Growing Up

Growing up. Getting older. It's something that all of us experience. I now have been on my mission for over a year and it is freaking me out a bit! When I came into the mission field I wrote a letter to myself so that I could read it when I had been out for a year. I recently read that letter. In only a year's time I have grown more than I ever have before. My eyes have been opened to the reality of the world. My faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened immensely. I have learned and grown in ways that I simply would not be able to if I was not on a mission for my Savior.

Back when I was but a wee lad at the MTC in Provo, UT.

Now that I have been "away from the world" for a year I more fully understand what it is that I am doing. I am representing Jesus Christ and I am inviting others to follow Him. I visit people in their homes and teach them the very same Gospel that He did in his three year ministry before His crucifixion. It is incredibly humbling to wear His name on my chest and represent Him. I am so proud to be a missionary. Yet, I know that I am nothing. A missionary, Ammon, in the Book of Mormon said this, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things" (Alma 26:11). We all are able to receive this strength from Christ. But I know that it is magnified when I am serving him completely as a missionary. When I go home in one short year...things will be different. It hurts to grow up.

Here is a more recent picture of me in Dillon, MT.

I am reminded of one of my favorite songs. It is called, "Still Fighting It" by Ben Folds.

Ben Folds.

 Here is a portion of that song:

Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here.
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
Oh, we're still fighting it, we're still fighting it

I. Love. This. Song. It really does mean a lot to me. Time is so weird. It feels like it takes forever until you look back and realize how much time has really gone by. The only way to truly live is to live in the moment and to keep fighting. Now let me explain what "living in the moment" really means. It does not mean to live with no cares or to live dangerously. It means to make the most of what you have. It means to show Gratitude for what God has given you. It means to love those around you. It means to correct and forget past mistakes while striving to learn and grow.

Growing up is simply a part of life. We are here on earth to face trials and do our best to work through them and become stronger. We need to "keep fighting it". We are only able to do this with the help of Jesus Christ. He is Your Best Friend and knows us perfectly. He is there for us and He will helps us. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Growing up hurts. But it all is necessary. I am able to look back on my mission (and my life!) with joy, satisfaction, and confidence that Christ has been with me every step of the way. He loves me more than I understand and He has been shaping me through all of these experiences to be the man that He needs me to be. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11). I am not through growing yet. But I know that when I am done with my mission and as I continue in life I will be able to say with Paul of Tarsus (and Ben Folds) "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).