A Higher View

I had always dreamed of flying. So in December 1961, at age 21, I earned a pilot’s license. Whenever I happened to feel depressed or stressed, I would go up in a plane—and after flying a short while, I would feel much better.

But after a year, having flown 84 hours, I quit aviation. Although flying had relaxed me, I realized I was searching for something more—an inner peace I could not find in the air.

Ten months of wandering were enough to convince me that I might not find what I was searching for on the ground either. I thought moving to different locations would be the answer, but it wasn’t. And so I started to search different religious philosophies. During the next 18 years, I investigated several churches and became active in a few of them.

One day I visited a church three blocks from our house. When I rang the doorbell, the custodian answered. I told him I had two teenage sons who needed to belong to a youth group. “Do you have Boy Scouts?” I asked. He said yes.

Then I asked him if his church was based on the Bible. Again he said yes—it was based on the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He invited me to Church services the following Sunday. My 13-year-old son, Marcelo, was traveling with friends, so I invited my other son, Sergio, who was 15, to accompany me. He came, although reluctantly.

When we entered the chapel, several members greeted us in a friendly manner. An older man quickly introduced us to the missionaries, and they started teaching us the discussions that day. When Marcelo returned from his trip, he joined us in the discussions. The Spirit touched our hearts, and on 16 February 1980 my sons and I became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My wife, Isabel, was baptized one month later.

Almost 40 years have passed since I began searching for inner peace in places outside myself. Today, thanks to the gospel of Jesus Christ, I see far more than I ever did in a plane. I see a world more real and beautiful than anything I saw from the air. I see a world and a life filled with God’s love, and I anticipate even greater glories awaiting in the next.