began having problems and began losing many of its capabilities. And during all of this, my laptop had many problems, specifically related to the built-in wifi card. It seemed as if many of the valuable items I possessed were fading away into the past. At the same time I had a couple friends who chose to disassociate themselves from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church that we together had been a part of for many previous years. It was heart-breaking for me to see individuals, who I...

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...