Just a quick disclaimer I don't have the coronavirus. I
checked my temperature. It was 97.7.
Ok wow. Let's see if I can collect my thoughts. Probably
not. I really never can. The situation still doesn't seem real. Going
home is something that I've joked about for so long that it didn't seem real
(for example sending an ASMR of me eating taralli on the beach for my final
email. I actually made and was planning that.. if you want it hit me up). And now I'm
here and I don't even know how to think. Sitting on the plane right now my
heart aches to be back with the people that I love so much, in normal
circumstances. The situation is definitely so incredibly strange and difficult
for everyone. Please keep all the Italian missionaries in your prayers -
especially President and Sorella Smith!!!!
With that being said I am so incredibly grateful for the
chance I have had to serve. It has been the best choice I have ever made, hands
down. I feel a little guilty because I know that my mission has helped me more
than it has helped anyone else. The words from King Benjamin's sermon in Mosiah
2 come to mind when he talks about unprofitable servants. It says:
"21 ... I say, if ye should serve him with all your
whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. 22 And behold, all that he
requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye
would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth
vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he
doth bless you and prosper you. 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created
you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. 24
And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for
which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you.
And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever;
therefore, of what have ye to boast?"
Sitting here I am filled with gratitude and am truly
humbled. Some of the main reasons I wanted to serve a mission were to thank God
and in a small way "repay" him for everything he has done for me, and
then to help others. But what I feel like has actually happened is the
opposite.
The Lord has blessed me in my service in more ways that I
even know and understand, but that which I do understand and see is great. I
think back to the little silly, silly hardhearted, stubborn, "I don't like
my trainer and I don't want to be friends with her" greenie (don't worry
Sorella Brandt -- you know I love you with all my heart now) and it doesn't feel
like me or that it could be me. The Lord truly has helped me change and become
more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a task I am incapable of doing on my
own. But now I know that because of his grace, I can do anything. I have been
blessed with a testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ, and of his atonement and
its vital role in my life. I've come to truly know - not just believe that la
Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei Santi degli Ultimi Giorni is his church on the earth,
restored to its fullness. And that is seriously so important! Joseph Smith was
a prophet!! And Russell M. Nelson is the prophet here on the earth who holds
all the priesthood keys necessary to administer the kingdom. The gospel is good
news! God speaks today!
I could go on and on, but I think the last thing and one of
the most important things that I have learned is that God has a plan for all of
us. I know that he has specifically put people in my path that have helped me
in my eternal progression and for that I am truly grateful. It's not a coincide
that I started my mission with the Pickerds and ended it with the Smiths. There
was something I had to learn from every companion, specific lessons I had to
learn in every in every city. Members, investigators, random conversations that
I needed to have with strangers who rejected me. It's all come together in a
perfect light. Line upon line, precept upon precept.
I am just so filled with gratitude that I can't even
express. I love my Heavenly Father and my older brother Jesus Christ. I will be
forever grateful for this experience that I have had to truly feel their power
in my life. "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and
who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his
heart?" I'm grateful that I have been able to serve them so that I could
know them.
To those still in the field, God loves you and accepts your
service. Obedience is important. God wants to help you. I would love to be
added to all your weeklies and hear from everyone!!! #220for2020
Love you all and will see you soon :)
Keep Italy in your prayers 🇮🇹🇮🇹❤❤
Sorella Brie Gisseman
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