Last Post?

Marko November 4, 2013 1 Comment

Dear Family and Friends,

this week was crazy! So much went on! I tried to make a list in my planner of things I wanted to tell y’all so here goes! In no particular order …

While driving some elders around close to downtown, we saw a car pull up next to us, and in the front seat was none other than … KANYE WEST!!! No lie! He was wearing these really dark shades and a really nice suit! Our thoughts were confirmed when we saw the car drive away and the side of it said, “Starz Taxi Service.” Crazy right?

On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with the University of Houston elders. It was a lot of fun. We got rained on all day. Hard! It was fun being out in the rain getting soaked on a bike again. I’ve missed that. Everything was so wet!

Julianna and Eliud from Pasadena picked us up and took us out to dinner at Cici’s Pizza so that really brightened up the day! They are awesome!

Halloween wasn’t really a productive day. President had us come in early so we just cleaned up our apartment hardcore. We went trying some people before we had to go home and we found ourselves in the midst of some trick or treaters … we may have been given some candy for our “authentic” costumes.

We got a call from the AP’s telling us that there were 20 Spanish speaking missionaries needed at a park in our area on Saturday from 7:30 to 2 pm. because there was going to be some Hispanic Health Awareness Festival or something like that. So we thought we were going to be translating medical forms or something. We got there and it was nothing of the sort. We were helping to put tents up, registering people for flu shots and whatever else… there was a zumba section. (Hispanics are in love with Zumba) It was pretty worldly … but the lady in charge is a member from the south mission and she kept saying she got president Crawford’s permission so we were like OK whatever. Me and this other elder got put in charge of the Houston Food Bank truck and we were told to get rid of all the food which was crates after crates of pomegranates and a ton of bags of potatoes and carrots. I felt like I had just pulled up a truck into the middle of a war zone… people were mobbing us grabbing food. It was actually a lot of fun. All I did was crack jokes in Spanish as I talked to people. We were told to get rid of all the food so we would encourage people to grab more. and when they said they had enough we would tell them that the potatoes were directly from Ireland and they are only here for a limited time or that the pomegranates are here straight from Israel. A little white lie never hurt anyone 🙂 but we put mormon.org cards in all the bags so it was worth it.

Well, I’ve tried to think of something legit that I can say in my last email home that will stir all y’alls hearts and make you look deep inside yourselves but I can’t. All I can say is I love my mission, and I love the people of Texas. They are crazy. Houston is dirty. Beaumont smells bad. But I love it here so much. This has become home for me.

Next Sunday, I have the chance to go back to Pasadena for the last baptism of my mission. We were visiting a sister (Karen Gallo) who was not on the church records and we reactivated her. Her less active sister and her boyfriend lived nearby. Sometimes we would see them at the house and we would talk to them, but they didn’t want anything to do with the church. One time, the two sisters and their mother (Hna. Alvarenga, who lives in the ward I am now serving in) set up a family home evening and invited us. It was about prayer. I shared a story about prayer that happened to me and my friends when we were in our “Sons of Mosiah” years.

One night, my friends Alex and Nathan and I were hanging out at Nathan’s house, probably playing FIFA or Madden or something like that until really late at night. We were hungry, so we did the only thing that made sense to do, and that was go to Del Taco. But we decided that it would be a lot funner to walk there than to drive. So we did! It was like 3 in the morning or something crazy. So we walked on the train tracks because that’s something we loved to do. We would walk those train tracks and just talk. After an hour or two we got to the Del Taco, and after convincing the only worker inside to let us turn the 24 hour “drive through” into a walk-through, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I had a bunch of money in there with my driver’s licence and a bunch of other stuff. I was freaking out. We tried to retrace our steps for a long time and couldn’t find it. We had walked for miles on the tracks and it was dark. Finding it seemed impossible.

I can’t remember who said it, but one of my friends said, “let’s say a prayer.” It seemed kind of silly but finally we decided to do it. We huddled up and said a prayer. We said “amen.” and one of my friends took a step forward and literally just about stepped on my wallet right there in front of us. We were all freaking out because we all knew what happened. God had blessed us because of our faith, even though we were a bunch of dumb teenagers. None of us have ever forgotten that night.

I love sharing that story when talking about prayer. Then I shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon. Karen’s less active sister and her boyfriend were there. I was transferred the next week. After that, her boyfriend asked the missionaries for a Book of Mormon and started reading it. Hna. Alvarenga kept me updated on his progress. He became more and more interested and now they are getting married and then baptized on Sunday! Although I never taught him directly, he said that it was my testimony that helped him become interested. He personally asked President Crawford at a stake conference to give me permission to go to his baptism! So, my last full day in the mission field I will get to see one last baptism. Isn’t that great?

I love this church and the gospel that it teaches! I am so grateful for my mission. Before my mission, I thought that if I just got out here, I would have it made. I would be totally pure, and perfect and wouldn’t have any more worries. It’s been the exact opposite. It’s crazy how, a mission is really just the “best you” and the “worst you” fighting within yourself! I don’t think we will ever just “arrive” at spirituality and purity. I know I haven’t. But the mission has truly been a refiner’s fire in many ways – spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially. I thank God for saving me from my prior life so that I could save others from theirs. I still have a long way to go but I am looking forward to face the future with the lessons I have learned.

Thank you all for your love and support throughout my journey. I love you!

Love,Elder Viitanen

Related Images: