Well, friends.. this will be my last email as a full-time missionary. In preparation to leave the mission field, the mission asks returning missionaries to write their "words of wisdom" (insight to other missionaries), and "what my mission has meant to me" (I don't know how they expect us to put that in words.. so, I want to attach those things for all of you to read as my final email. But first:
Ponderosa is doing really well! We have a miracle former who just came back from not being able to meet with her for many months. When we went on Wednesday to have a lesson with her, she had found an Ensign about The Book of Mormon, and was super excited to talk to us about it. ...then, she asked us 5 times throughout the lesson, "So.. what are the requirements for me to be baptized?" She is really excited about everything right now, which is nothing short of a miracle! She came to the Relief Society activity this week, and was telling everyone she met, "Yeah, the sisters are coming over and teaching me, and I'm going to be baptized soon!" It is such a tender mercy to witness people's hearts change! :)
Words of Wisdom: "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will" (Words of Mormon 1:7). Elders and Sisters, what a wise purpose the work of salvation is. How blessed we are to be able to be missionaries - to bear the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have seen great miracles in this work. I know the truthfulness of Mormon's teachings that "I do not know all things," but I can also testify that the Lord does know perfectly the things that are to come, and we need to be the kind of servants and disciples that He can work in "to do according to his will." Will we do what it takes to let Him work in us? Will we repent, read the scriptures, and pray fervently to be the instruments in His hands that He needs us to be? I have felt the Lord working in me, and know without a doubt that the Atonement of our Savior has strengthened me, enabled me, healed me, and helped me and all of those that I have had the privilege to serve. This is the Lord's work - He wouldn't call us to do it if He didn't know that we could. I know my Savior lives. I know as we turn to our Father in Heaven in humble prayer, pour out our hearts to Him and then listen, we will be enabled to do everything He needs us to do, and we and those we serve will be better for it. This Gospel is all we need. Rely on His grace, and in His timing, all will be well.
What My Mission Has Meant to Me: It's so hard to describe what my mission has meant to me in words. Everything that I have experienced has been in the most marvelous feelings, not in words. Everything that I have been able to learn, every lesson that I have been able to teach, everyone that I have been able to talk to... It has blessed my heart forever and changed me. Not because every experience or encounter with someone was a positive one.. because it wasn't. Not because everything that I have been through I would want to experience every day of eternity, because I wouldn't... and not because it has been easy, because it hasn't... but because through this time, I have become closer to my Savior. I have felt that He has guided me. I have been able to see others grow in their knowledge of the Savior and in their testimonies of His restored Gospel. I have felt the joy and gladness - eternal - that comes into your heart and soul when you are in the service of other people. I have felt more lasting happiness than I ever thought I would have the capability to - that feeling has come through serving others and loving them the way that the Savior would. This whole experience reminds me of the quote, "The best things in life are not seen or heard, but felt with the heart." These feelings have blessed my life so much. I have been changed because of the love of my Savior that He has allowed me to feel through serving my Brothers and Sisters. I will forever look back on this time. It has shaped my outlook and allowed me to gain a greater perspective of who I want to become, and can become, in the future and throughout eternity. All that I have felt and learned here on my mission will be a pattern that I will follow into the eternities. I would not have any of these blessings if it weren't for this mission.. for which I will always be grateful.
I have a testimony of missions. I know that they are inspired of our Heavenly Father and that through this amazing work, hearts are changed! I know that I have changed, and that those that I have had the privilege to meet and get to know have been changed through the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I would not change a moment of this work for the world. I will miss it, but I am so excited to be a full-time member missionary and implement all that I have learned here in the field to the rest of my life.
What a beautiful work this is.
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