General & Miscellaneous Religious Biography, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, South America - General & Miscellaneous - Travel, Missions & Missionary Work - Christianity, Self-Improvement, Alternate Beliefs & Spirituality - Reference

Heaven Up Here

Name: Heaven Up Here
Author: John Williams
ISBN: 9781105296949

by John K. Williams

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Overview

Each year thousands of scrubbed young men and women set out to bring Mormonism to the world. Beyond the faith-promoting stories told among Mormons and the parodies of Broadway musicals, the reality of what it is to be a missionary-why they leave home and family, and what they do-is a mystery to most people. Heaven Up Here is one young American's account of leaving his family in Southern California to spend two years preaching in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America. Neither an attempt to glorify the missionary experience nor tear it down, the book recounts the good and the bad, and the struggle not only to survive brutal conditions but to make sense of it all. Beginning with the discovery of a body on a bridge on a cold winter night, the book brings the reader into a world that is far different from the stereotypes and PR images. Beneath the white shirts and ties are young people trying to bless the lives of others, even if they don't understand how.

About the Author, John Williams

A California native, John K. Williams left home at seventeen for college in Utah. After spending two years as a missionary in Bolivia, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University. His career as a writer and editor has taken him from religious publications for a worldwide religion to highly technical books, papers, and manuals in the computer and energy industries. He lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife and six children.