Our Life is about to change. We have 10 left days on our mission. We have enjoyed serving a full time mission in the Utah Salt Lake South Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the past 2 years we have had a fairly structured life.During these two years we have had the privilege to work with a variety of individuals and families. Many are families that are less active in our faith, some are non-members who know nothing about what we believe. We visited several that just needed encouragement in their lives. Our purpose has been to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel and or renew their faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
I have served with the best companion ever; my eternal husband. We have grown closer as a couple and learned so much from this experience and from each other. We have witnessed many miracles small and large. We know beyond doubt that our loving Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives. He loves all His Children and that means everyone born on this earth.
We have enjoyed relationships with other Member Leadership Support missionaries like ourselves. We have been blessed to work closely with the younger Elders and Sisters. These young people are incredible. They work hard in spreading the truths of the gospel. We watch as they conduct meetings and guide discussions. We find them to be amazing young adults.
We are finding it difficult to leave all of these brothers and sisters that we have grown to love as we have visited with and taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope since we will remain in the same area that we can have continued associations with them.
We will be now able to spend more quality moments with our beloved children and grandchildren who have supported us in this endeavor. There have been miracle blessings in our family. We know these blessings have come because we were promised that if we served this mission our family would be blessed.
Many friends have asked me what we will do with our time now that our mission is almost completed. They wonder if we will feel lost without anything to do. Trust me that will never happen. We will embrace the changes in our lives. We will always be involved in some aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I thought I would share my bucket list of things I want to accomplish in the next few years.
1. Enjoy increased moments with our children and grandchildren. Perhaps attend more of their activities than we have been able to.
2. Wake up and be happy that we don't have an agenda for the day.
3. Work on Genealogy and Family History.
4. Do both of our own histories
5. Organize all the photos and movies we have made through the years.
6. Work in the Jordan River Temple when it reopens.
7. Travel and go to different temples in Utah and surrounding states.
8. Visit other relatives that live out of state.
9. Travel to church history sites such as Palmyra, New York.
10.Travel to Hawaii; this is already a plan for December.
11. Continue to fulfill callings in our church.
12. Be a member missionary
13. Catch up on all our house hold needs.
14. Read some novels.
15. Grow a garden.
I will be sad to leave this marvelous mission but look forward to other changes that will surely come. We do live in a remarkable day with so many wonderful things that we can do and become. I will rise up and continue to be faithful in the work of loving and caring about all of my brothers and sisters throughout this beautiful world of ours.