Alexander and The Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

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My dear mother read this book to me a lot. I think she was trying to teach me a lesson.
Because I was born a whiner.
And when things don't go my way I think the day should probably just stop and rethink itself.

Pause for a second.

I live with the nicest girl in the universe. For those of you that are not informed in the ways of Mormon Missionary lingo she is my companion, which means that we're together 24/7 to teach and preach and work and she gets to put up with my Alexander attitude all along the way. Somehow this angelic being doesn't even let on if she ever gets frustrated. She's a gigantic example to me of patience, diligence, and charity. My bundle of Christlike love!

So you can hit the play button again and unpause whatever it was we were talking about before.
Oh yeah.
I'm a miserable whiny mopey person some days.
But do you want to know the secret that I'm trying to teach myself? These circumstances of life, things that I don't like, they're never going to go away. I will always be able to find things that make me grumpy and frustrated. The good news, I get to choose how I react. The only person in control of this brain and body is ME!

In an honest to blog moment right now I'm going to share a piece of truth with you. I have to decide all by myself every morning if serving a mission is what a really want to do that day. It doesn't get any easier each time I make the decision. But the days that I make it right at 6:30 am are indefinitely better than the days I wait until 2:30 pm or 7:45 pm.

In my recent obsession with tracking down videos on LDS.org and Mormon.org I found this video and article about a young man who left everything behind to serve a mission. He did it knowing that he may never be able to accomplish some of his dreams. But he served faithfully.

How blessed I am to know of God's promises that He will never command us to do anything that we can't accomplish. And that all of His commandments are to prepare us for blessings.

When I think of the great example of my companion who plugs right away with me at the hardest work we have both ever done I realize that this is so possible. I can do this. I AM doing this! And just like the former Elder Batty in this video my service will be worth every effort because God has promised His wealth of blessings to those who serve.