Transfer 16 - Week 5

Well family and friends this will be my last rally before I head back home to the freezing depths of a Utah Winter. I hope what I write will sufficiently express all that I want to concerning the past two years. It is also my hope that perhaps this email will makeup for all of my previous emails, which were usually written in haste and without much thought. 

Yesterday was one of the best days of my mission. Coming towards the end of my mission, I was starting to think of all of the people I've taught and served with for the past two years and if I had really helped them or not, if I had actually touched them or not. It may be safe to assume that all missionaries have similar thoughts. Or maybe it's just me! In any case, these were the thoughts in my head as I was biking to church for the last time. Upon arriving, Wang Jian Xing was there as always and his wife came too! They kept telling me how grateful they are and how much they want to come to the Salt Lake Temple with me in a few years but I kept reminding Sister Wang that she needs to get baptized first. We chatted for a while and then my uncle and grandma came! They gave me some gifts and things to take back to family, in particular was a calligraphy scroll that my uncle himself wrote of the scripture John 16:33, one of my favorite scriptures. It's an incredible piece of art. He told me he spent three solid months practicing this style of calligraphy to perfect it, and then, in one sitting, used all of his focus to write it out. He then dyed the scroll using tea leaves to give it a ancient, archaic, almost tattered look and I assure you, it's amazing. I visited the National Palace Museum a few weeks back and the calligraphy scrolls they had in there look exactly like the one my uncle made for me. It's wonderful. 

Another great thing about yesterday is that one of my old friends from when I was serving in Bade came! Brother Fu, his wife and their adopted daughter from Singapore. He had no idea that I was leaving so soon but told me he felt like he should come up and visit me in Neihu! We had a good little reunion and they also told me they want to visit the States in a couple years. I told them when they come they can definitely look me up and I'll cook them up some fried rice at Green Panda! Oh ya!

One other little cool particle was that I received a letter from one of my recent converts while I was in Daxi, Chen Hui Jin. In it she wrote that she was grateful that I taught her the Gospel and that since then she had shared the Gospel with one of her friends and she had since been baptized as well. She included a picture of the baptism and at the bottom wrote,"Thank you Elder Hagedorn!" It was a sweet moment to know that the Gospel had truly started to change her life, not to mention my own. 

I gave my last testimony in church and a nice thing about it is that the bishopric started a new little theme for the month of December which is "Worshiping Christ through Music" so a large portion of the meeting was just listening to musical numbers and it was awesome. Music is fantastic. Perhaps my best church meeting ever.

Regarding the past two years, my English has probably regressed to the point of no return but if it so irretrievable, so be it. I don't think there is any other thing I've done before that has been more fulfilling or gratifying. Yet the main feeling I get now is not one of pride or accomplishment, but of gratitude and realization of a never ending duty. I'm incredibly thankful that I've been counted worthy to serve a mission and blessed enough to be in a situation that I could have this opportunity. There is so much good to be done in the world and serving a mission has helped me realize that these deeds need to be done by all of us, that we all have ample opportunity to do good, and much of it. I've gained a testimony of God and I know he lives. He knows what is best for us and as long as we trust in him, we will gain the happiness and confidence that cannot come by any other way. As his children, we our filled with potential that can only be unlocked through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. Through study and experience, I have felt the reality of the mission of the Savior and it is my hope that I will forever be counted one of his disciples, despite my many imperfections and mistakes. I've learned how to love people simply because they are people; I've realized that the light of Christ is within every single person and there is much to learn; And I've seen that through Christ, we really can, as he has, "overcome the world." 

Oh, and I can speak a little Chinese now, too. 

I love you all. 

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Wang Jian Xing and his wife! 

Thanksgiving. Costco Pizza. 

​Yep. End of mission.