Dying for Happiness the Series

Welcome to Dying For Happiness the Series!
This series features the process of of my life: growing up, searching for happiness, finding it, and sharing it!

The series will include the following posts, which will be posted periodically between now and August!


I have loved to do service, yes, I like many teenagers had my moments where I didn't see the point if I wasn't getting an immediate reward. However, I learned that the rewards from selfless service are great. The happiness that it brings to me and those I serve is enough for me! Two of my favorite yearly service opportunities were the City Clean up Day, and the Christmas Basket Project. At these two projects I got to see directly the blessings and happiness that it brought into the lives of those we served. My great friend, Cathee was the one in the community who organized these two projects. She is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but she knows the importance of helping others. I got to work closely with her over the years and grew to love her greatly. One summer she asked me to do something for her, and I could not say no. She asked me to be a youth representative on the Board of Directors for the Hughson Family Resource Center. I then spent many hours volunteering at the center and helping others who were less fortunate than I. I also had the great opportunity to team up with other youth in the community to help make the lives of youth and children in our town better!

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My mother continues, "When he was a junior in High School the 'hesitation' started getting worse.  We really did not know where to turn for help."




My mother asked if I wanted to go back to speech therapy at the school. I told her "NO WAY! They don't know what they are talking about and don't know how to help me." So the hiding continued. After hiding my stutter for so long, it began to get harder and harder to hide it. In my Junior year, with the added stress of High School life, and being involved in many other things, the efforts to hide my stutter began to come to no avail. There began to be more and more words and sounds that I would stutter on and less and less ways I could get around it.

Mom concludes, "As parents it's sometimes very difficult to watch our children suffer.  I'm so thankful for a son who did not give up on his desire to serve a mission. Who did what it took to be prepared and for wonderful people willing to accept him and his challenges.  I know when we take our problems to the Lord we will be directed in ways that we would never have thought of on our own.  The Church is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ can bring joy and happiness to our lives if we keep the commandments and rely on the Lord."

"If [we] will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put [our] trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind... he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver [us] out of bondage." (Mosiah 7:33) Whether that bondage be a speech impediment, an addiction, an inappropriate relationship, or any other trial that we can face in this life, through Christ, there is a way out! That I know!

The Mission Process
Changing Lives
Trials That Never End
Miracles Never Cease