Thursday, September 12, 2013

September 9, 2013

Family dearest,
At times i am excited, other times i get nervous or sad... the reality hit me the other day like a ton of bricks- missions end, but even still... i don't believe it yet. i don't even remember what life is like outside of the mission. i can't even imagine it yet. I'm so glad i came and i am so glad i stayed. I didn't just survive though. I served and i will be serving until the end. Sprinting through (not to) the finish line.
I will be finishing the transfer with lidership counsel and 3 mission conferences... So we will be playing hard and working hard. We coordinated everything for the conferences and it has been cool to be on the "party planning" side of the operation. We did splits last week in a city that is almost 16 hours from here by bus... BUT we went by plane! haha. So it was a 45 minute flight. hahaha.
It was rad, but going to the airport is trunk-tastic. This week we will be doing splits in Criciúma and next week in Joinville... in total we will have done splits in 5 different areas. I have been able to learn so much and it has been really cool to talk and work with so many different people. We have missionaries from 10 countries on this mission! Think of all the influences and cultures i am able to come into contact with. even though we come from far away places we all have one thing in common and through portuguese we can speak to each other and share that. 
If i have learned anything during my time here, it is that the mission is AMOR! it's just love baby! it is love your comp, love your leaders, love your president, love those you teach and those who reject you, and above all- love the savior. 
I really liked that talk that you guys sent me- that we might not shrink- it helped me see something that i hadn't understood. I liked the phrase: "we must drink the bitter cup without becoming bitter." Life is too short to just suffer and be mad or be scared. 

i love you guys and i am so proud of all of you. The church is true. it is so FREAKING TRUE!

-Élder Grondel jr.

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