The Secret Life of Harrison Riehle

I have now made it somewhat of a tradition to watch “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” on the airplane every time I fly internationally. It’s about a normal guy who dreams about doing great things. But when everything in his life goes wrong, he goes on an adventure that takes him all over the world fulfilling his dreams and makes him see life in a new way. I guess you could say I can relate. I have made it to Ghana after all. I probably won’t be fight off any sharks or longboarding down scenic hills (unfortunately) but I am definitely going to have my fair share of adventures.

For one thing, I have definitely converted to the backpack travelers life. Never again will I drag around a hefty suitcase like a tourist. The way I went through security like a breeze, then stowing it on the plane and taking it in the taxi when I landed. I even carried it on my lap for the 5-hour bus ride to Takoradi. It’s nice to have all my belongings all together in one place and somewhat thief-proof. So to all of you reading this thinking about international travel, I highly recommend the backpack life.

These initial few weeks are going to be cleaning up what of Yenso is still running. The inventory of lamps we started with has finished and the sellers are left wanting. The problem is that, though we have no more inventory, we also have not collected the credit payments from all the customers to buy the next shipment. That has proved to be the most difficult. Everybody wants the lamp of course, but wanting to pay for it is a whole new issue. I have effectively ceased all sales until we are on a solid foundation again. It could take a few weeks to months. But if that’s needs to be done to get Yenso to work, we will do it.

The fact of the matter is, Yenso Solar WILL work. Perhaps not in a way we have figured out yet, but we can make it work. We have talked to a lot of haters and doubters and former mission presidents trying to drag us down telling us to stop right now and never try. To that I say Bull Crap. You will never succeed at something you don’t try and you will never enjoy a tall glass of chilled water as when you drink after a long hard day of hot hard work. Don’t be like those people who don’t try something because there is a chance you can fail because there in actuality, there is no such thing as failure. Failure is a state of mind. Lets say that Yenso Solar crashes and burns and everything we have worked for falls to shambles. Would that really be a complete failure? A complete waste of time? For me, no. This adventure of starting Yenso has taught me more about business and entrepreneurship than any class I could ever take, I have learned how to network and make relationships with people and truly care about them, I will have gotten to live in Ghana for five and a half months in 2016!! That is almost half a year in Africa that I never would have gotten. That is 100s of hours spent with the most amazing people who I have only grown to love even more since living here as a missionary. I now know the culture that much more, the food, the language, the lifestyle.

So to all those wanting to do something great but just never thought they could- Nike- Just Do It. You’ll never living your dream.

What I love most about “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is the motto of Life Magazine. I have stolen it as my motto and also the lock screen of my iPhone.

To see the world

Things dangerous to come

To see behind walls

Draw closer to each other

And to feel

That is the purpose of life.

Because You Are Free

Sometimes life takes a turn for the unexpected. If you had asked me a few months ago what my plan was, I would have easily told you. I was dating the most amazing girl I was intent on marrying, I had been accepted to a prestigious Paramedic program and I was on track to have a job as an emergency medical technician. If you had told me that I would board a plane back to Ghana for the next three months, I would have thought you were crazy. Since then, I didn't gain residency resulting in me having to drop out of school for the semester, I failed the test to make me an EMT and I felt prompted that I needed to end things with who I thought would be my eternal companion, breaking her heart in the process. She really got the short end of the stick here and I hope one day she can forgive me for it. But sometimes, God has a plan for us that we don't necessarily understand at the moment. So even after that all happening, I still don't even know what God's plan is for me and perhaps that is why I feel like writing this all down. Something is GOING to happen.

I have had the most amazing life. I have a wonderful family with parents who love me, friends who support me in all that I do, I even had the chance to travel the world from the time I was 5 and I have seen much and learned much that will always stay with me. I have had some of the most amazing experiences that I have just been lucky to be a part of and I might be perhaps one of the luckiest people in the world that no matter what endeavor I attempt, whereas it may not work the way I intended it, literally has always worked out. High School. Trying times for some. Didn't really have a problem. Looking back to the beginnings, I was a pretty average kid. There wasn't any one thing that I was overly good at. Just average. My best friend in middle school was a stellar football player and was the item of interest for all the swooning girls. Sam was one of those people who could pick up a talent in a matter of hours and master it, from ukulele to rubik's cubes, yo-yoing to juggling fireballs, it seemed like there was nothing he couldn't do once he tried it. Anson, from the time he moved in could lift a car, squat an elephant and somehow always had enough energy the next day to workout again. Cole, well, he's just Cole. He was just one of "those" people who no matter what he did, he was the best. The day he entered the number one ranked high school in the nation, he showed his stuff. Varsity football team, top dance team, State 800m champion, and even after he moved to a new school he was elected as the student representative on the county school board. But despite all of the "greatests" he had under his belt, perhaps his most admirable quality was that he was the world's #1 wingman. He knew what it meant to help a brother out. Spiritually and temporally. I guess that's why we have been the greatest for friends for so many years. He knew how to love me in a way that no friend had ever before, and as the good book says "Let Brotherly Love Continue" (Hebrews 13:1) he is the greatest bro.

It took me a long time to really understand what it was my real talent was. It really wasn't until I served my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission that I found it. In a conversation with woman in a village, she told me that she liked my character and when I asked her to explain further, she said, "Because you are free." That hit me. Hard. Like a fufu pounding pestle straight to the brain. To be free. Open. Adaptable. It rang true. I had often thought of my life as fluid, changing from day to day flowing wherever I felt like I was needed. Because I feel just that, I am needed. A tool. Not the kind of tool that wears snapbacks and only drinks protein shakes, but the kind of tool that is only as good as the hand that is holding it. I decided at a young age that I was going to commit my life to Jesus Christ. So, things like waking up before the crack of dawn for seminary in order to get 100% attendance, or magnifying my calling, or even the choice of serving a mission for two years came naturally to me, logically even. I never had to search for a testimony, I feel like I was born with one. So when a thought comes to my head to go serve that person, tell that person a compliment, tell your mom you love her, I graciously oblige. I know that I am a part of a much larger picture that is being painted by the Creator of the worlds himself. It shouldn't matter what I have to say about it, as long as I Go and Do what I am told, I know that the world will be a better place because of it. So in a way, the one thing I am good at is being free and open with people and I can do what I am commanded. 

I have the utmost high degree, as high as Kilimanjaro itself, of confidence that if I do what I am told without doubt that everything will work out beyond my wildest imagination. Maybe that's why feel I am one of the luckiest people in the world, I have burning desire to do good in this world and God uses that desire to use me to do great things. And right now, I am being told that I am going to live in the land that I love, Ghana for the next few months. So buckle your seatbelt, hands and arms inside, because some crazy stuff is about to happen and I promise you it is all going to work out in the end.