December 8, 2014
Dear all,
Well….yep! This is it haha. My last email! AH!!! This is the absolutely weirdest thing I’ve ever done. EVER! Coming on a mission was a piece of cake. Enduring on a mission was difficult and joyful. Ending a full time mission just plain stinks. There were points on my mission that I wondered if I would be one of those missionaries who would come back and say, “I LOVED my mission!!!” But I can truly, honestly, 100% with total confidence, say that I have both needed, and LOVED MY MISSION!!!!!!!!! There are deep truths that I have learned that I personally could not have learned any other way. I have come to learn about my Savior, and the fact that I have SO much more to learn from Him.
I wasn’t perfect. At all. I made PLENTY of mistakes. I had trials and challenges that I didn’t ever even dream I would have whilst on my mission, and some of them I KNEW I would have. But the Savior has been with me every step of the way.
I can’t fully put into words what this all means to me and I don’t think that I ever will. As I was buying a ring that reminded me of Tucson, I realized at first that I was buying it as a way to remember and to almost prove that I served a mission. But I hope that when I come home that the person I’ve become shows that I’ve served a mission.
You know how incredible people are? They are amazing. Every single one of us is such an individual and we are all so beautiful. The people who sit next to me aren’t strangers anymore. When you look into their eyes you can see that they have existed for an eternity. I hope that I always remember that. They are my family.
Thank you everyone who has prayed for me and supported me. I have felt many times the strength of your prayers and I needed every single one of them, so thank you.
Enough of that!
This week was harder but we finally met with a man named Anthony who is INCREDIBLE!! Apparently, his son came to him in a dream before he was even born and told his dad that he was coming. Anthony callled his wife and said, “You’re pregnant.” She found out 4 hours later that that was the case. Anthony wanted to name him Zion but his wife didn’t want to . So they settled on Darion which Anthony had never really heard before. And when they looked up the meaning of the name with that spelling, it means something along the lines of, “strong leader of the Mount Zion”…!!!!!!!!!! Yeah. Crazy!!!! Anyway, Darion is 12 now and apparently he’s a saint and wants to learn more about religion. HEHEHE!! YAY!!!! They are so amazing. SO amazing.
Yep! It was awesome and they’re awesome, and life is awesome!!!
Love,
Sister O’Donnell
Preachin the Gospel in 100 degrees, in 100% sunshine! 