Family :) !!!
Wow, my year mark letter :) I feel a lot of pressure thinking about writing this letter haha:) It's a big and important date to always remember for me. However, today I really just want to reflect on the last year :) Haha, I laugh and I think about dad writing the family Christmas letter as he reflected on all of our challenges and achievements that we were able to overcome or accomplish! I think that is a good guideline that I am going to try and follow in my life! Just like many stories I have read, I want to start at the beginning. At the beginning of my mission, I started to write in a book that I bought from town. I call it the book of lists. It started off as a bucket list and a list of other stuff like my companions, favorite scriptures and has now has eventually turned into a bunch of different lists of things I have done on my mission! There is one list I think about more than any other list. It is the list of "Who I Want to Be as a Missionary". I would like to start with the first item in this list and work my way down. I want to talk about how God has made it possible for me to work at my goals to not only accomplish them, but also to make them habits in my life!
My first goal is to be obedient. I was blessed in the beginning of my mission to have Elder Price as my trainer. He set the standard high as we walked in obedience. It's incredible to see how the Lord truly sets you up for the rest of your mission! He knows your strengths and he knows your weaknesses! I know that he is going to do and give you what is going to be best for you!
As I look back to a year ago when I entered the MTC on the 31st of July, I was given a companion that was hard for me...really hard...to the point that I thought I was going to walk home every night. Every day I thought was going to end up being my last day in the mission. But look at where I am standing a year later! I'm in Tonga! That brings up another goal I wrote down. "Someone who endures to the End" I have learned since I have been out here that there is a definite difference between "enduring to the end" and "just trying to survive"! Haha, I'm not going to lie, this was a very big struggle for me at the beginning of my mission and every so often, it is something that I have to BATTLE! I think it might be easy for you to imagine after seeing "The Other Side of Heaven"! Haha, I remember sitting down with Brooklin's family and I told them that Tonga is 100% different now than then. But, as I went to Noapapu, it was 100% the same as the movie, haha! I remember going weeks living off crackers and some days with no food at all. The first month, we had no light except for candles. When we finally got a solar panel light, it wasn't even bright enough to see the pages on my Book of Mormon! The mosquitoes, the spiders, the culture shock....and the fact that the only person I could communicate with was my companion. I remember nights waking up and being soaking wet because our house leaked so bad!
But, as you can see, all of those thoughts and complaints are all self-absorbed. It was when I started to learn to endure that I started to love the people and care for them. I realized then that it was the reason for me to be there. I realized that these circumstances are the reality of their lives and I am only here for two short years. I would give anything just to take my friends to my house and let them experience a warm shower, or just show them a drinking fountain or let them experience air conditioning! Awe, heck, these kids would be in tears if they had something as simple as carpet in their homes!
I believe that enduring to the end is taking every goal we have and every Christ-like attribute and trying to obtain them. I am not talking about perfectionism, but that we TRY...for that is all God asks is for us to give him our best effort!
"Being Responsible" is one of my biggest goals and one of the most important in my opinion. If we are responsible, so many things follow. With responsibility, obedience comes naturally. Also, dedication, efficiency, and preparation! Once we learn this concept, we are able to be trusted in life! The biggest opportunity for me is to be trusted to become a father. As a father, you have the big responsibility of teaching God's children and raising them in righteousness! Fathers and mothers share this responsibility. A mission is truly the best place to help a boy learn how to become a man and learn how to take responsibility! For I have learned things about accountability and responsibility that I never could have learned anywhere else but on my mission in Tonga!
I think hard working is a goal I focus on every day. I'm always evaluating myself to determine if I am moving at a good pace! For I have had such hard working examples all my life. I only want to end up being known as someone that works hard!
Everyone I know would say that my parents are some of the hardest working people they know! Haha! I remember in 5th grade, we were making Father's Day cards, and on mine, I wrote that my dad is a workaholic! Haha, my teacher came over to me and told me that it was not a compliment...but the point is, I have heard it my whole life. My mom and dad work their tails off! You both have been my heroes!
Dad, I am inspired at how hard you work. I have always told my companions here in the field that you should be one of the richest men on earth because of how hard you work! (Even though I already see us as one of the richest families because we have each other!)
These are just some of my quick thoughts, very scattered and a little messy with my hand writing. But, I want you ll to know that I am so grateful for all the opportunities and obstacles that God has put me through for I know that I have grown because of what I have been through, even if it's just a centimeter! I know it's a centimeter I could have only gained this last year here in Tonga!
You all are so loved!
P.S. Mom, I got your letter about Heather and Nathan, and I just fell into tears! Awe, the timing of everything is beautiful! God's timing is Beautiful :)
Your Brother/Son - Elder Blake Daniel Harmon
But remember, oh remember, we are an Eternal Family :) !!
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