As my mission is ending I have done so much reflecting on where I was eighteen months ago. Some days I’m super excited to take on the future as the new me and other days I’m terrified feeling like I haven’t changed at all. So this morning I decided to make a list of everything I’ve learned in eighteen months to remind myself that who I am is not who I was and for that I consider my mission a success.
1. I love people so much more now. As a missionary you are constantly talking to people you have seemingly nothing in common with, find common ground, try to love them as the savior would if he were there, and withhold your judgments and just serve and love and do it all over again. I have found myself in homes I would never have been in, loving people whose paths I never would have crossed and who I may have even worse never noticed. And they have changed me and loved me freely in return.