My Mission Reunion

Sunday evening we went to my mission president's house in SLC to visit with them and others who served the Brazil Curitiba Mission between 1998 and 2001. I served from Sept 1998 till March 2000, and yes, it was some of the best months of my life!

Sister Paulsen made Brazilian beans - de.li-ci.ous! - and they also had oranges, guarana - brazilian soda, yummie!, Brazilian bread rolls and a yummie frozen chocolate cake. When I say yummie it's because it LOOKED yummie, of course these foods are EVIL and all I ate was the beans, for protein. I know, poor me, sob sob... but no pain, no gain, right?

This picture was from right before we left, one hour into the reunion started, and I already heard that over 20 more people showed up after that. Sad. I wish I had seen them! Luckily though I knew all these people who were there when I was there, forgot some names, but knew them from the mish.

Elder Ivy was my FIRST zone leader in Ponta Grossa, Parana. He is hilarious and was an awesome leader.
Elder Bretzing was my district leader for a while and Elder Jensen and I were in the same zone for a whle too.

Elder Richards was my third zone leader and thus was in the area I spent most time in, Araucaria, Parana. I loved that area SO MUCH!! And Richards (or Kurt) is like a brother to me! He often calls just to chat and find out how I am doing, isn't that awesome? His wife is pregnant with their fourth baby and even though he STOLE the name I wanted to use for my daughter (when I have one), I still love him and his family! :)

Being with these people yesterday really made me miss the mission. Not only Araucaria, the area I was in for about half my service, but the people I met and the experiences I had. I was blessed to train three sisters while I was there. I caught lice and had to almost shave off my head (Pres almost had a heart attack when he saw me! But what could I do? Imagine, just IMAGINE my hair with lice... not good!), and it was in Araucaria that I cried for the first time when a family I grew to love and that was making so much progressed declined our visits out of the blue.

It was in Araucaria that I had doubts and asked myself, with much frustration and discouragement the questions that I believe every missionary asks him/herself: why am I here? Is it worth it? And it was there that I received answers to those questions. Yes, it is worth it, every and each person is important to Heavenly Father and He really wants us to share the gospel with all of them.

I am so far from being perfect, I have so many flaws and would need to change so much to become what I could become, but those 18 months really helped me love the gospel and "the work." It helped me grow in so many ways and I miss those times... a lot!

As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said yesterday during conference:

The scriptures and the prophets teach us that God IS, not was, that He SPEAKS, not spake. He lives! He loves us! He speaks! His work will never end and His words will never cease.