"I'm sittin' in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination"

Hey team! 

I'm not really sure how I can possibly summarize this week/transfer/18 months into one final, all-encompassing email. There's no way to do it justice, but I'll give it my best shot. 

I love my mission. It has not been easy and I think for many people (myself absolutely included) that loving the mission comes gradually as we are able to reflect on our experiences with the perspective of already having passed through them. There were moments, including during this week, when I did not love my mission. When it's raining and you're freezing and the one rdv you had that day got cancelled. It's not easy. But the feeling you get at the end of the day when you went and did it anyway is worth the freezing toes and disappointments. 

Throughout the mish there are times we do things that don't really make sense, or things we frankly don't want to do- like knocking on doors in the pouring rain or going to lessons with people when the odds seem stacked against us or talking to people in centre ville, or wandering around on our deserted street in the dark because it's not quite nine o'clock yet and the bell hasn't rung. But when we're in those situations my comps and I have reminded ourselves that "we must really love Heavenly Father" and at the end of the day, that's why we do it. We love Heavenly Father, and He loves all His children. 

And He is so grateful that we do it. 

I have not been a perfect servant but luckily God doesn't need us to be perfect! In fact, He gave us a Savior because part of the plan was for us to not be perfect. And the Atonement is real, even for missionaries. All Christ asks is that we put our trust in Him and keep going. He can and He will change us. That's why He wants us to be obedient and to work and to try, it's because "He can make of us a masterpiece, while we only make of ourselves a smudge." 

So I am grateful that we do it. I am grateful to have been here and to have been given the opportunity to love and serve and teach these people. Stubborn and difficult as they are, they've sure earned a place in my heart. 

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"

Heroes get remembered but legends never die. 

Soeur Hansen

1 Corinthians 1:17