Hey there!!
Well to start off, this is quite an unexplainable emotion I'm feeling right now. How do I sum up one of the greatest adventures of my life in one letter? It is truly hard to believe that this moment has come! I have known all of my life that one day I was going to serve a mission and that this, the very same mission, would one day come to an end.
Since I was a little boy singing "I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two," I've known I was going to serve. I never knew where exactly or when, but I was hoping that no matter what happened, that the growing a foot or two was one of the benefits of service. I don't think I ever grew that foot or two that I was so very much hoping for, but it's fine because I did get to be a missionary!
Coming on the mission was a decision that I made years and years ago. Despite the challenges that life threw at me, I knew that nothing would keep me from serving the Lord. My path may have had some bumps along the way, but I wouldn't change it one bit. My name is Jonah, and like the prophet of old, I am loved by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The prophet Jonah had ups and downs along his path too, but in the end, all of those experiences helped to make him a better and more effective instrument in the hands of the Lord.
My mission has been perfect, even if I was not a perfect missionary. I came to the field willing to serve God and my fellow man with all my heart, might, mind, and strength and in return, I have had the opportunity to learn and grow in ways that I didn't even know that I could. No matter where or what the circumstance I was asked to serve in, there was always something there for me to learn and add to my experiences. There were truly moments that I asked "why me?" and without fail, the Lord would show me the reason "why". Every time I found myself reflecting on the "why" I would be reminded that I needed to be a better disciple and my thoughts would turn to Christ's first disciples, the 12 original apostles. When Christ saw them while they were fishing on the sea of Galilee He called to them and this is how they responded:
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him.
Without questioning "why me" they just dropped everything and followed. One of the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission is that we don't need to know why or how, we just need to simply act and be faithful until the end, no matter what.
I am so very grateful for my mission and for all the new things I was able to learn by giving these two short years to serve and love my neighbors.
I'm content with the sacrifices I've made and I can't wait to return home and see each and every one of you in 4 days time! Because of the Lord's help, I will leave here without even an ounce of regret. He has helped me to leave it all on the mat... the whole three periods and then some overtime as well. Because of Him, I've come out on top and hope to be closer to the man He needs me to be. This is the end of my time here in the mission and I loved it and I'm so grateful for the many blessings I've received!
Love,
Elder Jonah McKee
PS these are some pictures of my funeral that we held as a zone on Friday. It was pretty funny :)
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