Wow! It´s hard to describe the feeling I have being on the last week of my mission. I can´t believe I made it. Today is the last day that I will be able to write on my blog or send emails on the mission. The mission really has been wonderful. I was blessed in many ways that I couldn´t have even imagined. I feel that I was able to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father and have a better idea of what my true purpose is in life. I learned that we don´t have to like everything but we can love everything, and by loving we can learn to like things or people we never liked before. I learned that we should always put others before ourselves because we all mikstakes and will always need help from others. Life is all about loving and helping one another. Without love there is no purpose to life. It´s incredible how love always helped me to get through any challenge on my mission. I also learned that the things of God will give us more joy and happiness than the things of the world. This last Christmas I felt super blessed by my Heavenly Father. It was the only Christmas where I hadn´t won any presents but at the same time it was the happiest Chistmas I had ever had. I spent the day simply sharing the gospel of the Jesus Christ with those in need. On this day we visited a couple that we´re helping to get married. The husband is a member but has been less active. The wife is not a member but has known the church for 10 years and has been taught by missionaries 6 times. I remeber a part of the lesson with them when she told us about a difficulty she has had in following the gospel and right at the moment that she explained that difficulty to us, an idea came into my mind of exactly what I needed to say to her, and I´m sure it was the Holy Ghost. I responded to her and I could see that the spirit had touched her. Then she told me, " For 10 years I´ve been taught by the missionaries and I never had the desire to get baptized. But I´m sure that when God was choosing his missionaries, you were among the best of them, because through you I can feel the love of my savior Jesus Christ. No one cared for me as much as you have. Because of that you can be certain that I am going to get married and I´m going to get baptized as soon as possible." At that moment I could feel a great love from God and I was happy that at that moment I could be an instrument in God´s hands so that someone might be touched by the spirit enought to have the desire to repent and be baptized. That was the best Christmas I have ever had. The best things are the hardest. On the mission I went though many trials and my faith was tested. Even though the gospel can be hard, I know it is true. I know because I´ve seen incredible blessings and miracles happen in my life and in the life of those who follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the gospel is true because I can feel the Holy Ghost. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, without a doubt. During the hard times, the Book of Mormon is what kept me strong. Follow the path of Jesus and never leave it. Siga o caminho de Jesus Cristo e nunca se afaste dele por que sei que é o único caminho que leva a vida eterna. I know that God is real and that his son Jesus Christ lives. I´m grateful for having been able to be apart of his army. I hope that I can continue to serve him for the rest of my life. See you all soon! Até Logo!
