It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without being a member of the church. The gospel gives me reasons to choose what I do and consequences of my actions when I choose one way or another. I attend church as an adult even though as a child, I’m sure I would have chosen to skip most Sundays in primary/Sunday school. I choose not to drink coffee even though the entire free world seems to enjoy it for breakfast (I have no idea why because I personally think it tastes like transmission fluid and smells like recycled horse manure… but I digress). I choose to refrain from swearing, abstain from alcohol and tobaccee, perform service, and not have sex for money (that’s a personal tuffy for me, but perhaps I should have kept that one to myself for discretion’s sake). This list kind of sounds like someone’s New Year’s resolution list which illustrates my point, in a way. Most of what the church teaches us to do and not do is for our protection and well-being. That said, where would I be without the gospel in my life? Short answer: I don’t know.  

Throughout my life and mostly notably in my adulthood, I’ve had my ups and downs with church activity. For the most part though, I kept one foot in the door and didn’t do anything that made me feel embarrassed to attend church even if it had been a spell since I last showed my mug. I do this because deep down, I know the church will keep me on course in life. What course? Well hopefully a good and true one, but a course nonetheless. I can’t think of how I would wander though life without gospel principles to guide me. I would probably be training in my backyard as a hopeful for a big break in the pro wrestling circuit or something, which is not a good thing. I mean, chicks dig scars yes, but not self-inflicted ones from staplers or barb-wire. I don’t know if I would be a big drinker, however. Considering how cheap I am when buying soda and other concessions I figure I’d be pretty good at staying on the wagon. I always take a refill cup to 7-Eleven just to save me a quarter (and the Earth; “Surely God refills his chalice from the granite-lined pools belowYosemiteFalls.” – John Muir) so I think I’d have a hard time paying fifteen bones for a twelve-pack of PBR. I guess I could also attribute my frugality to my upbringing in the church if I think about it. All that emphasis on emergency preparedness and “have your affairs in order” stuff.

A big event I would have missed would be my mission toSão Paulo,Brazil. It was one of the biggest growing and learning experiences in my life. This was a turning point in my life and I still see it as the major threshold between boyhood and manhood. I personally would not refer to the mission as the “best two years” of my life as many commonly state while reminiscing about his or her time in the field. I was sick, depressed, homesick, angry, scared, nervous, humiliated, devastated but also, happy, excited, humbled, blessed and loved on my mission. It was quite a rollercoaster of emotion, as they say. I learned about the world outside of theUnited States. I learned another language and another culture. I learned to be self-sufficient, I learned to lose myself in the work, and I learned a lot about myself, probably more intensely during this period than any other in my life. I’m lucky to have had this experience and owe it to my decision to embark on a mission.

I’m not sure what my family would be like without the gospel, in fact, part of it (me included) probably wouldn’t exist. My mom is a convert and moved out toSalt Lake Cityas a single mother with my older brother who was maybe four years old at the time. My dad, a native of SLC, was a recent widower with three young boys. They were set up by my grandmother I believe, and hit it off. They were married and had six more kids; including me. So if my mom hadn’t have moved toSaltLakepost-baptism, with faith she’d find a husband out here, I wouldn’t exist.

Now before I get in too deep waxing philosophical, I think there is way to illustrate my point. For me, having the gospel in my life always presents two paths from which to choose. Which is the road less traveled? Well, that depends on the eye of the beholder.

In a poem by Robert Frost, we see there are consequences to all our decisions.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

So where would I be? Who know? But in my life, the guidance of the gospel has made all the difference.

-Briton