Well..... this is going to be my last email from Mexico. My 18 months have come to an end ridiculously, unbelievable fast. This Wednesday I fly back home.
I´ve been trying to think of what I would write in this email. It´s hard to put into one email all the thoughts and emotions I have had recently, but I´ll do my best.
This time I have spent in Mexico as an official representative of the Lord Jesus Christ has been.... the craziest, most difficult, and most wonderful experience of my life. I would have loved to have stayed a little while longer if they would let me, but it seems like the Lord has other plans for me. But I am so so so so so eternally grateful that He let me come in the first place.
This past Saturday, we had the opportunity to go to a baptism in Bellavista, which is the ward that shares a church building with La Aurora. I didn´t think I was going to see anyone from Aurora there because they don´t have their activities on Saturdays normally, but when we got there, almost the entire ward was there! We entered to say hi and to see what was going on and we learned that the ward mission leader and his wife had just been sealed in the temple as a family earlier that day! I love that family sooooo much and seeing them so happy made me so incredibly happy.
I have had a lot of little moments like that in my mission. Moments when I feel so much love and joy that I feel like my heart´s going to burst. Another one of those moments was today, when we went to say goodbye to Manuel. I told him that someday I´ll come back to visit, and that when that day comes, I want him to answer the door walking, and not in his wheelchair. And he told me that he would. I have seen the Lord work miracles in Manuel, literally he has been healing in front of my eyes, and I know that he will be walking when I see him again.
This is, maybe, one of the most important things I have learned on my mission: how to love. How to give without expecting anything in return. How to serve with everything I have and feel real joy in that service.
The Lord has taught me again and again in my time here that the blessings come when we serve. Way back in the beginning of my mission I shared with you all the lyrics of a youth song called "It´s not about you," and I have learned that principle again and again. When I forget myself, I am happy. When I´m feeling sick or tired, I know that the Lord will give me strength in the moment that I go out and contact someone. When I feel angry or frustrated, I know that I need to serve.
And I know that when we truly give ourselves to the Lord, He can then work with us. He can change us, and then use us as instruments to bring about much good and many miracles. Sometimes we see the miracles He does through us, sometimes we don´t, but I know that they happen.
Honestly, I don´t really want to end the mission. But I know that while my official mission as a full-time missionary in Mexico may be ending, my mission in life is really just beginning. This Mexico mission has been like my training camp for my life mission. It was how I learned some important lessons and skills to help me in my future service, and how I expanded my sphere of influence. And now that I´m going back home, I´m returning with all the ganas in the world to keep serving and to always be a missionary.
I reread this talk by Elder Holland this morning, and it reminded me that even when some wonderful moments come to their end, the best is yet to be. I invite you all to read it, it´s really really good:
I also invite you all to my little sister´s graduation party this Friday. I don´t know the details, but my mom does :) And I invite you all this Sunday to the Wadsworth Ward Sacrament Meeting, where I will share I few more thoughts about my mission and some important lessons I learned here. It´s in the Medina Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don´t remember the direction or the hour of our services, so you´ll have to ask my mom about that too. But I hope to see you all there.
I know that God is my Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that He lives, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His church. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I really do. I know that I am His servant. I know these things with all my heart.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Herron
No comments:
Post a Comment