"And everyone that hath forsaken houses..."

“...or sisters, or father, or mother, (....) for my names sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.” Matthew 19:29

Hola familia!

Throughout my mission, especially around transfer time I have pondered and thought of all the many people I have met and grown to love in my time here. It’s always amazing to me, I am so sad to leave an area and the people I have come to love as family, and then I get to a new area and meet new amazing people that I come to love as well. And one day I was thinking about that, just counting in my mind all the people I had met and the number astounded me. And then this verse came to mind, and everything made perfect sense.

I had read that verse many times before, but never had really understood what it meant. And it has come to have a special meaning to me since that day. It literally blows my mind to think of all the incredible people I have met and gotten to know in my time in Peru. People that I consider as part of my family, and it breaks my heart to think about leaving them behind. (can I just say that I have never been more grateful for facebook in my whole life?) but there is another verse I found in the bible that I love. It sounds a lot better in Spanish (The bible in English is weird...it makes so much more sense to me in Spanish..) but here it is,

But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.

Basically, although we may be separated in presence or in distance, they will always be in my heart. And the hope is that one day we will all be together again with our Heavenly Father. That’s why I`m here isn`t it? I love that about the gospel. If we all continue faithful there doesn`t have to be any ``goodbyes`` just...see you laters. 

At the same time that my heart breaks to leave mi familia peruana, it yearns to see all of you. Whenever anyone asks me what I am most excited for when I get home I say, ``to spend time with my family`` and its true. I can`t wait to see all of you!

But don`t worry, I`m not trunky. :) We`re still working hard, enduring to the end :) Everything is going well with our family. We actually had an amazing experience teaching the word of wisdom. Turns out Hna M. has a coffee addiction... she got super mad when we taught that lesson, but the spirit was the guiding influence. My companion said that she felt prompted to stay quiet and let me talk. And I had a tons of thoughts come to my head. My companion told me after the lesson that I spoke in such a calming quiet way that everything turned out ok. She is really committed now to quit and has been doing so well this week.

Well, I have to go.

Have a wonderful week everyone. 

I love you all!

Hna Shelton