Ever since I was a kid I can remember the strange fascination I had with everything from drawing to getting my turn to take a picture with the family camera. With such an interest, it seemed like an eternity until the day I had finally saved enough to buy my own camera at the age of fifteen. Within months there I was, self-taught in everything I could learn about single lens reflex cameras with dozens of rolls of film processed and developed. I loved everything about it. I had found my passion. The possibilities were endless; there was just too much beauty around me to capture. God is the artist, and we are lucky to see the special moments that pass us by so often, let alone capture them.
My intentions of writing are to inform of an adventure I’m about to pursue; one where I will mix my passions for photography, travel, culture, writing and my religion. Despite my obvious desires to follow along the secure path towards marriage and a career, I find within me the yearnings to pursue a different route for a short time. In the words of Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Over the course of the next year, beginning in mid-August, I will be traveling all across North and South America, visiting each of the temples within. My goal will be to stay with local members in each of the areas surrounding the temples as I do work within, as well as spend some time doing photography of and around them. There are 106 temples both completed and announced throughout North America; 77 in the United States, 13 in Mexico, 6 in Central America, 1 in the Caribbean, and 9 in Canada. 19 more temples fall within all of South America.
As I was born in the church, my testimony never necessarily came through conversion, rather through a lifestyle and knowledge acquired over many years. My testimony was gained by subtle feelings and promptings, observations, and the spirit that bore witness as those I loved bore their own testimonies. There is boldness and power within a testimony. Just as I came to the knowledge of the truthfulness of this gospel through the testimony of others, I want others to have to opportunity to hear the amazing stories of conversion and knowledge that often times we don’t have the chance to hear. I have heard and seen things as I served in Argentina from those members that sadly many will never hear or know of- and even though we can all have our own experiences- I long to hear those of members around the world.
I plan to take this trip, and return with stories and photographs that I hope to one day compile into a book that we can all enjoy. I plan to risk it all for something I feel so passionate about. I feel good about what I’m about to do. Of all people, you must realize that I know the risks involved with such an endeavor, so rather than remind me of such things, I long for your help and support in order to make this a success.
I hope that you all will become involved to the best of your ability, and read through the messages and photographs I will be posting on a blog and Facebook for the next year. With a sort of excitement and apprehension, I feel strongly that passion leads to great things. And in the words Leo F. Buscaglia, “The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”
