1-6-14

Dear Family and Friends! 

This will be my last big email to everyone. This next Monday will be my exit interview with President Meredith. It is pretty early in the morning, but I will be with another elder that is heading home, so I will sit and wait while he has his also. We will probably grab some lunch together out in Oakland and then head back to Walnut Creek. We will then have some time to check our emails, and send a quick one home, so you can all still email me if you would like! or even better would be to hand write a letter and send it my way! That would be a great way to end my mission with a lot of letters! haha Just kidding you don't have to. After that though, we will be back with our companions to do whatever we have time for, and then we will go back to work for the last three hours of our missions. It is so crazy to think about it actually coming to an end. I have been a missionary for a long time now, and it is going to be so tough to say good bye to it all. Tuesday in our mission we will drop our companions off with their new comps, and then me and Elder Hatch (name of my temp companion) will be together for the rest of that day. Usually we would have a temple trip with President, but the temple is closed that Tuesday, so we will be going to the temple this coming Thursday actually so that is something to look forward to. I have no idea what we will do for the afternoon, but in the evening we have a nice dinner with the Meredith's, and a testimony meeting between missionaries, so that is going to be really nice. The assistants usually show up around 8 and we have root beer floats and then head off to our bed rooms that we are assigned to. Then we wake up and get around and we are taken to the airport. President is going to be driving me and one of the Sisters to the airport, cause we are the first to leave, so he will take us and drop us off. I am excited that President is going to, so that I can say good bye one last time to him! 

This week was a little bit of a challenge for me.. I have been a little under the weather, so it has been a little tough to push hard. But the huge blessing is that we finally taught 20 lessons in the area! We have gotten to 18 three times, but have not been able to get above that since I have been here. It was so good to be able to finally reach that goal that we have had for a while! It's been a great feat for us! I am so amazed at the way that the Lord can make things happen like that. Even though things have been a little tough, and I have been sick, he still pulls through for us and blesses us with the things that we need. I love this work so much! 

So Tyler was baptized this past Saturday! It was such a great day! The Spirit was really strong the entire day, and especially at the baptism. The bishop had invited us and Tyler and his girlfriend Courtney over for dinner right before the baptism and that was super fun! We played bingo, which is the family tradition when the missionaries come over, and of course I won!! hahaha Just kidding that sounded super prideful, but I did win haha. It was really fun. Tyler is about as competitive as I am, so it was fun to play with him. he was mad that he lost by one number! It was a really fun way to help him feel comfortable and enjoy the day. The baptism went as smoothly as we could have asked. His parents didn't come, but Courtney's whole family was there, and so that was really good for him. He had ACL surgery a few weeks back, and so he had a really hard time trying to come back up after he went under the water. I did my best to help him, but when a 190 lb guy is falling in an opposite direction it was pretty tough. Everyone thought that water had gone up his noes, and was giving him a hard time about it... He was all good with it though, and had a really good spirit about him after it was all over. He is an amazing young man! He has helped me to find a few things in the natural health medication with a few of the things that I have been struggling with lately with some pretty bad parasite flare ups, so that has been a HUGE blessing to me! It's amazing how the Lord puts people in your path that can help you in more ways then you would ever imagine! I am so thankful that my Father in Heaven knows me personally, and has enough love for me to be able to help me endure that pains and the struggles that I go through. He knows us better then we even know ourselves. My Dad helped me today to realized just how much power I really do have! Some times I forget that the power of the Priesthood truly is the power of God and can perform miracles for yourself as much as they can for others! I have been focusing on everyone else around me, that I have tended to loose focus on taking  care of myself also! It's time to take it easy on all the crappy food I have been eating, and get back to a good healthy diet that is going to keep me going strong. 

I have been asked to speak in church this coming Sunday about the Prophet Joseph Smith and his role in the Restoration. It's going to be a missionary topic Sunday, so that is going to be a joy to be able to share my testimony on my last Sunday as a missionary! I have loved this ward so much, that it is my honor to be asked to speak. Alison Gipp will be speaking with me, so that is going to be really cool to speak with one of my recent converts also. It will be a great last week full of lessons, and great memories! 

I am so thankful for the time that I have had to spend as a missionary! I have had the time of my life both in the Philippines, and in California. I have been tried and tested, and I hope that I have shown the Lord how strong I am, and how dedicated to his work I am! It has not been a perfect two years, but I am tired and my knees are callused from hours of prayer and pondering! I am so thankful for the Man that he has helped me to become. I was such a child when I first left for the Philippines, and now I look back and just smile at the changes that have taken place. I am so excited to be able to show you all who I am now, and show the love that I have developed for the Lord and this work. It is truly a revelatory work, and I am so thankful that I have been counted worthy to receive that revelation and grow this close to my savior. I have never had to rely so much on someone else, that it has taught me great humility. You can't be a missionary and work off of your own strength. It's just not humanly possible. I thought it was at first! I tried for a long time, but finally came to the realization that it just wasn't worth the struggle. The Lords path, is the right path, and I am thankful for his Atonement, because that is the thing that has allowed me to be able to begin to walk that path! For some reason the Lord has seen fit to save me from the life that I was living, to be apart of the work of Salvation. I have a testimony of this work! I know that the Savior Jesus Christ stands at the Head of this church, and of this mighty missionary force. I am thankful for a family that loves me unconditionally, and that is there for me even through the hard times! They never stop surprising me with the Love that is rendered. They are my greatest blessing in this life. I am thankful for amazing Friends who have stood by me the entire journey! Luis Herrera has never given up on me, even when I wasn't a very good friend. He and his family deserve more blessings then humanly possible, and I pray Heavenly Father will give those to them!  When all is said and done, the most important thing to do is to preach the Gospel. Spoken by the Mouth of Joseph Smith himself, I will join that group and preach the Gospel till I am blue in the face! I love this work so much, and even though it is about to come to an end full time, I will forever be a missionary of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know he Lives. I know that he loves each and every one of us and knows us personally! He suffered and died for us all, and through that selfless act, has given us the opportunity to live with our father in heaven once more! I will forever be in his debt, and am trying to do anything and everything I can to make sure that I help in hastening the Work of Salvation! I love you all so much! Thank you for allowing me to write to you while I have been a full time missionary! I hope to keep in contact with you all even after its all come to an end. Thanks for your support and the letters and emails you have sent! I will see you all in a little over a week! 

Much Love,

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley