The Eternal Sport of Wrestling

    As a missionary I have had a lot of trials. Like most people,  I never thought that a mission would be this hard. There are so many things to learn and the only way to learn them is through trials.

     
 Growing up I lived in a home where we liked to wrestle. My Father was a wrestler and he taught us a lot about the sport. When I was in the fouth grade, my Dad became my wrestling coach. As a fourth grader I thought that wrestling practices were the worst thing in the world, but my parents made me stick with it. From then until the eighth grade I didn't do too well in wrestling. I was always getting beat up on the mat by people that were older than me. In the eighth grade I tried out for the basketball team. Well I got cut and from that point on I decided that I was supposed to be a wrestler. Wrestling wasn't easy for me. For my first year of high school, I didn't wrestle much on the varsity team. My second year of high school I wrestled about half the year on the varsity team. Then my Junior year I decided to pick things up and really work hard. Just as the season started I had an accident in my agriculture class that tore up one of my fingers and I couldn't wrestle most of the season. My senior year I worked really hard and put a lot of effort into wrestling. My favorite quote about wrestling comes from a great wrestler, Dan Gable "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy."That is something that really motivated me to work hard. I knew that if I became a good wrestler it would take a lot of work and would help me the rest of my life. I ended up placing sixth at state my senior year which was a great accomplishment for me. I truly believe that wrestling is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is a sport that made me look deep inside me to see how much drive and self-motivtion I had. It is a sport that at times can be exhausting both physically and mentally. It taught me about myself and really what I can achieve.

    

    Now I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a missionary I have learned of a different style of wrestling. A style that takes just as much effort as when I wrestled in high school. A man named Alma in The Book of Mormon begins to tell us of this style of wrestling. "Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty Prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people that who were in that city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance."(Alma 8:10) We learn from this experience that Alma had and many other prophets have taught that communication with God is not an easy thing to do. Prayer is something that I have learned on my mission is one of the hardest things to do. It is something that takes a ton of effort. Another prophet named Enos in the Book of Mormon tells us of his wrestle which he had before God. "And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed." (Enos 1:4-5)     
Enos teaches us that answers to prayers do not always come at once, but if we are persistant and put a lot of effort into our prayers then Heavenly Father will answer them. I know that God loves all of us and he hears our prayers. I know that if we are going through trials or have questions that have not been answered, we can turn to our Heavenly Father for help. He is waiting to help all of us and all we have to do is tap into his line of communication through prayer. For me, when I go through a trial, the only way for me to overcome it is through prayer. I am so greatful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and that I can turn to when I have no where else to turn.