Thursday, March 17, 2016

The Refiner's Fire - May 11th, 2015

Dearest Family and Friends,

Well for starters I want to thank all of you for all your love and support over these past 18months. It has meant the world to me to have such supportive and loving people in my life and as I have been gone I have really come to cherish the relationships I have with each of you. I look forward to seeing all of you soon :)

Well there aren't really words to sum up the last 18months of serving the Lord. It has been amazing and hard and happy and heartbreaking, and basically the best thing I have ever been involved in. I loved it. But I feel at peace about going home. I have grown deeper faith than I knew I could. I look back to the beginning of my mission and there was so much I didn't know. It was belief, now it is knowledge. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know this is the true church of God. I know that He has a divine purpose for me and He will help me if I just trust him and get out of my own way. I have learned how to trust deeper and how to follow the spirit more courageously. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. So simple and yet so all encompassing. I love studying the gospel. The more I learn, the more I hunger and thirst after knowledge. I don't think there are really adequate ways to describe the changes in me, but I know that The Lord sees them, and I know they only happened because of Him. I have come to love and appreciate my Savior so much, for all He has done for me, and for His tenderness and mercy towards me. I'm grateful He allowed me, so weak, to serve Him. It has changed my life.

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. What I want with all my heart is to return and be with my Father in Heaven. I want to be a defender of truth and righteousness all the days of my life. I have come to feel the enabling and ennobling power of the Atonement Jesus Christ in profound ways as I have been carried through the most trying of times. My experience with the atonement has filled me with such love for my Savior, and for my brothers and sisters that I have been able to serve with. I have met so many amazing people that have become a part of my family. I come to love them so much. They fill a part of my heart I didn't know existed until I came on a mission.

There is just so much. I have loved this. I look forward to being able to share my experiences with all of you soon :)

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"
2 Timothy 4:6-7

❤️Hermana Simmons

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