I can't believe the day is here. I get set apart tonight as an official missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Tomorrow morning I fly out to Utah and Wednesday I report to the Provo MTC. Those 89 days sure have gone by quickly!
As I reflect upon this whole experience of preparing for a mission, I am continually amazed at the love that our Heavenly Father shows us. He is so so aware of us. Our desires. Our heartaches. Our challenges and our happiness. It's easy to sometimes ask, "Why would He care about me? I am one of 7 billion people on this earth!". Well, none of us can even fathom the capacity of love our Heavenly Father has for everyone. I'm grateful to know this simple truth, although sometimes I don't always remember it.
I'm grateful for a loving family that has supported and strengthened me my entire life! I'm grateful for wonderful sisters and their families who care for me and are such Christlike examples to everyone around them. Even though we're spread out across the country, we still remain close and I thank them for that. I love my sisters! I'm incredibly grateful for my parents and their willingness and devotion to raise me in this gospel. I'm thankful for the sacrifices they have made in their lives so that they could teach us the gospel and through their examples, I was able to realize the importance of the gospel and how much it means to them. I love love my family and I'm grateful we can be together forever.
I'm grateful for friends who have been so good to me all these years. I'm thankful for wonderful examples I had while I've been at school! As I've talked with them, their testimonies and examples have meant the world to me. I can't believe that I have such amazing friends that actually put up with me ;)
I'm thankful that I'm ABLE to serve a mission. I'm humbled that the Lord would call me to serve a mission. I never thought that I would be in this position to serve. The past couple days have been hard emotionally as I'm making the sacrifices of leaving my life behind for the next 18 months. It's not easy. Missionary work is WORK. I'm going to feel inadequate( I already do) and there will be hard days. But I know that as I pray, I can be comforted and helped through the hard times. This is the Lord's work and I'm just an instrument in His hands. I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve. These next 18 months will be life changing.
I love my Savior! I'm grateful for His ultimate sacrifice and His love for all of us! He is my best friend! He knows me and knows what I go through. I know that we can each find solace in our Savior. I'm thankful for His atoning sacrifice and how that makes it possible for us to return back to our Heavenly Father, even though we are so imperfect. What a wonderful blessing it is to have such a righteous elder brother, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for all of the love and support these past few months and all these years! I'm grateful to know each of you! Please write me! I would love to hear from you! Mom will be updating this blog each week with my letters! I'll see you all in 18 months!
My favorite scripture:
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." Helaman 5:12
xoxo,
Sister Burton
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