Crazy. And Short.

Hello, all. 

 I have words to say. 

 About faith. And craziness. 

I have found that so often we equate great faith with acts of illogical insanity. Because Nephi built a boat and Noah an ark. Because David faced Goliath and Esther faced a king. Because angels have been seen, visions had, and miracles witnessed. 

 Those who have the faith to move mountains are often deemed crazy by the world. Because it is crazy for a shrimp to face a giant, for a man to wake up with the simple idea to build a boat. 

 Sometimes I think we doubt ourselves and our faith based off of the above idea. Take for example the awful occurrence of being sick as a missionary. On the one hand, we know that we should rest when we can, our body needs to heal, we shouldn't risk infecting other people. On the other hand, we find our thoughts telling us that there's no time to waste, that we might as well feel miserable knocking doors if we feel miserable under our covers.

 This was something my companion and I experienced this week as we were sick and debated about how to handle it best. 

 Logic, reason, and past experience told us to do the necessary things and rest when we can. But this pattern of "great faith defies reason" caused me to ask myself if I lacked faith. Because God can strengthen the lame to walk, and the sick to ride a bike. Right? 

Well....

 Elder Christofferson once said: "The intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth."

 Might I propose that the "crazy" acts of faith we so admire are based much more off of intelligence than spasmodic leaps from the ground of reasoning.

 Previous to building a boat, Nephi had experienced the visions of his father, their miraculous escape (and then return and then escape and then return and then escape again) from Jerusalem, the successful retrieval of the brass plates, and an angel saving him from his bratty brothers. Nephi had experiences from which he gleaned knowledge on the nature and power of God the Father and knew full well that God could build a boat and use Nephi to do so. Nephi was then able to act intelligently with the knowledge he had gained and thus build a boat. 

 This same process happens all throughout the scriptures, and it can and does happen to us. 

 Which is why after realizing this, we went to the necessary appointments and rested when we could. Because past experience has taught me that God is in control, that He will put the people that I need to meet in my path when ALL of us are ready. Past experience has taught me that God is merciful, that He understands that we have weaknesses, that we're human. 

 From there, logic and reasoning convinced us to act on the knowledge we had and rely on God to take care of what we could not. 

 Trust in God, make smart decisions. And sometimes, take crazy leaps of faith off of the springboard of personal testimony. 

 With that out of the way, I shall now share with you why everyone laughed at me this week. 

 We (the missionaries here in the AGM) put on a Christmas concert last night. We've been having rehearsals for a little while now, and we're all really happy it's finally over. 

 It was a great experience and all, but it really detracted too much time from our missionary work. 

 Anyways, I was one of the narrators for this concert. And someone stuck me at THE TALL MICROPHONE. 

 geez. 

Sometimes I forget that I'm smaller than average. This was a harsh reminder.

 I was falling over on my tip toes trying to get my voice to carry through the speakers. 

 Everyone noticed, most commented, and I will probably end up with a collection of footstools because people think they're funny. 

 Next Monday IS CHRISTMAS. 

 Which means pday (and emails and such things) will all happen on Tuesday instead. 

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!