Family :)
What an amazing opportunity I have to be able to write you from across the world on a tiny island. In about a month's time, you will have this letter in your hands and be able to hear from your son and brother in the Islands of Tonga. So what a privilege it is to be able to write this letter to you! As I ponder on what to write, I start to think about all of you personally. Mamma, Dad, Brittany, Brandon, Brook, & of course Brandi hahaha. I think about things life has going for you & things the Lord has provided. I think of the seasons we are entering there in Utah. Halloween is coming up & Thanksgiving is just around the corner....which means Christmas can't be too far away. It really is just a season that we are separated.....time seems to play games a lot of the time. At times, it feels that time is going quickly and at times it feels like it has been a year and a couple of months since we have seen each other. But, I think the most important thing that I understand is that I will never get this time back.....time is a gift. I have two years to devote to the Lords' work & spread it the best I can..... and right now, I'm looking at 9 months left! Something important I am learning is that it doesn't end when I come home, for this is really a beginning. The beginning of bringing others unto Christ. The beginning of building a generation to grow up in the gospel, the beginning of trying to know my Savior better, the beginning of trying to know the Savior's plan for all of us. Something I have grown to love about the mission is that I learn something new every day. My hope is that a portion of what I learn each week, I can take a piece of it and help you all in some small way so that it will benefit you. It has been a couple of days going back and forth writing this letter and trying to feel what it is that I am supposed to write. I know now it was a much needed thing for me to wait until now to finish writing, for I know things that need to be said, for they come from the heart.
As I was in church today, it was a very special experience for me and it was filled with a lot of emotion from the heart. I know the experience I had was not a coincidence but it was a tender mercy from the Lord and a true gift. Mom and dad, I think you both will understand quite quickly once I start explaining the experience I had today at church. As I entered the chapel door, then set my eyes on the scene around me, I was taken back! I saw beautiful displays of flowers and children dressed in their best Sunday dress. I said to myself...."Awe, today is the Primary Program!!! :)" HaHaHa you are all probably laughing...the only thing you probably remember about me and the primary program is me crying and saying that I was scared to go up and say my part, hahaha.
But what I want to share with you are the things the spirit taught me and the things I was reminded of and the tender mercy of the Lord opening my eyes. In BIG letters up on the wall behind the primary children as a sign that read, "Oku Tae'ngata ae Famili" (Families Are Eternal) The whole objective or theme was based on how to build families, raise children in the gospel. Where does it start? We all know the answer to that question. Raising children and teaching them the ways of the gospel starts at HOME! I was touched as the kids began to sing "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" (in English). I remembered my own Dad and Mom taking turns coming and singing to me at night. Remember the words, "come little children and together we'll learn of His commandments that we might return. Home to His presence, to live in His sight, always, always, to walk in the light." I pictured my parents singing that song to my my whole life and it was saying to me, "come little child and together we shall learn." I remembered my parents shining the light on the gospel so that I could see. I see now that everything I have is because of the loving guidance and teachings that I received my whole life. As I watched the primary children today, I remembered my parents pushing me to be good in everything I wanted to pursue and to everyone I came in contact with. We all need a foundation and we need that support in our homes to help build us. I look at Brittany and Michael and the amazing opportunity you have now to accomplish Heavenly Father's plan for the both of you! To raise and eternal family in this beautiful gospel. Today I stand in thanks and I stand in complete humility of heart and thanksgiving to my parents. Mom and Dad, thank you for being brave, thank you for being courageous, thank you for your patience and for enduring! Thank you for your obedience, thank you for always wanting to be better and following the path of repentance! I thank you for showing me the light. I would like to remind you of the last verse in Teach Me to Walk in the Light, but I am going to make a word substitution of "I" instead of "we" and "me" instead of "us". "Father in Heaven, I thank this this day, for loving guidance, to show me the day. Grateful I praise thee with songs of delight! Gladly, gladly, I'll walk in the light."
Mom and Dad, you need to know how grateful I am for the both of you. For you have truly shown me the way. I'm so grateful for your incredible examples. Nobody could ask for more incredible examples and parents because others can truly tell that your relationship is based on the Lord. Dad, I only wish that I could be as good of a father as you were/are to me. And Mom, I only hope that I can marry a daughter of our Father in Heaven that has as strong of a testimony as you and that shows it through every single act she does!
Brandon, Brooke....continue to listen to thy parents and love them. For they shall lead thee to they Father!
Brittany and Michael, I urge and ask you to become the examples for your children and lead them into the light! I know you both are already incredible and already are ready for the task. For now is the time to fulfill God's greatest commandment!
I love you all. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father and for how blessed we are to have grown up in this incredible gospel and as part of such a miraculous family. I hope we can hold close to us the responsibility of our calling as missionaries to share the gospel with the world and be an example unto all the nations!
I love you all
This is my hope and my prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
Your Son/Brother
Remember we are a family for eternity!
Elder Blake Daniel Harmon
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