Safety, It Means Safety

One of Olga's blessings - her dog Ruben.

Just over 980 hours ago and over 6,000 miles away, a girl named Olga opened a Mormon.org chat and started talking with Elder Hafen and me. She started telling us how she had met local missionaries before but lost contact with them. She was still interested in finding the right religion for her and kept “falling back to the Mormon faith.” From there, we sent a request for the local missionaries to contact her and scheduled another time to teach her again while she waited.

It was a very surreal and amazing experience getting to teach her. You know how people always give the perfect examples of situations, events, or conversations that seem impossible for anyone else to experience? Well, that’s exactly what all of Olga’s lessons were like. There she is in Sweden, and here we are in a little office in Utah, and we're having gospel discussions like we've been doing it forever! It is so neat! Though I knew very little of her past, I could tell how much the Lord had prepared her to receive the message of the Restored Gospel.

It was not until this morning that I had the blessing of getting the bigger picture of her entire story. She had written down her testimony and sent that to me. She wants to share that testimony in hopes of helping someone else find safety in faith:

It's Just Too Hard Part 2: You Can Do Hard Things

I know; It's been a long time since I wrote part 1, but here is part 2... 

Christ washing the feet of the Apostles ~lds.org

So, you're having a hard time right now. If not, you've had them in the past and anticipate that more will probably come in the future. What have you learned? What will you learn? Let me share what I have learned in the hopes that it will spark some hope and inspiration for you.

Come What May, and Love It.

In my first post, I tried to explain the "why" of bad things happening in our lives in an effort to give us hope and remember our purpose here in mortality. Just knowing isn't enough, though. We now have to use that knowledge to help propel ourselves forward. Such knowledge can help us take the counsel Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's mother gave him: "Come what may, and love it" (October 2008 General Conference). That's an attitude I've really had to gradually learn over the course of my mission. The first problem when we are at a low point of our lives is the tendency to stay in the low and mope. I do it all the time. There's something paradoxically enjoyable about moping. I think it comes of a natural desire to be lazy and for someone else to take away our burdens or troubles. The reality is that such things don't just magically happen. So, let it be, and look forward to what you can do to move forward.

One of my favorite examples of this is found in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah chapters 23 and 24.

Family Home Evening: "A Man Without Eloquence"

Elder Tucker

Every Tuesday, evening, our mission gets together for about half an hour to have family home evening. We will sing a hymn and have a prayer. Then, a missionary shares an inspiration message for the whole mission to ponder. Last night, Elder Tucker gave the message about the power of testimony. I really loved it, and think that it is a message many would like to hear.

Elder Tucker first shared a scripture in James 1:19-20, 26...

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

It's Just Too Hard!

I've been impressed to write about this topic for a month now. It's a deep, personal, and all-too-familiar topic. I've told a number of people that my mission has been the hardest thing I've done in my life; yet, it has also been the most rewarding thing I've done in my life. In 3 separate blog posts, I would like to take a little bit of time and share what has caused it to be so hard, what I have learned from such experiences, and finally why it has been so rewarding.

Unfiltered. Honest. And full of hope for the future: Eric's Testimony

Eric's Church Building "Visitor's Welcome" Sign

Think of a person that is striking to you in some way. What makes them so striking? For me, it is change – change for the better. A person who is better than they were three months ago is someone who can easily make an impact on our lives. The person I’m thinking of at the moment is Eric. He was baptized about one month ago, and I still have the privilege of seeing him grow stronger and stronger in faith.

We first chatted on Mormon.org back in February. One of the hardest things for us to see was the open opposition people expressed to his interest in our beliefs and the happiness he was finding through that.

Nevertheless, he kept going forward. We had a balance of teaching him every so often while he would meet with the missionaries in his local area. It was amazing to me to hear about all the “friends” that would unfriend him, or tell him that he was “going to Hell,” or downright deride his positive messages; and yet through it all, he still received the strength to move forward and find out the truth for himself. I always seemed at a loss for words in giving any advice – I had none to give – but I was able to simply encourage him, because I could very well see that it was a situation where all I could do was turn the whole thing over to God.

Even after his baptism, the opposition continues, but God has helped him grow into a spiritual giant. He is a wonderful example to me of Christ’s instruction that “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). He has also had to learn quickly to follow Peter’s admonition to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1Peter 3:15). I am grateful for the blessing I have been given to see how much God can change us. I am grateful for Eric being that example and inspiring me to change for the better. Here is the experience he shares of the ups, the downs, and the continuous change for better:

Healing in His Wings: Josh's Testimony

Healing. A powerful word and inspiring idea. The idea brings hope to our lives. We know life is full of mistakes, scars, and pains. However, healing means change… for the better. Many talk about the doctrine behind the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and teach all we know, but the most powerful things that ultimately inspire me are living examples of Christ’s Atonement working in reality.


I thought of an incredible man I met a while ago who has become one of these living examples. His story is a magnificent example of the healing power of Jesus Christ. I have recently read 2 scriptures in 2 Nephi that exemplify this perfect love and power of Jesus Christ to heal us – 25:13 (speaking of his resurrection and how He will rise “with healing in his wings”) and 26:25 when the Lord invites us all to come unto Him and receive nourishment “without money and without price.”


Josh has been through some of the toughest things you can imagine in life. He knows exactly what it is like to be in a situation you wish you never would have gotten yourself into; however, he also knows exactly how able and willing Christ is to lift us out of such burdensome pits. The simple part I played in his life was to keep supporting him and encouraging him. I knew that I was literally powerless to help, but I knew that if he kept trying, Christ would be doing everything to give Josh the strength and faith he needed. And now, I have had the wonderful pleasure to see the wonderful transformation Josh has made through accepting Christ’s Atonement. He wants to share that story with you:

Hunting for Christ on Easter

Wonderful Easter package I just received from a great friend!

I open my eyes… and quickly close them again. Too bright! Then, I slowly open them again to realize the sun shining through my window. Time to get up. Hey; it’s Easter Sunday! I rush – crawl really fast – out to the living room (still in my pajamas) and find it empty… until I see my mom sitting in her chair... already dressed for church!

“Good morning,” she says.

“Good morning!” I reply.

“Go get dressed. When you’re done, breakfast should be ready.”
I run – crawl really fast again – to the bathroom and get ready for church. I eat a wonderful breakfast and we go to church.

After church, I changed into comfy clothes and watched my little brother hunt for his Easter basket. When he had found his basket, to my surprise, my mom told me “Well, where’s your basket?”