Truth

I missed church again today, and I mean "missed" in both senses of that word.
It surely wasn´t for lack of trying, either. Ariel and I woke up in time for 10:30 church, but couldn´t find it. We spent the whole morning in the heat (it was 101 today) trying to find it and asking many people for directions; each had something different to say, except that several agreed that they had no idea where that street was. And by 12:30, we gave up on finding it in time for the 11:50 meeting either. I was heartbroken. We had to settle for a religious discussion with some J-Dubs (which I excitedly flagged down, hoping they were church members and could point us in the right direction) and watching the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie on Ariel´s laptop.
I´m a little upset with Heavenly Father. Every week I look up the address to the church, research how to get there, ask people how to get there, try to leave with plenty of time, pray for His help in finding it, and every week something else comes up to keep me away. Ariel suggested that maybe the reason He doesn´t just help me get there is to help me appreciate what I have more. Maybe it´s working or maybe I´m just reacting to my conversation with the J-Dubs, but today I really felt my loss at missing church and felt such gratitude for for what I know. I even wanted to set up a profile on mormon.org, to present more eloquently the things I wanted to say to the J-Dubs today, but struggled because they aren´t the best listeners and because my church talk comes out in Russian. But I don´t have my membership number, so I´ll have to settle for blogging. Here´s what I know:
I know there is such a thing as truth. You can choose to look at in anyway you want; you can twist it to fit your opinions and call it "your" truth, but you are lying to yourself. You don´t get to pick what is real and what is not. I can choose to believe that junk food is good for me and eat it all the time, but I cannot change the truth that it is bad for me and the consequence is weight gain and decrease in health. I can choose to believe that the night will never come, but it is better to know the truth and be prepared than to learn it too late and be stuck in the dark.
I know that only God knows, really knows, what truth is. Not Google, not Wikipedia, and not even Dr. Turley. Shocking, I know. I am headstrong and a huge advocate of agency, so I will not accept anyone´s idea of "truth" except His. The only way to really know truth is to ask God. No one else can study or reason it out, no matter how logical their arguments are. Truth is worth seeking, but only comes from God, only by revelation through the Holy Ghost.
Having sought and recieved truth directly from the source, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; that God spoke to him and taught him Truth, including the truth that through the Atonement of Christ all people can have their mistakes completely erased and forgotten and recieve infinite and unspeakable happiness, but only on conditions of repentence.
I know that the Book of Mormon is true: it really was written by ancient prophets, it really does testify of Christ and it really has done more for me in bringing me closer to Christ than anything else in the world. For that reason it is the most important thing to me in the world.
I know that commandments were designed for the sole purpose of making us happy, of protecting us from ourselves and our underdeveloped desires. It´s just like a parent making rules for children who don´t really know what´s good for them. Commandments=recipe for happiness. End of story. For any of you that remember my religious musings, I found something that I obey not because I want to, but because I believe that Christ wants me to. Modesty. I would love to wear tank tops in the summer; I hate the heat and would love to have a less awkward tan line. But the great privilege of wearing garments and being temple worthy WAY outweighs the small sacrifice of putting up with sleeves. Still, I can see that modesty leads to happiness. That´s just how commandments work. Why else would He give us commandments? To make life more boring or difficult or for His own amusement or as a way to keep heaven a little less crowded? False, and if you believe any of those reasons, you don´t know God. Because I do know Him, and He is love.
I know that it´s really all about family, always has been, always will be. Eternal families are the end goal, and it´s my dearest, most anticipated, most cherished goal.
But don´t take my word for it, because I don´t decide what is true, I just testify of it. I got all this from the Source (God, not Wikipedia) and you can too, and it will bless you like it has me. I´m so grateful for Truth.


Other updates:
Sevilla was cool, but other than the Alcazar, which was almost as cool as the Alhambra, it didn´t have too many things to see. Tomorrow we are off to Lagos, Portugal to meet up with Ben for a day on the beautiful southern coast. We´re stoked!