Pray: Single but Awkward

Welcome back to Hip Hip Hooray! After 18 months of adventures in the beautiful land of Toronto...I'M BACK! Since being a return missionary I have learned a few things....
1. I may be single, but I'm awkward
2. Missionary work is hard, but not as hard as losing the weight I gained
3. Hobbies are a good thing

I'll share a little bit from my mission. For those of you who don't know, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I had the opportunity to go to Toronto for 18 months and serve God as well as the people of Ontario. I won't be flowery and say I enjoyed every minute of it, because there were times where I just wanted to curl up and watch a movie...and maybe take a nap...but that wasn't an option so I pushed through and learned a whole lot. It's definitely a sacred experience for those who are able to do it- when you learn to forget yourself, you find yourself.

I loved my mission. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It wasn't a perfect 18 months, but it was the best 18 months for my life. I've struggled with depression since high school (runs in the family..along with an extreme level of awesomeness) and so it was an extreme learning curve in relying on God and learning to just stop always thinking about myself. I've seen people turn away from God because of trials or difficulties. They blame him...perhaps they wonder "How could a loving God leave me here like this?"...fortunately that is one of the very common questions I've learned the answer to. In reality, this life is a very very small blimp in the eternal plan. It is through these trials that we can either grow or break. The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you lift your foot. For me...I prefer to use stepping stones. There were times where I never felt God so close, and then others where He never felt so far...but in retrospect I now can see He was with me the whole time. I came to know my Saviour. Before my mission I always knew about the Atonement of Christ, but it wasn't until this great refining process where I came to feel the Atonement in my own life. I know that Christ lives and that we can all return to God, if we just learn to lift our feet higher and fully rely on him.