Good Bye from the Mission

Per the Mission President's Blog

This week yet another group of wonderful missionaries left, including four great zone leaders, one sister leader, and district leaders.  In two weeks another sister leader and our head mission nurse leaves (they also attended the farewell dinner this time). It is never easy to say good-bye.  We hate to lose such wonderful missionaries who have done so much to further the work here in our mission.  We know the Lord will bless them and that they will continue the work in their wards and stakes and with their families.  We are going to miss them so much!!

 

 

  

 

I always say that I was not the best missionary for this mission but the mission was the best for me.

I have little time but so much to say.  This is my last letter to you guys as a full time missionary. 

Therefore I want to thank you mom, and everyone else that reads my blog, for all their support and prayers you have offered in my behalf. I have been blessed so much as a missionary. This is good to end this part of my life and progress. I have learned so much, things I wouldn't have learned in other things. Only on the Lords errand. I always say that I was not the best missionary for this mission but the mission was the best for me.

Thank you so much.  My heart is happy and sad to leave. Happy to be with my family, but sad that I will have to leave these people that I have come to love. I love Ecuador. I know that God wanted me to progress by getting me out of my comfort zone at home and put me here. Now He wants me to progress even more by taking me out of this comfort zone and putting me into the real world. This life is full of progress and not being comfortable. If everything was comfortable then we wouldn't progress.

Thank you so much for everything.

Love 

ElderLuke

I have no idea??

Oh is he going to be cold when he comes back to Boise?

Just know that I am not the same than when I left on the mission

I am happy that everything is awesome at home.  I am so happy to hear that Brandon and Becca were in the same concert. How special. I just want you to know that I am happy, safe. 

I don't know what to say more. What I can say I can say in two weeks. 

Just know that I am not the same than when I left on the mission. not worse. but better. But what is the greatest difference is that my testimony has grown. Thank you for supporting me and helping me get to this point.

With LOTS of love,

ElderLuke

 

Somebody asked me if it was my birthday. I said, wow, it is.

We got Elder Luke's travel plans to come home!!!  His family is very excited.  We assumed that he would have received the information too but we didn't share it with him, just in case he didn't want to know.  An end date is a scary thing for those who are immersed in the service of God.  For those who are excited for a return date, like us, he will be coming home to Boise, Idaho on Tuesday December 1st at 12:52pm.  He will be giving his homecoming talk on Sunday December 13th at 9am.

Well I don't even know my flight plans. I feel a little out of the loop but I really don't want to know the flight plans either way.

This week I will tell you that we went to Guayaquil for leaders council. It was cool because I was able to train other leaders and also voice my opinion in some subjects. It wasn't until we finished the council on Thursday that somebody asked me if it was my birthday. I said, wow, it is.  I had forgotten. To you guys I didn't receive cakes. I didn't receive a lot of congrats. That's weird in your eyes, but I loved it. I hid it from everyone. I even bought my own cake in the end. I liked it. I didn't want to be the center of attention. I wanted to focus on other things. Some of the members now are remembering that it was my birthday, I just smile and say yes it was my birthday.  In my mind I was like thanks for forgetting. I didn't feel like I had taken a day off work from the Lord. But I did invite my companion and a district leader in my zone to eat while we were in Guayaquil. I really liked it. But now its weird saying that I am 20 years old. 

I don't have much to say, as my time is coming to an end I don't have much to say because what I can say I can say in person very quickly. I feel that this change from missionary to not is going to be hard. Every time I think that I am ending the mission soon I started tearing up. I absolutely love the mission. But this was a lot of preparation for a lot of many harder years to come.

Know that I am well, with the Spirit, sad, happy at the same time, healthy, sun burnt, and I am a Mormon.

jajaja, my "I am a Mormon message"

I love you guys

ElderLuke

Brian - I was tired
Mom - and sun burned
Brian - I have to soak up the sun so I look super tanner than you guys soon

Well my days are numbered. Its coming close. But it hasn't come yet. I have time.

Wow this week I had a lot of emails in my inbox. Wow it took a long time to read it, but so exciting

 what is going on in your lives. Well here nobody really celebrates Halloween, how lame right. But instead they go to the cemeteries and remember their family that have passed away. This week for such a holiday for them we didn't go to Guayaquil for the conference. But Maybe during this week or maybe next week I will be going. I really enjoyed your pictures that you  sent me. It brightens my day. Not that my days are dark, but it's like a cherry on top to a nice Sunday.

I am happy for Brother (Bishop) Hutchings, I know he will serve with all his heart. But I have to say that I am a little sad that Bishop Cleverly won't be able to receive me as a Bishop. He was a really huge help in the process of getting me on the mission. But either way I will see him. I really thought he was going to last until 4 weeks more but that's the way God wants it. We can't see his plans.  We can only go with it and trust in him.

This week we had a baptism.  The same day earlier in the morning a sister in the zone was passing out and feeling dizzy and not acting normal, so we had to go and give her a blessing, It was weird being in the sister missionaries house. Then I said something really stupid, I said, "sisters if you guys need anything like food or something you can call us and we will deliver it". Well after the baptism of Carmen, they called and said "hey we want hamburgers and milk shakes". Normally here when you offer help nobody wants it so I always say it because nobody accepts it.  This time she accepted. I was like esta bien, okay. The worst part was that we were fasting and so we weren't able to buy some for us.  We had to watch them prepare it in front of us and everything and not taste anything. What a bummer. But we were able to serve.

Yesterday I learned two things. First I have been battling a question for a while. I  always testify that Christ lives but I have never seen him, I don't know that He lives, yet i believe that He live. My faith hasn't turned to a perfect knowledge yet.  While I was meditating on that in the sacrament meeting my mind was lead to a scripture that is in Ezekiel 20:20

And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

I have explained this before in the olden days the sabbath day was on Saturday so that those people would understand that God is almighty. Now it is on Sunday as a señal or signal to indicate us that Christ lives. I have experienced to its fullest the Sabbath day and I have come to realize that indeed Christ does live. I know now because I have seen the signal.

The other thing is that in a marriage you have to speak the same language. not only being able to communicate verbally but also to be together in all things. For example speaking the same language would be reading the scriptures together, praying together, going to church together, and being on the same page. Its something that was said in church that I thought was neat.

Well my days are numbered. Its coming close. But it hasn't come yet. I have time.

I love you so much. I want you to know that I have prayed and fasted for snow. Our business depends on it.

Have a wonderful week, and enjoy RED ROBBINS ......... YUMMMMMMM (Family birthday dinner at Red Robbins to celebrate Brian's birthday on the 5th).

ElderLuke