How I found out. How you can find out.

   I read the other day the positive effect blogging could have on people all around the world, so here I am in hopes that I can be a part of someone's day-made-better.

   As I was pondering on what to write, it wasn't going anywhere. Literally, my mind went blank. I wanted to do an introduction on who I am, and why I'm doing this, but I had no idea where to start. After much arguing and debating inside my head, I figured it out. Here goes my testimony and a little background story behind it;

   I was about 2 and a half months into my mission, and was really struggling. Struggling with the work, struggling with anxiety, struggling with obedience, struggling with my testimony. Day after day I was tired of getting up to do the same monotonous work while facing what seemed like every wind of adversity, whether it was physical exhaustion or someone who stopped us on our way to tell my companion and I that we were wrong. Then one day, I open a letter from a dear friend back home that brought some pretty terrible news that rocked my world. At that moment, the sandy foundation I had was blasted away. My questions intensified 100x over and I needed to know.  I needed to know if serving a mission was right. I needed to know Jesus is the Christ. I needed to know the Truth.

   I picked up a Book of Mormon that was so miraculously placed next to me as if God himself had done it, and started reading where I left off that morning - Helaman chapter 5. In all honesty, I have not the slightest clue what the first 11 verses of that chapter are talking about or even the next 40. Verse 12 hit me like a ton of bricks.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." - Helaman 5:12

   You ever just get up in the middle of the night and you turn on a light to see and you're blinded for a few seconds, but shortly thereafter you can see everything? That's what this was like. Everything fell into place. Illuminated completely. In the matter of seconds, I understood the gospel and I knew the purpose Jesus Christ played in my life. I knew what I needed to do.

   It was talking to me. It addressed me like my father was speaking to me - "my son." Then told me what I needed to do, and why I needed to do it.

   I want to make a promise to all those that really seek the truth, that you will find it. The Lord will place in your path some sort of answer, but you must be open. I can almost guarantee your answer will not come in the way that you want, or it won't be the same experience that I had. But I bear testimony that the Savior is there listening. "Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you..." He knows you by name, better than you know yourself.

   Because I have sought Him, He has showed me the way. Seek Him, and He will show you the way.

   I am going to write this blog to share my life experiences that I truly think will help benefit you. I want you to know that I love you. I may not know you, but I want to see you in Heaven there with me and the rest of the family. I hope we can learn from each other.

   Pay it forward.