Final...

My dear family, This will be the last letter that I write to you before I see you in person. Many months ago Hermana Barquero in San Fransisco asked me to put my mission into one word and I couldnt find just one to describe it, I woke up in the middle of the night the other day and couldnt sleep. I began to think about what my mission has meant for me and one word came to my mind. Grateful. I am so deeply grateful for this experience, first off to my Heavenly Father, I am grateful he has tried and tested me during these 2 years and he has allowed me to change. I am grateful for the man that I have become and look forward to more changes that he will make in me. I am grateful to my wonderful family and friends, for sacrificing two years to let me have this amazing experience. I thank you more than anything mom because we all know for you and I it was especially difficult, but I am thankful for the opportunity to have had this experience, I am especially grateful to a certain Sister missionary, who was a missionary long before she put the tag on and saved my life. I am not trying to make a grammy speech or anything, but I guess all I can say is that I am so thankful to every single person I have met, for every single experience that I have had, for every single Bishop, Stake President, companion, and mission President who have made this experience possible. It was a WONDERFUL week here in Guanacaste and Elder Jones and I really saw the fruits of our labors and I couldnt be more pleased. I couldnt think of a better way to end my full time service as a missionary. I am so thankful. This week Lauriano was baptized along with Antonio, I was able to baptize Antonio and Elder Jones baptized Lauriano, the future Elder Picado. I have prayed long and hard for these 2 years to baptized someone who would be a future missionary, and it was my last baptism in the field, Lauriano has made goals to serve as a full time missionary, and I couldnt be prouder. He received the Priesthood and was able to confer it to Antonio. The Lord works in mysterious ways but he always listens and he always answers prayers. It has been the most amazing week and I couldnt feel more pleased about finishing my mission. I had my final interview with President Wilkinson and will be sad to say goodbye to that amazing man, but I know that Costa Rica is in for a TON of blessings ahead under his service as President. I was able to see many miracles this week and to feel the surety that I am a Child of God, I am loved and blessed in all that I do as I am faithful. I KNOW that this church is true! IT HAS TO BE! There is no denying it now and there is no turning back. God lives. Jesus Christ lives and this is his church. I am so grateful for all of you and I cannot wait to see you. I pray that all will be all right until then. Right now we are going to San Jose, tomorrow we have changes, wednesday we are going to the temple and thursday we board our plane. I will see you soon, until then, remember I love you! Thank you! Elder Falor

final countdown...

Hello family, It has been a great week this week in Guanacaste. It was a bit of a scare when I got sick and was in bed for 3 days, but the work of the Lord doesnt quit. I got bit by a bug that I thought caused my fever on Thursday night, but it ended up turning into a really bad cold. I can feel my body getting older because now a flu or a cold just knocks me out. But dont worry, that didnt stop me. The people in the street just have to get used to my snotty voice for the next week haha. But I am doing good now and was able to participate in our zone activity. We all got together and played basketball, football and soccer in the chapel, it was quite the experience, it was a lot of fun though. Between all of us we spent $60 on pizza and drinks but it was a nice experience, and they did it in celebration of the ones of us who are finishing the mission real soon. Unfortunately this week Lauriano wasnt able to be baptized, he had his interview on Monday but then smoked that very night, so we postponed the baptism to give him more of an opportunity to repent and be fully prepared for baptism. We will re do the interview tomorrow and prepare him and Antonio for the 19. Today we are going over to finalize everything with Antonio to get it all settled and ready. They both came to church on Sunday and participated a lot in our class of Gospel Principles. I love teaching that class and love helping people understand the gospel, especially when the investigators are anxiously engaged in learning about the gospel. Other than that it was a pretty normal week. I have really enjoyed my time here in San Roque and really enjoyed being a trainer for the last time. I hope I leave a lasting mark on Elder Jones so that he can keep going forward and doing amazing work in the mission. I am so thankful for you all and for your support. I will write you on monday because changes are not until Tuesday. Sorry my letter is so short. I love you all and I cant wait to see you again! Elder Falor

1. Elder Jones and I at Playas del Coco (Coco Beach)

3. Elder Kemp and I in Tamarindo fighting like horses...

2. You were all with me on my birthday :)

...

Hello my amazing family, It was great to hear about your weeks, I hope you all enjoyed conference as I sure did. We brought Lauriano to 3 sessions of conference and he loved it. He left the chapel everytime with a big smile on his face, and he said "That Monson man has got a great spirit", He has committed to being baptized on the 12 of October. He always reminds us of it and he is so excited to take this step. At first he was afraid because of what his family was going to say to him because he was baptized as a child. It took some explaining to do, but the idea of receiving a full remission of his sins made an impact on him. He has made the decision to give up smoking and to give up everything else that is holding him back. We are also working on getting another investigator baptized on Friday, his name is Antonio, but we have to go and see him tonight to see his final decision. I loved conference, as always. What a blessing it is to be guided today by a living Prophet. President Monson is an excellent example of the Savior and the Savior´s church. I love his stories of how he goes out in search of the one. Even though the church has more than 14 million members, the church, the prophet, God and Jesus Christ are concerned for the one. Everyone of us matters, every single one. I love the church and feel such pride in being a member. I know I am not perfect, nor near that, but I know that the church was made and restored to be a way for us to be perfect little by little. I know that in our journey to be perfect, if we put into action the perfect atonement, we can be made perfect. I loved all the talks and especially the talk by Jeffrey R. Holland about Jesus´ question to Peter of if he loved him. I have often testified to my investigators and to the members that I feel God will make us the same question. He will ask us if we really do love him and then he will ask to see our works. What have we done with this precious time that he has given us here on earth. I was also really excited for the change on the age limits to be a missionary. I know and have seen Satans attack on the youth of the church. I believe it is because he knows that if he can destroy the youth he knows they will be the future of the church. But the truth will always stand and God will always come out victorious. Satans attack on youth has been growing so much stronger in the past 2 years as I have seen the youth here in Costa Rica and heard about the fall of many of them in the states. I know that this idea to change the mission age is inspired by God to help the youth become more converted to the Lord at an earlier age to be ready to fight when satan attacks. I hope that all young men and women will heed the prophet´s call to be a missionary and to serve God with all their heart might mind and strength. I dont know how I could ever live a normal life without experiencing my mission. I just hope the youth take full advantage of this opportunity to serve the Lord, there is only one opportunity to do it like this in this way in this time and we must take advantage. I am so happy for the time I have had on the mission to become a better person. I am thankful to the Lord for allowing me to change. I am thankful for every afflicion and heartache that I have had to feel, not because they are easy but because they have taught me to Love. I can honestly say that I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I love my mission and I love His church. I have made my decision and I refuse to ever turn my back on the Lord, especially after having been on the receiving end of so many of God´s most amazing blessings. There is no turning back now. I love you all so very much and know that there is such little time until I will see you again, I cant wait for that day, until then, stay strong and remember I love you. Elder Falor

agency.....

Hello my amazing family, It was great to hear about your weeks and I am happy to know all is well. All is well here in Liberia (San Roque) starting off October. I cant believe in this month 2 years ago I saw all your beautiful faces and that soon we will be reunited. Dont worry, I am not trunky and I am still working hard. It was a rough week but it was amazing just like all the others. The biggest lesson I learned this week was that sometimes the fact that people have their agency is FRUSTRATING! Sometimes you want to shake the people and just make them believe. Obviously that is not part of God´s plan. Our agency is so important, its important that we have it, but more important that we USE it and use it to follow the savior. The scriptures teach us that there really only is 2 roads, only 2 ways that are offered to us in this mortal life. We can CHOOSE to follow Jesus or Satan. If we dont follow Satan we automatically follow Jesus, if we follow Satan we automatically reject Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. I feel like in the mission we share with the people during hte week and we have super powerful moments where we are filled with the spirit, and sunday is game time. This sunday we had amazing plans, like all of the sundays, to have investigators in church. On saturday EVERYONE of them gave us the yes answer and they were all waiting for us to go get them and go with them. Sunday morning comes around and they all called me and told me they werent going to go. I got so frustrated, because mainly I knew that they were missing the greatest thing of their lives. I am not here in the mission to prove that I am right or to fight about the truth of the Gospel. I am here to fight for what I believe in and for sharing it with the people I meet. I have found the best of the best in the gospel and its the thing that has made me better, its what I want and what the Lord wants for the rest of his children. Sadly, many of them use their agency to not follow Jesus Christ and prefer to stay on their own path. It is hard, and its taken me 23 and a half months to try and get over it. I still havent. Its just because I know that they are missing the GREATEST thing that can happen to them. Its the only way out and the only way up! But the hardest lesson I have had to learn and continue learning is that at the end of the day, everyone has their agency, and as missionaries it is our job to teach them to use their agency to choose the best. Thanks for your birthday wishes this week. I had a great birthday. It was a strange feeling, I felt it was my day, I woke up feeling like YES my day. But something came over me that told me this was just a regular day, I was serving the Lord and even though it was a great day, it was His day. I felt good knowing that I Used my special day in the service of the Lord. I felt that he had blessed me to get through and to have a great day even though it was hard. Even though my umbrella broke and I had to walk under the rain on my birthday, I felt so SO unbelievably happy knowing that I was doing this on the Lords errand. Like Hermana Wilkinson always says and when we are on the Lord´s errand, we are never alone. I know I am not alone. 3000 miles away from my only comfort zone, my only source of support and comfort, I know that the Lord is watching and protecting me. I know he is aware of me and my circumstances, I know that He KNOWS me, He doesnt merely know who I am but he Knows me on a personal basis. He knows where I have been he has walked with me and seen what I have seen. I love Him and I am happy to serve him. I love all of you and I am so thankful for all your support! Thanks for your birthday wishes and I wish you all the best this week. Elder Falor