Email ciento y cuatro: El Último

August 13, 2018 

Family and friends, this is it. The last email. I want to thank everyone on this list. Those who wrote me and those who did not. Those who actually read these, and those who do not. Your love and concern is felt and appreciated.

This last week was awesome. On Saturday I got to attend a baptism down in Oxford for a Venezuelan family that I had the privilege of being involved in the teaching process with. Their names are O and N, and they have a special needs daughter named L. Their story is pretty incredible. He was a successful engineer in Venezuela, but because of Government corruption, inflation rates are ridiculously high. He said that if he got paid in the morning, he would have to buy food right then or else it would be too expensive in the afternoon. So they came here to Mississippi, and started with nothing. As they looked for assistance with taking care of their daughter, they ran into someone who’s father is a member of the church, and they told them about the church. Their first Sunday, they decided they would go to the first church that had Jesus Christ’s name in it, and it just happened to be the same church that that person had told them about. They knew it was a sign from God. They showed up at church and started meeting with the Sister missionaries and having a
member translate the lessons for them. Then I was able to come to a couple lessons and teach them. They are the definition of golden! They knew right from the start this was the truth. They love reading the Book of Mormon as a family, and are such wonderful people. It warms my heart how tender and patient they are with their daughter. At the beginning of the transfer, I fasted that I would be able to find and baptize a Hispanic family, since I had not baptized any Hispanics on the mission. Though we were able to find a teach many Hispanics, none of them kept commitments and progressed, which was very discouraging. Heavenly Father has answered my prayers through this family. They are my Hispanic family. I love them, and I’m so grateful that Heavenly Father let me be a part of teaching them the Gospel. I’m so excited for there to be a Spanish Branch in Oxford and for O to be Branch President. I know that Heavenly Father will grant us our righteous desires, even if it is in a way we don’t expect.

This week was full of hard work. I’ve been trying my best to finish strong and talk to as many people as I can, and have seen some little miracles from that. Honestly, it’s been hard, really hard. The temptation to ease off the gas and coast to the end is so strong. This whole transfer I’ve felt fine, but last Wednesday for the first time since Erinn’s wedding day I truly felt trunky. I’ve missed and thought about home before, but that same paralyzing feeling came back just knowing that I only had a week left. I decided to talk to Elder Paopao about it, and that really helped. Elder Paopao is such a stud! I’m super grateful to have served with him, we’ve become good friends and are definitely going to hang out when he gets home in December. He has a great testimony of eternal families, especially since his mother passed away from breast cancer when he was 10 years old.

Last night we had dinner with the Sloan family. They recently moved here from Dallas Texas.

Brother Sloan is awesome, he served his mission Spanish speaking in Salt Lake. It’s kinda weird talking with him though because he looks like a 30 year old version of my best friend Tanner Stallings. Actually he probably looks looks like a mix between Tanner and Hunter, but anyway he’s a way cool guy. We shared a spiritual thought and then asked them to pray and ask where we should go finding that night. He took it a step farther and actually went finding with us. We drove out to Walls, a small town close to the Mississippi River on the edge of our area. We talked to everyone. The first lady we talked to let us in, but the husband was drunk and made it hard to teach her, so we said we’d come back another time. We then talked to a dad named B playing with his daughter at the playground. We got his number and address and set an appointment for Thursday. Brother Sloan has a really powerful testimony. I’m super grateful he came with us. He also gave me his sister’s number and made me promise to call her when I get back haha.

Y’all aren’t going to believe what happened today! Elder Paopao and I went to a Chinese buffet, and I’m getting my food when this short Hispanic man starts backing into me saying excuse me while pulling a cart of dishes. At first I was like “what on earth?!” He turns around, and it’s R! The Colombian man I almost baptized in Memphis! He started laughing and gave me a big hug, which was really weird. (I offended him super bad and he said he never wanted to see me again and dropped us.) Turns out he’s living in Southaven! And working at the Chinese buffet! He said he’s completely forgiven me and gave me his number to call him when I go home. That was just another little miracle. When Ricardo dropped us was probably one of the hardest days of my life, and Heavenly put him in my path my last day in Southaven, and our friendship is restored. Such a tender mercy.

It was a good last week. I can’t even begin to fathom that my time as a full time missionary will come to an end in two short days. It still feels like it just started. I remember the day I entered the MTC crystal clear like it was yesterday. Me getting up at 6:30 and finishing packing my suit cases. Me going up stairs at 8 am. Mom asking me what I wanted for breakfast and me responding by bursting into tears. Me sobbing uncontrollably for an hour and a half. Joel laughing at me as I tried to eat my French toast while crying like an infant. Good times.

In all seriousness, I don’t even know how to begin this email. There’s nothing I could say that could do how I feel about my mission justice. It’s ironic that I talked about personal conversion as my topic for my farewell, because on my mission so much conversion and personal growth have taken place. I’ve grown in my maturity, humility, charity, obedience, faith, and ever other attribute of Christ. I don’t want to sound like I think I’m exceptionally humble, mature, loving, and obedient compared to others, because that’s not what it’s all about. President Wakolo said it best: “I don’t want to be better than others, I just want to be better than I’ve been.” I know that I am better than I was. This has been made possible through Repentance and the Atonement of Christ.

I have such a testimony of repentance.  My relationship with the Savior has improved so much. I see Him now as He is: someone who suffered a very dear price for me, who wants to forgive, and wants me to be free of the burdens I carry. He wants me to lay them down at His feet, because He loves more than I can even comprehend.

If any of you feel that repentance or confession are simply too difficult, I beg you to give up the

burdens that you were never meant to carry alone. We came to this earth to make mistakes, repentance IS the plan, and it is the way to peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come. Our Savior died to get rid of the guilt and the shame that we cannot remove by ourselves. To quote one of my favorite songs performed by Elder Paopao and Elder Armstrong in the last musical tribute: “If He carried the weight of the world up on His shoulders, I know my Brother/Sister that he will carry you.” The Savior Jesus Christ lives. His Atoning sacrifice paid the debt in full for all of our sins, mistakes, short comings, sorrows, pains, regrets, heartaches, you name it. I testify that that is true, because I have lived it.

Another great lesson the mission has taught me is charity. I could talk about this forever, but I think this email is all ready too long and Jesus can sum it up in two scriptures better than I could in two pages.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

“34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

The most important things we can do in this life is love God, and love everyone.

I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Christ restored back to the earth. The Book of Mormon is true. If I know one thing, it’s that this is the truth. I’m so grateful for the time I’ve had to share it with the people of the South full time. I will continue to share it when I go home. My mission is by no means over. It’s really just beginning.

Love y’all!