Monday, June 18, 2012

Last week of the mission!! Thanks for all your support & love!

Olha Minha Querida Familia!
Então Jason... Eu gostaria de falar Português mas não da tempo... Mas eu vou te escrever em português tabom?
Oh my goodness! Thanks for the wonderful e-mails I love them all! I will try my best to write yall back but if I don´t have the time next week for sure. After all this is my last e-mail but not my last P-day... 

So now my time is running out. but can you believe it the mission is ending? I sure can´t. I love being a missionary and well been truly a huge blessing in my life. This transfer has been different than the rest. Its been full of knocking doors and just searching for those people needing the gosple in their lives. Its been super tough and well a transfer without baptisms, full of zeros in our numbers, freezing cold, and well just being super tired and well worn out. but I´ve learned a valuable lesson and thats how true this gospel is. If I´ve gained anything in this past year and half that how much our Father in Heaven really loves us and answers our prayers. How our savior literally is by our side. Really our prayers are answered daily if we pay attention. and well sometimes you´ve got to knock 20 more doors in the pouring rain on the coldest night to find that last house to teach a special family. Its interesting but before the mission I thought oh here in the next year I´ll have everything down! I´ll speak portuguese perfect. Ha that didn´t happen still to this day I get strange looks. I´ll know where to go, who to teach, I´ll be a pro missionary! nope daily its a struggle. But thats life. we will never have life down or know exactly to do. If we were perfect, spoke perfect and knew exactly what to do why are we here? Life is meant to be a struggle and to learn how to keep moving and progressing along. I´ve learned that time and time again here on the mission. We´ve got to humble ourselves before the Lord daily in prayer asking for fogiveness and those experiences to strengthen us and lift those around us. The mission has been amazing and really opened my mind up to how the gospel really is in action. How its so important to apply the atonement in our lives. So yeah life is difficult but hey its important to laugh and remember to be positive! Thats something my mission president and his wife taught me. To always smile! haha because if we can´t have happiness in our lives then what are we doing here. what have we really learned? Because of the atonement of our Savior we can  become clean daily, we can try again and again to be perfect daily. Because of the gospel the restoration of the church we have a prophet who leads us and guides us in this difficult world bringing us the light we need in our lives. and because of the restoration we have knowledge that our families can be together forever! I love this part! we have the power to seal our families together forever! also we have a book called the book of Mormon that if we let it, it can be the answer to all our problems in life and that happiness we are needing. So why be sad in life when we can smile and be happy that all of this is here on earth for our benefit to bless and strengthen us daily. I know our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ lives and Loves  us. These past 18 months have shown that to me clearer. I´ll forever be grateful for these past 18 months and just being able to be a witness to many miracles and an instrument in Gods hands. I´ll miss this time like crazy here in the next bit. but I know this time has been well spent and I would reccomend this for everyone. Its tough, but the most rewarding thing I´ve done so far in my life. and I know without a doubt that it because of these 18 months I am more ready for what lies ahead of me. Also I want to thank everyone for the love, support, packages, e-mails letters and mostly your prayers. They really have sustained me as a missionary. Your words and just the thought to send something my way always lifted me up! I´m going to miss opening up my e-mail weekly full of e-mails! haha you just might have to keep sending them my way! haha jk but really thanks for everything I´ll never forget how loved I was as a missionary! Can´t wait to see a few of yall Saturday!!! THen few more the following week!! then the rest back in Utah!! I love you all!! Te amo!! Até logo!!
mia nossa como eu vou sentir falta da missão!!
com muito Amor!
-Sister Gregory