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Elevators

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This week I was headed to my typical weekly institute class. We meet upstairs and I have to use the elevator to get up there. We have never had issues with the elevator, and it rarely needs maintenance. When we got there, the elevator wasn’t working. After trying a couple of times, I thought if I say a prayer, God will definitely make the elevator work so that I can go to Institute. I knew it was a good thing to ask for, and I figured that in no way could it be against God‘s will. I said a prayer in faith and was almost positive it would work. I told my mom to just try one more time, confident that God had answered my prayer.   Nothing. Why wouldn’t God answer my prayer? I was trying to go to institute! Why wouldn’t he help me get there? We tried to get help to see if anyone knew a simple fix. A very kind man offered to help. After trying a few things, he still couldn’t get it to work. The elevator needed maintenance. The man apologized and kindly offered to carry me upstairs or for me
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Why me

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Five months ago today, I was set apart as a Missionary. I have learned and grown so much. Mainly in my testimony and love for the gospel, but also in my love for others. I am learning to be in tune with the spirit. I am learning how prayer works. How to study the scriptures. How to plan and schedule. How to set goals. How to better love my neighbor. I am learning things I never would have learned had I not served a mission.     Learning is literally the reason we are here on Earth. We are all here to learn from each other. From ourselves. From our mistakes. From our trials. We are all given trials. Each person’s trials are hard for them individually.  Bad things happen to good people. Life is unfair. This is not because God doesn’t love us, but because he does. Don’t blame God for everything that goes wrong in your life. Never doubt his love for you. He loves you more than you can even comprehend. Heavenly Father sacrificed His son for us. This is the greatest gift because it allows us
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Conference

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I loved general conference this year. I had some questions that I found answers to. Most within the first couple of talks actually. It was the first year I had ever come prepared with prayerful thoughts and questions. It really makes a difference. It felt like some of the talks were written for me. About me. Given straight to me. If you’ve never really done that, you need to.  I am so grateful that we have living prophets and apostles. They are called of God and speak His words. There was a specific focus on prayer and the temple this year. I love going to the temple. We are so lucky to have one so close.  “Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement or help you understand Gods magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during tim
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I am Barabbas

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I  love Easter. The resurrection has become so much more meaningful to me since my accident. I can no longer watch an Easter video without crying. I have come to truly love Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for him.  Imagine you were there when Pilot was sentencing Jesus to death. Where do you picture yourself in that situation? I think most people picture themselves in the crowd with Jesus‘s friends, screaming, crying, and begging them to release Jesus. Although this is a good place to be, it’s not the case. So where are you? (hint: the title of this post) I am Barabbas. You are Barabbas. We are all Barabbas. Undeserving and unrighteous sinners. Evil and corrupt. We all need serious help. Luckily for us, He willingly took our place. Jesus suffered and died for the bad guy. The sinner and saint alike. The righteous and the evil. Male and female. Bond and free. Every one of us was given a gift that we didn’t earn. We don’t deserve to be free, and yet we are. We are all free. Free to choose
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Resurrection

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I love being a missionary. I have been asked to meet with one of the priests in my ward who was     baptized a couple of years ago. He wants to learn about and become more familiar with the book of Mormon. I am excited about that and think it’ll be a great missionary opportunity. I also I think I will get to help teach the lessons to a little girl before she is baptized, so I’m super excited about that too. At church I saw one of my buddies who is preparing for his mission. We are going to do a temple/gospel study night together. Service missions are the best and provide so many amazing opportunities.   I love talking about the gospel. Recently, I have had a couple of people reach out and ask my thoughts about some gospel questions. I love thinking about and trying to answer them. I know I don’t know everything and still have a ton to learn, but I love thinking through and talking about things. Here’s one question I would love to share. What will our bodies be like when we are resurrec
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A mother’s love

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This week I had my first opportunity to go help teach a lesson with the proselyting Elders. They reached out to me and said that there are two boys, a 10 year old and an 8 year old, whose  mother is a member and wants them to get baptized.   I met the trio of Elders at a church building. Two of them left to go visit some of the people they are teaching, which left me with only one of the Elders. While we were waiting for this mother, we were informed that she had “terrible time management“. This whole thing was a first for me, so I didn’t know what to expect. After about 30 minutes, the mother texted us and said her son has a bloody nose. Since my mom had dropped me off, we could not leave the church building, so we just waited for another 15 minutes.  When the mother showed up with her two kids, I instantly understood why she had such “terrible time management“. Her 10 year old (who was supposed to be our focus) refused to get off his bike. Her 8 year old son, who she carried in her a
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