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.

thoughts of a friend. [pensamientos de un amigo.]

Today I got a letter from a friend of mine who is also serving a mission. Except he's in Botswana.
[Don't know where Botswana is? It's ok. I didn't either. It's the country north of South Africa.]

This letter really hit me a lot and I know that it could have the same affect on some of you.
So I'm going to share with you the thoughts of a friend.

"With all these trials going on with me in the mission, I know that I'm not the same as when I left. The mission is so hard! If my parents promised to buy me a car if I went of a mission and that's all I was doing it for, I wouldn't go. Because even if I did, I wouldn't stay! It's not about that. And it's worth way more. Way more than anything with a price tag. The mission is changing my life because I'm letting it! And that's worth it! I'm slowly becoming the man I want to be, and it's all because I'm serving the Lord."

I realized a lot of things when I read that.
The most obvious being that missions change our lives. If we let them. And even if you're not a missionary, or even a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you have a mission to fulfill. We all do. Because we're all children of God. And He has placed us where He needs us so we can do what He needs us to do. I've come to notice, like this friend of mine, that when we serve the Lord and we do His will, we become who we're supposed to be.

I've also been really blessed in my life to have really incredible friends. Friends who love and respect me as a person and my beliefs. Friends who help me be a better person. Friends who help me be the person I'm supposed to be. Friends who say things like this

"Heavenly Father's plan is perfect! We were so silly to doubt so much." -bff ashley.

and make me realize how blessed I am to know the truth that I know.

And friends with thoughts like this that help others know that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them too.

Lucky huh?

I also remembered that it's when we're faced with trials and challenging times that we grow. As hard as it may be to endure or to wait, there is always a blessing that comes just around the corner. And we have a loving Heavenly Father who is always willing to help us out if we look to Him and if we do our part.

“When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration.” -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Point is, when we look to the Lord in all that we do, let Him mold us, remember our blessings, our friends, and that there is always a miracle that comes after the trial of our faith, we can always have the strength to smile.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hoy recibi una carta de uno de mis amigos que esta serviendo una mision ahora tambien. Pero el esta en Botswana.
[No sabe donde esta Botswana? Esta bien. Yo no sabia tampoco. Esta norte de Sur Africa.]

Esta carta me pego bien fuerte y se que podria tener el mismo efecto en usted.
Entonces, voy a compartir con usted los pensamientos de un amigo.

"Con todas estas pruebas, pasando conmigo en la mision, yo se que no soy el mismo que cuando me fui. La mision es tan difícil! Si mis padres prometieron que me compre un coche si me fui de una mision y eso es todo lo que estaba haciendo para, yo no iria. Porque incluso si lo hiciera, no me quedaria! No se trata de eso. Y vale la pena muchisimo mas. Mucho mas que cualquier cosa con una etiqueta de precio. La mision es cambiar mi vida porque lo estoy dejando! Y que vale la pena! Estoy convirtiendo en el hombre que quiero ser, y todo porque estoy sirviendo al Senor."

Me di cuenta de muchas cosas cuando lei eso.
La mas obvia es que las misiones cambian nuestras vidas. Si los permitimos. E incluso si no es un miembro de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias, tiene un mision para cumplir. Todos de nosotros lo tenemos. Porque todos somos hijos de Dios y El nos ha colocado donde El nos necesita para que podamos hacer lo que El necesita que hagamos. He llegado a notar, como este amigo mio, que cuando servimos al Senor y hacer su voluntad, nos convertimos en lo que se supone que debemos ser.
Tambien he sido muy bendecida en mi vida para tener amigos que realmente son increible. Amigos que se que me quieren y me respetan como persona. Y que respetan mis creencias tambien. Amigos que me ayudan a ser una persona mejor. Amigos que me ayudan a ser la persona que se supone que soy. Amigos que dicen cosas como asi,

"El plan de nuestro Padre Celestial es perfecto! Estabamos bien tontas para dudar tanto." -bff ashley.

y ayudar me realizar que estoy super bendicida porque tengo la verdad de este evangelio.

Y amigos con pensamientos como este que ayudan a los demas sepan  que tienen un Padre Celestial que los ama.

Suerte eh?

Tambien recorde que cuando nos enfrentamos a pruebas y momentos dificiles, que estamos creciendo. Puede ser dificil para esperar, pero siempre hay una bendicion que viene a la vuelta de la esquina. Y tenemos un amoroso Padre Celestial que esta siempre dispuesto a ayudarnos si nos fijamos en el, y si nosotros hacemos nuestra parte.

"Cuando nuestro vagon se queda atascado en el barro, Dios es mucho mas probable para ayudar al hombre que sale para empujar que el hombre que solo levanta su voz en oracion, no importa cuan elocuente la oracion." -Presidente Dieter F. Uchtdorf

El punto es, cuando miramos al Senor en todo lo que hacemos, dejar que El nos molde, recordar nuestras bendiciones, nuestros amigos, y que siempre hay un milagro que se produce despues de la prueba de nuestra fe, siempre podemos tener la fuerza para sonreirnos.