Cagliari

Week 75

My heart is full of joy and also some sadness as I set out to type this email. Yes, it really has been 18 months already. I can't believe how fast time goes. I feel like Jacob in the Book of Mormon when he says "our lives passed as if it were a dream." 

2 years ago a decision was placed before me and I'll be eternally grateful and also eternally indebted to my Heavenly Father for allowing me the opportunity to choose to serve a mission. It was not an easy choice, but I never would have imagined how much I would have changed and how much I would have learned and received. I had no idea what I was going in for, but I placed my trust in the Lord that this was where he needed me to be. (Even if I had no idea, nor say in, where the "where" would be!) 

Fast forward six months and I find myself in the beautiful and amazing country of Italy! It was a dream and quite a shock. But I didn't come here to tour a new area or see the sites or eat delicious food. I was here with a purpose that is universal to all missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints everywhere in the world.

And then the days just kept passing, some filled with the joy of seeing others come unto Christ and my own personal progression....other filled with stresses and worries and disappointments. The phrase "blood, sweat, and tears" is very, very true haha. 

But before I knew it, I woke up this morning and realized that is was my last day to be able to write home before actually going home! And I'm not sure how that makes me feel or what I can say that will adequately describe the journey.

What I came here to share has become a real part of me. I know that God exists. We can see his hand in our lives every day if we open our eyes and our hearts to his tender mercies. He is our loving Father in heaven. He knows us personally, because we are his children. As I've sat knee to knee with investigators I've felt his love for them and his desire for them to come home. I know he hears our prayers, because he has heard and answered mine. In the deepest of trials, the loneliest of days, or in the moments of great gratitude, he is there and he is listening. 

He loved us enough to send us here to grow and gain experience. He knew it would not be easy, so he provided a plan. At the center of that plan is our savior, Jesus Christ. His was and is the only way that leads to true happiness in this life and eternal life in the life to come. 

But because we are human, because we make mistakes, we forget. We rebel. We change things. Even after Christ himself came and established his perfect organization, His church, truths were lost and the power and authority he has given to his apostles was taken from the earth.

But that love that God has for each of his children hadn't changed. So when circumstances were right and His children were ready to listen again, he restored it all to the earth again. I know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God, just like Abraham and Moses and all the others. He was the means for restoring the lost truth on the earth and that today the Church of Jesus Christ is organized and run the same way and under the same authority as he established it. The Book of Mormon is the "prova", the proof, the trial of all of this. And I know it is true. 

It's all true.

I love this mission. I love the beautiful people of Italy and the gorgeous country. I love the gospel, and I love my Savior. My 18 months of being a full time missionary for Him will finish next week, but I'm grateful to know that the journey of discipleship never has to end. "There are no true endings...only Everlasting beginnings." 

Vi voglio bene! A presto, 

Sorella Carver