21 November 2016 Final Entry

Buenos Dias todos!!!! Espero que hayan disfrutado de esta semana pasada!! Yo si lo he hecho, y espero que ustedes tambien :) so YEAH!!! This email will be quick and bitter sweet since if anyone is actually interested in knowing how my last week was, they can ask me in person or on the phone xD real quick what happened yesterday then i just want to leave you all with some dying words and comments ;) so for my last Sunday, i got to give a farewell talk in the branch, and dang that was hard. I served there for a whole year of my mission and i'm gonna miss those people SO MUCH!!!! at the end of sacrament meeting, a couple of the mothers were like "well thanks elder for making all of us moms cry." haha! it was nice to be able to say bye to everyone like that :) anywes, that was real quick, now to get all mushy and stuff ;) Honestly, the mission has been, hands down, the greatest experience of my life to this point. I know there was a lot more time, effort, work, tears, and struggles put into making this all possible, and i know there are more people that i don't even know of who helped make it possible, and i will never be able to thank you all enough. This has changed my life and i have had the chance to touch the lives of others and change their lives too in a way that i NEVER could have done had i not served a mission. just yesterday some members were telling us how to them, even if we feel like we didn't have a successful mission, that we were successful to them because we were the missionaries who helped their son get on his mission, and he's now in Argentina helping other people change their lives. I have learned lessons out here that can't be learned anywhere else besides the mission field, and i know that i also learned things that i couldn't have learned in any OTHER mission besides this exact one. I know the Lord had and has a plan for me, and that's exactly why he called me to this mission at this time. The struggles i had and times i passed through were exactly what i needed. I never told you of any of the REAL struggles had here, but just let it be known, it's a miracle that i stayed the duration of my mission from start to finish. The Lord truly sustained me through my mission, and i have developed a significantly deeper love and understanding of the atonement throughout my time here. I have come to better grasp the not only forgiving power of the atonement, but also the enabling power that it offers. The atonement is not only for the sinner, but also for the weak at heart and those who are stumbling to hold onto the things that matter most. I can now, without a doubt, say that i know my Saviour lives, and that He has restored His gospel to the earth today, and that we have a living prophet who gives us His word today. I know he suffered pain that no man will EVER understand, and that the benefits that we can have now because of His perfect love are extended to all those who come before him humble, and ready to do His will. I leave you all with my highest gratitude for ANYTHING you have done in any way to support me and help me out, be it prayers, donations, moral support to family or me personally, anything. I thank you all so much and leave this LAST missionary email with you foos, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. ​Sincerely and with much love. Elder Levi​ Alexander​ Windham T​hank you

31 October 2016

Herro everybody!!! I hope you've all had a pretty dope-tastic week!! mine's been pretty good :) This week has been pretty good for a couple reasons! I shall describe them as short stories, narrated by yours truly: [the person reading this email]. So for starters, we did all the cookie deliveries this week!!!! There were a few pretty fun stories and i shall continue to recount the FIRST and WORST (well, more like scariest) one. So this is a less-active Mexican family who we used to meet with and they NEVER did anything, so we stopped. Anywes, i went and placed the plate of pumpkin cookies on their porch, knocked, then ran around the corner of the duplex. I watched to see when they came and grabbed the cookies, but they ever came.... so i started going back to knock again and Elder McLaren (who was about 2 yards away) whispers at me. so i look and can't see a thang, and keep going to the door. to my great surprise, as soon as i got to the porch, the door swings open and i just drop to the ground, hoping he didn't see me (i'm also literally right next to the posrch which is not very tall). anyways, my thought was hmm maybe this porch chair will give me sufficient cover that he doesn't see me..? well, lemme tell you that i was totally FALSE in that assumption, and instead of protecting me, he said "eh, que quieres guey?!" and KICKS the chair at me!! so i immediately come out of my very secretive position pleading mercy and forgiveness, saying his name and telling him "LOS MISIONEROS!!!" he then got a little embarrassed and was like oh elder, you can't be doing that! i was ready to fight! hahaha so yeah, that made me pretty paranoid for a lot of the future deliveries, but heaven knows that didn't impede our Booing :) Then also last week, we had another lesson with Emmanuel and Tesoro!!! We taught the restoration all the way through and she seems super solid!! Once we got to the restoration of the priesthood, we extended a baptismal invitation for when she knows what we're teaching is true, and she said YES!!!!! So she's pretty dang solid. Elder Nuttall said she kind of reminds him of Gloria, and look what SHE DID!!!!!! #enduretotheend Speaking of Gloria, we had a lesson with her too!! it was a pretty good lesson. She's also totally solid and believes everything :) also she, Luisa, and Sophia ALL came to church yesterday!!!! and they stayed all 3 hours too :) it was nice because they talked a bunch about missionary work for the members and then in 3rd hour, since it was the 5th Sunday, they had it all combined and they talked about genealogy work and whatnot, and apparently Luisa is super interested in genealogy work!! So that'll be perfect for her because she can do all the work then take the names to the temple :) SO SICK!!! Also this week, we had interviews. pretty much for that, president basically just renewed my temple recommend since it expired October and i need to renew it before i go home, which is in very little time............ SO, the reason for the which i started emailing SO LATE today is because this morning we went to go on a hike with the other branch spanish missionaries!!!! it was pretty nippy and pretty dark when we started. we had to use flashlights for like the first 20 minutes!! it was super fun :) i don't currently have pictures, but at some point in the near future, i'll probably blow all of your electronic devices up with pictures and whatnot :) so that was kind of our week!! not everything, of course, but some of it :) i hope you guys all have a great Halloween and don't do anything unwise and you enjoy having a normal life. because imma join you in, like, 25 days or something like that....... TTYL!!! Love, Elder Levi Windham