27 June 2011

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the letters, they were great! I had a lot today! I got an email from Ashton, from Elder Glade, and from my other companion, Elder Young who just got engaged. It was cool to hear from all of them; it is so weird to see my old companions growing up and moving on with their lives already; feels like they were just here with me yesterday. I don´t have a ton of time to write to you guys today because I just wrote a letter to President and Sister for their last week here and an email that they are going to keep forever, so that took me about a half hour. It was really hard to know what to say to them. What do you say to these incredible people who have done so much for me? It´s tough, that´s all I know. President and Sister are coming here today to visit us and President is going to give us blessings today as well. It will be one of the last things that they will do before they leave, so I feel very privileged. It still hasn´t sunken in that they are leaving yet, but I´m sure it will soon, right?

Wow, it sounds like Tanner´s homecoming talk went really well. It really motivated me to work harder and do better; I´m sure that he was an amazing missionary and did a lot of miracles on the mission. I don´t feel like I have grown or done enough here on the mission, so I need to get going!! Elder Glade and Elder Young were telling me about how much they miss the mission and how much I need to enjoy the time that I have here and not waste a single minute of it. I need to be better at that.

So today we have transfers. I don´t know what is going to happen to me, we just have to see. Yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament and played the piano, it went well. I totally destroyed two of the songs, especially the last one when I messed up the introduction really bad, that was embarrassing. Then by the end, I was making so many mistakes that I just started smiling and one of the young men noticed in the audience and came up to me laughing afterwards. One thing I´ve learned on the mission. Just laugh more. I know I make a lot of stupid mistakes. I used to get too stressed out and I still beat myself up too much about things, but I need to relax and enjoy things as they happen. I remember when I turned district leader, I started getting a few gray hairs haha but now I´m fine/normal again.

I really want to enjoy the rest of the time that I have, I know that I don´t have much so I need to do a lot of improving, really fast. I´m grateful for all of you and I´m so happy that you are all doing great! Tell Tanner and Spencer hi for me the next time that you see them, ok?  Hope that you are enjoying your summer and that you are planning on doing some fun things. I love the mission! I´m grateful for this last day I have to spend with President and Sister Bezerra. I love everything here!! I need to enjoy it more! Love you all!

Love, Elder McDonald