It's been ... great.‏

So, life.

It's happening. And you know what? It's weird.

Yesterday I had my final interview with President Packard. Strange.

Usually our final interviews happen the day before we go home, but a record THIRTY FIVE missionaries go home with me (can you say "mass exodus"?), so President won't have time to interview us all in one day. Here's a snippet of the conversation we had yesterday:

President: How are you feeling Sister Gledhill?

S.Gledhill: Weird. Like I haven't really comprehended what's about to happen.

President: So, how do you feel about your mission?
S.Gledhill: ... *silence, thoughtful pondering

      ... *more silence, overwhelmed pondering

      ... It's been ... great.

Because really, what else can you say? How do you sum up the past 18 months in some kind of communicable sentence? Or for that matter, paragraph? Or novel? I don't think in 10 years from now I will be able to fully recognize the impact my mission has had on me, let alone when I'm right in the thick of it! (By the way, President didn't scold me for my sassy-ness. He completely understands and more eloquently quoted the words of Ammon from the Book of Mormon, "I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." Amen to that President, amen to that.)

And so, here I am. My general emotional status could be defined as "constantly on the brink of weeping." Not weeping with sadness, but with ... I don't know, joy and gratitude and longing and love and praise and desire and drive and happiness. It's strange to feel it all at once, but I think I understand the missionaries in the Book of Mormon when they say their hearts were full and they all just fall to the ground because they are so overwhelmed with emotion. I've been doing my fair share of overcome-with-emotion-ground-laying, and let me tell ya, it's a good way to process all of this "feelings" business. (Some of you may be scoffing, because I know I have a reputation to uphold of being stone-hearted. But, what can I say? Missions change people.)

Which leads me to my plan for the next week: basically just soak up everything. It's kind of poetic that Thanksgiving is in the last week of my mission. Did you know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday? Why is Heavenly Father SO PERFECT?!! This next week should be especially incredible, even by missionary standards. The month of November has been a record breaker in the MBM when it comes to miracles. I'll fill you in next week when the whole month is over, but let's just say it will be a good note to end on.

xoxo,

One Grateful Missionary.

(... Sister Gledhill)