. . . We also had a wonderful lunch yesterday for those that are leaving. Sister and President Laycock shared some really special things with us. I really love them and they love us so much. That is kind of the theme of their service. LOVE. Love is really great because it makes every word that comes out of their mouth have special meaning to their audience. Sister Laycock has told us many times recently that "She didn’t know that Heavenly Father could allow her to love us like her own children; like we had been raised in their house and all. While I have been here they have been my physical parents since mine have been away. I love them tons.
Jayce, I love you! I have been praying for that day to come quickly for you. Today is your last Saturday. I remember my last Saturday selling. I remember sitting for a little breather and cliff bar and realizing how happy I was and what I was doing. I want to stay “all here” on my mission until the last minute. I’m going to need your help because I’m so excited to be able to be with you again and the family. Keep pumping me up to work my hardest for the Lord. To sacrifice my thoughts of home in Love for Heavenly Father and for the Savior. Pump hard Jayce. Be the best. . . Elder Tilley
(Dad) I’ll tell you how this last week went to get a sneak peak. Monday- change meeting 8-12 … then… helped Elders that would be leaving that night to get their bags weighed in right and to pack them into the truck. We left straight from there to the airport about 40 minutes away. We helped the Elders go and check their bags in and get their flight tickets. Then we saw them walk through the door of doom from whence no Elder has ever returned :) That is always really sad, especially when you can tell that the Elder or Sister loved their mission...loved the Lord really. Then President Laycock told us to go home early and get some rest. He did that, because the next morning at 2:30am Mr. Alarm clock woke us up and told us we had to shower. After getting ready, we picked up the Sister missionary that had her flight that morning. We dropped her off at the airport and sent her through the door. Then, we went back out to our truck where our pillows and blankets had been anxiously waiting for their owners to take a 3 hour airport nap. At 7:50 we got up and waited for the new missionaries that would arrive from the states. There were only 5 coming this time. Funny enough, when I was walking down the stairs toward the arrival gate, a man walking up the stairs caught my attention. I’m not sure how still, but I knew he was from Arizona. I don’t know if it was the shade of tan skin or clothing style or what....but anyway as we past him....he said "Good to see you Elders". You don’t hear that hardly ever in a good accent. After waiting for a while, we went back to check their flight and the same man was standing behind us. I turned around and asked him where he was from....I was pleased at my guess and very surprised to find out that this man is from none other than Thatcher, Arizona. Stephen.....not sure. He just laughed out loud. He didn’t recognize me but he said that he knew a seminary teacher named Brother Palmer. He said he liked to play basketball out there. I’m sure Josh played with him. …We went from there to the New Missionary Capacitation with President (he was at the airport too, he always picks up the Elders and also sees them off at the airport, something that no other Mission President does as far I know from around here) He is something special. After finishing that, at 4 or five, we picked up two twin brother Missionaries that met here to see each other and fly home together (one from our mission and the other from the south…Orsorno Mission). We went back to the airport and did the same thing and hit the bed as soon as we could. Wednesday was less crazy. We had a lesson with a family where we were humbled in the evening. Thursday, we had another airport trip with triplet brothers who were doing the same thing and another set of twins. We had an appointment cancel on us in the evening and we did some touch up plans here at the office. Friday, we went to the Temple with the Elders that are leaving this next week early to start studies on time and did the "Santiago Day" with President. He takes all the missionaries that leave on a little tour of Santiago. We go to 4 of the most famous places here in Chile. We go to Santa Lucia, San Cristobal, Plaza de Armas, el mercado central and Los Dominicos. . . . That lasted till 7 in the evening which I will tell you more about because the lunch and lessons learned from the Laycocks were incredible. Then we went to a lesson with Victoria in the evening (the elderly lady that is blind). Today, preparation day (not P-Day anymore), we got up and did our wash, cleaned our house (I’ve gained a new love for clean living places) and went and played basketball with some kids at the court right next to the temple and church office building. Then we took showers and came down here to eat (Papa Johns-BBQ chicken) pizza that was great. Now I’m here. Tomorrow, President asked us to go with two great great Elders who are finishing their missions to a baptism in a different sector so they can enjoy seeing an old investigator baptism. Then, we are coming back here for the "see you later night" for the missionaries that are leaving in the temple grounds. Wow, I just got tired writing that. That was my week. It is the most crazy week of the change ... next week, we are going to be working on a plan of how to be able to get the mission excited about practicing teaching the mission lessons. President has felt that that is the direction we need to go. We are also going to be planning for the activity that we will have to celebrate the 18th of September. We are going to be able to do a little more work in the sector though, which will be great. Oh, we have another airport trip on Wednesday for the 5 that go home. Every day is different. It is going so fast. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I’m learning so much. I have felt that it will be much more like "after mission life" and I need to learn how to find happiness and joy in this kind of life style. I know that I need to be studying much more than I am. I haven’t gotten a good study session in for a while. President told us this last week that scripture searching is a requisite for the leaders of the church.
President asked "when will we know if someone’s mission is a success?" he answered, in 20 years. Who will they be? What kind of life will they have? What will be important to them? Will they be successful and Constant Temple attenders? As I got thinking about that, my love and respect for you Dad jumped up a lot. From how you are now and the answer to all those questions tells me that you were an incredible missionary. I would have liked to be your companion. It was a really special moment of appreciation from me to my Dad. Thanks Dad for being a wonderful missionary. I had some pain this last week from the choices of some Elders. I am hurt because I know what this miracle has done for me…I love you Dad a lot. We are going to have fun. I’m going to need your help to keep all “my all” here in Chile. I’m just so excited to be with the family again and share and get to know everyone better and live much more happily. I hope that helped you see into my current life a little bit. I consider myself most blessed by being able to have the opportunities that I am having and being able to have so many of them with President and Sister Laycock. I love your letters Dad. Thank you for taking so much time to write me and share what is happening. I love you. Love Elder Tilley
. . . I sure feel the love of our family. I know of Elders that are going through harder things than I can imagine. I respect them so much. I’m going to actually call them today to make sure that they are well.
. . . Yesterday, Sister Laycock said that she felt especially that these two principles needed to be followed by the group of missionaries that are leaving (she included my name in these too).
1. Keep your covenants and you will find joy and happiness
2. Your eternal companion will not be found in an unholy place. She just simply won’t be there. Once you find her, don’t wait.
The spirit was very strong through the whole meeting. It really hit me.
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