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.

por si las moscas. [just in case you need a reminder.]

Usted ha sido hecho para ser alguien especial.

[mas del New Era]

ser feliz por la eleccion de ser. [be happy by choosing to be.]

"Todavia estoy decidido a ser alegre y feliz en cualquier situacion que estoy, porque tambien he aprendido por experiencia que la mayor parte de nuestra felicidad o miseria depende de nuestra disposicion y no de nuestras circunstancias."

-Martha Washington

Nuestras circunstancias no nunca realmente cambian mucho. Depende de nosotros no dejar que las definen nuestra forma de vivir o que llegamos a ser.
Yo se que este es dificil. Pero por que uno dejar que la actitud de alguien mas afecta su dia.
Tambien, se que este principio es mucho mas facil para decir que hacer.
Pero tenemos nuestro albedrio. [La abilidad y privelegio que Dios nos da de escojer y actuar para nosotros mismos.]
Tememos la oportunidad para decidir si vamos a estar feliz o triste. Libre o frustrado. Para ser amargo o dejar que las cosas van.

Al final del dia, y en el eterno plan de salvacion, la felicidad autentica y duradera no depende de nuestras circunstancias, sino en como reaccionamos ante ellas.

Entonces. Elija ser feliz!

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"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances."

-Martha Washington

Our circumstances don't ever really change a whole lot. And it's up to us to not let them define how we live or who we become.

Rather difficult, I know. But why let the attitude of someone else affect your day.

Also, I know that principle is way easier said than done.

But we have our agency. [The ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves.]

We have the choice to be happy or sad. Free or frustrated. To be bitter or to let things go.

At the end of the day, and in the eternal scheme of things, our real and lasting happiness depends not on our circumstances, but on how we react to them.

So. Choose to be happy!

escoger felicidad. [choose happiness.]

Bueno. Lunes estaba pensando acerca de las cosas que me ayude ser feliz.
Estaba escribiendo una carta a este muchacho. Y el me pregunto sobre lo que mantiene una sonrisa en mi cara, incluso cuando las cosas sque estan pasando son dificiles. Encontre una respuesta bien facilmente.

Entre muchas otras cosas,
se que lo que me hace feliz, es la verdad que yo sepa.
La veracidad acerca de la Restauracion del Evangelio de Jesucristo a traves del Profeta Jose Smith y la paz que me trae.

Me encanta este Evangelio porque no necesitamos ser perfectos para sentir el amor que nuestro Padre Celestial y nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo, tienen para nosotros.
Solo necesitamos tratar y hacer nuestro major. Y vivir como ellos quieren que vivamos. De acquerdo con el plan que Dios tiene para nosotros.

Como misioneros, tenemos la oportunidad compartir ese mensaje con todo. Incuiendo, a veces, con nosotros mismos.
Lunes, despues de que escribiendo esta carta me acorde de la eleccion que todos cada dia, cada segundo, para ser felices.
Nos ha dado el albedrio--nuestro abilidad para escoger. Es uno de nuestras grandes bendiciones.
Podemos escoger a ser feliz.
No tenemos que permitir que la gente que estamos con, ni nuestras situaciones, ni nuestras situaciones, ni nuestro pasado, ni las cosas que nos gustaria tener pero no las tenemos, ni la persona que gustaria ser pero no somos todavia, decidir la actitud que vamos a tener. Podemos escoger por nosotros mismos si vamos a sacar el maximo partido de las cartas que se reparten, o no. Sea feliz. Se rein en la cara de Satanas, si se quiere.
Tambien, me acorde que, aunque podemos tratar, no podemos obligar a alguien a ser feliz. Ellos tenien que escoger por si mismos tambien. Pero siempre usted puede ser un ejemplo de alguien feliz. Usted puede traer la luz que ellos faltan. Su ejemplo puede hacer la diferencia. Aunque nunca lo sabe.

Entonces, hacer mas que solo un favor por si mismo, y sea feliz.

[Si necesita una recordatorio, mire aqui.]

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Ok. So Monday I was thinking about what keeps me happy.
I was writing a letter to this kid. And he'd asked me about what keeps a smile on my face even when things are hard. I found it pretty easy to respond.

Among many things,
I know that what makes me happy is the truth that I know.
The truth about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith and the peace that it brings.

I love this Gospel because we don't have to be perfect to experience the love that our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, have for us.
We just have to try. And be doing our best. And be living the way that they want us to live--In accordance with the plan that our Father in Heaven has mapped out for us.

As missionaries, we get to share that message with everyone. Including, sometimes, with each other.

Monday, after I was writing this letter I was reminded of the choice that we all have every day, every second, to be happy.
We've been given agency--our ability to choose. It's one of our greatest gifts.
We can choose to be happy.
We don't have to let the people that we're with, or our situations, or our circumstances, or our past, or the things we wish we had but don't, or the person we wish we could be but aren't quite yet, decide what kind of attitude we're going to have. We can choose for ourselves whether or not we're going to make the most of the cards that we're delt. Be happy and laugh in the face of Satan, if you will.
I was also reminded that, even if you try, you can't make other people choose to be happy. They've got to choose for themselves too. But you can always be an example of someone who is happy. You can bring the light that they may be missing. Your example can make a difference. Even if you never know it.

So do more than just yourself a favor, and be happy.

[If you need a reminder why, check this out.]

comcast man.

On Tuesday, Hermana Dodge and I were trying to find a potential investigator whose name we had found in our area book.
She lives on a super busy street with only one lane going each direction. Her house sits back a little off the road and the driveway is really long, but there was no way to turn around at the end because it was blocked by a large Comcast van. So as we got out of the car, we thought,

"Wow, this is going to be fun to back out of..."

We walked up to the door and we had trouble opening the gate and while we were trying to figure it out, the woman who we were looking for came out to help us and she invited us inside because it was so hot.
She told us she was a little busy with the Comcast man fixing whatever it was that he was fixing and that she'd be back in a minute. After five minutes of waiting, she came back into the room and she just still seemed really frazzled, so we asked her if there was another time we could come back that would be better and we set up an appointment for Thursday.
As we were leaving the Comcast man followed us out and commented us on our Spanish. He was really nice. But also really busy.
As we walked to the end of the long driveway, we contemplated how to best get out. We were trying to back up the car and it just wasn't working out so well so we stopped to reevaluate, and the Comcast man grabbed the two traffic cones in front of his van and started walking towards us. Hermana Dodge and I just looked at him really confused-like and as he walked past he said,

"It'll be easier this way."

I thought he was just going to put the cones at the end of the driveway so no one else would have the same problem that we were having. But then he said,

"There you go. Go ahead."

And as I turned around, he was throwing the traffic cones in the middle of the street and stopping traffic for us so we could back out of the driveway.
Then he proceded to back up our car.

It was the best ever.
And Comcast man [whose name we were never able to get] totally made our day.

So lately, I've been thinking about how I can be more bold and just not have fear to tell people about what means so much to me---namely, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And after this experience of seeing how awesome it was to have someone do something so randomly nice for us I realized that that's how I can overcome my fear. I need to stop traffic. Because what I believe means so much to me and because it can mean that much for so many other people as well. Other people who have never had the opportunity to hear about what I have. And I can give it to them.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to run out in front of a moving car or jump up and down on the sidewalk telling people that I have the truth. But I am going to stop the traffic of the daily lives of the people that I talk to so they can stop running at the pace of the world and slow down and take some time with the things that can and will really make them happy.
And really, that's something we all can do. If you believe in something that means a lot to you, help people slow down and see it. Help them get out of the norm of their daily lives and see a bigger picture. Help the world's ideas grow.