at the end.

This is probably my last post as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Let me tell you, 18 months have gone by faster than I could have ever imagined. Well, looking back on it it's gone warp speed. I feel like two weeks ago I was waving good-bye to my mom at the airport. But if you'd asked me how fast it was going 16 months ago, I would have told you that this day would never come because it still felt impossibly far away.

These past 18 months have been full of a lifetime of experiences. The good kind, the bad kind, the laugh-til-you-cry kind, the learning kind, the heart-breaking kind, the tears-of-joy kind, the frustrating kind, the friendship making kind, the spirit-filled kind, the tender mercies kind, the hidden blessings kind. But at the end, they've all been blessings.

If there is one over arching theme to what I've learned in the last year and a half, it's that

we have a Heavenly Father who loves each and every single one of His children.

No matter who we think we are or what we may have done, we are never too far away from the love of God. No one can take that love away from us. We can try to say that it doesn't exist, but we're only kidding ourselves. He loves us. And I'm living proof. 

I'm proof that he gives us infinite second chances through the Atonement of His son--our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He wants us to return to live with Him. So he has a perfect plan for all of us. It's individual. And it's prefect. We don't have to doubt. We just have to have faith. And trust. Because He knows us perfectly. He knows our weaknesses and faults, our triumphs and successes, our talents and abilities.

And as we keep His commandments, He has so many more blessings in store for us than we can even imagine.

I love the Lord. And I've fallen in love with His work.

I'm eternally indebted to Him for this opportunity I've had to serve him.