Extra pictures?

Last Supper

Well family here it is..... the last email as a missionary!

Well family here it is..... the last email as a missionary! Who would have thought that time passed SO fast! I can´t believe i will see you all this week! 

Last monday we went to my old area and visited some of the members there. It was really fun to see everyone! I love them! This week has been great! We had a baptism sunday morning. It was the best baptism i have ever been in. She was so ready! The bishop baptized her and the ward was really supportive! We had a few despedidas with the members and a few more today... :( I am going to miss Costa Rica and the people here so much but I can´t wait to see you guys. I just had my last interview with President Hayes. I love that guy :) He is the best. We are going to san jose right now to buy some stuff then tomorrow we have dinner at presidents house and wednesday we are going to the temple then thursday we go home..... HOW CRAZY!!!!! 

Well family I Love you all so much! I don´t have to much to write this week but we will have more to talk about soon I am sure! I love you all so much!! Thanks for everything you do for me!!! :) 

Hermana Chatwin

Where do I even start!

Hi Family!!!!

Where do I even start! This has been a crazy week!

We went to the temple on Wednesday and it was the sweetest experience of my mission. I love the temple. I felt so much peace walking in and when we sat down to start the session I just felt the Love of my heavenly father. I knew that in that moment he was happy with me. I know that he knows I am not perfect and that there are SO many things I need to change but I know that he Loves me and he is so patient with me. I was sitting there waiting to go into the celestial room and I just remembered the first time I went to the temple and walked into the Celestial room and saw you guys there waiting for me. That Dad gave me a great big hug! I thought of the last time I went to the temple with you mom and we just sat on that couch crying. I was just sitting there thinking of how much I love you guys and how grateful I am for the gospel in my life that because of the gospel we can have an eternal family. Then i thought if I am this happy to see my family and I know how sweet that reunion will be just imagine how much sweeter the reunion with our Father in Heaven will be when we get to see him again. I can't wait for that meeting. I just hope that we will all be able to come into his presence and find every member of our family there waiting for us. Because it sure wouldn't be heaven without you guys!!! I sat in the celestial room just crying because of the joy I felt. The love that I could feel from my heavenly father was so clear and so strong. I know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that there we make covenants that will help us come back to the presence of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. President Hayes and Sister Hayes did the session with us and they were the witness couple. It was such a great experience. I love them SO much! After we had left we went to a little meeting with them. President shook my hand and said I saw you crying hermana how are you?? I said good I am really good. Those were happy tears. Hermana Hayes said tears from a Job well done. I know that I have not been the perfect missionary and I still have time to work :) it's not over yet. But I know that I have fulfilled my one purpose as a missionary. To inivte others to come to Christ. When I was in the MTC Elder Holland came and talked about that purpose. He said you can't invite someone to come somewhere you aren't. The first person you have to bring to Christ is yourself. That is 100% true. I coudn't be an effective missionary until I had come unto Christ. After that I understood so much better the purpose of missionary work and the purpose of the Gospel. I have come to know my Savior over the past few months. I have come to know for myself that the Gospel is true. That we have a living Profeta. That the Atonement is real! And it works! I know that we don't have to be perfect to get home to our heavenly father we just have to do our best! I am so grateful for the blessings I have recieved in my life. Going on a mission was the best decision I have ever made! I know that Heavenly father sent me on a mission to help other people but honestly he sent me on a mission because he loves me and he wanted to make sure that I would be able to come home to him. He sent me here to realize what is REALLY important in life and to go home and LIVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the past few weeks I have realized that there is 1 difference between members of the church and disciples of christ. It is not the number of times you go to church or the temple, or the number of times you read the scriptures and say your prayers. It is the way you LIVE the gospel. The gospel is not a list of checks it is a constant process of change and Love. It gives us hope that no matter what we have done or no matter how many times we fall that we can get back up and try again, and again , and again! In confrence they talked a lot about living the gospel and I have come to realize that if we truly live it everything will be okay! Also in the letter that Mom sent me today she was my second witness of that. Really the little things in life matter so much more than we think they do! We sometimes think that watching a movie with a little bad in it or being on facebook a little to long or playing video games a little to much is okay. But these are things that drive the spirit from our lives. If we are not careful we will fall right into the trap that satan is setting for us trying to distract us from our one goal in life. Which is to return and live with our Heavenly Father. When we remember that every other choice is a lot easier to make.

Well family I hope you know I love you all so much! I can't wait to see you! I am going to miss my mission SO much! All of the people I have met here and the Spirit you feel as a missionary is the best. But I know that it doesn't end when I go home. I still have a lot to do. Thank you so much for all the love and support you guys have given me these past 20 years of my life. I don't know what I did to deserve such a great family but I love you all so much! See you soon!!!!! :)

Con MUCHO Amor <3

Hermana Chatwin