Word of the Week: despedirse (to say goodbye)

This was a full week with lots of memorable events. Event #1: road trip to Mendoza…again. Yes, we had to unexpectedly go to Mendoza again this week. This time, so I could update my visa information so the church doesn’t get fined when I leave the country next week. Essentially, I, with about 5 other elders, stood in lines all morning in order to get our fingers printed and to sign on a few dotted lines. It was a very weird day though because Hna. Goddard stayed in the office with the mission nurse while I left with all the elders. I felt so lonely not having my companion there to chat with and make random comments and laugh with. It was a real wake up call for me and what life will be like in the next few days….weird! Event #2: Final interview with President Avila I was so nervous for this final interview. I had no idea what to expect. I wrote my final little paper about my mission experience, but had a really hard time putting into words what this past year and a half has meant to me. As I sat with President Avila, he shared some counsel with me and then asked me to share a powerful experience I’d had on my mission. I was a little caught off guard—there have been so many, yet so few—but as I calmed down, the spirit whispered to me which experience I needed to share. Now I can see that I needed to share that experience for my own benefit and not for that of President Avila´s. The spirit testified to me, as I shared my experience, that I have done enough, that I did my best and that the Lord accepted my service and sacrifice. Everything President Avila said to me was exactly what I needed to hear so the spirit could confirm and testify to me of my role as a missionary and to cast out the doubts and worries I had about my weaknesses in serving Him. I felt completely saturated in His love, as if I were a small child wrapped up in the arms of their perfectly loving father. I sobbed as the interview ended and President Avila just looked at me with a big smile on his face and said, “You haven’t even been released yet. You can still go out and be a missionary.” He told me that there are lots of emotions when you end a mission—that might be the biggest understatement of the century!! About every 5 minutes I flip-flop between being excited to go home and sad to leave Argentina and the people and culture I’ve grown into. It will be rough to leave, despite however excited I am for the next chapter of my life. I’ve waited my whole life to serve the Lord by being a missionary and here I am, at the end of that dream. It’s sad to see that dream end, though I trust that the Lord has great things in store for me and my family. What a blessing it has been for me to have such loving and supportive parents and family members who helped me keep going, even when I felt like there was nothing more to give. Thank you. Event #3: Zoe’s baptism! Yesterday’s baptism was PERFECT! Not one hiccup! Like usual, we were running on Argentine, Mormon Standard Time, so nobody showed up (including Zoe) until about 6:20 or 6:30, when the baptism was scheduled to start at 6pm. Hna. Goddard and I started filling the font with the lovely San Luis famous green water (when the fonts are filled, the water is an algae-ish green color….yes…Zoe didn’t want to get in it at first.) and then we went back to our apartment to pick up the goodies we’d made to share afterwards. We had a good little group of members, including quite a few primary kids, of about 20 people. Marcela (Zoe’s mom) had tears in her eyes the whole meeting. Zoe was quite nervous and wasn’t her normal bubbly self, but everything worked out just fine. She practiced with Elder Evans before getting into the font, which helped calm her nerves. All went quite smoothly in the end. After Zoe finished changing and came back to her seat, 4 cute girls from the primary stood up and sang a surprise song about the Holy Ghost before Zoe was confirmed. It really hit me of the simple truths that we learn as we listen to children singing. Their testimonies seem almost more pure as they valiantly declare through song eternal truths that, we, as adults, are likely to ignore or downplay. Their song invited the spirit into the meeting with more power. As I sat there during the meeting, trying to soak up every last ounce of the experience and the spirit, I was sincerely touched by the warmth of the spirit that filled the room and my heart. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a baptism where, right afterwards, they are also confirmed. Being that Zoe got baptized on Sunday (since it was her birthday), the bishop let her get confirmed right after. The spirit was so strong in the room after. Everyone was perfectly still and quiet as they respectfully uttered their “amen” in agreement. I was so impressed by the power of the influence of the spirit in filling the room, but most impressively, as it filled my heart to overflowing. The miracles continued. After the closing prayer, we brought out our yummy goodies and started snacking and laughing and having a good time. Between spilled soda pop and crushed potato chips, Reuben (Zoe’s non-member father), leaned over to me and asked me where he could get a copy of the movie we watched while Zoe was changing. We had watched a few segments of the Special Witnesses of Christ video the church did quite a few years ago with President Hinckley. Reuben just looked at me and said, “I just watched a few, but it kind of left me hanging.” We lent him the copy we had brought and he gratefully accepted it with the promise to watch it and promptly return it. It was so sweet to see his support and love towards Zoe, especially since he is not a member. The Lord has been working wonders in this family recently. Reuben will get baptized. I’m so glad I listened to the spirit who whispered the name of that movie so the spirit could testify to Reuben and soften his heart that much more to accept the Restored Gospel in the appropriate moment. Reuben, after all was said and done, came up to Hna. Goddard and I and shook our hands and repeatedly thanked us for the change we had inspired in his family. He told us that we had done wonderful things in helping his family and that he would be eternally grateful for what we did for them. I was so touched. They are small moments like that which make all the pain and discomfort of a mission worth it. As I stood there, all I could say to him was that it was our privilege to be a part of the process and to have been welcomed into their home as other family members. The spirit whispered to me of the Lord’s work in changing this family, and not of my own strength. I truly felt like we did nothing, that the spirit worked through us even when we weren’t conscious of it, and converted this entire family and helped them be one step further along the path towards an eternal family It’s overwhelming to think that this might be my last official letter home as Hermana Pelton. There are so many things in my heart that I want to express, yet I find myself without words. I recently came across a quote that was shared with me while I was in the MTC. When I read it, I felt as if it perfectly expressed what I feel right now, as I look back on the past year and a half of my life and the years that preceded this pivotal experience of my life. “I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low-living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few. My guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, preach until all know. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear.” -Henry B. Eyring. I love you all! Hna. Pelton