Enjoy his letter!
Hey guys,
Hope it's been a good week for you guys. I'm jealous about the eclipse stuff. With or without you guys, I would be driving up to Wyoming if I was there haha. I actually knew about the eclipse back in 2015, at which point I realized that I would be on my mission in 2017. #thesacrifices. It's worth it, but a bummer!
Things here are pretty good and normal. Mission life is mission life. I get a little discouraged sometimes like you guys know but I'm also ok. I had a good experience yesterday. I've been feeling guilty because I'm always really conscious of many of the ways I fall short, and during the sacrament I felt like the Lord was telling me He forgives me. I felt like I think Enos felt when he said, "Lord, how is it done?" I felt like this because I'm so imperfect, because I'm always messing up, and it just seems like the Lord is too merciful sometimes. But I think that's what the Lord wanted me to take away from that -- that He forgave and forgives me, and that I can just do my thing, try to do a little better every day, and that's enough.
I've had a hard time sleeping this last week, so I've been a little more tired than normal. That's ok though. Also, I found out to my relief that Utah State starts on August 27th next year so I will have like a week and a half to relax before going back to school. Glory hallelujah. That's a random detail, but I had been thinking that it would start on August 20th. Anyway.
As far as mission stuff goes, our investigator Edson went to church again. I don't really know how to help him but at least he's going to church, and wants to keep going. We also had 3 family members of a return missionary that got back last week. We're gonna teach them, which should be cool.
I enjoyed reading your letters this week. There's no quick solution. Sometimes hard is just hard. Elder Bednar talks about how revelation comes in two ways -- it can come as if it were a light being turned on and off, and it can come like the light of a rising sun, in an almost imperceptable way. I think growth is the same way, that usually growth is basically imperceptable and that it comes really slow. When I think about who I was a year ago, right before my mission, I realize that I was a lot different and that I've grown a lot but also that in a lot of ways I'm the same person. I think I'll be able to say that when I get home too. I thought my mission would be a miracle transformation machine where I would lose all of my weaknesses and imperfections and become angel Moroni 2 or something. Turns out that no matter how good two years is, it's still only two years. I have a lot of life to live still to learn and grow and get better. That being said though I still wanna be all I can right now. I'm trying for sure. I just get the feeling that the Lord loves me and wants to help me, and that He's forgiving when I do my thing. Life is so weird.
Love you guys. Can't wait to chat. By the way, I got my package and I loved it, especially your letters. Thanks so much for that. Dad I'm downloading Adagio for Strings right now.
Elder Sederholm