Reflecting without mirrors

I have never felt closer to God than I do now. It’s always when I am far from what is familiar that I feel close to Him. As I left Salt Lake City again and headed towards Brazil I left under different circumstances. I will only be here for six months. It’s just an extended vacation (with classes). As I looked out my window over the plane’s wing I found a dark sky. The woman sitting to my side was also having a hard time sleeping. She was in her seventies, named Cristina. She was very friendly, a native Brazilian that travelled to the United States to be a catholic missionary. Similar circumstances to mine, I went to Brazil the first time as a missionary. We talked a little bit but I couldn’t fall asleep. I continued to look out the window to avoid her friendly, smiling gaze. It was somewhat awkward once she fell asleep facing me.  This was a gift from God. My eyes locked onto the end of the wing. Looking out windows lets me appreciate the world. There was a lightning storm out m...

I was privileged to drive about 7 hours with two of my favorite people last weekend. I attended my mission president’s homecoming in Rigby, Idaho. I was accompanied by my sweet mother and my mission companion David Hilton. These are some lessons I learned. 1. People are important. I’m usually lazy about keeping in touch with people I don’t often see. A weekend in Idaho forced me to break that trend. I need to be better, people don’t know I care unless I let them know. 2.  Memories are bad . The mechanism that records and recalls our experiences that we refer to as our “memory” isn’t constantly improved and updated. It’s actually quite the opposite.  With time it wears out. There is something wrong with this function of my body. It’s not a medical problem, it’s a problem that is universal. If it’s universal I guess it isn’t really a problem so much as a norm. It’s a normal, bodily malfunction. It seems to forget things that were once important. 3. Good memories can...