The past five years have been mountains of change in my life: peaks that I look back on with a heavy, grateful heart. When I returned home from Ghana, everyone I talked to was insistent that I write a book of some sort of my experience there. I laughed it off as a fun idea. "I would love to!" said I. But it never happened. LIFE happened. I studied, I grew, I struggled. I decided to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It came as a shock to everyone, including me. But I knew it was the right thing. I knew because it felt the same as Ghana. No matter how frightening and unknown it seemed, my inner-workings were driven towards it by a force that was not my own.
So I graduated from college, and I went. I did it. I lived in the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) for 18 months. I learned Russian. I taught people about Jesus Christ, and drew closer to Him in the process. I experienced things beyond comprehension, and especially beyond explanation. I was transformed. But I don't want to spoil it. Because for the second time, I'm hearing demands for the written word. And now I can feel it; it's time. The story was too incomplete three years ago when I returned state-side from my first international endeavor. It's still far from finished, but I now have a better idea of how and why I would share it. After all, what's a graduated return missionary to do with all that spare time?
Thank you. To all of you who have had faith in me, even when I wasn't deserving. To all those who have been invested enough in my journey to want it in your hands. You are my muse, my motivation, my inspiration. I know this work will not be a bestseller, but I do know what it could mean to family and friends, my future children and their children, and anyone out there who's in need of a light at the end of the tunnel.
There is hope. There is light. There is good. It's all waiting within us.
