Subject: The Final Update
As you can tell from the subject, this will be my last weekly update to conclude my two year full time mission. I will be coming back home next week… just so crazy that it is here. I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me the past two year. So grateful for the love and joy I felt from back home, it helped me in tough times. The prayers, letters, etc, did not go unnoticed! I love you all for that!
I had another super sweet experience this week. About two weeks ago I gave a lady a blessing in the Relief Society Presidency, she was super sick. It was a spiritual blessing. On Sunday she came up to me and said she was sick on and off and said in the blessing I said “in the Lord’s time” and she said she was kind of upset about that in a joking way, and we both laughed. And then she s said “I felt like I should tell you something… You repeated something in the blessing you gave me twice and it was basically word for word in my patriarchal blessing and it really woke me up!” The spirit is real, so grateful for it and to be worthy of the promptings!
My mission was my own Sacred Grove, where I learned for myself who my Father in Heaven is and my Savior Jesus Christ and what they expected of me. It was where I had the most sacred spiritual experiences where I learned for myself they are there. It was my Gethsemane where there were days that I didn’t know if I could push it any longer and wondered if there could be a simpler easy way…but I knew that there was not an easier way. Jesus Christ asked His Father if there was not an easier way, he didn’t want to go through everything He did, neither did I. But he wanted to please His father and he pushed through, and so did I. Because I love my Heavenly Father and earthly father and mother I knew I needed to give it my all and continue in the hard times. I am so grateful I pushed through. I have learned for myself that I KNOW God lives. Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Joseph Smith was and is the prophet of the restoration. The church is true and so is the Book of Mormon. I don’t “believe” these things, I know them, by the power of the Holy Ghost and countless experiences that I have had. Tears come to my eyes as I write this as I reflect on these past two years. I don’t want to come home. I loved my mission and will forever cherish it. Looking forward to seeing you all.
Sincerely, (for the last time)
Elder Taylor
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Update 8/28/16 – Here is a slideshow summary of the whole mission:
Elder Taylor's Mission Blog 