Paradise

Circa December 20, 2011

Today, for me, is a special day in history.

Yes, reader, today is the day that Flanders adopted the Gregorian calendar!  Back in 1582!  It was also the day John Jay became the 1st secretary of state, making foreign affairs okay (1784)!  It was also the day the first US Skating Club and Junior High were formed (1849 & 1909, respectively)!  Where would we all be today without Skating Clubs and Junior High?!  Haha, man....

...oh it is also the anniversary of the day I returned from an LDS mission in the Dominican Republic (circa 2008).

Yes that fateful day 3 plump years ago.  I was actually supposed to get home the 18th at around 10 pm, but, because of inclement weather conditions, it took a day and a half and seven airports to finally make it home.  So December 20th at 4 a.m. it was.  Needless to say, it was good to be home.

And it is good to be home.  Though I do very much miss the mission.  It was easily the hardest and most influential experience I have had to date.  I simply wanted to voice my gratitude for having been able to go, and to those who helped me have the desire to.  By the very nature of the work I was doing, it caused me to look outside myself and think about others.  It caused me to work harder than I ever had before.  It helped me to understand and be grateful for and humble about things that I likely would not have even recognized otherwise.  It helped me to come to know myself and what I believe about a variety of things very intimately.  I met people that forever changed me.  It bent me, broke me, shaped me, and rebuilt me into something that is unconditionally better.  It really is hard to put into words, but I will love the Dominican Republic forever.  To me, it is a sacred place.  I arrived as a 20 year old, redhead American boy, lost out of my mind and overwhelmed.  But it was in those narrow alley ways, cramped apartments, and packed taxis, that culture shock, tribulation, and tropical paradise, that I found myself.  Who would've ever guessed that's where I was hiding?  But either way, I'm glad I ended up there so I could.  And luckily, despite customs, I was able to bring a piece of paradise home with me.