What is death?

Since my happiness post went so well, I thought I'd do one about death.

Death to me...is interesting. One of the hardest things of my life was my Grandfather dying on Christmas eve. It was....extremely hard for me. I loved that man. It was bad timing. It hurt the loved ones around me. It was impossibly hard.

That being said, I do know this. Death isn't the end, rather only a beginning. I believe that we after death, we lived forever still, thanks to Jesus Christ. 

I believe that we can live forever, with our families, in the presence of our Heavenly Father. And actually, that is the point of this life--to return to Him. 

Although death is sad, it is actually happy.

What does it mean to be happy?

Recently, I've been thinking about what it means to be happy. What is happiness? What things make us happy? Why should we be happy?

It's kinda an abstract concept to think about.

My whole life, I've struggled somewhat to be happy, as I'm sure you have at some time in your life. Fighting a small battle against depression and anxiety my freshman year, to becoming the happiest I've ever been as a senior. What have I learned? Why am I happy now? And why was I not happy as a freshman?

There are two key things that stick out in my mind. The first is how you treat others. My freshman year, I was selfish. I didn't care about others. I only worried about myself, only cared about myself, ME ME ME ME.

You can't be happy that way. You just can't. It doesn't work.

My senior year, I decided to be the exact opposite. I decided to love others more than I loved myself. And it changed my life. I still am no the best at it. But caring for others, makes you insanely happy. Being nice to others makes you so happy. Complimenting someone makes me so happy.

In Harry Potter, there is a line that goes something like this "You want to know what a man is truly like, then look at the way he treats the people inferior to him. Look at the way he treats people that can do nothing for him." I truly believe this to be true.

The second thing I owe my happiness to is tough to explain. But it is my relationship with my Heavenly Father, or God.

There are many times in my life where I have asked "God, where are you?" Or "Why are you doing this to me?" There are many times in my life where I have felt forgotten, lost, and worthless. 

I have done and said stupid things because I felt that God no longer cared about me. I thought God did not exist. I though God did not love me, did not know me. 

But I was wrong. He does care about me. He does exist. He does know me, and he does love me. He is present in every part of my life. He communicates with me every day, and I communicate with him. He knows what I'm going through, He knows my name, and He knows my friend's names.

And although, bad things still happen to me. And I occasionally wonder why, I know why now. He let's terrible things happen to me because He loves me. He is making me a better human being.

So back to happiness. Why am I happy?

Because I know that my Heavenly Father loves me, and cares for me. And because I know, it is my job on this Earth, to help others feel happy too. It is my job to tell them who they are, where they come from, and remind them of their worth and beauty.

And what other job is better than that? :)

I love you guys and you are all beautiful in some way.

High School

Well. This is strange because I am no longer a high school student. I am graduated. I am now.... a freshman? No. I am now a missionary. I leave in 74 days? And I couldn't be any happier with that. Over the years, I just want to rememember some fun stuff.

Senior year memories: First football game with RJ Beard, Farnz, Lando, Chase, and T-hey at Timpveiw, the 3rd down jump sign, homecoming pep rally, playing freaking in Idaho against Juventus and playing in the pitch black, and playing pickup football. Doing an amazing christmas service project, doing an even better christmas service project, starting my mission papers. Going to almost every basketball game, working unbelievably hard for soccer, breaking my leg, going to dances, and ending it all this week.

Junior year: The Alta Hawk fake twitter, starting varsity as a junior on a return state championship game, hanging out with Michele Murphy and Steve Miller on the daily. Playing tons of indoor soccer.

Sophomore year: WINNING A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.

FRESHMAN YEAR: winning a state championship.

It's been fun, but it's time to move on. I'm excited

Mision Video

I go to an awesome high school. We have about 2400 students and I love and treasure each and every one of them.

Many of them have chosen to serve 2-year LDS missions after high school. I had the privilege of making a compilation of all of them opening their calls. We have someone on every continent except for Antarctica. We will learn over 15 languages. Over 125 are serving. 

Here's the video. Hope you enjoy it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151685793110987&notif_t=like