Well it is actually time for my final email as a missionary. Next week there will not be much time and I will want things to talk to you about when I get home. It is strange to think that the time has gone so fast. It seems that just yesterday I left for the MTC and cried like I would never see you again. I have not seen any of you in person for over 18 months, and I have missed y'all more than you can ever imagine. This past year and a half I have seen, heard, and experienced so many things. And there is so much that I wish I could tell you, but there are something's that words can not express. However in this my final email as a missionary I will do my best to try and give y'all a piece of what I have learned.
I know that God is my father and that he loves his children. As a missionary you are given the special ability to feel how much God truly loves all of his children. It does not matter who they are, where they come from and what they have done. He is always there and will always love us! I have had the chance to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. And God has shown me many great things, and many great people. This past week we were out in a small town that we cover named west way. The people that we went to see weren't there and so we were on our way back home. When I got a feeling to go and see our investigators Olga and Eddie. Which meant that we would just stop in unexpected. This is not my favorite thing to do so I tried to tell myself that we would see them later in the week. But again as we were driving down the street I felt it again, this time with the words "You Promised". It seems that every time I try to do my own will and not Gods he reminds me of this. That I promised long ago to do his will, and that it is all that matters in this life. So I turned the car around and we went to there house. while we were there not only did we see Olga and Eddie. But we also met her husband David, who has never been there when we have met with them in the past. He told us that had we come a few minutes later he would have been in bed, and we would have missed him. We had an amazing lesson about our purpose in life, and how much God truly loves us. As we were talking he stopped me and told me that as I was reading the Book of Mormon the pain in his heart stopped. And that he truly felt the Lord, he asked if we knew why it was the he felt that. And I told him that it was the Holy ghost witnessing to him that the words which we spoke were true. He has committed to read the Book of Mormon, and to be there when we meet next Friday. I know that God lives and loves his children.
I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that this is the true church of God on the earth today. I have met many people from many different religions. And many have tried to tell me other wise, but they have done so in vain. For I have received a witness from the Lord that they are wrong. This is the one true church of God here upon the earth today. I have been told by many people that they wish that they could save my soul. That I should not listen to the things that I have been brain washed to think. And you all know that I am not going to do any thing just because someone tells me I have to. No I am here and have stayed on my mission because I wanted to. Many people think that it is crazy to 'waste' 18 months of you life to do 'nothing' with your life. So yes to some I am crazy, and have wasted 18 months. But they do not truly see the reason behind why I did this. I have been given these 18 months to learn more of my Savior, and my self. I did not give this time to God because it was not my time to give. Everything that we have has already been given to us from our Father. The only thing that we can give to him that is not already his, is our will and our hearts. I have been trying these past 18 months to give God the only thing that I have to give him. Because life is not about what we want but what the Lord wants.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and he knows and loves me. I know that Jesus is my Savior, and the only means by which we can gain eternal life. It is through him that our families can be together forever! It is because of his great sacrifice that I can be cleansed from my sins, and made whole in the eyes of God. I know that we will be with the ones that we love for time and all eternity. That as long as we do the things that we have been asked to do that we will find piece in this life and the life to come. I am so blessed to have this gospel in my life and in the lives of my family. I know that we reap what we sow, that we must treat others the way that we want to be treated. And in the way that Christ would treat them. We are all children of God, and he loves us. So we in turn must love one another.
This mission has been the single greatest things that I have every done in my life. I love my Father in Heaven for giving me this chance to serve him with all my heart might mind and strength. I pray that I have been able to do enough in my time here in the Albuquerque New Mexico Mission to possibly repay in some small fraction of a way all the many great blessings that the Lord has given me.
And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which I give of him: That he lives! For I know that Joseph Smith saw him, even on the right hand of God; and heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. I know that this work will go forward and that all the people of the earth will have the chance to learn of the true gospel of Jesus. I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven more than I have every thought possible. I love y'all so much and pray that I can live my life to make y'all proud! Again I love you and cant wait to see you next week , and next October. By the way mom President and sister Miller gave me permission to hug Makall first! But any way I will see y'all soon!
Love always and for the last time
Sister Jenna Sherrilyn Chatwin
A Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
