Light and Truth

Many years ago, while sitting in a health science class at Woods Cross High School, another student leaned over to me before class and casually asked, "So are you an optimist, perfectionist, or pessimist?". A couple days earlier, we'd been studying these three personality types during that class, talking about what characterizes them. My answer to this student was easy and straightforward: "I am a pessimist". While I wished I could say otherwise, it was nevertheless a fact that I was someone who always focused on what was not going well and the negatives surrounding me. And I was rarely in a state of happiness. With epilepsy influencing every aspect of life, having a scarcity of friends, and needing to deal with all of the homework that continually got piled on me, it seemed to me that my pessimism was completely justified and inescapable. A few years later, I found myself serving as a full-time missionary in Middletown, New York. My full-time teaching compani...

At the beginning of my full-time mission while at the MTC (Missionary Training Center), I nearly got sent home for medical reasons beyond my control. Fortunately, I was not sent home. But I was also not allowed to go out to New York as I had been called to, at least not immediately. This was obviously quite a trial for my faith and hope. (Further details can be found in the two prior blog posts:  1st  ,  2nd  .) Instead of getting sent home, a minor exception was made for me to stay at the MTC and work as an online missionary in the Referral Center. Here I would stay until I got doctoral permission to serve in New York. This was not exactly what I wanted to happen, but by this time I had accepted the fact that my plans of going to New York in January 2012 were not to be. But at least I didn't get sent home completely from serving a mission. While serving in the Referral Center, teaching people via skype and chatting with people who came on to  mormon.org ...

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...