Al Terminar...

OH MY GOODNESS

I can’t believe I am finishing the mission this week. I feel super weird. To be honest there are a lot of emotions going through me right now and I won’t be able to fully explain everything well. I don’t really know what to write haha.

Well, first off, the big news is that Susana got baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really just a week of miracles. I have seen as many miracles in this past week as I have seen in my whole mission I feel like. I am incredibly happy to say that my last week here in the mission was one of the best ive had in the mission. It was just so amazing!

So after writing you all last week, Elder Morataya and I got back to our house and we just sat down, and I just felt this really strong impression that we should just study and talk about what we needed to do for Susana to get her baptized. So we sat down and had an amazingly spiritual study for her and what questions we could ask her and what things we could teach to help her understand better why she needed to be baptized and how she could have that desire. So we went over to their house and we found out that Susana wasn’t even there, but her husband Bryan was, which at first was a giant letdown but actually turned out to be the plan of the lord because we started talking with Bryan and we just animated him to talk to Susana about being baptized and we also found out that she had been asking him more about baptism in the church. It was just an awesome conversation, and we also set up a trip to the temple with them right there with our ward. Our ward went to the temple on Tuesday, so we paid for them to be able to go up and experience the temple on Tuesday with the members.

So as that all happened on Tuesday, Elder Morataya had emergency changes so that they could give me a zone leader companion so that I could show him the area before I leave. So I Got Elder Jolley who’s from Salt Lake City as my new companion. He is super cool, one of the coolest companions I’ve had on the mission to be honest. It’s kind of funny because he has 15 months in the mission, but I was in the office when he came into the mission as a greenie and I actually talked to him a bit when he was starting, and now he’s my companion haha. But anyway, so I got my new companion and everything on Tuesday, and that night we got a phone call from Susana at the temple, and she said that she wanted to be baptized Saturday! It was such a miracle! We didn’t even have to put the fecha with her, she chose to get baptized herself, and it just goes to show the miracles of the temple, and she didn’t even go inside!

So then the rest of the week was just super crazy and awesome. We were just running around trying to get the wedding papers figured out before Saturday as well as setting up the baptism, teaching Susana everything else she needed to know before getting baptized and well… it was just crazy. In addition to that, on Thursday me and Elder Jolley got to go to the temple because everyone that baptized a family last month got to go, and so we were in the temple and in addition of doing a session we were able to work in the temple, and they actually let us do confirmations which was really awesome because I’ve never been able to confirm people before, let alone in Spanish and everything. So it was all really cool. Also on Friday, all of us that are going home had our final interviews with President Ruiz and we went out to lunch at Xetulul, the amusement park place that I’ve told you about, and we got to ride the rides and everything, it was pretty awesome. President Ruiz really likes our group or something because he has never done that with other missionaries before haha.

Then on Saturday, we had the wedding and baptism, and with the help of the sister missionaries in the zone it turned out amazing! There were a lot of challenges we had with the papers and getting them signed, to getting the permission of Bryans parents for him to get married because he is only 17; it was just insane, but like I said there were just so many small miracles that happened just make everything work out fine. I could definitely see and feel the help of the lord to help us get everything done so that the baptism was a success. It was truly amazing, and maybe next week I can explain the whole story in detail to you all in person! So with that baptism, I completed the goal that I had for my last change to baptize 2 families! I literally don’t have the right words to describe the feelings that I’ve had. I know without a doubt that god loves us and is aware of us in every situation. Since breaking my toe in May and wondering how everything was going to work out with the ending of my mission to feeling like I should extend and then doing it, to being sent to San Felipe and now to Los Brillantes and working with the people I have been with and having the baptisms that I’ve had, I have seen so many miracles and I have come to the knowledge that my heavenly father loves me and is aware of my situation and is always trying to help me and guide me to do what is right and to become who I need to become. I love him, I really do. I know he exists; he is my father, and I know that this work is his work. I know that the Church is true, and that through his servant Jose Smith, Jesucristo restored his church to help us do the saving ordinances that save us and put us on the path to return with our heavenly father with our families. I have so many things in my head, from things that I’ve learned to the testimony I now have, I can’t possibly write it all down. I can just simply say that after 2 years of preaching this gospel and serving these people here in Guatemala. I know that these things are true. Without a doubt. I love the Lord, I love the gospel and I love this church. I love my family, and I love these people here in Guatemala. It has been a privilege to serve them, learn from them and grow as a person and as a man. (I still feel young though haha)  I know that everything I have learned will be for my benefit in the years to come and I am so so so grateful to my heavenly father that he has been so merciful with me and all of my weaknesses to become a better person and a better brother, son, and future husband and father. I am sad to be leaving these people, this country, my friends that I have here and everything that I have come to know; but I am also super excited to see you all and start a new chapter in my life! So with all these mixed emotions, I will leave it at that. The next time I will be speaking to you all, it will be in person! I love you all so much, and I thank you for all your support during these two years! I can’t believe that the time has come and is now ending. But like always, we will keep strong and carry on!

Con todo el amor y gozo de mi Corazón,

-Elder Henderson