The recent visit I had with a dear friend from my youth has caused me to reflect on my past. As I'm sure all could say of our pasts, mine was full of good and bad. I loved the good for the great joys and experiences I can now cherish and look back on with a smiling heart. I have now come to appreciate the bad times for the learning experiences that they were. My thoughts and feelings about the learning experiences of the past I can share later. For right now, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to grow up in what is known as the "Bangor Maine Stake." For those of you unfamiliar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a "stake" is a territory that covers a number of congregations. Our stake covered from Waterville to Lincoln, from Farmington to Machias. When I was in my mid and later teen years, it was the norm to be the only, or one of a few, youth in your congregation. This was the case for me. I was the only youth my age until I was about 17-18. I looked forward to the activities we would have once or twice a month because I was able to be around the type of youth that I shared moral and spiritual values with. The leaders were also the type of men and women that you would someday hope to become more like. They varied in their income or physical prowess, but what they all had in common was a passion for the gospel and their dedication towards the youth of the Church. As I said before, I looked forward to these activities so much. So much even, that I would often forgo spending time with friends from school or attending other school activities to attend the youth activities.
While the activities themselves had wonderful messages, or perhaps were just a good time, I came to love and appreciate each and every youth that would go to these activities as well. It was at these activities that I met my two best friends in the world. These two friends I met so many years ago have been two of the best supports I could have hoped for these past couple of months. I also met numerous young ladies while attending these activities. This was where I first started to learn the ropes of how to treat and interact with women. I ended up dating a handful of these young women and became very good friends with the others. These too have gone their varying ways into the world and been successful in their various endeavors. Many are now married happily in temples or outside of them. They are college graduates, hard workers, and mothers. They are all wonderful people to whom I look up to. The leaders, for the most part, have all been reassigned to other callings or tasks but still continue to be an inspiration and provide a shining light to the current youth, adults, and myself. The thing all of these people have in common is that they were each present in my childhood. Each one of these people left a mark on me that caused me to be the person I am today. Some people may hear this and think they did something bad! But that is not the case. Any flaws or shortcomings I currently have, I developed despite the great influences and experiences they provided. I can remember a stake president sharing his testimony in a talk entitled "The parable of the Leaves" which impacted me greatly and caused me to think of the less-active and inactive members of the stake. I remember spending the night with a bunch of the other young men at a leaders home where he stayed up and played video games with us and just talked to us. I remember going to church dances where we were encouraged to include everyone and where I first decided I would try to reach out to the young women who maybe wouldn't ask the young men to dance, so they would be included. I remember going to Friendly's after the church dances with all of the youth for ice-cream. I remember constantly wanting to make others laugh and therefore setting myself up for acts of embarrassment, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. I remember going on group dates with righteous young women and young men where we could have a fun time, without crude jokes or anything else that would be offensive to God. I remember planning a youth conference with a young woman who bore the brunt of the planning and worked hard to pick up my slack in order to put on a fun and spiritual event for all the youth of the stake. I remember an activity where we learned to eat a meal with the proper etiquette, something I used on my mission in the appropriate settings. I remember testimony meetings where I was witness to the many beautiful and simple testimonies that each helped to shape my own. So many fond memories that I could not even write a 1000th of them here.
There are so many people I would like to thank for simply being who they were at those times. They may not know or comprehend their influence on me. If I could, I would give each one of you the biggest hug and thank you for being who are. You may have never spoken to me. We may never have been close friends. We may not have had the relationship that you deserved or wanted. But each person I came in contact with, helped me to become who I am today and I am eternally grateful for that. I would not be who I am today without each of you. To sum up, I love you all and I thank you. I hope someday to be given the chance to express this to each of you personally. Until then, I hope to somehow to be the example and influence to others that you have all been to me. You are all amazing and may Heavenly Father bless you for your part in helping to shape me for the better. Thank you, and I owe you big time!
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