Diana Leaney López Ruano

Miss.  Hello,  Miss.  I Miss you.  Are you Missing? I am missing.  I am MISSing. Missing Japan.  Meaning,  it is gone and I can't find it.  Its somewhere on a spinnig globe,  an arms-span away on a map,  but so far and currently unreachable that I wonder if it even still exists...  Nihon.  The place my heart was humbled.  The land of the rising sun,  the land where I discovered what love could do to a wounded soul. Be still,  my soul. It was something about the uphill bike rides on a turquoise mamachadi in the core-peircing cold of December.  On a humid island that did not remember the reason for Christmas.  Many did not remember Christ. It was something about ping-ponging the intercom in hopes of someone opening the door just long enough to hear the silent night duet of you and your companion renditioned over and over and over and over to an unseen,  unheard,  possibly nonexistent audience behind grey metal doors.  The kind without wreaths. It was something about ra

The strongest man in the world is Jose Antonio Ruano Roca.  Mi abuelito.  We call him "Papito." El hombre mas fuerte del mundo es Jose Antonio Ruano Roca.  Mi abuelito.  Le decimos "Papito." He is so strong that he states spoken word poetry and the room stays still. El es tan fuerte que cuando recita poecia,  el cuarto queda callado para escuchar.   He is so strong that he lifts up his grandchildren and sings our most familiar of childhood tunes,  "Tingi riki riki riki,  tingi riki riki rin."  He never tires. El es tan fuerte que toma a sus nietos en brazos y nunca se cansa de cantar "Tingi riki riki riki,  tingi riki riki rin!"  Una melodia que nos penetra hasta el corazon.   He is so strong that the machete he wields is nothing compared to his testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ which he shares,  has always shared with the power of God. El es tan fuerte que el machete con que defende a su familia y libertad no se co

There was this moment,  in Japan.  The hardest of moments when I turned to my Heavenly Father for love and guidance.  I turned to the Priesthood Power, a blessing.  Afterwards,  the Elder said to me,   "Sister L ópez,  I just saw all of the times your plans have not gone according to plan."   All the times I have tried to do what is right, to change, to follow the plan Heavenly Father has set for me and failed miserably.   A patriarchal blessing is a blessing from God given to someone when they are ready to listen to Heavenly Father's plan and potential blessings for them specifically.  I read mine today and got stuck at the part after  my full-time missionary service.  My college life was always focused on going on a mission and for six months,  returning to finish my missionary service.  Things are different now.  Now,   I am here to stay.   Utah.  The place I want to raise my family.  The mountains that brought me to tears by their magnificent spl