Thursday, July 31 2014

GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT I LEAVE FOR THE FIELD IN 5 DAYS CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Because I sure can´t. Time is a strange entity her at the CCM. You know how they say that to God, 1000 years is a day? Or something like that? I think in this world of representatives of Jesus Christ, we get a smidgeon of this perception. Because I´ve never, ever experienced longer days and I´ve also never, ever been so surprised when a week flies by so quickly. Time is in the eye of the beholder and at this point in the CCM, I´m one exhausted and rather messed up beholder.
Messed up is probably a negative term, and I most definitely am not trying to be negative! I love the CCM and all that comes with it, so much. There just comes a time in any young, greener-than-green missionary´s life where the nest of the CCM starts to feel too small. Maybe it´s the comedor carbs fattening them up, or perhaps their ever-growing stack of study materials has reached the max capacity of their tiny, 3 story nest (I´m switching from metaphor to reality and back again here, sorry). No matter the reason, this little, chappa-wearing bird is ready to stretch her wings and fly the coop. It´s time for my mommabirdcoughteacherscoughalsobabysitters to pick me up and throw me out. I´ll probably fall pretty hard. But Adam fell too, and he ended up ok (reference- PMG Chapter 3, lesson , Plan of Salvation, 3rd paragraph). So if Adam survived, I can too. This baby bird is heading out! I´m getting dropped, head first into Spain- jokes on me because I still don´t know Spanish. But it´ll come. Life is good. Let´s fly. 
This week has been great, though, in all seriousness. I wish I had some incredible, life changing and potentially Ensign-making material to share, but unfortunately, that is not the case this week. ON Monday, I studied Spanish and the Gospel, played futbol and ate. On Tuesday, I studied Spanish and the Gospel, played futbol and ate. On Wednesday, I studied Spanish, played futbol and ate. Thursday-HA! Gotcha. Thursday is the ever predictable plot twist of my week. This time it came in the form of bowling at the mall. Wow it was weird to wear jeans and hear music and thrust my fingers into the nasty, germ filled confines of a bowling ball. But I survived the weirdness and it was good. The best part of Thursday was... well, in reality it was the temple because who doesn´t love the temple? I did the session in Spanish for the first time and it was beautiful, if not understandable. But the second best thing was the devotional that we listened to by Elder Bednar. He talked about how the Gospel is divided into 3 parts- doctrines, principles and applications. Often, we as members focus too much on the applications rather than the doctrine, and that is where misunderstanding and, as a result, disobedience occurs. If we choose, however, to focus on the doctrines-the pure and simple truths of the Gospel- we will understand and have the desire to obey. It was amazing. IN the midst of the war of words about this issue or that within and without the Church, where is the easiest place to find peace? The veracity and simplicity of the Doctrine of Christ. We have access to all of it- just read 2 Nephi 31 or Mosiah 4 or, what the heck, just read The Book of Mormon. The Bible. Pray. We have the truth and the answers and most importantly, we have Heavenly Father. He is our answer and He always will be. Our only job? Read D&C 11:20- 
When I email next, I´ll be a real life, living, breathing, door knocking and street contacting missionary! I could not be more scared, excited, and inadequate. But it´s ok, because Christ is adequate. This Gospel is His great novel of life, and I´m just the pencil. THE CHURCH IS TRUE! I love you all!! Until next week! 
Love, 
Hermana Seeg.

Thursday, July 24th

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Hello!

I got sooo many letters this week which was so fantastic, tell everyone thank you so much! Parker´s hasn´t got here yet but I got two from you and one from Mia and one from Jake. It was funny because there is this Elder that I´m super good friends with and every day I get super excited about getting mail and when I don´t get any he says "Seegmiller. Accept it. They´re just not writing you!!" But then I got so many this week! So that shut him up. haha.

I love the CCM!! I love my friends here and I´m going to be really sad to see everyone leave, but I guess that´s just what happens. I´m so excited for the field, though!

I´m finally figuring out how to send you a few pics, hopefully this works! Last week for P-day we went to downtown Madrid and walked around. I tried to take a few cool pics for you guys, it´s so beautiful here!! The buildings and history behind them are unreal. We saw the Palace of the King and a big ole Cathedral that was so beautiful. For some reason they didn´t let my group go inside which kinda disappointed me but I guess I have more time to do  that

This week was awesome! The park was great, we met a lady from Tennesse that we talked to for awhile. My Spanish is coming along well! Slowly but surely. P day was great and I love going to the temple! Not a ton to report, I´ll write another letter soon with more deets about my mish life. I love it out here!! So so much. Spain is my place. It´s the happiest I´ve ever been. I love serving the LORD!!!!  

Love, 
Sam

July 17th letter from CCM

Dear Familia y Amigos Who I Love So Dearly,

Hellllloooooooooo. This week was a super great one! I´m exhausted and ready to eat different food besides the five staple meals that they cycle through here at the CCM comedor, but besides that, life is muy bien here in Espana. We got a lot of new people here this week, which has been superbien (that´s my favorite word that my teacher Hermano Lopez uses. He also says “vale” more than he breathes, probably. Vale means ok. We counted how many times he said it yesterday, and in 20 minutes, he was up to 72. It was incredible). There are three new missionaries from Ukraine, 2 sisters and one elder. One of the sisters and the elder speak really good English, so it´s been pretty easy to communicate with them. The rest of the new people are about 6 or 7 elders that got transferred here from the Provo CCM. They are going to Russia on their missions. Yeah. Weird, right? They teach Spanish and Russian as second languages here, and then when Italian, Portuguese or French missionaries come and they will be speaking their language in their mission, they will bring teachers in that are Italian, Portuguese or French to teach them for the 2 weeks that they are here. It´s a confusing system but I guess it works. I like all the new people a lot! My Spaniard group is still mi favorite, though. I love the kids that have been here the whole time with me. They´re so great.

So this week, this week, this week. Hmm. Honestly, everything becomes such a blur after awhile here because every single day is basically the same. On Thursday we went to the temple and even though I slept (on accident) through a fair amount of the session, it worked out just fine. I love the Temple here, it´s so beautiful. Living next door to it is quite the privilege. On Saturday, we went to the Park, which is becoming easily my favorite part of the week. It feels like real missionary work, which is so awesome. We get different companions for the park and this week I was with the same Hermana that I was with the first week, Hermana Shake. Before going to the park I prayed that we would be able to have a better experience then we did the first time, because the first time was ROUGH. I prayed to be able to teach people and not just hand out pass along cards. Well, the prayers worked! We talked to four people, which isn´t a lot, but they were great conversations that I was really grateful for the experiences. One the way home on the metro, we sat across from a family. I tried to start a conversation with them, but they blatantly ignored me, which isn´t unusual but I still hate it when it happens. Not only that, though, but I had really felt like we picked the right part of the metro to get onto in order to talk to someone, and I was convinced it was going to be the family. After they played the invisible game with us, they got off a the next stop and we were then sitting by nobody. I looked around and I saw this guy and I really felt like I needed to talk to him, but he was a few benches away and looked super grumpy. I kept thinking and feeling like he was our guy, but I couldn’t muster up the courage to move over and talk to him. Lucky for us, he got off at the same stop as we did, and he started talking to us! It was great- Heavenly Father gave me a freebie on that one. He spoke English and was a Bishop for an Episcopalian church. He was so kind and we ended up giving him a Restoration pamphlet. I don´t know why I felt so strongly to talk to him, but I´m glad that I did… well, I guess he talked to me. But I´m grateful for that!

I probably forgot to mention this in previous forms of communication, mainly because it´s not very exciting, but I am currently serving as the CCM pianist extraordinaire. That means I play all the hymns, choose all the hymns that I then play, arrange musical numbers and play prelude for every single meeting we have. It´s way over my head and I play from the Spanish hymnbook, so when I´m playing prelude I don´t actually know what song it is until I am in the middle of playing it. So that has lead to a few Christmas longs in July. It´s been awesome. But really, I like having a calling here (besides the slightly less important call of missionary, I suppose :)

I love my teachers here. I´m mainly saying this because a few of them said they´re going to read the blog, so if they end up following through with that, hi Hermano y Hermana Giorgino! But for real, the teachers here are all so great. I have Hermana Ganazah, this cute, short, fiery Spaniard lady who talks so fast and teaches us all about Spanish and spiritual things. Then we have Hermano Lopez after lunch. He speaks super good English and seriously makes me laugh. He has a very serious, murderous resting face. But then he starts talking and you realize he is not, in fact, murderous but actually quite hilarious. Sound effects are his forte. And then there are the Giorginos. They´re this young, married Italiano couple who actually live here in the CCM with us. So they´re our friends. He plays soccer with us everyday and destroys. They both served missions in the US and speak perfect Spanish and I don´t know, we just love them. I´ll miss them when I leave the CCM. (There you go, guys, I laid it on pretty thick. Hope that suffices).

Ok, one last story and then I have to sign off for the week. So you walk into the park, and the first thing you see is a group of 5-7 black guys, sitting on the benches by the entrance. They´re there every week, and last week, my angel of a park companion, Hermana Jones and I, decided to talk to them. We walked up to one of them and we told  him about the Church! He said, ¨”Yes, I know your church, I was baptized into your church in 1996.” Way cool. We asked him why he doesn’t come to church anymore, and he said that business didn’t allow him too. So we left after a little bit, but I started thinking about how we needed to go back and get his information so that we could have the missionaries contact him. Jones and I agreed that if he was still there when we left, we would get it from him. As we were leaving, we thought we saw him, so we ran back over there. But it wasn’t him. BUT! Some other guys told me to meet him next week with an English BOM. Well, surprise, the next week he wasn’t there. I was way bummed. Later, I was talking to Hmno. Giorgino about it, and guess what. Those guys are drug dealers. They were messing with us, naturally. The business that didn’t allow that guy to go to church anymore? It´s not that he works on Sundays, its that he sells drugs. Yeah. Drugs. Cool. No wonder. So, here I am. Sam Seegmiller from Riverton, Utah, preaching the Gospel to African drug dealers in Spain. Life rules.

The Church is true! Heavenly Father loves us all, so much. Be missionaries! Every day, remember who you are and how many people are watching and learning from you. I promise that it is more than you think. Life is the time to prepare to meet God again, but life is also a time to have joy! So, be happy! Start everyday with a smile and try to keep it there, smack in the center of your face, for as long as you can. It works. Heavenly Father loves all of us, whether we are drug dealers in Spain or BYU students from Riverton. He just loves us so much. (See how preachy I am getting? (Don´t you love it?) :)

I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Seeg

July 9, 2014

Hello Everyone!!

Hello from Madrid! This week has been awesome. A lot like last week, but that´s great! I LOVE being a missionary. I´ve been thinking about what I most want to tell everyone about my life here this week, and I´ve come up with a few things that I think are worthy candidates for this email. I wish I could somehow tell you everything, but seeing as that is not a possibility and also that probably no one wants to know that much, I think this will suffice.

My compañera and I have become best buds! We stick together mostly because we have to,but I like to think part of it is because we actually really like being together. We both eat an orange at every meal, like raw peppers, have seen all the same 1986 Aerobics National Championship Youtube videos (pre mish, of course), and we work really well together during lessons (that means when I run out of the 10ish Spanish words that I know by heart, she covers for me). We do situps together every morning in our skirts and she laughs at all my incredibly unfunny jokes. She is my better half (that sounds a little weird but it´s true). As we say in Spanish, I fall for her. In Spanish saying “me gusta mi compañera” or “I like my companion” has a weirdly inappropriate meaning, but it´s normal and acceptable to say that you fall for your companion. I don´t know, Spaniards are nuts.

The Park this week was incredible! My park companion and I talked to so many people, and none of them yelled at us or shooed us away. Maybe a few, but I don´t really remember. A ton of them spoke English, which ruled, and we had 3 or 4 genuinely interested people. We got their contact information to give to the missionaries in the field. The best contact we had was Lorenzo. He was this crusty old man who seemed genuinely interested and excited to hear about the Gospel. He was so kind. I just had the feeling that we was waiting for us. Hopefully the field missionaries will contact him.

Ok, funniest story before I have to finish this up. So we are teaching two “investigators” right now. They are actually just our teachers, acting like investigators. It´s cool because they have a story, we meet with them everyday, and it feels so real. Like, the other day we thought we were going to have to cancel our appointment with one of our investigators. I was going to tell my teacher/investigator and I thought, “Well, I´ll tell Hermano Gigorgino, but who is going to tell Mark (his investigator name)?” They are two separate people, in my mind. So anyways, yesterday we were teaching Mark and Juana (Hermano and Hermana Giorginoo) in the foyer on the 6^th floor. The foyer is right next to the kitchen and the elevator, so people are in and out of our lessons all the time. Usually Mark will joke and say “Oh, that´s our cook” or “that´s our butler”. It´s really funny. So as we were teaching yesterday, I was in the middle of talking about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and this random, really fat boy got out of the elevator. I laughed a little and tried to say, “Oh, is this your cook?” The word for cook is cocinero and the word for food is very similar, being comida. Being the idiot that I tend to be sometimes, I actually ended up saying, “Oh, is this your food?”. They lost it. They couldn´t keep their straight faces in the slightest. I called this hugely fat guy their food, right in the middle of a lesson. We were all laughing so hard to the point where it completely ruined our lesson. Afterwarrds, Hermana Giorgino told me that was the funniest thing she´s ever heard in a practice lesson like that, and she´s been working here for almost 2 years. So yes, my name will forever live in infamy here at the Spain CCM.

Well guys, the church is true! It´s so true. The Atonement is real and incredible and so undeniably beautiful. The Gospel is for everyone- I know that. When we stick to the basics of the Gospel, everything else will make sense. Jesus Christ is our one hope and our way back home and I´m so grateful for Him. I miss you and love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Seeg

PS- There was a talk given by Elder Bednar at the Provo CCm a few years ago about following the Spirit. Look it up, it´s incredible!!

Sam's first letter from Spain

Thursday, July 3 2014

Hey Everyone!!

Ok so I have no time but I just wanted to tell you that I love you all so much!! I got and read all of your emails and will try to  respond as the weeks go on. I just have such little time to email!!

But this week has been the best! We got to Spain last Tuesday and it´s been a whirwind ever since! I love it! Spain is beautiful, but I haven´t seen much of it yet. The CCM is awesome. There are 23 missionaries here right now, and we´re like one big happy family! I love my friends here, especially my district and most especially my companion, Hmn. Merrill. She´s so wonderful! Every day we study the Gospel and Spanish all day, and we have two investigators that we teach every day.They are teachers play acting, but it feels SO real it´s so crazy. We love the experience, although it´s so hard to teach in Spanish!! Every day we play soccer outside for an hour. It´s so cool. All the little Spanish kids come and play with us, they love the missionaries!! I´m making a name for myself in the soccer aspect of things, mainly because I´m the only Hermana that can kind of keep up with the Elders. Haha

On Saturdays we take the metro to the huge park downtown and teach people that walk around the park!! It´s like the scariest thing ever but so great. I can understand mostly everything that people say, but I´m having a hard time speaking still. I guess it´s only been a week, though, so I have time to learn!! On Sundays we sing as a choir in front of the temple and that´s really fun. People come and listen because they love the missionaries around here! The CCM is right next to the temple, so we go every Thursday! It´s wonderful.

I love being a missionary and my testimony has grown so much! I´m so happy here and I´m so grateful that Heavenly Father knows and loves us so so much and knows exactly what we need. Everything about my mission so far just feels so perfect for me, specifically, and that's been a huge testimony builder.

I´m so sorry I didn´t have more time, but I will definitely write more next Thursday!! I love you all!! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sam

Grateful

*My farewell was on Sunday, and as a few people have requested a copy of my talk, I decided it might be a good idea to post it here. Enjoy, eh?*

In writing this talk, I tried to closely follow advice from one of my favorite movies, "A Midnight in Paris". In this movie, Ernest Hemingway, upon meeting one of his fans, says something along the lines of “You liked my book? Well, it’s a good book because it is an honest book.” Hopefully the honesty that I attempted to achieve in this talk can effectively bring the Spirit and convey the message that needs to be conveyed.

The other day, while reading in 1 Nephi and I came across chapter 17, which was a chapter that had never stuck out to me before. As I read it and pondered over the things that I learned from it, I was floored. Nephi and his family decide to take a one-way journey from their home of Jerusalem into the wilderness, a place completely without the civilized life that they are used to. Their lives have been 100% turned upside-down. Not only have they left their home, but surely they left their entire lives behind- people that they loved, things they liked to do, and everything that had defined who they were up until that point. They only have each other, and as they enter what is simply referred to as the “wilderness”, the fruits of their faith aren’t immediately apparent. They’re struggling, to put it simply. Nephi expresses their complex and lonely situation in the first three verses of the chapter.

“1 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness.

2 And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.”

The gratitude that Nephi powerfully conveys is immense. They had much affliction- nothing was really going easily for them. They had left every material thing behind. They were literally wading through a wilderness that was harshly unforgiving. Their wives gave birth in the wilderness, and they had nothing but raw meat to eat. This wasn’t a fun camping trip or even stake-sponsored trek. They were struggling for their lives. And yet, through it all, Nephi choose to see the good. He acknowledges that God is strengthening them and nourishing them, not by making their circumstances easier, but by making them stronger and more adept people. He didn’t take away their struggles, but he provided means whereby they could accomplish the things that He commanded them. Nephi had mastered the art of being grateful in any circumstance, and the Lord blessed Him through that. This gratitude, faith, and trust in the Lord eventually lead him and his family to the Promised Land.

            In Dieter F. Uctdorf’s April 2014 General Conference address entitled “Grateful in any Circumstances”, he defines gratitude not as something that we must have only when things are going well, but as something that we must have always- an attitude of gratitude. “Instead of being grateful for things, we focus on being grateful in our circumstances- whatever they may be”. We can learn to be like Nephi- when everything seems to be falling apart, we can choose to be grateful to the Lord in spite of it. “This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer. When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.” Gratitude is an essential commandment of God. God’s glory is the immortality and eternal life of man- essentially; His great work is for His children to be happy. And what will never fail to bring us peace and happiness? The choice to be grateful.

In Moroni 7:42-44, we find a recipe for being a true disciple of Jesus Christ- “Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

"43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.”

These are the three basic ingredients for developing and living a Christ-like life- faith, hope, and charity. These qualities are not things that come automatically or overnight- in fact, it’s really hard to live these things day in and day out. Like anything good in life, it takes time and dedication to develop these qualities.  In my study of the subject of gratitude, however, I’ve come to see how having gratitude in all our circumstances gives each of us a firm foundation for being able to develop faith, hope, and charity. I’ve come to understand that gratitude is not just a nice quality that makes us happier, but something essential that truly draws us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Gratitude leads us to faith. We cannot be faithful when we are fearful, doubtful, or ungrateful in our circumstances. When we lack gratitude, we lack faith, and when we lack faith, we lack the very quality that allows us to fully live and progress closer to Christ in our lives.  In Alma 32:21, we learn that faith is not a perfect knowledge of things, but if you have faith, you hope for things that are not seen, but which are true. Faith is the action of defying fear. In order to truly allow our testimonies of Jesus Christ to grow, flourish, and develop, we must employ faith in His Gospel.  Preach My Gospel simply states “Faith in Him means that you trust Him and are confident that He loves you”. When we are grateful, no matter what circumstances we are in and no matter what our current struggle is in life, we are taking action by putting our trust and faith in the Lord. Faith that He knows what is at work in our lives, faith that He is strengthening us through our trials, and faith that He will lead us to better days ahead.

            When I think of great gratitude and faith, especially in regards to missionary work, the person that first comes to mind is my Grandma Bonnie. When I was ten years old, my Grandma decided that she wanted to serve a mission. It was a huge decision for her to make, but she decided it was the right thing for her to do, so she moved forward in faith like nobody I had ever seen before. She moved out of her house, put all her belongings in storage, and turned in her mission papers. She had requested to serve stateside, maybe in a visitor’s center or a service mission, so when she got her call to serve a proselyting mission in Edinburgh, Scotland, it was a major change of plans, to say the least. Still, my faithful grandma wasn’t fazed. She expressed gratitude for her call several times before she left, and in the years since she has served her mission, the way that it changed her life is apparent to everyone that knows her. She chose to be grateful for what the Lord had asked her to do and faithful in her actions of doing it, and it blessed her life tremendously. My grandma’s example of gratitude and faithful missionary work will ring loudly for years to come- I can say that because it’s been more than true with me. It was really the first experience I had ever had with watching somebody that I was close to prepare and serve a mission, and as it’s been my turn to prepare to serve, I don’t think I could have done it without the example that my grandma set for me. Her gratitude led to faith, through which she was able to honorably serve the Lord and tremendously bless the people of Scotland.

            Gratitude also leads to hope. In Preach My Gospel, hope is defined as “an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur.” Having hope is a beautiful way of expressing, again, our faith and trust in Heavenly Father. The qualities that were listed in Preach My Gospel- confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance- these are things that express hope, but they are also things that come as a result of gratitude. The author Albert Camus once said, “In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer.” Gratitude and hope can and will fuel the summers that exist within us. Being grateful and thankful for what the Lord has given us can lead us to find hope for better days ahead, and what could be more comforting and reassuring than the idea of hope?

            My dad is one of the greatest examples of hope that I’ve ever had. I’m not just saying that because it’s Father’s Day, either. Whenever times get tough and things aren’t really going too smoothly, my dad is always the person that has a smile on his face and complete confidence that tomorrow will be a better day. When my mom and dad were first getting started at the whole parenting gig, my dad had few business ventures that went south. The stress that this turbulent time provided was enormous for both my parents and others involved in these businesses, but according to my mom, my dad always kept a smile and a confident and optimistic attitude. He braved the storms of uncertainty and doubt and was able to have gratitude for all the Lord had blessed him with, hope for a better tomorrow and faith the Lord would take care of him and his family. This hope provided reassurance that every little thing was going to be all right, even in the darkest of days, and I’ll always be grateful to my dad for sticking with his optimism and courage. Gratitude leads to hope.

            Gratitude leads to faith, and gratitude leads to hope, and finally, gratitude leads to  charity. The Bible Dictionary definition of charity is so beautiful to me- it says that charity is “the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ.” In Moroni 7:47 it reads “charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things”. Charity is our goal at the beginning of the day and our reassurance throughout it- while we all strive to have charity, Christ has the greatest form of charity in His love for us, which never ceases. When we are grateful, truly grateful, to the point where we can clearly see our sorrows and afflictions as “but a moment” and rejoice, thoroughly and without end in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the peace and comfort that He brings-that is when our gratitude will lead to charity. Gratitude is a form of love for our Heavenly Father and trust in His love for us, so naturally it takes the purest sort of gratitude to bring about the purest form of love, that being charity. Gratitude is the key and opportunity that the Lord has given us to unlocking the ingredients for a truly Christ-like life- faith, hope, and charity.

I have been told several times that the ultimate reason for going on a mission should be love. There are hundreds of reasons to go on a mission, and believe me, I’ve considered each one of them while making my decision to serve. It’s not an easy choice, but when I was able to focus on the true reason for serving, it became a whole lot easier. It is the love that we have for our Heavenly Father and the people that we will be serving that should ultimately be our reason for choosing to go on a mission. I can’t say that I have followed this principle even close to perfectly in my journey to become a full-time missionary in this church. There have been times when I have doubted my very decision to serve because I forgot the very central aspect of love. I have often overlooked the reason that I am actually choosing to serve a mission in the swirl of shopping for clothes and talk-writing and incessantly Googling “Madrid Spain” whenever I get bored. All good things, I suppose, but when the distractions come, good or bad, they take away from the core of missionary work, that being love. But what I have to remember in choosing to serve a mission, and what we must always remember in all facets of our life, is that the love of Heavenly Father for His children never goes away. It doesn’t matter who we are, what decisions we have made, what our weaknesses or strengths are- He loves us. He sent His son to die for us so that we may return to live with Him again. His love is eternal and unchanging and the very purest, noblest, strongest form of charity. We are children of a most-high God, and for that, I am eternally grateful.