Learning=Doing, or The Equation of Life

               Last week I went to BYU and shadowed a college senior, Derek, enrolled in the mechanical engineering program.  He was involved in two projects, his BYU ClearSolutions Capstone senior project and another project called GEO, or global economic outreach.  For his Capstone project, he was testing the flow of water in a water reservoir filtration system.  They had a large wooden box with waterproof lining that was supposed to hold 4,000 gallons of water.  Because the dredge was being fabricated, they were doing small scale testing in a lab with a water flow system and special tubes that measure water flow pressure.  It was amazing because I got to help them with it!  They showed me how the equations work and let me do some of the math for them.  It was lots of fun!!

                Derek also showed me his GEO project.  At the end of the semester, the whole class is going to Peru.  They are split into several teams, and they are building things for the people to make their lives easier.  Derek and his team are building a cheap, affordable, easy to make tool that the people can use to effectively cut reeds for their floating reed island homes.  This will assist them in many ways, and keep them from hurting themselves or spending hundreds of hours on this menial chore. 

                We also talked about Derek’s mission to Croatia.  He said he loved it and told me all about it. He also told me about his study abroad trip to England with his wife as well as his desire to attend graduate school in England.  He said that he greatly recommended that study abroad program to me, but also talked to me about how important and different it was for him to keep his standards there.  I learned that I must be careful to be an example to others and never let my standards down even for a second. 

                I am a child of God with a purpose in life and I am headed for whatever I can put my mind to.  I can accomplish anything!  I know that I have a mission in life.  I was born to be a king, a son of my Heavenly Father.  I do not know what I need to pursue as a career, but I know that if I seek a good education and pray earnestly for guidance, I will find my purpose and mission in life.

            I know that I have a mission, but I only have one enemy to fear.  Myself.  I am the only person that can obstruct my path.  I have the obligation to work as hard as I can to seek an education and pursue my dreams.  The sky is the limit to my potential, and I have only to overcome myself.