Week 59!

    What a week it has been! I cannot believe the week is gone again. The BYU Hawaii concert was amazing! So good. They were truly so talented. It brought me back to the good ole high school days.  And I cannot believe I am 20! Boy how that went fast. My brother Tanner wrote me a letter and said "I hope you enjoyed your teen years while they lasted." Haha shoot that was intense. It is just over. Kapeesh (I do not know how to spell that word but you know what I am trying to say). When I read that it left me with some time to reflect. I thought about my childhood and who I have become through my life and my mission. 

     That leads for my thought of the week! I thought of this quote which really hit me when I read it for the first time. "Kids are so happy in their youth when they are innocent because they have not learned to be depressed by focusing on the things they don't have." How true is that statement? A lot of times Christ says to become childlike in a more spiritual sense and also in the way we treat others, but I also think it is in that worldly sense as well. 

Member Dan Ito!

     As children we never realize what we do not have. But the world is built up today around a society that is so good at helping us see what we don't have, and what others do. Sometimes we are so ungrateful for what we have. It blows my mind how ungrateful I was at times before my mission. Sometimes I really do wish I could go back to being that little child where I thought I had the whole world in my hands. But I would never give up all that I have learned and the experiences I have had. I do not want to go back to the past; I want to go back to the past way of facing the future. I want to retain that old mindset and change my viewpoint on things. 

     I wanted to focus this letter just to talk about one of the millions of things that have humbled me to the dust for having in my life. My family. I am so blessed that I was born into the restored church of Jesus Christ. To know my Savior and the path I need to take to succeed in this life. Of the billions of people on earth did I deserve to be that lucky? Do we realize how blessed we are to have that knowledge? That is why I am most thankful for my family. Their decisions to follow the Savior and live by example has changed and saved my life.  Mom, Dad, Brock, Tanner, "I am trying to be voice for the very angels of heaven in thanking you for every good thing you have ever done, for every kind word you have ever said, for every sacrifice you have ever made in extending to someone--to anyone--(to me) the beauty and blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ." You have forever changed my life and I am forever grateful. My family has always provided for me physically and spiritually and to be frank, I have not been even a tenth as grateful as I should have been. The mission has changed me forever and my image of family. I love my family. I am not a little kid anymore, but I will always be a momma's boy, my dad will always be my biggest hero, and I will always be trying to be like my older brothers. That will never change. I love my family and I want to show my gratitude in more abundance now and always. Especially when I get home. 

     As President Uchtdorf said, "In family relationships, love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time." My family always have that to me. I love my family. I love this gospel. My father always gave me his time, and right now Heavenly Father has given me two years of his time. I need to give every second to Him. Please let us not focus on what we do not have but be grateful for what we do, and show that gratitude. The purpose of this life is joy. Not looking at others and trying to find out why they seem to have more. Get back to the past way of facing the future. Let us truly be childlike. Let us truly be Christlike. Let us look outward to others with an open hand. Not looking for it to filled, but to fill the loves of others. 

     Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken