"I have learned something very special about the Mission."

January 16, 2010 - Mi querida y hermosa familia,
Can I just tell you how much I love you family? I love you so much. I love you so much. It just makes me so happy to know that I have such a special family. We are so blessed. Mom, I so wish I could be there to help you out with your English 1010 paper. I would be more than happy to help you write it and you know it. Oh, if only I wasn’t 4,000 miles away… :) It has to be about a personal event right? I was thinking, if it fits within the requirements, that you could talk about the experience that you have had with sending a son away from home, not necessarily on a Mission because college doesn’t have anything to do with religion, but sending the son away with requirements and rules. You can put a lot of details into it because you are still living it. You can tell how hard it is from a Mom’s perspective to send a son away, and how living that experience has strengthened you. I think it would be a great topic if it fits within the guidelines. Or you could talk about the personal event you had with having a house full of three boys, or meeting Dad, but I think the sending the boy away is a good topic…and it’s not just because I get to be the boy that you are going to talk about. :) Have tons of fun with your talks tomorrow. I know you are going to do a great job. And don’t worry about it too much. Heavenly Father is giving you all the chance to spiritually grow. Sharing your testimonies will only help them grow. Sharing your testimony is the way we verify that we believe and know that something is true. Just have confidence in the fact that you know the things you are going to say are true. Dallis, I’m having a hard time thinking of things you can put in your talk. I was thinking that all of the things that we did as a family before the Mission were what prepared me: praying as a family helped me realize the importance of trusting in God and knowing that He will always be there to help me; family scripture study, even though it was a struggle sometimes helped me realize the importance of applying the scriptures in our lives; early morning temple visits helped me realize the importance of always keeping our goals set on the final goal—Eternal Life as an Eternal Family; everything we learned from Mom and Dad helped us understand the basic principles of the Gospel, and now I am able to share these basics with the humble and lovely Peruvian people. Missionary: one who leaves his family for two years so that others can be with their families forever. :) I don’t know if this will help you, but I know you are going to do a great job. The house looks absolutely great and I am so excited. Even Elder Steed is excited. He wants to come visit after the Mission just to see the finished result. Changes went great and perfect. It was my last time to be in charge. Next time my son is going to do it. Funny story: a new Elder Lee that entered this week was one of Jerry Westberg’s roommate at USU. It’s a small world. Elder Elison from California is the new Assistant. He is going to be great. But I really miss Elder Santiago. I think it was harder to say goodbye to him than it was to say goodbye to Elder Rich because I knew that I will always be able to see Elder Rich again. But there is the chance that I may never see Elder Santiago again because he lives in another country, Guatemala. It was really hard to say goodbye to someone I considered as my true older brother. He always called me his younger brother and I loved it because I will never know what it is like to have an older brother. He really is like an older brother to me and I love him to death. I have to see him again before the next life. He says he wants to come up to Utah to see the Christmas Devotional this year and I told him that our house is more than open for him to come and stay while he is in Utah. I really hope that he is able to do it. I really want to help him do it. I love him so much and I miss him a ton. It was one of the hardest farewells… I love you. Today, we went to the National Museum of Peru and it was so interesting to see how much of Peru’s history really fits in with the history of the Book of Mormon. It is amazing, and it made me so happy to remember that I am living and preaching the Gospel in a land where the Book of Mormon took place. It’s a cool thought. And we also went to Sebastian’s baptism today. He is Gladys Canches’ son. He just turned eight two weeks ago. It was such a good baptism. I sang “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus”. I starting crying when Sebastian shared his testimony because he started crying when he thanked us, the Elders, for taking such good care of him and his family. It was such a precious moment. I was crying, he was crying, his sister Estrella was crying, his mom and dad were crying, and about every other sister in the room was crying. It was a beautiful spiritual experience. I love being so close to the people down here. I have learned something very special about the Mission. It is necessary that a Missionary loves the people. I know I have it. I love this people. I love Peru. I love this culture. I love the Mission. I will never regret that I came on a Mission. I know that our family has been so blessed. We will never be able to thank Heavenly Father enough. Good luck on your talks tomorrow. I will be praying for you Bill. Dad, you’re going to do fine. I love you tons fam. Take care this week. I love you beyond what words can describe. Love, Coco