Email 3/31/10

Email Received March 31, 2010
7th Area: Mossoró- Belo Horizonte

13th Companion: Elder Küster

me & lohman- mission office

awesome

edu

luan

my last zone

MY TIME HAS FINALLY COME.....




yep, that's right, my mission has come to an end, and this is my last email ever.

---my song of the week: "Home" by Michael Buble

---my scripture of the week: "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:6-7)

---my quote of the week: "I'm going home... But it feels more like I'm leaving home." (Other Side of Heaven)



first, to report on this last week, we did have our baptisms (see pictures) and everything turned out great. it is kind of annoying that i won't be here to see the progress and baptism of that guy Adeilson, but i know it will all work out and one day he´ll be a bishop. i did a lot of dinners and saying goodbye to members and investigators and all that stuff, and left Mossoró on sunday after church. so... what have i been doing the past few days? traveling and visting people i have known or baptized for the past 2 years.



the past 2 or 3 days have probably been the happiest of my entire mission, and maybe of my entire life. i arrived in Natal on sunday, and stayed there that night, all of monday, slept monday night, and almost all of tuesday. during my time there, i talked to so many people again, and what made me happiest of all was the families i baptized that are still firm in the church and happy. i visited Daniel and Andréia and their kids, Arnaldo and Jarluce and their boys, Washington and Estela and their family, and probably best of all, was Inaldo and Salete and their daughter. there were others too but seeing these families again was like nothing i have ever experienced, seeing the change in them and the progress they have made, their preparation for the temple, their joy, and them thanking me for it..... i have never felt anything like the way i have in these last couple days, and i am certain that there exists no greater happiness in this entire world.



i got on the bus and came here to João Pessoa last night, and this morning we had our final interviews with President Fernandes. it was really good and he gave me a lot of inspired council for my future, and my life upon returning home. today we have the day to do whatever we want, so me and Elder Lohman are running around the city having some fun. tonight will be our final dinner and goodbye in the president´s house with him and the sister, then tomorrow we will go through the temple in Recife and get on our plane home. i will get there friday morning and go to lunch with the family, and i would like to ask for a few hours at home on friday afternoon to rest and get things organized, but then everyone is invited to come over on friday night. i look forward to seeing you all and speaking english. by the way, throughout my mission i have been studying spanish and speaking a lot with the foreigners, so i am gonna come home speaking 3 languages. also, i have been studying italian for the past few months so i am gonna see where i can go with that. but anyway, i think english will be the one i will have to study the most for now-- its so weird to speak it!



i can't really explain my feelings on finishing my mission, but i am happy for the work i have done and the opportunities i have had, for how much i have learned and grown. i feel exactly like Nephi did in 2 Nephi 33, when he is saying goodbye to a people he had served and grown to love. i had already read that chapter several times before, but i read it again recently and it hit me really hard, especially verse 7, when he says that he has charity for his people - that is how i feel with the people i have served and taught here in Brazil, and hope that my work here has made it so i will be able to, as Nephi says, "see many of them spotless at the judgement seat at the last day."



see you and sky harbor

-Elder Sherwood