Returning With Honor

Will, along with Elders Lee and Smith will be arriving at the SLC airport late Wednesday night (August 18). He will be speaking at the LDS South Stake Center in Evanston, Wyoming the following Sunday in Sacrament Meeting which starts at about 12:30 P.M.

Dear Family,
Well it’s crazy to think how near the end really is. Two years ago from tomorrow I was giving my "farewell" talk. Really it seems like it was much less than 2 years but at the same time it seems like a whole other life ago. wow.
This week has been another good one. I can happily say that I will finish my mission working hard and I have "Fought the good fight" and "kept the faith". I don’t know if I will be around an internet to say anything next Monday so the next time we talk it could be real talking.

But anyhow, this week we have continued working with our investigators and fighting to help them progress and make covenants with God. Martha and Stefani Garcia are doing great and are excited for their baptism on Friday. Sadly, Noe has been away managing their farm and couldn’t be in any lessons or in church this weekend. Is his case we will just have to get hold of him this week and see if he feels prepared to be baptized with his family, but be this week or a few weeks later I know he will be there with them? Another investigator named Slendi who is a teenage girl who lives with a member family will also be baptized, but on Wednesday. The bishop showed up this week with a ten year old girl from a member family whose baptismal records were lost so we will also have to quickly teach her the lessons this week and she will count as a "convert baptism", also on Friday. So it looks like I will be able to finish my last week with a minimum of 4 baptisms and go out on a good note.

Everyone in the ward here has found out that I am going home so we have dinner appointments booked for the whole week. We have gotten along great with the members here so no one misses a chance to ask how long I have left and act amazed at how little it is. The church is putting more emphasis on a few parts of Preach my Gospel so we will receive some more training from Monday to Thursday. We will be spending the mornings doing that and then working normally in the afternoon.

The zone is still doing great, we have already baptized 12 more in the first 2 weeks of this month and we are well on pace to pass 20 at least again. So there had only been 20 or more baptisms here twice before and we are about to drop two in a row. We have been very blessed. I had some areas like Barranca or Sogamoso where we worked our butts off but the people just weren't ready or it wasn’t the right time but the Lord really has blessed us to find many people here. It really is a great way to finish the mish and I can’t say how very grateful I am for it.

I am not scared or nervous about what will happen as I get home. I think everything is lined up very well but just the same, it’s going to be really strange. I will probably be a weird RM for a little while but I know good things are to come and it will go well. I’m excited to start at BYU.

Looks like we will do the baptisms on Friday. On Saturday, they invited us to go to Barranca and do a little Barbecue / Goodbye for Elder Mura and me. So we will go in the morning and come back in the night. Sunday I just happen to have a talk in church and Sunday night it looks like we will head out on a bus to Bogotá. I think Monday will be a free day there and the rumor is that President Camargo is going to invite us over to eat dinner with them. Tuesday we will go to the temple, have the last interview and have a little goodbye dinner / testimony meeting and Wednesday bright and early we will be in the airport. wowsers.

So fam this is the end of the road. It will be sad to leave Colombia behind. I really do love it and love the people here. I imagine I will shed a few tears this next week. I can't describe how great it has been to be a missionary; I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has been the best experience of my life and I’m very grateful that I was called to serve here. It’s a very strange feeling I have as I write this and realize that I am really that close.

I know that we are in the truth and I have a testimony of it. It’s hard to end but I am at peace with the mission I have served. I haven't been perfect by any means but I really can say that I have tried my best and I have always wanted to be the best missionary I could be. I have learned that by ourselves we may be able to do good things, but when we learn to depend on the Lord and humble ourselves is when we really find out our potential. Don’t worry about planning out anything fancy in the airport. I love you mucho and as sad as it is to finish, it will be so nice to see ya again. Take care this week and if I don’t send a quick letter on Monday I will talk to ya next Wednesday. wow crazy. Love Will

August 2, 2010

As it gets closer to seeing you, I feel less like spending time writing letters but here is the weekly report of another good week in Bucaramanga. Please don't take that as a trunky comment, I feel very untrunky and we are going as hard as ever and the spirit is very strong. But it’s inevitable and all the missionaries and ward members like to constantly remind me how soon I will be home. Actually I may only have one weekly letter left after this one depending on what they do with us.

This was a very good week. We finished the zone leader conference in Bogotá, it was a very good meeting held in the visitors center of the temple. It was nice to see big old Bogotá again and I felt pretty cold. I can’t imagine how dry Utah and Wyoming will feel.

After the conference, those of us who are traveling went to McDonalds and I got myself a nice quarter pounder with cheese and fries. McDonalds is actually funny here, the food is the same but they make it seem like a fancy thing and basically only rich people eat there. After that we went to the terminal and headed out on another all night bus ride back. I tried about every possible position to sleep that you can on a bus but without much luck. We got home at about 6 am, took a quick nap and then had district meeting.

Elder Mura and Elder Romero both know quite a bit of English so we did the meeting in English by their request. I spoke a little about the restoration in English and it was pretty awkward trying to talk about the gospel in English. I have found that when I try to talk more formally or about specific topics it’s pretty weird.

Anyway the week went great. I did divisions with Central and worked there with Elder Romero. They were struggling a lot to find investigators but we worked like crazy and we invited 7 people to be baptized and all accepted.

The Garcia family is doing great. We taught them with the Bishop. Marta and Stefani are very decided about baptism. Noe the dad is still a little unsure but he is progressing slowly but surely and continues with his goal for the 14th.

Also you may remember N. She is showing a lot of progress and starting to seem more like a member of the church and less like an evangelic. She always goes to church etc and is just waiting because she has to have an interview with president Hacking first. He should be here next week. She is reading the BoM like crazy, going to church weekly and even invites her friends to come. She bore a nice testimony yesterday in Sacrament meeting.

Today for Pday we got the zone together and gave out the cool zone t Shirts we had made. They look like the Bucaramanga soccer team jersey but they say “Terrazas Zone.” And there is a little 26 for the new baptism record and all our names on the back. They turned out really well. Then we played a little soccer and Bball and Elder Moen, Butler and I went and ate lunch at the mall here.

The sports pass sounds great and I’m sure it will work out just fine. Mom asked about the other missionaries in our group. Those of us traveling together will be me, Elder Moen - Idaho, Elder Lee - Utah, Elder Smith - Utah, Elder Larsen - Houston TX. So by the time you see us it will just be Elder Lee, Elder Smith and me.

Family I want you to know that I know this is the true church and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I have had the blessing to read and search the book of Mormon and pray about it many, many times and I know that it is true. I think we may be the most blessed people in this whole world if you really think about it. I’m so thankful and happy for the experience my mission has been and the great way the Lord has blessed me to be able to end. Have a great week and I will talk to ya next time. Love Will.