El Regreso

I'm Home

Oh man, that was the trip of my life.

Yep, the rumors are true. I am back from my mission. Two years of incredible experiences, way too many to be mentioned here, and now I'm home and ready to take on life.

Actually, to be quite honest, I don't know how to feel still. I've been on a mission. It's a two year commitment that changes everything about you internally and externally. I say internally because my experience has changed man things about me. I would say generally I'm still Alex, but a better version with a better understanding of who I am and what God expects of me. Basically, Alex 2.0 which is exactly one of the reasons I went out in the first place. It's incredible how much your outlook on life can change simply by serving the world. My desires and priorities in life have changed dramatically, and I think overall I'm more prepared to take on the challenges of an adult life. What I have learned over the past 2 years will make me a better husband and father, a better employee and student, a better priesthood holder, and a better citizen of the community. Simply speaking, I left home a boy, and came home a man.

And then I post pictures like this...

Now when I say externally, I mean that nothing is the same from when I left home. I do remember at the beginning of my mission praying that God would push the reset button on my life, but I guess I didn't realize to what extent he would do that. From the moment I got home I could tell that things were completely different. For one thing, our house has been remodeled and I hardly recognize it anymore. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just different. Another is how ridiculously big Benjamin has gotten. He just sprouted up into this mini Goliath and is suddenly the tallest in the family!

On top of all that, Whitney, Micah, and Grandma and Grandpa are serving missions, so I came back to a very small family. I don't have the same job at BYUtv since my boss Steve Lowe retired, my girlfriend from before the mission is engaged (along with, no joke, everyone and their dog), and all in all things are just different. But you know what?

That's okay.

I honestly can't complain and it would be wrong of me to complain about any of this. I've been gone from everyone and everything for two years and it would be stupid of me to whine that the world just so happened to keep turning during those 24 months. They may have gone fast, really fast, but there still 24 months and that's a lot of time for a lot of changes. Besides, if I asked for changes, I have to expect changes. That's how a loving God works; He gives us what we want. Always.

In all of this, I have two options: One is to whine and mope and mourn that I'm home and things are hard, or I can take the experiences I had in South Texas, learn from them, and move forward in life more prepared to face challenges as they come. I'm going to choose the latter. I was called by the Lord to serve Him for 24 months, no more, no less. At the end of it all, I can honestly say that I did that, and I did it honorably. I don't think after all of that faithful, hard work that God wants me to just sit and reflect and be sad that it's over. As Dr. Seuss once said:

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Well, the moment I waited and prepared for my whole life is now over. And you know what? I'm smiling. I'm smiling because my life will be forever changed. I'm smiling for the people of South Texas who now occupy a part of my heart I didn't know existed. I'm smiling because there are so many opportunities waiting just around the corner that I can take advantage of with a new outlook and newly acquired skills.  I am smiling because the Lord loves me and trusted me enough to send me to help bring people to Salvation, and now He trusts me to move forward and to continue to be a blessing, not a burden. Besides, our favorite hymn "Called to Serve" doesn't suggest a time limit. In fact, the oft repeated line of the song says:

Onward, ever onward.

It's great to be home.

AMS