July 25th - His last missionary email to me
Hi Mom,
(I asked Devon to tell me what were his goals for the last week of his mission) We have the strong and firm goal to find more than 20 investigators this week. We also want to invite someone to be baptized right in the doorstep after knocking the door. We want to open our mouths with everyone.
(I asked Devon, "how are you feeling?") No comment.
Well I am glad to hear that all is well back home, and that you had an amazing week.
It is hard for me to see the computer screen through my teary eyes....
I know that I need to go home, I am ready to do that step. I am ready to face the challenges after the mission. But I am so sad that I have to leave. I never have felt so happy in my life, and I have come to love the people of Argentina so much.
Throughout my whole mission, I never imagined the final week of the mission, I always thought that it would never come. I always imagined that the mission was forever, but oh well, good times always have to come to an end.
I am sorry that I am so sad to come home. I am very happy to be able to see you all again and spend time with you. But I love this place so much, and I love this calling so much, and it is so hard for me to imagine that I will never be able to carry this missionary name tag again, and it will be really hard for me to return to this country and land that I love so much.
I love you so much Mother, and I am so eternally grateful for the support and teachings that you have given me throughout my youth and my mission. I would not have been able to do it without you.
Alright, I need to go. I have one week to give everything I got left in me to the Lord.
I love you and I will see you next week. :)
Love
Elder Healey
The past two years haven't gone fast or slow for me. I have missed him most the day he left, the first Christmas, and about two months ago. Now I am excited to simply SEE him again, and talk to him each day. But his final email made me appreciate more fully how hard it is for Devon to leave. He truly has loved every day of mission! On a very small scale I can understand how he feels having to leave a place he loves and people he loves. I felt that way when moving back to Edmonton after six years in Utah - I remember how sad I was and how much I missed my friends and community and home. But he has given his whole heart to the people of Argentina every hour of every day. I hope I can help him adjust with patience and understanding.
And while the adjustment for him may be quick or slow, I don't mind. I look forward to feeding my eternally hungry son, to hearing the basketball bouncing on the court in our backyard, to having an extra set of size 14 shoes laying around. I look forward to the teasing he dishes out and his huge massive hand suddenly in my face (he used to do that a lot teasingly), to seeing him with Shelby (our dog), and to hearing him talk in his sleep (cause yes I can hear it from our bedroom!!) I am anxious for the chance to talk about the gospel with him on a higher level, to see who he has become, and to hear him laugh again.
I haven't been counting down the days until now. Three more sleeps And then all my boys will be together again.
Giving Grandpa something to track while Devon serves in the West Buenos Aires Mission!
Translate
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Challenges 3 to 6 - His final group emails
July 4th
3. The importance of having fun.
This is a good one. Something that a lot of missionaries and members of the church and people do not understand. Having fun is a GOOD THING!!! I know that all you family and friends like having fun, but I will share some of the thoughts that I have on this topic that I have seen in my mission.
Many missionaries that I have met are so focused and concentrated on the rules and the obedience and the goals that they transform into robots. They become too serious, too hard-hearted, too boring, too mean. They think that being a missionary means that we cannot laugh and make jokes. Many members think that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints means that we cannot have fun and laugh and do fun things! Of course we can! Now, do not get me wrong, of course we need to obey the rules, follow the commandments and strive for goals, but within those limits that the Lord has placed for us, we can most definitely enjoy ourselves. My companions and I have laughed so hard sometimes that tears come to our eyes. I love to laugh with my companions and have fun. Pday was made for relaxing, preparing for the week, having fun, and playing basketball. (according to Elder Healey).
Why did I choose this topic this week? Because I have seen so many missionaries that were leaders in the mission pass through and they were so serious and strict and boring and cold, and it made me sad! They did not achieve their potential because they did not fill their hearts with love and the joy of the gospel! I have had the opportunity to be a leader for the most of my mission, and I have found that the best way to help a missionary who needs help and is struggling is to give him a hug, smile and laugh with him a bit, crack some clean jokes, and make him feel good and then help him overcome the challenge that he is facing. That way the missionary has confidence in us as leaders, he loves us and wants to talk to us and express his difficulty. If we are hard hearted, cold, mean and boring, the missionary will not come to us for help, because he will feel scared and worse!
Have you ever gone through a whole General Conference without having laughed at least once?
The Apostles always crack jokes, they love to make us laugh. Elder Uchtdorf is a master of laughs. The gospel is one of joy and happiness! So lets show it!
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" - Proverbs 17:22
"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance" - Proverbs 15:13
So while we are obeying the rules and striving for our eternal goal, lets have fun along the way. It makes things a whole lot easier. Laugh with your friends and participate in activities that are wholesome and clean. There is a huge difference between having fun according to the gospel and "having fun" according to the world. Do not choose the latter.
So I will just invite you all this week to enjoy the life you live! Have fun!!! Laugh!!!!! Laughter is by far the best medicine.
THIS is my invitation!
Send me a picture this week of something FUN that you did! :D
That is all I will ask! I hope that you loved this email and I hope that you all remember to laugh and smile and have fun in this glorious gospel that the Lord has given us! :)
July 11th
4. There is no sin that the Atonement cannot defeat.
I hope that everyone that reads this email can get something special out of it. I tried to think about what to write this morning but nothing came to my mind, so I will just express my feelings about this topic in a couple paragraphs.
I am only 20 years old. I really don't have a lot of experience in life, and I got a whole life ahead of me. In these short 20 years, I have slipped up and messed up a ton. Many many times, and here on the mission as well! Here on the mission I have made mistakes and errors. Things that are normal. With all the mistakes and slip ups that I have had in my life, I can happily say that I have been able to recover my steps and make it out. Sometimes it took a long time, sometimes it was just a couple seconds to say a prayer and ask forgiveness. But I know that there is no sin or mistake that the Atonement of Jesus Christ cannot overcome. No one has gone too far that the arms of Christ cannot reach. Now of course there are some that have chosen to go too far, and that is their sad choice. But we can always, ALWAYS, repent and go back.
I will share with you all my favorite scripture about the Atonement.
"And the world because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." - 1 Nephi 19:9
About 2000 years ago, the Son of God descended below all that we can imagine. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord Jesus Christ, knelt down and began to pray, in this moment He was praying for you and me. I imagine that in this moment He was thinking about nothing else but you and me. He suffered every single thing that we have passed through and that we will pass through. He knows exactly what we go through, He knows us and loves us!
It may be hard to comprehend for some. How one person who according to the world was just a normal man could somehow live and suffer and die for all of mankind.
All I can say is that we are sons and daughters of a living Father in Heaven, who wants us to come home to Him. And we need someone to help us get home, that is our Savior Jesus Christ. Being the Son of God, He was able to do something like that, take upon him all the sins and sicknesses of the world and carry them. Being born of earthly parents, He physically did, suffer, bleed and die for us.
Maybe I cannot express well or teach the Atonement of Christ. But I can just express my strong testimony that I know that the Atonement is something real. I have felt it in my life. Through the process of repentance, I have seen a change in my life thanks to the effort I put in, but I have seen an even bigger change in my life thanks to the help and teachings of the Savior! And I know He lives!
One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon on the Atonement is Alma 7, I will invite you all to read it and share with me your thoughts.
Then I would like to know how you all are going to remember the Savior more in this week. The Atonement is something that we should not forget.
I love you all tons! And I especially hope that you can all remember that someone has passed through the trials and problems that you and I go through. Don't forget that!
July 18th
5. Praise To The Man.
"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!"
This week I will testify of the reality of the Restoration of the Gospel on the earth in these latter days.
Before the mission and coming on the mission, I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, I knew that the church was true. But that knowledge that I had was very basic, not very deep and profound. I guess after just years and years of hearing people testify of the church and the Book of Mormon and reading the Book of Mormon at night it just became normal to me and my mind hearing that it is all true. So I wasn't worried about coming on the mission and testifying of it because I knew it to be true!
But now after 2 short years of studying, preaching and teaching, learning and growing, praying and receiving revelation, I have now come to the deep and profound knowledge and testimony that this gospel is so completely valid. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, he truly did see God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. He did translate the Book of Mormon and the Book of Mormon is the most powerful book that exists on the face of the earth.
I have met people from many different cultures, religions and points of view on the mission as you can imagine. I remember many of them. Many accepted the gospel and the truth of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but on the other hand many rejected it, and rejected it hard. I have heard so many negative comments about the Mormon religion, about God, about Joseph Smith, and about the Book of Mormon. I have had people literally battle with me face to face to prove that I was wrong and I just wasted 2 years of my life teaching something that is complete stupidity. I have heard it all. And not a single word, phrase, or argument has even caused me to tremble in my knowledge that all these things are true.
I do not believe them to be true, I KNOW them to be true.
How can one think or imagine that Joseph Smith was not a prophet guided by God? He was a young boy, 14 years old, when all this started. He lived on a farm, had little education and was not smart in the things of the world. Do you really think that a world-wide church, filled with resources to save lives and souls in any part of the world could begin from someone so small and ignorant such as he, if he were not inspired by God? Of course not. He was called of God. And this is His work, Gods work.
The world has devoured and attacked the Book of Mormon. People have dug through it, tore it apart, burned it, analyzed it, and searched it to find even the slightest error. And there is NO ERROR. There is not even the trace of error. It is a Book inspired by God, written by the hands of His prophets. I have read it several times in my mission, mostly in Spanish. I have never seen a Book change the lives of so many people, and in so many ways. From my point of view, if the Book of Mormon is not true, God does not exist, and if God does not exist, we do not exist.
It is the word of God. It has changed my life and helped me in so many ways. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and this work is guided by the Lord God Almighty.
"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it." - Doctrine and Covenants 135:3
Oh how thankful I am that God has granted me the opportunity to have been born, grown and matured in the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. There is no other blessing in my life that is greater. And even if the whole world were to stand against me and deny the gospel and the Book of Mormon; the WHOLE WORLD; I would still never deny the truth of it all. For it has been revealed to me by God Himself.
I will share a scripture from the Book, I invite you to read it.
2 Nephi 33:10-15
Judge ye, I say this to you all, judge ye if the Book is true or not, because in the last day, you will know that it is true. So make your choice.
I invite you all to do 2 things!!
I would love to hear from you that know the Book of Mormon is true, how did you come to know that it is true?
And I invite you THIS WEEK, to share the Book of Mormon with someone, and give it as a gift. And if you do not have a Book of Mormon, GET ONE.
I love you all, I have no doubt about the things that I have said. I hope this has helped your own testimony. Have an amazing week. And I look forward to hearing your responses. :)
July 25th
6. God lives.
I know that God lives.
I know that He is our living, loving, helping Heavenly Father.
Of all the things that I have learned throughout 2 short years in Argentina, this is the outstanding knowledge and testimony that I have obtained, that God lives.
I love Him with all my heart. I have served Him with all my heart, might, mind and soul. I have shed blood, sweat and tears in the service for Him. And I would do it again in a heartbeat if He so asked of me.
I am so sad that I am now being called home, in these 2 years I have grown closer to God than I ever thought I could. But I know that God has a plan for me, and I will continue.
I will follow Him till the day I die.
I will follow Him even after I leave this world.
I have felt His loving hand, and His patient care, I have even felt His laughter and smile with me in the beautiful times of my mission.
All things testify that God is our Father and Creator. I testify that He is our Father and Creator.
All that you see around you could not possible appear from a big explosion. That is completely impossible.
The love that I have for all of you reading this email, and the love that I have for God could also not come from a big explosion. Explosions do not create emotions.
This will be my last email as a full time representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will finish my mission by saying this one thing:
God lives.
I love you all. And I do look forward to seeing you again, even though I am partially heartbroken. My challenge this week to you all is just to pray and thank God for creating this wonderful world and life to live in.
Elder Devon Jacob Healey
Mision Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste
Julio 2014-Julio 2016
3. The importance of having fun.
This is a good one. Something that a lot of missionaries and members of the church and people do not understand. Having fun is a GOOD THING!!! I know that all you family and friends like having fun, but I will share some of the thoughts that I have on this topic that I have seen in my mission.
Many missionaries that I have met are so focused and concentrated on the rules and the obedience and the goals that they transform into robots. They become too serious, too hard-hearted, too boring, too mean. They think that being a missionary means that we cannot laugh and make jokes. Many members think that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints means that we cannot have fun and laugh and do fun things! Of course we can! Now, do not get me wrong, of course we need to obey the rules, follow the commandments and strive for goals, but within those limits that the Lord has placed for us, we can most definitely enjoy ourselves. My companions and I have laughed so hard sometimes that tears come to our eyes. I love to laugh with my companions and have fun. Pday was made for relaxing, preparing for the week, having fun, and playing basketball. (according to Elder Healey).
Why did I choose this topic this week? Because I have seen so many missionaries that were leaders in the mission pass through and they were so serious and strict and boring and cold, and it made me sad! They did not achieve their potential because they did not fill their hearts with love and the joy of the gospel! I have had the opportunity to be a leader for the most of my mission, and I have found that the best way to help a missionary who needs help and is struggling is to give him a hug, smile and laugh with him a bit, crack some clean jokes, and make him feel good and then help him overcome the challenge that he is facing. That way the missionary has confidence in us as leaders, he loves us and wants to talk to us and express his difficulty. If we are hard hearted, cold, mean and boring, the missionary will not come to us for help, because he will feel scared and worse!
Have you ever gone through a whole General Conference without having laughed at least once?
The Apostles always crack jokes, they love to make us laugh. Elder Uchtdorf is a master of laughs. The gospel is one of joy and happiness! So lets show it!
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" - Proverbs 17:22
"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance" - Proverbs 15:13
So while we are obeying the rules and striving for our eternal goal, lets have fun along the way. It makes things a whole lot easier. Laugh with your friends and participate in activities that are wholesome and clean. There is a huge difference between having fun according to the gospel and "having fun" according to the world. Do not choose the latter.
So I will just invite you all this week to enjoy the life you live! Have fun!!! Laugh!!!!! Laughter is by far the best medicine.
THIS is my invitation!
Send me a picture this week of something FUN that you did! :D
That is all I will ask! I hope that you loved this email and I hope that you all remember to laugh and smile and have fun in this glorious gospel that the Lord has given us! :)
July 11th
4. There is no sin that the Atonement cannot defeat.
I hope that everyone that reads this email can get something special out of it. I tried to think about what to write this morning but nothing came to my mind, so I will just express my feelings about this topic in a couple paragraphs.
I am only 20 years old. I really don't have a lot of experience in life, and I got a whole life ahead of me. In these short 20 years, I have slipped up and messed up a ton. Many many times, and here on the mission as well! Here on the mission I have made mistakes and errors. Things that are normal. With all the mistakes and slip ups that I have had in my life, I can happily say that I have been able to recover my steps and make it out. Sometimes it took a long time, sometimes it was just a couple seconds to say a prayer and ask forgiveness. But I know that there is no sin or mistake that the Atonement of Jesus Christ cannot overcome. No one has gone too far that the arms of Christ cannot reach. Now of course there are some that have chosen to go too far, and that is their sad choice. But we can always, ALWAYS, repent and go back.
I will share with you all my favorite scripture about the Atonement.
"And the world because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." - 1 Nephi 19:9
About 2000 years ago, the Son of God descended below all that we can imagine. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord Jesus Christ, knelt down and began to pray, in this moment He was praying for you and me. I imagine that in this moment He was thinking about nothing else but you and me. He suffered every single thing that we have passed through and that we will pass through. He knows exactly what we go through, He knows us and loves us!
It may be hard to comprehend for some. How one person who according to the world was just a normal man could somehow live and suffer and die for all of mankind.
All I can say is that we are sons and daughters of a living Father in Heaven, who wants us to come home to Him. And we need someone to help us get home, that is our Savior Jesus Christ. Being the Son of God, He was able to do something like that, take upon him all the sins and sicknesses of the world and carry them. Being born of earthly parents, He physically did, suffer, bleed and die for us.
Maybe I cannot express well or teach the Atonement of Christ. But I can just express my strong testimony that I know that the Atonement is something real. I have felt it in my life. Through the process of repentance, I have seen a change in my life thanks to the effort I put in, but I have seen an even bigger change in my life thanks to the help and teachings of the Savior! And I know He lives!
One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon on the Atonement is Alma 7, I will invite you all to read it and share with me your thoughts.
Then I would like to know how you all are going to remember the Savior more in this week. The Atonement is something that we should not forget.
I love you all tons! And I especially hope that you can all remember that someone has passed through the trials and problems that you and I go through. Don't forget that!
July 18th
5. Praise To The Man.
"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!"
This week I will testify of the reality of the Restoration of the Gospel on the earth in these latter days.
Before the mission and coming on the mission, I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, I knew that the church was true. But that knowledge that I had was very basic, not very deep and profound. I guess after just years and years of hearing people testify of the church and the Book of Mormon and reading the Book of Mormon at night it just became normal to me and my mind hearing that it is all true. So I wasn't worried about coming on the mission and testifying of it because I knew it to be true!
But now after 2 short years of studying, preaching and teaching, learning and growing, praying and receiving revelation, I have now come to the deep and profound knowledge and testimony that this gospel is so completely valid. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, he truly did see God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. He did translate the Book of Mormon and the Book of Mormon is the most powerful book that exists on the face of the earth.
I have met people from many different cultures, religions and points of view on the mission as you can imagine. I remember many of them. Many accepted the gospel and the truth of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but on the other hand many rejected it, and rejected it hard. I have heard so many negative comments about the Mormon religion, about God, about Joseph Smith, and about the Book of Mormon. I have had people literally battle with me face to face to prove that I was wrong and I just wasted 2 years of my life teaching something that is complete stupidity. I have heard it all. And not a single word, phrase, or argument has even caused me to tremble in my knowledge that all these things are true.
I do not believe them to be true, I KNOW them to be true.
How can one think or imagine that Joseph Smith was not a prophet guided by God? He was a young boy, 14 years old, when all this started. He lived on a farm, had little education and was not smart in the things of the world. Do you really think that a world-wide church, filled with resources to save lives and souls in any part of the world could begin from someone so small and ignorant such as he, if he were not inspired by God? Of course not. He was called of God. And this is His work, Gods work.
The world has devoured and attacked the Book of Mormon. People have dug through it, tore it apart, burned it, analyzed it, and searched it to find even the slightest error. And there is NO ERROR. There is not even the trace of error. It is a Book inspired by God, written by the hands of His prophets. I have read it several times in my mission, mostly in Spanish. I have never seen a Book change the lives of so many people, and in so many ways. From my point of view, if the Book of Mormon is not true, God does not exist, and if God does not exist, we do not exist.
It is the word of God. It has changed my life and helped me in so many ways. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and this work is guided by the Lord God Almighty.
"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it." - Doctrine and Covenants 135:3
Oh how thankful I am that God has granted me the opportunity to have been born, grown and matured in the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. There is no other blessing in my life that is greater. And even if the whole world were to stand against me and deny the gospel and the Book of Mormon; the WHOLE WORLD; I would still never deny the truth of it all. For it has been revealed to me by God Himself.
I will share a scripture from the Book, I invite you to read it.
2 Nephi 33:10-15
Judge ye, I say this to you all, judge ye if the Book is true or not, because in the last day, you will know that it is true. So make your choice.
I invite you all to do 2 things!!
I would love to hear from you that know the Book of Mormon is true, how did you come to know that it is true?
And I invite you THIS WEEK, to share the Book of Mormon with someone, and give it as a gift. And if you do not have a Book of Mormon, GET ONE.
I love you all, I have no doubt about the things that I have said. I hope this has helped your own testimony. Have an amazing week. And I look forward to hearing your responses. :)
July 25th
6. God lives.
I know that God lives.
I know that He is our living, loving, helping Heavenly Father.
Of all the things that I have learned throughout 2 short years in Argentina, this is the outstanding knowledge and testimony that I have obtained, that God lives.
I love Him with all my heart. I have served Him with all my heart, might, mind and soul. I have shed blood, sweat and tears in the service for Him. And I would do it again in a heartbeat if He so asked of me.
I am so sad that I am now being called home, in these 2 years I have grown closer to God than I ever thought I could. But I know that God has a plan for me, and I will continue.
I will follow Him till the day I die.
I will follow Him even after I leave this world.
I have felt His loving hand, and His patient care, I have even felt His laughter and smile with me in the beautiful times of my mission.
All things testify that God is our Father and Creator. I testify that He is our Father and Creator.
All that you see around you could not possible appear from a big explosion. That is completely impossible.
The love that I have for all of you reading this email, and the love that I have for God could also not come from a big explosion. Explosions do not create emotions.
This will be my last email as a full time representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will finish my mission by saying this one thing:
God lives.
I love you all. And I do look forward to seeing you again, even though I am partially heartbroken. My challenge this week to you all is just to pray and thank God for creating this wonderful world and life to live in.
Elder Devon Jacob Healey
Mision Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste
Julio 2014-Julio 2016
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