What is Truth and How Can We Come to Know It?

Some of you know my little brother is on a mission in Portugal. He is loving it! He loves the people there. In his last email to the family he wrote this:

I don’t really have too much to say but I will share a spiritual thought. Lately as I have been studying the scriptures of the word of God I understood one of the many things Brother Christensen shares in his talk. I learned a bit about truth. The scriptures state, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). So if we know the truth it will set us free. That is why Satan doesn’t want people to find the truth. D&C 93:24 then reads, “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” So truth is consistent. As they are, were, and are to be. This relates to the plan of salvation and to the stages of live before, now, and after. Then we gain greater insight when we study John 14:6. It says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life”. So we know that Satan is the father of all lies. And all truth is circumscribed into one great hole. That is it all comes from Christ. So when we know the plan of salvation and you know Christ. You are free. You see Christ is the truth when we know about Christ and His Fathers plan before this life, now, and after life; we are made free. At that point anything can happen as it did to Joseph Smith. But even after his death He was made free because he new the truth and it set him free. He didnt just know about Christ, he knew Christ. There is the difference. Let us not just learn about Christ but come to know Christ.

In response to his post I wrote:

I really like your insight. I've been thinking about truth a lot lately because I am taking a class called Qualitative Inquiry in which we have to give spiritual thoughts. The topic of truth has come up many times, especially now that I am doing my doctorate. I love that through our knowledge of Christ we can come to know truth. Christ is truth. One thing that I have come to understand a lot more in my life lately is that all truth is one. Spiritual truths, scholastic truths, personal truths, they all come together because Christ is truth. And like you said, if we get to know Christ we get to know truth. This has been true as I have progressed in my education here at BYU. The more I learn, the more I feel like I know Christ better. It doesn't just apply to spiritual truths but also to school. I am so grateful to know that in this crazy world where many people claim to say they know truth and where we as humans are limited in our knowledge of truth (because we are limited in our knowledge of God) that we can know that there is one truth, and that even though we don't know it because we don't know Him completely, we can get closer to it by knowing Him. I love that!

Reflections

It has been some time now since I returned from my trip to Mozambique. I no longer have dreams in Mozambique. Instead I know have dreams of being in Dr. Yanchar's class and learning about pragmatism and positivism. It's quite a difference from one world to the other. I still daydream about Mozambique and all the beautiful things I saw and experienced there. As I'm trying to make sense of life I often use my experience there to inform my philosophies and theories on life, teaching and learning.

Before I continue I would like to thank anyone who contributed to Care for Life as a donation for my birthday. I will continue to seek out ways to encourage people to donate to Care for Life.
Did you know Mozambique has the lowest life expectancy of all nations of the world—only 34 years? It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with over 80% of its people living in
“extreme poverty” (defined as under $1.00 a day). I often ponder these facts as I am on my way to the mall or to the store to get food. Anything you can donate can help alleviate someone's suffering.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to tell people about Care for Life. How lucky we are that we can share our riches with those who are less fortunate! How lucky we are to be able to help. This experience changed my life. I can understand happiness better now.

It's Not Over

So I've been back from Africa for a month. Wow! How fast time flies! I am still having trouble sleeping at night, but I'm so much more grateful about my blessings and so much more involved with people in a selfless sort of way (or at least I'm trying to be). I highly, highly recommend that you go to Africa. It is a singular, life altering experience everyone should have. What many people do not understand about Africa is just how diverse and beautiful it is and just how personable the people are there. So many of you might have thought that my Africa adventure is over. Well, I have news for you. Part 2 has just begun! I am currently figuring out ways to get the word out about this program. I will be hosting charity parties to give people chances to donate and am looking into starting a "Donate Your Computer or Camera to Africa" initiative. Any suggestions or comments on this would be great! I am open to ideas that you might have for me. I believe that the education, technology and Care for Life are and can offer the people in Mozambique can change lives and strengthen families.

I think one of the reasons why I'm still having trouble sleeping at night is just having the knowledge that I am sleeping in a nice cozy bed while there are people in the world suffering things that nobody should be suffering in this day in age with all our technology and knowledge. Much of the poverty is really a lack of selflessness from us who have and who know. It is very easy to get sucked into your life as I have once again been sucked into mine after getting back. With finishing my thesis and beginning my PhD, I am just as sucked into my life as anyone else. Let us not forget the power of stepping out of our own reality and stepping into another's reality. Let us help in any way we can to improve the education and the lifestyle of people less fortunate than us.

If you are interested in learning more about Care for Life and possibly donating please go to www.careforlife.org. Even donating a dollar is a great contribution. If you have change laying around your house, donate it to someone who might not even have a house. That way we can all sleep better at night ;)

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye is the hardest part of any adventure. I will miss Mozambique terribly when I get back to the US. Why must all good things come to an end? I am not looking forward to saying goodbye tomorrow. The people here have taught me so much and I am a better person because I got to know them. I hope to come back to Mozambique. I have promised myself that I will never forget this experience and that I will always remember to serve others who have less than I do. I think it is important for each of us to step out of our daily routines each day to experience someone else's reality and to learn how to help them better. This is where real happiness lies.

Pessoas Lindas

Amazing Technology

It amazes me how technology finds its way into the darkest most poverty stricken places. The sewing machine this man is using is an extremely old Singer. He makes excellent men's collar dress shirts. They looked almost store bought. I was amazed at his talent. This is in the middle of nowhere! No patterns, and very limited materials. The boy in the first pic placed that light above his front door. I asked him how he figured out how to power the light and he said he figured it out on his own. These kids can't even speak Portuguese! They don't read or write, but yet they figured out how to create light powered by a battery on their own! Amazing!

Good Times

This is a picture of us going out to the fields to work with the people in the communities. The second pic is one I took of a scene in the middle of the street. The last pic is of a little school I found. The kids loved the video camera I showed them and the teacher took a picture of us together. I don't think she had ever seen a video camera because I had to teach her how to use it. It was a great technology moment!

Just a Reflection

I took this picture because when I saw this man's feet it reminded me of the story of Jesus washing his disciple's feet. I'm sure he would have washed all of our feet. This trip has truly made the Atonement much more meaningful to me. I can't believe that Jesus took upon him all the calamities and sins and physical infirmities of the world. I just cannot comprehend it, but I am grateful for it.

The Adventure of My Life!

This was the craziest weekend I have ever had! On Friday night we left Care for Life headquarters to visit the Gorongosa National Park (http://www.gorongosa.net) . We left home on Saturday at 3am. It was really early. On our way to the park we encountered a car coming the opposite direction from us with only one head light in the fog. By the time we noticed it was a car, we had almost all crashed. It was a close to death experience! Once at the park we started to see animals. Suddenly, we saw a huge elephant that almost attacked us! Then we ran into some people who's car got stuck in the mud. We had to pull them out of the mud trap they were in. Finally, just to top things off, our car died in the middle of this huge wild animal park (with our windows rolled down). We were glad we hadn't seen any lions.... yet. Well, and so we had to stay the night there. No toothbrush, no clean anything, no nothing. It was great! Then in the morning we found out a helicopter was going to take us back to Beira. So we flew in a helicopter! The footage is great. I will show it to you all when I get back. You can't ask for a greater adventure than that!

A Picture's Worth 1000 Words

Masherua (Means Hi in Sena)

The lady at this house taught me how to make "masa" today. I went into her little kitchen and totally invaded her privacy. I took my camera with me and she was a little embarrased at first since she'd never seen a camera before. Then she started warming up to me when she realized that I was trying to speak her dialect, Sena. I learned a few words in Sena today and the people at the communities love it when I say something in their dialect. The kids call me "Muzungo" which is their nickname for anyone that is white. I'm not white but they think I am. It's really funny to me. The wooden object on the bottom right of the picture is used to pound corn. They use the big stick laying on the ground to pound the corn. I helped them do that today and they loved it!

Life's Simple Pleasures

Many people glamorize traveling, but I must attest that there are hardships that come with it. What amazes me about human beings is that no matter how bad the conditions get, we always find a way of dealing with it. There are many commodities people here don't even know exist, and I have to admit that I haven't really needed them. The only commodity I have been missing a bit is my shower. Here are two pictures (inside view and outside view) of what the people in the communities consider a great shower. Today we woke up to no electricity or water (running or drinking). It was hard getting ready for church under those conditions, but we did it. People here wear the most simple things to church. It definitely is not a "fashion show" or beauty contest. That has been a relief because I centainly am in no condition to enter one of the those at this point of the trip. I am also attaching a picture here of the lizard that lives with us (unwelcomed guest he is). I worry about waking up with a lizard in my bed everyday. So far, so good. So far I have had many encounters with "creatures". I almost stepped on a dead rat the other day, and yesterday I sat down on a step and got ambushed by a swarm of red biting ants. They even got in my hair and I had to get some assistance getting them out. The really funny thing is that I love being here. I love Mozambique. I don't need entertainment, makeup, nice clothes, or any other commodities here because nobody expects them or cares if you have them or not. People here value people. Everyone says hi to everyone on the street. People are extremely nice and peaceful. People enjoy the very basic simple things life has to offer us. In my opinion, there are so many beautiful things we can enjoy in life, but the very best simple thing life has to offer us is our connection as human beings to each other.

Care for Life

Today was a celebration day in Casa Banana (one of the communities Care for Life works with). They completed some of their goals so today they received their prizes. The people celebrated with dancing. The dancing was awesome! The people received cement and roofing to make their little houses better. The really diligent people who completed more goals got chairs and a couple even got skinny versions of what we could consider a mattress. It kills me to see the conditions these people live in. We are so lucky to have a house to live in and food in our stomach.

Where's Waldo?

The people got a kick out of seeing me wear the capulana (skirt) I am wearing in this picture. I still need to go buy a lenso (a head scarf). I'm trying to blend into the crowd but it's harder than I thought. Ha ha! I love being here.

Singing and Ridin' Dirty

This is what I woke up to this morning. It was great! This is how the Care for Life staff begin their meetings every Monday and this is how we do transportation in Mozambique... well... that is if you are lucky enough to get to ride on the back of a pickup truck. Otherwise you have to hitch a ride on the local mini vans (which are usually very packed), walk, or ride on the back of someone's old bike. Riding on the back of pick up trucks here is an adventure in and of itself. This camper we are in gets really hot and uncomfortable. One time we saw about thirty people crowd onto the back of a truck. When they jumped off the truck it was like the circus had come to town!

Africa is Beatiful

It is amazing to me how beautiful this place is. Today we went to the Praya Savana. It is a beatiful beach and it was the perfect beach weather. I felt like I was back in California eventhough I was enjoying the Indian Ocean. We took a boat to go out to the island where the beach was. On the way back, when we waited for the boat to take us back, I took this picture of the sunset. It was a testimony to me that God is no respecter of persons. He gave us all, white or black, big or small, healthy or sick, rich or poor, the same beautiful sun to enjoy.

Creativity at its Best

The kids here are very creative with their toys. They find ways of making them. Here are some toys I have seen kids playing with...

The kids are even more creative than the adults! (Picture 1) I love this little wire car. The wheels are made out of soda cans and they turn too! Any of these kids would be happy to own a ball some day. (Picture 2) The little rock toy with the door was full of little insects. I think it's like a little insect farm the kids play with. (Picture 3) A hopeful bike with only one wheel.

Miscellaneous

This post is a reply to all the comments posted so far and some extra information on the culture here. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments. It keeps my spirits up to read the humorous and inspiring things you have all commented on. Thank you! About the water situation, we just found out yesterday that the water will be out for the rest of the month! Do you know what this means! If you have ever gone camping for a month, you might start getting a bit close to the reality of what the living conditions are like here. I have chosen not to complain. I will probably find a way to wash somehow. It rained a little yesterday and Raquel and I were joking that we should go out to the street and shower while we could. We are beginning to get a little desperate. I won't say the number of days we have gone without a shower. I will reserve that information for only the brave people back home. I have to admit it is at a record high. The funny thing is that everytime we drive past the place where the workers are fixing the pipes, we don't see them working. It's like nobody cares that there is no water. It's sort of funny. Raquel and I really stand out here. The other day we went to a village and one of the little kids got scared when he saw us. He started to cry! They have never seen someone like us before! Most kids warm up to us really quickly. When they see us driving by in a car they wave at us and smile. I love being here. It is nothing like being home. It is such a reality check! I made french toast the other day and cut each slice of bread into four smaller squares. The people had never had french toast. They really liked it. Bread is like gold here.

The Importance of Evaluation

Yesterday we met with the government here in Mozambique. We were given very little notice that we would be meeting with them. However, I was not nervous because I had written up an evaluation proposal. I showed them my evaluation proposal. I even tried translating parts of it into Portuguese. The lady we met with really liked it. Our interview with the government official was to show them the evaluation I am doing for Care for Life. Care for Life was hoping that by showing the government what we are doing, they will know how serious Care for Life is and offer more assistance to the program. I think we were successful at doing that. We are gathering some great data and I hope to be able to give them an accurate evaluation of their program so they can continue to help people in Mozambique.

Going to the Hair Salon

When I sat down to rest under this tree, I had no idea I was actually going to get my hair done. Yeah. I got an awesome do by this little girl. Her name is pronounced "Myn". She really liked my hair. The funny thing is that I haven't washed it for over four days. Even I don't want to touch it!