Hello! Here I am again,
sending another one of these emails. Time is going by faster and faster. It's
actually quite terrifying. It really hit me hard this week. 3x longer than I've
entered the MTC and I'm waking up in America.
....
Yeah. I love you all, but
I'm not ready for that thought yet.
Anyway, thank you all for
your love and prayers! I don't know how many of you know, but in December, we
had 32 of our 40 areas have a baptism in 1 month! Tokyo is on FAI-YAH!!! I know
this is due to the prayers and fasts of everyone on behalf of the missionaries.
Thank you all! You truly are fantastic friends and family. I hope that as you
go forward this new years, you will be able to find the peace and joy that
comes from loving the Savior!
That actually brings me
to what I want to write about today: I relearned something very important this
week. Drawing close to the Savior doesn't mean you will stop having trials. In
fact, you will see more of your weaknesses than you ever have before. Like
stepping on a stage of a broadway show, as you perform with the amazing actors,
you begin to see how much less you are than them.
Does this keep us from
drawing to the Savior?
Sometimes. Sometimes
seeing our own weaknesses scares us. We don't like feeling weak. I certainly
don't. Anyone out there that glories in their weakness like Paul in the New
Testament, I salute you and pray I may become like you someday. But as of right
now, I don't like my weaknesses. But, as I draw closer to the Savior Jesus
Christ, I see more and more of them.
So why do I draw closer
to Him?
It's simple. I love Him.
I love Him with all of my heart and soul. I want to do everything I can for
Him. That's why I'm on a mission. I am here for Jesus Christ. To be
honest, I don't have a lot of charity. I don't have the capacity to love anyone
I meet because they are a child of God yet. I pray for that every day. But
right now, I love Jesus Christ and am drawing ever closer to Him. Right now, I
know that I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night for Him. Everything
in between? All the pains, heartaches, successess, incomprehensible joy? Those
are good experiences indeed. But at the end of the day, it's all for Him. And
at the beginning of the day, it's all for Him.
Someday, everyone will
die. You, me, the old man you pass on the street. Every single one of us will
be taken up to meet our Savior. What will we say when we see Him? I know what I
will want to say.
"Jesus, I'm here. I
made it. I came home. And look! I brought as many people with me as I
could."
But the bigger question
is this: what will He say to us? And what will we want to hear from Him?
I'm kind of just rambling
right now. I'm on a mix of spiritual inspiration and exhaustion that won't
filter what I'm saying. But think about that. What do you want your brother and
best friend to say to you when you meet Him?
When you find the answer,
I encourage and invite you all to work for it.
Thank you for all you do.
Thank you for your examples. I'm sorry if this email feels like I am calling
you to repentance. If you feel that way, you might want to consider repenting
hahaaha :D
If you don't feel that
way, good! I didn't mean it like that. I simply wanted to express how I feel.
Thank you for the 1200
people that have (apparently) visited my blog (which I apparently have!). Thank
you for the 3 people who wrote me emails! (ok, ok. I'm exaggerating. It was 2.)
Thank you, Kelsey Dominguez, for the New Years letter! I love you all and pray
you have an amazing 2014!
1 year left, and I'm
coming home.
Scary.
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