4th of July weekend some friends from BYU-I stayed with me at my parent's house for the weekend to attend a wedding. they couldn't hold themselves back from going to Mexico when they learned how close it is to Phoenix. So we rented a car (I knew taking my parents car wouldn't go over well when they found out) and drove down for a day and spent the night in Rocky Point. This was my first time back in Mexico since my mission.
When I came home from my mission a lot of the details became blurry and the memories faded only a little to resemble dreams more than reality. For the first several weeks I listened to reggaeton, ate tacos and preferred Spanish over english. All of this was done hoping to combine two worlds. As weeks turned to months and now years the details began to fade.
Our trip down taught me a simple lesson. Mexico was always in the details. I couldn't recreate the culture by eating a taco or speaking spanish. It was the sum of the details that made the experience. Mexico is still there. The corner stores, desert landscape, box houses and thick accents still exist.
The past three months have been ones of accelerated growth as I've made decisions to grow up and move on. I've spent weeks praying, fasting and studying to become better and my lesson learned in Mexico is a principle that has marked my recent experiences. Moving on doesn't erase what happened in the past or make it any less real. The things I learned in Mexico both as a missionary and a civilian are guideposts for my future.
I learned about love, service, sacrifice and joy. Life is full of challenges but "if it so be that [we] keep the commandments of God he doth nourish [us], and strengthen [us], and provide means whereby [we] can accomplish the thing which he has commanded [us]" (1 Nephi 17:3).
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