I love seeing the joy the knowledge of Jesus Christ can bring to someone.

This week flew by. Unfortunately we had a lot of lessons and appointments cancel but that’s all good! It’s part of it. Khoen did get baptized this week and it was awesome. I have loved getting to teach Khoen and to get to know him the last couple of months and he has definitely come pretty far. Elder O’Neal also got to come back for the baptism so it was really good to see him again. It’s always cool to see old companions and to catch back up. But the spirit was super strong at Khoen’s baptism and he was so happy when he came up out of the water. I love seeing the joy the knowledge of Jesus Christ can bring to someone. It’s easily the most fulfilling part of a mission. The other day, a memory came up on Facebook which was exactly the two year mark from when I opened my mission call. That was a pretty surreal moment. Thinking back to how daunting going away from home for two years seemed but it has totally been worth it. It’s a pretty weird feeling to be getting closer and closer to finishing. I have learned so much and have grown so much as well. I’m so thankful for all the experiences I’ve been blessed to have these past 21 months. It is so hard to put into words all I have learned and how I’ve changed but I love who God is shaping me to be. Definitely have a long way to go but that’s okay. I’ve always been really hard on myself but I know God loves us and he doesn’t expect anything more of us than our best. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He just wants us to try. Coming to terms with that has been hard but it has definitely helped me to be happier. I hope everyone has a good week!

In order for there to be no limits we must have no excuses. That’s something I desperately want to get better at.

This past week was a very good week for Elder Shermer and I. We are getting more used to teaching with each other and working together so our lessons are going better and better each day. This week we had a pretty special opportunity to go to the Jordan River Temple Open House (a Mormon Temple out here close to where I am serving). The temple needed some remodeling done and so because of that it needs to be rededicated. Whenever a Temple is finished being remodeled or being built they have an open house so anyone and everyone can come in and walk through it before it gets dedicated. It’s really cool. So we went twice this week with a couple different people we are teaching to walk through and look at all the rooms and the paintings and it was just a neat experience. Temples are buildings where people of my faith go to get closer to God and to seek for guidance. We also go there to learn more about our purpose here on earth and about our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love temples and I am so grateful for them. We also had Zone Conference this week and it was probably my favorite one I have had for my mission. I learned a lot. I only have two zone conferences left until i come home which is just so crazy to think about. Something cool that I learned this week that I wanted to share was something that I realized while studying about Easter. I feel that most of the time whenever something goes wrong or we do something we shouldn’t the first thing we do is come up with an excuse as to why it wasn’t our fault. It’s natural and I am very, very guilty of that. But I realized that the grace and love of Jesus Christ has no limits. Christ can heal us from any emotional or physical pain, He can forgive any sin, big or small. But in order for us to be able to access that limitless love we have to humble ourselves and get rid of all excuses. In order for there to be no limits we must have no excuses. That’s something I desperately want to get better at. Thanks for all your prayers!

There is never room for hate but there is always room for love.

Colton ran into this friend who was visiting from Brazil at General Conference! Elder Gonzaga served his mission here in Indiana and come to our home many times.

This week was my last Easter and General Conference as a missionary. Pretty crazy to think about how long I’ve been on my mission. It was a pretty special weekend. Elder Shermer and I had tickets to two sessions of conference on Saturday. I always love getting to go to Conference and feel the special spirit there. On Saturday morning I got to stand and sustain President Nelson as the new prophet of our church which was a pretty amazing experience. I have never felt anything as powerful as that in my whole life. It was pretty overwhelming. Probably the biggest theme from the speakers from conference that I noticed was love. They talked a lot about love and how important it is that we love those around us. The world seems to get crazier and crazier and if you don’t pay attention to anything except the news you would think that there is no hope for anything good in this world. But I can testify that the love of Christ is still very much alive in the world and that there is more good than bad. There is never room for hate but there is always room for love. Even when people were showing hate towards Jesus Christ, He responded with love. We need to respond to the hate and the evil in this world with love. Love will always defeat hate. Good will always defeat evil. And Jesus Christ will always win. I don’t think any message could be more appropriate this Easter season than that. Until next week!