Hello everyone, it has been a while I know, but I hope to kick off this new year with a return to one of the things I love which is testifying of Jesus Christ and sharing how I have seen Him in my life. This last semester as a Junior was challenging and I fell behind on my posts, but I want to share a few experiences that were significant to me and helped me make it through the semester.

I have two friends named Jefferson, and a day after my birthday I was juggling commitments and responsibilities and found myself in a predicament. It was a cold November night and the last bus had already left campus. One of my friends named Jefferson offered me a ride home, but because I had been feeling sick, I turned down his offer and decided I would walk home. I started the journey, but after I had gotten about a third of the way home my hands were freezing, and the cold started to sting. I was praying in my mind and talking to the Lord about the foolishness of my decision when the impression came into my mind that I should enter into the small grocery store that was across the street and call my other friend Jefferson. It didn’t seem likely that he would be free, but it turned out that he had been visiting someone nearby and was about to leave to head home. I knew in that moment that the Lord had been with me. Two days later I was feeling overwhelmed again and wasn’t sure about my standing with the Lord, but once again as I walked home in the cold, another friend of mine named Mike saw me and stopped to give me a ride. The Lord reminded me once again that he was with me. Then as if the Lord wanted to make a point, a few weeks later I stayed late again at school finishing a group project and it was almost midnight. I called the same friend Jefferson, who had given me a ride before, and just as I called, he was coming into town from a trip in Salt Lake and was passing my way. Like my roommate Matias would say, angels continue to minister here on earth, and it is amazing to see how much the Lord watches over us.

One of the team projects I had during the semester was building a robot, and we spent many hours trying to get our robot to work, but the night before we had to present our bot might have been one of the most stressful moments of the semester. Nevertheless, we were blessed to complete 80% of the course with our bot. One of my teammates said we were lucky, but I reminded him that we were blessed, and we gave thanks for making it as far as we did.

Lastly, one of the biggest miracles of the year was being able to visit my girlfriend Julie in person for the first time. The journey to Brazil was a little hectic, but a last-minute ride to the airport from my friend Michael and many other blessings along the way made it possible! I also had the opportunity to visit some of the friends I made during my mission in Brazil.