Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Alex's 96th email from Chile/San Diego 6/18/12


I had Alex sit down and write an email to me about his last week in the mission field :) Later this week I will post his homecoming and I have a sweet video and lots of pictures to share. Enjoy his last week in Chile :)

The "Go Homers" at the Temple with President & Hermana King
(Sis. King refers to the missionaries that go home as 'go homers')

So I am just writing about my last week in Chile.

So it was a week of mixed emotions. We worked alot with Makarena. She has been passing through a difficult moment in her life. I had my last p-day my last district meeting. It was a week of lasts and it was way weird for me cause everytime someone would say something "Hey Elder Leavitt, this is your last Tuesday in Chile," "Hey Elder Leavitt, this is your last District meeting." It was tough.

On Thursday I got to do divisions with Elder Barco for the day which for me was way cool because me and Elder Barco are good friends from when we lived in the same pension in Lo Ovalle. So we just talked about the mission shared stories and talked about how awesome the mission had been.  On Friday we woke up early and we went to Maipu to meet up with Elder Nielson and his companion so that we could head to the temple. Everyone who goes home in the mission has the opportunity to go the temple one last time with President and Hermana King. I got permission from pres. King to go even early to finish up some iniciatory work for Rocios grandfather. It was an amazing experience and after we got to participate in a sealing. After we went to President King's house ate lunch it was delicious. Don't ask me what it was called but it was good. We talked about the mission, shared funny stories, and President King asked us to talk about our favorite sector and why. Then when we all finished eating we went up stairs and then we had a testimony meeting which was amazing. After we went home and that was our day which was just fantastic.

The couple whose sealing they were able to attend.

On Saturday was when the goodbyes started. I had a ton of people that wanted me to come say goodbye and then the same on Sunday it was actually way sad. In church on Sunday they had me share my testimony seeing it would be the last time I do so in Chile.

On Monday I had my exit interview with President King. It was cool. We talked about my progress, my goals, plans for my life, and things that I need to be doing. It was just weird and unreal. It had not truly hit me yet that I was going home. After we ate some lunch and then we had people arriving to come say goodbye from us from all our different sectors. I had a huge group of people come say goodbye to me it was something special. To actually see that you had left a mark in the life of another person. I had converts from every sector come say goodbye, families that I helped reactivate and members that just felt like saying goodbye. It was like the moment in my mission where it was like "Wow, I actually did make a difference here in the last two years." Just seeing how many people remembered me and wanted to come say thanks it was something different and amazing. Then I had to get in the car wave goodbye and we headed off to the airport. I flew to Lima and then Lima to Los Angeles. On that flight I was sitting next to a lady from Peru who lives in Los Angeles and we just talked the whole way and we started talking about religion and she then asks me what's the difference between you guys and the Catholics. That was my Golden ticket and I just went off talking about the restoration. It was cool. She was way interested and I took down all of her information and she wanted me to come by and keep teaching her. But it was fun. Then I flew home to San Diego. It was insane. I was in shock and just out of it when I saw my family. I can't even begin to describe the emotions I was feeling. It was something else. Well from there I went to President Ellsworth's office and was released from my calling as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints.

Meal at President & Hermana King's home.
'Go Homer' Hermana's with Hermana King. 
Women think differently than men....we don't have a picture with Pres. King with the Elder's :)
'Go Homer's' with President & Hermana King.

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