Well, it's official... I'm getting transferred. Tomorrow! Ack! I love I_____ with all of my heat and soul. When we found out I'll be leaving, I cried with so many people I've come to consider family here. I'll visit for certain again, no worries, but it still feels like I'm leaving home for my mission all over again.
But! I will be "whitewashing", which means my companion and I will be opening up a brand new area in the mission. My new companion is named Sister Bueno- I hear she's crazy fun but also a hard worker. It'll be exciting to meet her tomorrow! We'll both be on the same level too- neither of us will know the people in the area, and we'll both be starting from scratch. It should be one amazing experience :D
This week I've been dreading transfers, but once I got over the fact that change is the only constant you can rely on, I've been doing much better. Mmm, well I say "once I got over it...", actually it's a process I'm still working on. Sounds like it'll be a lifelong process :)
But once I stopped thinking about myself so much, and once I remembered what the Lord's work is all about (OTHER people, helping OTHERS to Christ), then I automatically felt my stress levels drop. Reading the Ricciardi Letter really helped, too. (It's a letter someone wrote to a missionary about his mission experience. In the letter, Elder Ricciardi is the narrator's trainer, and he's a crazy Italian who literally feared no man, and he was so close to the Spirit. It's an amazing story. Read it! :D You'll understand more once you read it. It's so incredible.) Someone needs me in the C______ area, so I'm going to go and find them. This will be one amazing week, I'm looking forward to it!
And now, on to the best part I was saving for last... Happy Father's Day!!!!!
No one can top my Daddy. I miss him more than I miss anything else, but I know he's waiting for me to get back home to him. I know he'll want me to return with honor, and I plan on doing my very best every single day, every single waking moment, to make him proud :) He's given me all that I have, from every materialistic thing to every memory and value that makes up who I am. I remember late nights staying up with him and my siblings while my mom was at work, and we'd read the scriptures on the hardwood floor and then spend ages discussing them. That was the first time I felt a "thirst" for reading the scriptures. I remember when I made him cry when I'd bring up the fact that I was leaving home for college, and I remember his firm hug goodbye for 18 months when he sent me away to the airport for my mission. When I return, I want him to be teary-eyed with pride, knowing that I did my best to serve the Lord.
My relationship with my Dad has helped me understand my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I'm so blessed to have a loving father like mine. I know not everyone is lucky enough to have that, but there is one Perfect father everyone on earth has- Heavenly Father. For Him, I know He misses me and shed tears when I left His heavenly home to come to earth. I know He hugged me goodbye and wished me the best, and I know He watches over me still and helps me. I know that when I eventually will return home to His presence, I want Him to also shed tears of pride, knowing that I did my best every single day, every single waking moment. That's my goal, and I can't ever be grateful enough for my mission experience that is teaching me more about how to reach that goal :) And there are countless others here that need help reaching that goal too, and I'm honored that the Lord has trusted me to go and see every single person that I've met here. Only tears, and not even very efficiently, are what I can use to try to convey the depth of my gratitude and my love to both of my Fathers, the one here and the One waiting for me still :)
Thank you, to all of the dads out there, and to all of my surrogate dads here!! I love you!
Going to miss Sis. Wilson!
Wonderful surrogate parents!
"Please don't go." ;)
These are all the people who came out with me from the MTC! (Except Elder Bradfield in the middle)
We got a tour of one of our ward's mission leader's farm when he heard I was leaving. "The Field is white already to harvest..."
We knocked on a house we're pretty sure is abandoned, but the Spirit said to knock. It's hard to see in the pic, but there are huge nails sticking out of the roof- we were pretty sure we were going to die. So we took a picture, naturally.
The last pic is of me with this amazing old man's cane... he made it out of a golf club and a fishing pole. He can fish, practice put-put without fetching the ball, he can walk... he should patent it.
Till next week! Have some crazy adventures till then :)
