The Meaning of Enduring to the End

Farewell, dear Lia!  Hope you like the Y.  You’ll have to forward this on to her.

Goodbye to la Familia Velez

Left to right Elder Ludlam, Ligia, Michel, Elder Valenzuela

Well, we had a good week.  Yesterday was Elder Valenzuela’s birthday.  He got a whopping 9 people in sacrament meeting for his b-day present.  I am also looking to try and find him a watch.  We’ve been working with a lady that lives in our apartment building.  It makes daily contact really easy.  She has been really receptive to the restored gospel. She really likes the Book of Mormon.  We are also working with the family of one of our investigators.  They thought that their parents were never going to want to listen, but the more they hear about the Restored Gospel the more they like it.  They are members of another Brazilian church.  

I heard my companion gave a powerful lesson with them while I left him in my sector for an exchange.  He was rather proud of himself.  He managed to have four lessons all in one day.  He missed all of our actually-scheduled appointments, but I guess that makes his accomplishment even more amazing.  He even found members to accompany him to the lessons.

I heard from another missionary that the people I was working with in Solana with Elder Brooks have all gotten baptized.  That’s always great to hear.  I think my whole group will be finishing at the same time as me.  Hopefully I will be able to visit some of my old wards on my last few days.  I don’t think anyone is going to extend, so it will be good to see everyone again.  We had a training meeting today with our President.  Every time we have meetings like this, I am reminded of how much I want to still be part of the whole mission experience.  I am glad to see you all soon, though.

I really liked the quote you sent by Elder Hales.  I liked how it said that every missionary is always called to do more than they are able to when they start the mission.  When their focus is taken off themselves and onto helping other people, it allows for great growth and maturity.  That is what enduring to the end means.  After explaining that term every day, I thought it was a neat new perspective.  

My travel group: Back: Elder Griffin, Chicaiza, Fares, Zimerman, Snow;
Front: Hna Rosales, Presidente Montalti, Elder Smith, Rovira

I think ending the mission the second time is harder than the first.  Did you know that Elder Johnson forgot to tell me he got a second plane ticket until the day before I was going to leave?  If I hadn’t called him, I never would have known I had an extra four weeks.  The next day, when the news came in that Elder Christofferson was going to visit the mission, I said, "I knew that was a good decision."  I think General Authorities become 4x more exciting when you are a missionary.

Well, I love you all.  Hope to see you soon.

Love, a very viktor Nan

Am I getting home the week school starts?