Letter to President

(Dad edit: This is an email Nathan sent to his mission president today. He spent a lot of time on this, so he didn't have time to write family and friends. Nathan told me I could post this, and I am glad, because he shares things that are special to a parent. Also - Nathan found out that he will be transferred to Uyuni, which he has mentioned in past emails / posts.) Well I just wanted to say thank you and I love you for giving me the opportunity to serve in Uyuni. The truth is, when I received the cambio I had mixed feelings. What I had heard about Uyuni is that it is an amazing tourist spot, but when It comes to the mission work it is the garbage of the mission. I felt terrible that missionaries would say that when they have never even been there, and then there I got called there and felt terrible. I was up all night thinking about it, not really wanting to go because of what I have heard. But then I remembered one of my goals in my mission. I set a goal before the mission that I would ALWAYS be obedient and would ALWAYS be happy. Now obviously I have not been perfect at either one, but I am trying. And many times when we set goals God puts obstacles in our way so he can see our limit, how far we can go. I am now excited because I want to change the missionaries perspectives of this area. It will be hard, but I know that I can do it. In all my tossing and turning in the night, thinking about my cambio, a thought came to my head that I want to share. We always say that "The grass is greener on the other side", but this is absolutely not true. Grass isn't greener on the other side. The grass gets greener when we water it!! Or in other words, Happiness is making the best out of the circumstances we are given, and try to better them, through obedience to God's commandments, mission rules, or through working. Maybe I feel like I have not been given lots going to Uyuni, but I have been given a whole lot of unseen opportunity. I have been given a blank slate (literally white and blank) with the opportunity to make something with it. Christ has given me so much opportunity. And the more that I have thought, the more I have realized what an opportunity it is to go there. Many missionaries that I look up to came out of Uyuni. If so many people who I look up to have come from there, that means it can't be that bad. Later today I was reading some emails that I received and one of my friends sent me this quote that I absolutely love. It really helped me understand why I am going there. I don't think it is from the church, but it is so true. "The question is asked all the time, "If God loves us so much and is so powerful, then how could He allow these walls to pop up around me?" I don't pretend to have the answer to any of these questions, nor do I pretend to understand just how deep or dark your suffering has been. I simply want to suggest that maybe, God does His best work from seemingly hopeless situations. When I read the bible, I read about people and characters, all who faced seemingly hopeless situations. In fact, I cannot find a single person who walked faithfully with God without first facing a hopeless situation. Adam and Eve ruined paradise by inviting sin and death to a perfect world, a hopeless case. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers for his pride and was put in prison, a hopeless case. Moses was cornered on the banks of the Red Sea with the most powerful army in the world breathing down his neck, a hopeless case. Gideon was 300 against 300,000. David stood across a valley from a blood thirsty giant. Esther was a woman trying to gain a word with a prideful king. Daniel’s roommate was a lion. His friends were thrown in an oven. Jonah sucked at his job and got stuck in a whale. Peter was a coward. Paul was imprisoned. The 5000 had no food. Lazarus was dead. Timothy was too young. Abraham was too old. The youngest son was too stupid. The walls of Jericho were too strong and Jesus was humiliated, hung on a cross and buried in a tomb, burying all hopes of the revolution that was hoped for, for thousands and thousands of years. Now, everybody was ready to close the book on these stories. The end. Game over. But if there is one thing we learn from the scriptures is that, we can never place a period where God has placed a comma because when all other options have been worn out, when circumstances couldn’t get worse, when everything else has failed, get ready, because that is exactly where God shows up. Because Joseph became second-in-command; the Red Sea parted; Gideon won without lifting a weapon, Goliath’s head was on a plate; Esther spoke and the king listened; Daniel tamed the lion; the oven felt like room temperature; Nineveh repented; Peter became the rock; Paul rejoiced; 12 basket fulls were left over; Lazarus was just kidding; Timothy built a church; Abraham built a family; the youngest son came home to a party; the walls of Jericho came a-tumbling down and Jesus Christ rose up in the resurrection to fleeing sin and death and the creation that had been marked so many years ago was now restored for all time. With God what seems like a hopeless situation is not only possible; it's favourable because only God can turn a mess into a message. Only God can turn a trial into a triumph, a test into a testimony and a victim into a victory. His power is made perfect in weakness so let us rejoice in our trials and hold unswervingly to the hope we profess because He who promised is faithful, was faithful and will always be faithful no matter how hopeless the situation."

I really cannot express how grateful I am for this opportunity.