He brought his ADORABLE daughter. She was super touched as well. It was so cool! |
Gabriel!!! I guess we were laughing at something...haha. And our wonderful bishop who baptized him. |
Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a great fest together as a district. It was so fun. Hope you all had a wonderful day!
Sooo we got to go on exchange in Nice this week!! And we ran by the water in the morning :) Not the best picture...But,it was a great moment. |
Hello my darling loved ones.
Well. I am not even sure what to say this week. I am feeling so many emotions I couldn't even possibly describe them all. I honestly can't get it in my head to understand that this is going to be my last letter to you. We had a really beautiful week. Gabriel's baptism was SO wonderful. He really is so great. We asked him if he could share a testimony at the end and he got up and talked for 20 minutes...which was kind of stressful because we told him just to take a couple minutes..haha. But it was so sweet. He really is just so grateful he was able to meet us and be able to finally find the truth! He has such a strong testimony. I can really just see that the Lord has so many amazing things in store for him, and I just can't wait to see where he goes from here! I just feel so extremely blessed to have been able to have been involved in such a beautiful story. We prayed and worked so hard to have a baptism and I am just amazed that we truly got to see this beautiful miracle unfold. I will send pictures :)
I decided I wanted to do something different with this letter today. It is kind of a special one...obviously. So instead of just telling you everything that happened with my week (which I will be able to tell you soon)
I wanted to tell you a story. I am hoping this won't get too dramatic...but no promises. It probably will. Haha.
A famous question on the mission is to ask "So why did you decide to serve a mission?" I have been asked this question soo many different times. And every single time, I am kind of amazed by my answer.
Because when I try to answer this question, I realize something. I realize that it wasn't ME that decided to go on a mission. But when I tell people why I am here, I realize more and more just how much Heavenly Father literally lead me to this point in my life.
I remember when I was about 16. It first happened in Sacrament Meeting. And I just weirdly started thinking about what it would be like to serve a mission.It was something I had NEVER even considered before. So I was confused why the idea even came into my head.
But then it kept happening. I just kept pondering on what it would be like if I served a mission. And then weirdly. I started to actually LIKE the idea. And I started considering on how cool and amazing of an experience that would be for me. But I knew that it might not be perfect timing when I was 21. So I told myself I would see what happens when I got to that age :)
And then came the beautiful General Conference that I will never forgot. Oh how eternally grateful I will be for this day. It really changed everything.
Here I am, only 20 years old, and I have already served a full time mission! It is truly incredible.
So I did lots of praying. And I just KNEW it was right. I knew I needed to go.
Sooo without my parents knowing I started to work on putting in my papers ;) hehe. That was the best part. And even though lots of my family couldn't even really stand the thought of my leaving for a year and a half...I told them it was what I needed to do. So I didn't slow down, and I decided I wanted to leave as soon as I could.
And then on February 27, 2013. I recieved my call. To the one place I had ALWAYS dreamed of.
WHAT. Oh wait, and also to the same place as someone very significant in my life :)
I couldn't believe it.
I love thinking of this story. Because literally...I had no idea what was in store for me.
It changed everything.
I love thinking about the beginning of my mission. And how lost I was. And how much I didn't know but THOUGHT I knew. There were many hard times. But they helped me to grow more than I ever thought I could.
I started my mission not knowing what was in store, but knowing that I would having a lot of hard, and also a lot of beautiful experiences.
But oh my goodness I had NO idea.
I had no idea how much I would fall in love with my mission.
I had no idea how much I would absolutely fall in love with the French people.
I had no idea how absolutely amazing and wonderful my mission president would be, and how much I would learn from him.
I had no idea I would have so many trials.
I had no Idea I would be this tired, worn out, sick, and exhausted.
I had no idea how many people Heavenly Father was going to let me be apart of their eternities.
But most of all...I had no idea how close I was going to grow to my Savior.
Or how much I was going to literally fall in love with the Book of Mormon.
Or how many sacred experiences I would have that have literally changed my eternity.
I had no idea.
I will never in words be able to truly thank my Heavenly Father for this amazing opportunity He has given me. I have absolutely NO idea what I did to deserve it. I feel so blessed beyond belief.
I got to wake up everyday and wear the name of my Savior. And even though sometimes that brought a lot of ridicule and persucation..I will forever be grateful.
That I got to be a representative of Jesus Christ.
And I got to come to know, that He lives.
He truly,truly lives.
I know it with everything in me.
Jesus Christ is our Savior. Our loving Heavenly Father sent Him here to die for us.
And because of Him...everything will work it.
Everything. No sadness, or pain,will ever last too long. Because He is there.
I love my Savior with everything in me. I just can't wait to spend my entire life serving Him.
And I am so, so grateful for my mission. More than I will ever be able to put into words.
I love you all. I couldn't have done it without you, truly. You mean everything to me.
I will see you all very soon.
I love you more than you know.
Love,
Soeur Magleby.