România

It is almost overwhelming to think that in three months I will be half way around the world in a place I've only seen pictures of, helping children I've never met, and learning to love on an entirely differently level. Not since serving as a missionary have I felt so strongly about a decision. Not since my mission have I felt like I was about to embark on one of the most psychologically and emotionally taxing things I have ever done in my life. 

Why am I doing it? That, my dear friends, is a question I have yet to find a complete answer to. I can tell you bits and pieces, and perhaps that's all even I will have for quite some time. At least it's something.


I believe that God expects us to love everyone, not just those like us. There is a children's song in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that like this: "I'm trying to be like Jesus. I'm following in His ways. I'm trying to love as He did in all that I do and say." Christ sought out the poor, the leprous, the maimed, the halt, the sinner. He taught us the importance of loving and becoming like a little child. In some small way, I am seeking to follow His example.

God loves all His children. No matter who they are, where they were born, what their lives are like, or what they have done. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently had this to say, "The Lord doesn’t care at all if we spend our days working in marble halls or stable stalls. He knows where we are, no matter how humble our circumstances." He is aware of the children I will work with. He knows their names. He loves them. We all need that love, especially at times when it seems that His love is the only thing we have going for us. 


Every person born to this earth is a child of God. Every single one. One of the ways we express our love for God is by loving His children, our brothers and sisters. In 1 John, the Apostle John writes, "For if a man loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 


Finally, to those who may think this venture crazy, I submit this video. 


Sometimes, you have to be a little bit crazy. 
Sometimes, the world questions your craziness. 
Sometimes, most of the time, that craziness changes the world. 
Is this pursuit crazy? Perhaps. 


Mark my words, I will change the world. I will change the world for one of those children. I will also change myself. And that is what is most important.

And perhaps one day, the skeptics of mankind will finally understand that to truly live, one must live outside himself. Perhaps one day, they too will think differently.