Welcome Home Elder!

 Last Mission leadership conference.

Returning missionaries with Pres. and Sister Sekiguchi.

 Elder Wilson, Elder Mitchell, Sister Pound, Elder Pound, 

Elder Bown, Elder Hubner

 Elder Mitchell with President and Sister Sekiguchi 

in front of the mission home. 

The Elders at the train station in Sendai.

They took the bullet train to Tokyo.

one last photo with Sister Sekiguchi.

After living through roughly 40 hours of January 4, 2019, Elder Mitchell 

arrived at SEA-TAC airport safe and sound! His family (and some close friends) 

were waiting anxiously at the airport for his arrival.

 Mom gets the first hug.

 Dad gets the second one. 

 First stop on the way home. . .Subway!

 Mom's delicious cinnamon rolls for dessert.

 Celebrating Christmas with the family.

Ben got Go-Karting gift cards from PGP in his stocking.

 So off they went the next day after family pictures!

 Family pictures at Point Defiance Park courtesy of Rick Huff.

Ben brought home a brick of curry to introduce the family to Japanese curry.  

It was really good! After two whirlwind days at home, Ben headed off to BYU 

Provo to start the next chapter. . .

Week 106

Hello everyone,

This is my last day to send emails as a missionary. My feelings are a little bit mixed as I look back on the last two years. I'm really excited to see my family again, give them all hugs, and go go-karting with my little brother. I'm glad that I will be able to go to BYU with my little sister and one of our cousins. I will not miss having all of my meal times restricted to 30 or 60 minutes. I look forward to being able to afford fresh fruit other than bananas. I will appreciate being able to easily understand the talks and lessons that happen at church. And I will really enjoy being able to listen to whatever kind of music suits my fancy.

There are things that I will miss too. I will miss having time gauranteed during the day to exercise and study the gospel. I will miss having the opportunity to teach people about Jesus Christ and how his church has been restored to the earth. I will miss testifying about living prophets and God's plan of happiness. There are several friends that I've made here in Japan that I hope to have the opportunity to meet at some point after the mission. I will also miss having a day of the week set aside to go shopping and communicate with my family. But I don't plan to feel to bad about all the things that I miss. I know that I can't progress as a missionary forever.

There are other things that I need to learn and do after the mission and I'm excited to focus on those. I'm really looking forward to starting a family and teaching my children to live the way that Jesus did. I've felt God's influence more times than I've cared to count as a missionary and I know that we are all his children. He has plans for all of us and wants us all to be happy. He gave us a way to find joy in this life and in the life to come. I encourage everyone to learn all they can about Jesus Christ and his role as our Savior. His true church is here on the earth. And it's led by a living prophet as it was in Bible and Book of Mormon times. I testify that these things are true.

Lots of love,
Elder Mitchell

P.S. This gif is of the last training I gave at district meeting. It was about death. I thought it was pretty good. :)