Mom, Dad, Brittany, Michael, Brandon, Brooke,
I wish I could walk you all down the dirt roads of Tonga and introduce you to my second family! I wish I could bring you to the families I have fallen so deeply in love with. I wish I could show you the ocean that I have been staring at for almost 8 months now...
Dad, today I enjoyed so deeply your letter from 3/25/14. Weird to think about how you couldn't believe how fast time has gone and yet a whole month has gone by since! You mentioned work has had it's difficulties. I pray for you to be able to help your employees reach their potential. I pray also that your burden will be lightened. I can only imagine the burden and the pressure on your shoulders, but what an awesome opportunity you have to learn and grow. As I have reflected in my letters to my mission president these last couple of weeks, I have expressed to him how this mission has shaped me like no other mission could. The disobedience, the little islands, the lack of food, the pressure of being fluent in another language has made me the Blake that no other mission could have done......How Great is My Calling. God has taken me and given me a task that he knew wouldn't be easy for me, but he knew I could make it. Of course, once in a while, I hit the ground and it feels like it's impossible to keep going on. Something I have learned on my mission is that when you hit that wall, pick your knees up and never stop driving your feet, because once you have stopped driving, you have lost....you have given up....and the only person that can let you give up is yourself!
Sometimes while driving your feet against this wall, you will fall, but you will always fall forward. But I say, "have you lost?" The answer is "NO" . . . you get back up and you do it again. This is how we grow in ways we never thought we could. Dad, I'm excited to see how you can contribute to this this company because Dad you are the one that taught me to lift one knee at a time and never stop driving. We all have our walls in life. Sometimes it's small like the battery dying in the car, but sometimes it's a big wall, like figuring out how to pay for a new truck after your 16 year old rolls and totals your current one.
I believe the only way it is possible every time we fall to get back up is through the Savior's atonement. But trust me . . . he is not just going to pick you up and watch you go against that wall "alone" until you fall again , , , just to pick you up. Instead, he will pick you up and then drive forward with you.
He will never leave us . . .
He will never give up on us . , ,
He has made it possible for us all to make it through.
My challenge to all of you is that you don't leave Him and you don't give up on Him. Never do it alone. Be humble and turn to Him!
Family, I know that our Savior is always by our side. Until I came on my mission, I never realized how real this truly is. He has wiped my tears and he has carried my burdens. He has protected my loved ones when I couldn't. The peace that His atonement can bring all of us in our lives can not be matched!
Til we meet again, may you be watched over by His ministering angels.
Your Son/Brother
But remember always that we are an Eternal Family!
Elder Blake Daniel Harmon
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