Week 105--Murray, UT

Hey Everyone!

This last week of mission was probably one of my hardest of my life. 

One tender mercy that I found out yesterday was one person that we previously taught named Melanie was baptized on the island of Antigua. I am very excited for her. She will be a very influential member.

I will miss my current companion Elder Archer. He's like a brother and one of my best friends.

I am now returning home Tuesday morning. I have loved the experience of my mission. Never before have I been so utterly exposed. Many of my weaknesses and shortcomings were made very apparent to me each manifesting themselves at different times during my mission. Before my mission, I previously thought of myself as self-sufficient and able to take care of myself and that I would be quite capable of doing the Lord's work. I thought I had a thorough knowledge of the gospel and that I would be fine facing rejection and the regular toils of missionary life. The reality that none of these things were true shook me quite a bit. 

The lessons and the experiences that God has used to teach me through the course of my mission have truly changed me forever. I now know that I can't be truly self-sufficient and that I need to look unto him in every thought and word. 

My mission has taught me how much I don't know and has given me a desire to learn of God's ways. My vision for my life has changed drastically and God has raised my previous personal vision immensely. I have gained much more depth in my understanding of the Savior and feel much more of a profound love for Him. I know that God is real; that He is aware of our circumstances. I know Jesus Christ lives; that He performed a perfect Atonement to save all mankind. I know that there is no way to be reconciled to God except in and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ which Christ and prophets since the beginning have testified of. As any person young or old, bond or free, black or white, learned unlearned and so on, sincerely and with full purpose of heart hearkens to the precepts of the gospel that man or woman will be saved. They will receive all good things and progression available and will experience joy beyond what our body is even capable of feeling in its fallen state. 

I love you all.

Week 104--Murray, Utah

The week was good. It was hard.... But good. We taught a bunch of
lessons this week and stayed super busy. One of the dinners we went to
had like 5 newly wed couples who had just gotten married not to long
ago. I guess it is a good foreshadowing to my next phase in life...
Courting.

It is interesting how some people you think are solid really aren't
and vice versa. TJ and Janelle were a couple that we didn't think
would work at all. He seemed interested but he has a lot of WoW
problems. They aren't married and she is married to someone else. The
first lesson the wife wouldn't even sit in. We started teaching the
boyfriend TJ. He was surprisingly really receptive. We invited him
to be baptized. He accepted. We said, "You know you're going to have
to give up all of your cigarettes, alcohol and weed right?" He said,"Yeah I know." We started trying to use some of the resources we have
in divorce. The girlfriend was super interested in this. We had a
lesson with one of the guys who helps us with divorce and they got it
all set up. She has since taken interest in the lessons.

It is very weird going home in a week. Very unreal. A lot has shifted
in my wants and desires.  A lot of my perspective has changed
immensely. I have had priceless experiences and trials and challenges.
I have come to know the Savior much more and have felt of his love and
power.

Also Oleg was baptized.

Love y'all bye!

God promised that he would tell me a field i could go into at the end of my mission. God sent many many coincidences my way notifying to me that i could go into the field of law. I saw the word lawyer everywhere. I started to connect the dots with my past that i would in fact be prepared with the study of latin and drama. Calculus and physics aided me with logic. A drunk guy said that he thought i was a pre-law student. Just a lot of little coincidences like that. All of these things were just confirming witnesses of my original answer. I saw that it was coming to the end of my mission so i prayed and asked God to tell me which career he was referring to. I had lunch with Bro. Wooley and he told me that he had studied the field of engineering and then when he graduated he realized that he didnt like the job. He decided to be a lawyer and he knew thats what he wanted to do. The spirit told me that that was the career that i could do. I hope to go to law school.