Week 102

Well here it is.  My last entry.  My last week. 

My mission has been one incredible experience after another. I will do a recap of my mission.

I was called to serve in the Arizona Phoenix Mission, the APM, the Number One Mission in the World! I arrived at the MTC on June 23, 2010, it seems at times a very long time ago, and at other times, just yesterday.  I met my two companions, Elder Paulson and Elder Carlson.  Elder Paulson sadly didn't make it out of the MTC, that was a difficult experience. 

I arrived in Phoenix on July 13, 2010 and as I recall it was 114 degrees... an average day.  That very day I met my companion and trainer, Elder Campbell, I spent 3 months with him.  I was assigned to the Waddell ward as well as the Cottonflower YSA ward, and I served in those two wards for 14 months.  Waddell is my home away from Idaho.  I would live there if it weren't in Arizona! That is where I would say I experienced the most growth as a missionary.  I had 6 companions while I was there, two of whom I trained. 

On September 7, 2011 I received word that I was going to be transferred.  Very hard to leave my area.  I promised the people that if I served there more than a year, I would tell everyone that I served in the Arizona Waddell Mission.  Thus, I was called to serve in Phoenix, but served mostly in Waddell.  I was reassigned to serve in Cottonwood.  That was my dream, if I left Waddell, I wanted to serve in one of two places.  South Phoenix, or Cottonwood.  I struggled in Cottonwood, it was hard to love the people.  That has changed.  I very much love the people here, and it will be very difficult to leave.  I have served here for 10 months.

I have met many people on my mission who have influenced my life forever.  From members, to non-members, to missionaries.  Many people I know I will never again see in this life, and some I will make sure remain in my life always.

When I want to complain and whine, I sometimes look at this experience as taking up 7 years of my life, as it took 5 years to come out and 2 to be out here.  I would gladly give another 7 if the Lord asked for it.  This is not the end of my service to the Lord or His church.  I will serve in whatever capacity required, hoping and praying that what is required of me is to be a nursery leader for the duration of my life.  I can never be who I was when I left.  Either I will rise to greater heights, or I will fall from the light, but I cannot ever be where I was when I left.  I have learned too much to not be a missionary always.  I have gained and experienced too much to not try the rest of my life to repay the Lord.

My testimony at this time is unshakable, as it is built upon the Rock of my Redeemer... yet I know that such a testimony can once again become fragile.  I know through the whisperings of the Spirit that Jesus Christ is the Savior of my soul, and of this world.  I know that Joseph Smith is His Prophet, and the Prophet of the Restoration.  The Book of Mormon IS the word of God! To deny that is to deny the power of God, as well as reality.  It proves itself on every point.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Gods church on the Earth today.

Elder Jason Martin