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.

enterrar a sus armas de guerra. [bury your weapons of war.]

"Y asi vemos que cuandos estos lamanitas llegaron a conocer y la verdad de ellas, se mantuvieron firmes, y prefirieron, padecer hasta la muerte antes de pecar; y asi vemos que enterraron sus armas de paz, o sea, enterraron sus armas de guerra en bien de la paz."

[Alma 24:19]

Siempre me ha gustado este versiculo.
Siempre pense que es tan interesante como evidente el cambio que el Evangelio de Jesucristo trae a la vida de alguien.

Como pueblo, las lamanitas eran personas violentes y enojadas. Gente que causo una gran cantidad de la guerra. Pero cuando Ammon y sus hermanos les traeron el Evangelio, los lamanitas aprendieron la verdad y eoncontraron una luz. Cristo. Descubrieron lo increible que es que se arrepientan. Para dejarlo todo a nuestro Padre Celestial y, a traves de su Hijo Jesucristo, ser libres.

Es a traves de este arrepentimiento que este grupo de lamanitas cambiado sus puntos de vista de la vida completemente.

Antes, sus armas eran lo que pensaban mantenerse a salvo y en paz. Si ellos podian luchar, ellos se defienden y que no importa cuantos muertos o heridos habia en el camino. Tal vez podria ser mejor si eso paso, porque de lo que habia sucedido en el pasado y el rencor que no habia soltado.
Pero despues, sus armas no eran las cosas mas largo de paz, sino de la guerra. Y a traves del arrepentimiento, se dieron cuenta de que la verdadera paz vino de la aceptacion de su Salvador y vivir como El lo haria.

Hemos tambien hecho todo lo posible para enterrar las armas de guerra?

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"And thus we did see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried their weapons of war, for peace."

[Alma 24:19]

I've always loved this verse.
I've just always thought that it's so interesting how evident the change the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings into someone's life is.

The Lamanites, as a whole, were a really violent, angry people. People who caused a lot of war. But once Ammon and his brotheren brought the Gospel to them, they learned the truth and they found a light. Christ. They found how amazing it is to repent. To give everything up to our Heavenly Father and, through His son Jesus Christ, be free.

It is through repentance that this group of Lamanites changed their views of life completely.

Before, their weapons were what they thought kept them safe and at peace. If they could fight, they would defend themselves and it wouldn't matter how many others they killed or hurt in the way. It might even be better if that happened because of things that had happened in the past and grudges they hadn't let go.

But after, their weapons were no longer things of peace, but of war. And through repentance, they realized that the real peace came from accepting their Savior and living like He would.

Have we also done everything we can to bury our weapons of war?