Winslow Week Eighteen - The End

Hello, friends!! Now that I've started writing this, I realized that I should have started this email a long time ago. What do you say in a final email?

There is only one word that I can think of that encompasses how I feel right now:

Grateful.

I am so grateful for the past 18 months. I'm so grateful for all that God has taught me and all that I've experienced and the people I've met and the tears I've shed (happy and sad!). My heart is so full.

Before missionaries go home, we get to do this thing called "My Plan", which is essentially a program that helps us prepare for going home by thinking about what we've learned and how we can apply those things and continue being disciples when we're home. One question it asks is "What are the most important spiritual truths the Lord has taught you?". That's really all I've been thinking about this past week. God has been SO good to me these past 18 months by teaching me so much and helping me grow so much. I am so much better off because of what I have learned here. Here are just a few of those things:

1. THE most important spiritual truth that has been embedded in my heart is that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He stands with me everyday. I will never experience anything that He hasn't and because of that, I never need to feel alone. He is real and He is with me. He is with each of us if we let Him.

2. The Lord has taught me on my mission that He has a perfect plan for me and for each of His children. I feel prepared to face the future because I know that absolutely everything that happens in my life is a part of that plan. I know that He has amazing, unimaginable things in store. I just have to follow Him and keep the covenants I have made with Him so that He can fulfill His promises.

3. God's timing is perfect. Some blessings do not come immediately. Sometimes we are not delivered from our trials immediately, but He has a perfectly planned timetable. It takes patience, but His promises are ALWAYS fulfilled.

4. He has taught me on my mission that I am going to be changing and growing my whole entire life. Our learning never ends, and I don't want it to! He has helped me grow so much during these past 18 months and I know it won't stop when I go home!

5. The gathering of Israel (a.k.a missionary and temple work) is THE most important thing going on on the earth right now. We all need to be apart of it! Nothing is more important than helping Heavenly Father's children learn of Him and accept His Son, Jesus Christ so that they can someday return to Their presence. It is so fulfilling to participate in this work.

These have been the greatest 18 months of my life. The absolute greatest. I love my Savior and I love my Heavenly Father. My life's vision is to follow Them and serve Them everyday wherever they want me. My life's purpose is to give it all to God. I know that if I give Him everything, He will make more of me than I could make of myself. I want to become like Him, but I also want to enjoy the process of becoming. I have a testimony of Jesus Christ's infinite love and atonement and I know that He can mold me into something beautiful if I let Him, but I won't become discouraged if I'm not there yet. I am clay in His hands.

And there is no better way to be.

Love,
Sister Bohman


2 Timothy 4:7