Dune Buggies and Puffer fish

      So, I've been thinking lately about how God teaches me. Of course, he teaches us all in unique ways so I've been trying to recognize the way he teaches me so I can see his hand better in my life and further my testimony and, strengthen it. And I think I've figured a small portion of it out, at least with me. God LOVES to practice tough love with me. Here's a story from right before I left on my mission that I think explains this so well.

       Who here is a total Grease monkey? a Gear head? Do you tend to dream of turbos and transmissions? Well,  join the club! Creating things and making things work just gets my turbo spinning! I love a good set of socket wrenches and a hopeless project on a nice summer day! Before My mission I had one very infamous and troublesome project! This was my 1979 Honda Odyssey. No, it wasn't a minivan. It was a dune buggy! It packed some heat! This poor Dune buggy had no hope when my buddy Spencer and I wheeled (I guess you can't really say "wheeled" when the wheels didn't spin) it into my parents garage late one February night. About eight months later (I took my time with it...) and more money than I care to calculate she was purring like a kitten! (I apologize for the poorly done picture!)

      Then there was Baby Puff puff, This was my puffer fish. Although I'm not proud of the name I did love the fish! I always grew up around my Dad's beautiful saltwater aquariums and I love them, Although They were always my Dad's work of art I loved to show them off to all my friends. So naturally I wanted to start my own aquarium as well! I started off with a fresh water aquarium because I was a little intimidated by the effort I had to put forth for the Salt water. So then the quest started to find the coolest fish for fresh water. I searched and searched, I went through plenty of tropical fish but, I couldn't find anything that really caught my eye. Then one day I found him, A fresh water Puffer fish! I was sold on that idea, Baby Puff Puff was awesome! If you stuck your finger in his tank he'd come up and, run a little taste test and nibble on it. When you stared at him through the glass he'd stare right back at you and you started to get this impression that he thought he was the human and you were the pet fish. He was just a punk, I loved him!

      Don't worry, I didn't spend all of my time playing with dune buggies and fish. I did actually have a life! Most of my time was spent at my full time job Clearlink. Clearlink was awesome. We accepted inbound phone calls and we sold them solutions for TV, Internet, and home phone. And our big push was to sell attachments. You know when you call in to AT&T, Verizon, or any other home service provider just to find out what the price was to add HBO?... Then 45 minutes later you're off the phone and you purchased new cable, Internet, home phone AND, home security. But! you got HBO free for three months? yeah.... That guy was me! Get it done....
Comast

     I'm not going to lie, I loved my life! I thought for a 20 year old I was doing well But, one weekend changed that all for me! As I said earlier this was my life before my mission, Now, I was getting ready to head out from Utah to Nashville Tennessee. I was days away from getting on a plane and leaving everything I knew and loved to preach The Gospel and testify of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's church. And what was taking up all my time and energy? Making sure I was always in the top 10 in sales, trying to get my dune buggy to run well, and making sure my puffer fish had a good home while I was away. So this is what God did to catch my attention all in about 3 days! My boss at Clearlink decided I should leave my job early, my Dune Buggy was stolen, and poor baby Puff Puff died! It took me a while to recognize what God was telling me. But, what I realized was this was God's way of telling me to trust him. Obviously I was nervous! I was about to leave everything I knew! For two years! And, What I've realized was this was God's way of teaching me to trust him and know that what he's preparing for me is far greater than what I've left behind.

    I know from these silly experiences and countless others that God loves us! He wants us to learn, grow and to battle through the tough times so that we can become better. I can testify that this is true. Although I would have loved to have come home one day that said "Christiaan, I would really appreciate it if you would be more diligent in preparing for your mission. -God" But, That's just not how he teaches me! I guess I do appreciate the personalized message! I hope all of you focus on the personal way that God teaches you. I know that if we strive to see his hand in our lives our testimony of him will grow and, he will bless us.

JUST ASK!

      For the past 7 weeks or so I've fallen into a terrible pattern of writing and, deleting my first blog  post. I just can't seem to figure out what I need to write about! I guess it's just too much pressure!  But, I hope this post will be the last of the first's!

     So, As I've been thinking about this post I've been thinking about how I want it to sound, and what I'd like to have my readers get out of my blog. And I've come to a conclusion... It's just way too much pressure trying to figure out how to write this profound and super awesome Blog post! so, Instead of trying to inspire these feelings by clever and articulate writing I'd rather just tell you how to feel! That way we can just work backwards. So, as I'm working backwards here's what I'm aiming for, I'd like my readers to be inspired to act, To ponder, And to ask God. Ask him about anything! And everything! Ask him what you should ask him about! Ask him if he's there, if he's real! Just simply ask.

Here is a short story that I feel can inspire those feelings I've been referring to!

   Often in missionary work We're faced with situations/problems that are past our young 21 year old minds to figure out, and Yesterday we had one of these situations. We were told to go visit Timmy at Vanderbilt hospital. Timmy had suffered a major stroke and his sister called us and, requested that missionaries go visit Timmy and offer him a Priesthood blessing. And Vanderbilt being in our area, we were the missionaries to go offer that Blessing. We get a lot of these calls, our area covers 4 major hospitals so we thought nothing of it! As we turn into the room we found Linda, Timmy's wife, being comforted by one of the nurses. Just moments before we walked in Linda found out that Timmy had passed away. When the nurse informs us of this, I was instantly caught off guard. My 21 year old brain is screaming and yelling "Oh my Gosh... What is going on?! We are not supposed to be here!!! We're intruding! We need to get out of here!" Then my heart says "easy there buddy, put on the brakes, Don't worry I got this one."

      So as the nurse continues to explain the situation, and I just tone her out so I can say 10 or maybe 30 prayers in my heart so that I'll know how to handle this situation. After I felt more calm and knew that I was there for a reason and that I needed to share the Plan of Salvation with her. Linda isn't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints so I knew in this time her knowing God's plan was going to be the only thing that could comfort her. So, I asked if we could pray with her and then I sat Linda down and explained to her God's plan for us. I explained that death is just simply a stepping stone for Timmy and, that because of Christ's atonement for us Timmy is in a state of peace and joy and he's watching out for her.  After we had explained this to her and, shared a few scriptures that we felt prompted to offer we gave her a Priesthood blessing of comfort. Linda then asked us something I'm not sure I'll ever forget. She explained how Her and Timmy were working on getting back to church because Timmy wanted to get sealed in the Temple to Linda for all time and Eternity. And partake in the special blessings that only a Temple marriage can offer.

   When we were able to inform Linda that, that sealing can still take place and, she could be with Timmy again, her tears dried and I could feel a spirit come into the room and then all Linda wanted to know is when she could have the missionaries in her area pay her a visit so she could learn more!

    What an amazing story right?! Oh! witnessing the Holy Ghost Bare witness of the truthfulness of what we were saying to Linda and see Linda react to the promptings of the spirit was such an amazing experience for me. My purpose in sharing that short story with you was so that you could feel inspired. You could feel a small amount of the desire that Linda had to know that she could still live with Timmy again. That you too would ask God if all this amazing stuff is true!