Weeks really are just getting so fast at this point of my mission it
really feels like I just e-mailed you all... I closed my eyes for a
few minutes and I am back here again, infront of this computer.
But the best missionary is the one that is always in the middle of his mission.
Hi!
It's freezing, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love being
here in Liverpool, I love this stake so much I would even consider
moving back here after my mission. The Liverpool Stake is where it is
at. Our assigned proselyting area is the Liverpool city center/
unversity, so we just keep meeting students here and just interacting
with them bring so much fun into the work. If I could go back and tell
myself at the beginning of my mission, if I could tell the old Elder
Sapaden something, I would tell him "if you aren't having fun whilst
doing missionary work, you are doing something wrong."
This week although I have been all over the place, I was over in
Manchester for a bit, I was back in Bolton and I revisited St. Helens
for a few days. We have so many opportunities to work with other
missionaries and go to many meetings as missionary leaders it is very
intense, but it's good because it keeps you on your toes and never
allows those moments we can get too comfortable.
Going back to St. Helens was great. I got to see so many old faces, if
I could choose a ward I would want to move into it would have to be
St. Helens. They are just so friendly and nice, I love it. Whilst I
was in Manchester though we did a lot of good. We taught a lot and
helped a few missionaries there.
St. Helens was such a good place and we managed to set up many
appointments and teach a lot of solid lessons, it reminded me of a
period of my mission where I wish I had done better, where I wish I
could have performed better, but I learnt those lessons for a reason
and I've become the kind of missionary I am from those times. We were
able to rectify that by working extremely hard on exchanges. I would
say regret is a form of hell.
We never want to leave behind those "what ifs" and those moments where
we know we could have done better, I describe it as hell because they
eat away at us and they are the moments we have fallen short from our
true potential. Those "what ifs" are my biggest fears in life and
perhaps at the Judgement bar of God we will all feel that same sense
of "if only I had done that better" I couldn't be more grateful for
the Atonement and for the great gift of repentance, for without it we
would all be lost causes.
I don't even know what happened to this transfer it is all gone
already, this Saturday I bumped into my previous companion Elder
Nicassio, there is such a special bond between a missionary and his or
her trainer. He has come far... a great experience that I would love
to share with you is about his conviction to this work.
He got a "Dear John" recently I could tell it really affected him, he
talked about her quite frequently and he even planned on marriage
after he got home. He knew of the sacrafices I had made to go on a
mission, he knew that it wasn't easy and he knew that I didn't let any
of the bad news I received from home affect the work. Elder Nicassio
is great and he asked himself how I would react and he recommited to
work as hard as possible. As his trainer I feel a sense of pride, not
the bad kind, not the kind where I feel glory for his accomplishments
but pride in the sense of knowing he is at a good place and he is
going to be a great missionary leader one day.
I love missions, you learn that the mistakes you make do not define
you but they refine you. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Those trials we receive are a privilage from God, they show how much
he loves us, they show how much he trusts us to pick ourselves up when
it is too easy to just say "I give up" I want you to know of the
reality of the principle, he trusts you, he really does.
With Love,
Elder Sapaden
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