Week 103... Jesus the Christ.

Hello everyone!
The time has come. This is my final email sent home to all of you as a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have so many stories and experiences. It's crazy to think I have been away for 2 years. The Lord has blessed me with a strong will. I never felt home sickness. The mission has so much to tell. I could almost write a short novel. I say short because I'm not the best writer haha! But these last 2 years have been a great time of trial, joy, hardship, exhaustion, diligence, peace, love, learning, experiencing, and so many other things that are indescribable. I never thought that I would be where I am. 

At the beginning of my mission it all just seemed like a dream. Now it's a reality and I'm just getting started. My skills are sharp and I have become an effective missionary in the hands of the Lord. I can't explain it all, you almost have to experience it yourself. All I know is it has been the best 2 years of my life so far, with so much more to enjoy. So much more hardship and happiness to come. It's a great blessing to know that the Lord has entrusted us with the mantle of the missionary. I love my mission more than I can describe. If you have served you know what I mean. If you have yet to serve you better get ready to serve because the things you will learn as a missionary are so invaluable. There's only one way to learn it. That is serve. Serve with all your heart might mind and strength. BE a missionary, don't just go on a mission. If you are not going to be a missionary there's not a point in going. We don't go on missions to repent. We go to preach repentance. Don't go and return in vain. We go to help our brothers and sisters come to Christ. That is our purpose. To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. 

I have served faithfully. Not perfectly, I cannot and will not claim that. But I have served an honorable mission and pray that Heavenly Father will accept my sacrifice. Brothers and Sisters, some of you reading this are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Some of you may not believe in him at all. But I want you to know that I know that Jesus is the Christ, he is our Savior and friend. He knows each one of us. 

To quote the scriptures in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah chapter 14 says, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." 

He is the Christ. He has called a prophet in our latter day that is the prophet Joseph Smith. After years of being lost, the true gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to its fullness. with all the authority, and power to perform the ordinances thereof. I testify that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God, and evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet in these latter days, and that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.  Our Savior is real and he is our King. Jesus is the Christ, our shadow by day and our pillar by night. I know that through Gospel of Christ, we can find true happiness. Christ loves you and knows you as his own son or daughter. This is my final testimony I leave with you as his Disciple in his holy and hallowed name, even the name of Jesus Christ AMEN. I love you all and will see most of you soon!!!!!
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-Elder Heaton

Philippines Bacolod Mission