Starting a New Chapter

At O'Hare

On Tuesday morning we went to the Draper Temple with all of the departing sisters. It felt so good to be in my Father’s house. I felt at peace with what I had accomplished and that everything would be just fine after my mission. Later that day we had a departing dinner on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a wonderful view looking over the east side of the valley. After dinner we had a testimony meeting. President Gillette asked each of us to share what we learned on our mission that we are going to apply after. The first thought that came to my mind was “charity”. It was the Christlike attribute that I worked the most on developing. When I was in my fourth transfer with Sister Fogg we were in the West Gate booth and one time a man walked by and Sister Fogg said, “I wish I could go out and talk with him, he seems like he has a really great story”. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “I don’t want to go talk to him”. I was terrified of talking with people and didn’t care enough about them. I have really come to appreciate the importance of not just viewing people as someone else walking around the Square, but viewing people as a child of God that is important and needs to be loved and treated kindly just like everyone else.

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”—D&C 18:10

I want to apply that to my life. I want to be able to love people more and to think more of them and how I can serve them than what they can do or think of me. A desire to serve comes from the ability to love. In coming on my mission I’ve started to learn how to keep the first two commandments!

Matthew 22:36-39

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

What a blessing! I still have a lot to learn in that area, but I’m much better off than I was in the first place!

At about 7:00pm on Tuesday night, the night before I went home, it was Sister Bat-ulzii and my p-day. I had finished packing, I wasn’t going to write any letters, and Sister Bat-ulzii didn’t have anything to do either. We were sitting on our very hard and uncomfortable couch and she asked with a big smile on her face, “do you want to go to the Square?” It definitely was an out of the box idea because the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I thought I was all done with missionary work, but I thought, “why not?” We got back in our missionary attire and headed down to Temple Square for the last time. As we were leaving the apartment building we got a text announcing that they needed sisters to take the English part of a motor coach (most of it was in Mandarin). I responded as fast as I could and we got it. So we went down to the West Gate and waited for our people to come. The tour was with six people and it wasn’t a banging good tour, but it certainly was the best way to end my proselyting mission. Sister Bat-ulzii helped me to sprint to the very end. I am so grateful for her and her desire to serve the Lord.

In the basement of the North Visitors’ Center there is a quote in the “Love Thy Neighbor” exhibit that I love:

When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! ...The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to find.

--Spencer W. Kimball

I know that when we are serving others the way that the Savior would, our lives are more fulfilling and have greater purpose. What a blessing it has been to serve Heavenly Father in this capacity, I will be forever grateful for this opportunity that I have had. Now I have a lifetime to live my life in a way that shows my gratitude!