A canvas for my curiosity

When I was a kid, I loved watching ants in my yard. I was fascinated by how hard they worked. I wondered how they found their way home. I imagined the conversations they might have each time they met each other. 

My curiosity was nonstop. I went outside the house and explored. I often failed to come home before 5 p.m., which made my mother upset.

My adventure continued into adulthood. My train ride to work became a canvas for watching and observing people. My mind spins at full speed with ideas, thoughts, emotions, and feelings. I learned to jot them down so I could understand what I had absorbed. 

Writing became my meditation.

I want to share two incidents that helped develop my passion for writing. 

The first happened when Elder David A. Bednar came to speak at our stake conference. He talked about "Sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth" using social media. He encouraged members to share their daily experiences. He emphasized that we can share the light of Christ by doing so. 

After coming home from that stake conference, my heart raced at the thought of something I had never considered before. To my surprise, I decided to create a blog. I invited three friends to join me, and we posted our thoughts and interests once a week. We found joy in looking around, finding happiness in small, simple things, and writing about them. 

All of us felt that expressing these small discoveries helped us appreciate our lives more.

The second incident involved a friend of mine. He had worked hard for several years to become a seminary and institute instructor. He was one of two finalists. The career he’d always dreamed of was within reach, and it was about to become a reality. Before the final decision was made, his supervisors came to observe his early-morning seminary class every day. 

At the same time, he was facing some difficult challenges. He was working hard to earn his college degree, and his wife was pregnant with their second child. One night, she started bleeding and had to be taken to the emergency room. She needed a blood transfusion, and her life was in danger. 

While he was going through all of these hardships, the seminary trial was still going on. He continued showing up every morning because he didn’t want to disappoint his students, and he really wanted that career. 

But luck wasn’t on his side. He didn’t get his dream job. 

Disappointed, he decided to join a military band and play the trumpet, another thing he loved to do. 

A few years later, I found him in Japan. He was stationed at Zama Base near Tokyo. I was surprised to see him on the stage at a local event. He was wearing a white Army uniform and interacting with the audience as the MC for the Army Band. His fluent Japanese captivated the audience. He had gained that gift by serving his full-time mission in the Tokyo South Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He soared in that role, and it seemed that he had found a place where he was meant to be.

I couldn’t stop wondering how he had moved forward after such a disappointment. What had kept him going?

Later in his interview, he told me that relying on Jesus Christ was his anchor. His trust in the Lord spoke to me. I wrote his experience and testimony and sent it to the local magazine department. The story was published in the Japanese Liahona magazine. His testimony of Christ brought hope and courage to many people. 

If storytelling can touch someone’s heart and bring them closer to Christ, that’s what I want to do.

My passion for writing is still soaring.