Dear All,
No time today. The negocio closes at 2PM. It's 1:54 PM. :)
I'm ending my mission in Los Vilos! This is it. My companion is out of here. He's training in El Belloto. My heart is full because the Lord has called me to serve with a great friend of mine. :) Elder MacIver! I was there when he started the mission, and we always told each other, "One day, we will be companions." I love him, and I've always felt that we would be working together. I cannot think of a better companion to end my mission with. :) He's SO humble, and he's always happy. He's from Arizona, and he will complete a year in Chilé with me.
All is well here.
I want to end my mission with the attitude of "TOTAL SURRENDER." The Fourth Missionary explains it better than I can. It says:
Unlike the Third Missionary, the way of the Fourth Missionary is what I call “unconditional surrender”. In addition to giving his time, talents and energy to the Lord, the Fourth Missionary gives himself. He gives his will to the Lord. He surrenders all of his desires, his dreams, his ambitions, his wishes to the Lord. In his heart and in his head he lets go of what he wants to do. His wants to do the Lords will.
Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, the Lord says to us: “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.” (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p.167)
Let me be clear that I am not talking just about giving up evil desires, but rather all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams, whether good or evil. All of it together. For example, I desire to provide for my family; I want to be with my sons when they get married; I would like to be with my parents in their last years; I like snow skiing and water skiing. I enjoy rock climbing, ice climbing and mountaineering; I enjoy being with my family; I like being the teacher’s quorum advisor; but I am called to serve a mission. These are all good desires. You have other desires equally good or better. The Third Missionary gives up doing those things. The Fourth Missionary gives them up in his head and in his heart as well. It isn’t that he stops caring about those things; he just doesn’t dwell on them. His mind and heart are focused on other things. His wants, his wishes, his dreams are overcome and swallowed up by his predominant desire to fulfill the wants, the wishes and dreams of the Lord for him.
I'm going to give it my all these last six weeks so that I can say: "Lord, I gave Thee my all. I have no regrets."
I love you all. Until next week!
Con Amor,
Elder Nelson IV
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