Elder Braxton Shoemaker

Week #33: La Eternidad

What is up people?! Man I hope you're all doing great. Things are going pretty well out here. It's starting to get a little cooler during the day, and Im loving it. I hear its heating up over there, so I'm sure we're all happy about the weather we're having right now, haha!

This week was a good one. One day this week I got to work with an 18 yr. old kid from a different ward for the day while my companion, Elder Seguel, went to Montevideo for a conference with district leaders. Man, that was a fun day! Richard (the youth) is awesome. He's gonna be serving a mission next year, and he reminded me so much of myself just a year ago, when I was preparing to leave for a mission.

Richard is just that classic kid that everybody likes...we were talking about sports, and video games, and movies...and it was just a fun day. His testimony that he shared with people that we taught that day, was very strong and influencing. Interestingly enough, after that day I found myself just kind of thinking about our progression in life. From our youth years, to going on a mission, or going to college, and then getting married, having kids, and so forth. Then I began to think about our progression over eternity. I thought about our Father in Heaven. I'm sure He looks down on us and thinks, "Man, if only they knew what they were preparing for right now."

I started to think about the chance we have to become Gods, as our Heavenly Father is. Many people think we are crazy for believing that we can become as God is...but it wouldn't make sense to be children of God, if we didn't have the chance to become like Him. Every child today in the world, grows up and becomes like his parent...it is the same with us. This life is basically the training grounds for that. We all get tested on a daily basis, and these trials we have and experience, prepare us to become Gods and dwell with our Heavenly Father for eternity. Man, if only we could all understand this concept a little better. To be able to have our perspective on eternity is a hard thing to do when we have rough stuff going on in our lives, but if we can understand that this is just for a moment, and see life as God does, we will be able to take on the challenges of life much easier.

I truly know that we can become as God is, if we just stick to his commandments and live as His son, Jesus Christ, lived. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Nos vemos!