Someone asked me to write my last letter in
Tagalog. I will do the best of both worlds (because I haven't written in so
long) and I will do both: Tagalog and English.
This is my last letter. I thought about doing
this two ways. I contemplated giving just a short finishing statement and being
done, and I thought maybe I should make it long. Well, you will see which one I
picked. These letters have been a great help in organizing my thoughts
throughout the mission and I hope I will look back on them from time to time to
contemplate what I have experienced here.
Coming to the close of my mission, it is hard to
grasp that it is almost gone. I remember so many experiences so vividly that it
is hard to think that a lot of those experiences were so long ago. Looking
forward to the rest of my life, I don't want to look back and regret any of the
choices that I have made.
Life here has been good. I love the
Philippines, I love the people, and the food, and the whole culture. Doing
missionary work here has been the best thing for my life that I have ever done.
Especially to look back on this and know that I gave an effort and knowing that
I was able to give all that I could. Many things will be big changes when I get
back. I will have a lot of things to adjust to but I have been adjusting for
the last two years and I am sure that I will figure it out.
I have learned a lot as a missionary here. I remember the time when I was so
afraid of the future, I was so hesitant to push myself. I told Elder Nelson in
the MTC: "If we can outlast President Bertin we can do anything." I
hadn't even ever met the man, I had just heard stories. Looking back I feel
like I wasted a lot of my time here, I should have been able to do so much
more. On the other hand I have decided in my mission that I would never again
look on the past and wish I could do it again. I will just look to the future
with the knowledge that I can change. Repentance is a path filled with hope –
because we can change. If we don't like the way that things are going, we can
change – that is one of the most important things I have learned and taught on
my mission.
This experience has changed me forever. I would catalog here all of the things
that I have learned on the mission (If I was not already doing that somewhere
else), but you don't need to read all that – no one does. I just have to live
it; I just have to live according to the things that I have
learned.
Looking back on my mission is kind of how I
imagine looking back on life will be. Thinking on my mission, I have had hard
spots and easy spots – times that I learned a lot, times that I was not learning
much at all, problems to solve, people to meet. I feel like in the end I
accomplished my purpose; not as much as I could have, but I don't have any
regrets. I imagine looking back on my life, I will think: "I could have
done more, why didn't I figure it out sooner?" But I won't be discouraged,
I won't regret anything. I will just be glad that I chose to follow Jesus
Christ, give my best effort, and never stop improving.
I have been in many positions to learn in my life and I realize
now that I didn't make enough of any of those. I will do my best to make the
most out of any experiences that I will have in the future that will change me
as a person. A wise man once said "You can keep doing the old thing over
and over and over again, and in about 5 years you'll be about where you are
today." That is more the track that I was on, and I didn't even realize
it. now I am on a new track (doesn't mean I am perfect, but I want to do more
in my life), and that track will keep me on the path to personal excellency.
I love you all, and most of all of you I will see pretty soon, if
I do not – I will find you and I will make plans to visit, and then we can talk
about life. Thank you all for the support.
Nagmamahal,
Elder Faulkner
PS.
I hope that one day I will live a life that has
the Savior's name written on it. He lives. He lived for me, and that I know.
The Atonement, the Reconciliation, the Second Chances that He offers to each
one of us have the power to change everything. I wish I had the words to
describe Christ's power, but words are not enough to convey such a thing. I
wish I had the power unto the convincing of men. It is like personal
revelation: sometimes you feel like you have it, other times you don't – but it
is something that you practice at. I have to go home and get a couple people on
a better track. I believe that this mission was, in a way, a chance for me to
prepare to do that. God has all power to change people's lives; and I stand as
a living testimony of His power.
God the Father lives and loves us. His begotten son, Jesus Christ, lives and is
the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Joseph Smith was a called, chosen seer
and revelator in this time. Through Him, the church of Jesus Christ was
restored. The Book of Mormon: Another
Testament of Christ is one major evidence of such a restoration – therein
lies the word of God and the Fullness of the Gospel. Russell M. Nelson is the
true, living prophet on the earth at this time. He holds all the keys necessary
for the restoration up to this point. This is the true and living church and
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know this because of personal experience.
In Jesus Christ's name,
Amen.
