Cubans, Astronauts, and Commandments

Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed Conference! Elder Holland was definitely on the soothing side this go around. In general, I thought the conference was fantastic; I received many answers to my questions and felt God's Spirit strongly.

So, as a Spanish missionary here in Florida, I have the amazing opportunity to speak with Hispanic people from all over the world. I've met people from Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Spain, Puerto Rico and Uruguay, to name a few. Here in Jacksonville, I've had the chance to talk to a group of people I've especially grown to love: Cubans.

Before my mission, I didn't know a lot about Cuba or Cubans. I knew that it was in the Caribbean (a map of Cuba here, provided by the LDS church. Which gets its maps from Google), that their cigars were supposedly high quality (not that I'd ever smoke one--The Word of Wisdom (scroll down to find it) says that's not a good idea), and that their Spanish was a bit mumbly and hard to understand.

As I've talked with Cubans, I've found out a few things. For one, their way of speaking is, in fact, a bit hard to understand at first. You get used to it after a while, but there's still a particular man from Havanna that's just about impossible to figure out (we love him anyway). For another, they love to talk. They also love to read. They're very open and relaxed; most are pretty friendly. In general, they're a likeable people.

From recent conversations with some Cuban friends, I've also found out a bit about the actual country of Cuba. They say that the land is beautiful and there are stunning islands all around. But, they're not allowed to go there. In fact, Cubans aren't given free reign over a lot of things, due to the communist government currently in place. For the poorer people, you're told where to go, what to buy at the store, what to do for work. If your scores on scholastic tests aren't high enough, you're required to give military service for two years. Even if you do well in school, it can be hard to get around or even leave the country if you want. Few Cubans I've talked to say they want to go back.

Why does this matter? Well, a conversation with one Cuban in particular got me thinking. We were talking about all the restrictions in Cuba, and somehow the conversation turned to us talking about the missionary rules. The Church is known for its high standards of membership in general, but missionaries are asked to follow even more guidelines. We get up and go to bed early, we don't watch tv or go to the movies, we don't swim, and we only call our families on Christmas and Mothers' Day (not including weekly emails). All of these guidelines have been put in to place to help us better be able to do the work and help other people. However, after sharing some of these standards with our Cuban friend, he sat back and shook his head.

"Wow," he said (translated from Spanish). "I could never do it. After finally leaving all of that behind [he'd just finished describing the rigorous military service], I could never limit myself like that."

Stemming from that conversation, I believe, was the idea for this entry. I was thinking about things while shaving (I get a lot of good thinking done then), and a voice (not my own) came into my head and said:

"Wow, the commandments sure are restrictive, aren't they?"

To which I responded (in my head):

"Maybe they are restrictive. Seatbelts are pretty restrictive too, come to think of it. In fact, when you're in an accident, they tighten up and make it so you can barely move at all."

I then went on,

"Do you know what else is restrictive? Space suits. Astronauts can barely move around in those things."

Satisfied, I kept on with my shaving.

The point here is that the commandments, although they're "restrictive" (which is debatable), are there to help us. Just as seatbelts keep us safe during accidents and space suits keep astronauts secure when they travel to the moon, the commandments keep us safe as we go throughout this life.

The devil's advocate inside of me wasn't done, though.

"Hah! You think you've got it all figured out. Sure, we need things to protect us when we're in danger. But that's just the thing; we're not in danger! You don't need a seatbelt when you're parked in a parking lot! You don't need a space suit if you're just going for a walk on the beach!"

"Well, do you need any kind of protection if you're just walking on the beach?"

"No! You're free! You could even run around--"

I think he was about to suggest that I go running around the beach naked, but I cut him off.

"What about sunburns? What about skin cancer? Even if you're on the beach, you still need protection; you need sunscreen!"

And I think around then I moved on to thinking about other things.

--- --- ---

Taking a step back, the Devil's Advocate is right. There may be many situations where there are seemingly few or no consequences to breaking God's laws. This, I think, is a big reason why so many people don't care. But, just like hanging out on the beach without sunscreen, we'll eventually feel the consequences of our actions. It may not even be in a sunburn the next day (I very rarely get those), but somewhere along the line we are going to realize the damage we have done to our skin by neglecting our sunscreen. Similarly, the effects of sin may not manifest in days, weeks, months, or even years. It's possible we may not even see them in our lifetimes. But, if we continue to willingly disregard counsel from our Loving Heavenly Father (who would never ask us to do something that would limit our happiness), there will come a day when we'll have to stand before Him and realize what we've done.

President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles summed it up nicely (in a great Ensign Article by D. Todd Christofferson on the subject of obedience):

“We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see.”

 We don't follow God's laws because someone's just telling us to; we do it because we have long-term vision, and we know that a brighter future lays in store if we do.

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He sent us here to earth in order to be happy, and to prove ourselves worthy of returning to live with Him after this life. I know that He didn't want us to fumble blindly, wondering what to do in this life, so He gave us commandments through His prophets. And I know from experience that living according to the commandments blesses us and helps us receive all the happiness Our Father in Heaven intends us to have. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a great Sunday (Keep the Sabbath Day Holy)! Keep Moving Forward!

-Elder Richmond

Photo courtesy of LDS.org