My Personal Witness: Introduction

I have been thinking a lot lately. I don't have a very long time left as a missionary. There are many things that unfortunately remind me of this fact: getting my pink slip in the mail (the piece of paper that tells you that you have 3 months left and asks you which airport you are flying home to. Seattle, by the way), my parents telling me I have 100 days or less left in my most recent email home (Momma, you didn't make me trunky. Pinky promise. Please don't take this the wrong way ha), and having to sign up for housing and classes at college this coming fall.

As I have pondered the short amount of time that I have left, I have felt an incredible and ever increasing desire to daily share my personal witness of the things that I know to be true: Jesus Christ lives, He is my Savior; the Book of Mormon is the Word of God; Joseph Smith was a prophet; God is my loving Heavenly Father; things like that. Every single day feels like from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep that I need to find someone to share my testimony with. ANYONE.

I have also been pondering some of the most incredible life lessons that I have learned while I have served as a missionary, as well as the earth-shattering difference that my experiences as a missionary have made when it comes to the strength of my testimony. So in pondering these two subjects, and knowing very clearly that they go hand-in-hand, I have decided to post a blog about one or two of the most incredible experiences of my mission and by extension my lifetime. These experiences have changed my life; I am not the same person that walked into the Missionary Training Center 21 months ago. These experiences are sacred to me, and I hope that you feel that and respect that. I would not be sharing such things with you if I had not had the impression time and time again from the Holy Spirit to share them, for I know that my words (in some small way) carry the power of personal witness received directly from God through the power of that same Spirit. Many of the truths I declare in these next couple of blog posts will be things that no doubt you have already heard from others who share similar testimonies to mine. However, because of the experiences that I have had, I have made words that seem to be from another my very own. I have internalized them and made them a part of me and who I am.

I pray that as I share these things with you that you will feel the power and influence of the Holy Spirit of God. I pray that that same Spirit will testify of the truth of my words to you and strengthen your own personal testimony of these things. I pray that your hearts may be touched with the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I also pray that you enjoy reading about my experiences; I want these next few blog posts to be spiritually powerful, and as far from boring as possible, but understand that there is going to be a feeling of reverence and solemnity here as well.

Essentially, my attempt here is to use my own personal testimony and the personal experiences that made it what it is today my very own blogging version of Michelangelo's David or Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa; something that evokes such strong emotions in the human soul as to leave no doubt as to the true source of such greatness: GOD. I love you all so much. Thank you for reading and keeping up with my blog. Enjoy :)