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. :)