Luke's release with President Watson

President Watson was so amazing when we went to his house for Luke's mission release. He made it so special and the Spirit was so strong. He started out asking Luke some questions. He asked:

• What was your least favorite food? Mondongo - the stomach lining of a cow
• Favorite food? Asado vacio and matambre la pizza
• Least favorite companion? Elder Moulton - at first they were so different that it made it difficult. But then Luke realized that they didn't have the same goal and that's why they weren't getting along. But then when they started to have the same goals they were able to have more unity.
• Favorite companion? Elder Reyes - Luke was with him twice. The reason Luke loved him is because they were so focused and had the same goals of helping the area and helping the ward. They knew what was the most important thing together, bringing people to Christ.
• Spiritual experience? Luke talked about his experience with Manuel. He said "We had some plans to go to an area a bit far from our apartment, but we felt an impression to go visit our Bishop and see what members he would like us to visit. We got there and talked for a bit, and he mentioned a less active member that we have already tried to visit many times. We went anyway, because you never know what can happen when a member refers to someone. We got there and talked with Hermano Arriola who mentioned that he had a neighbor that we had also talked to who was a member. Again, you never know. 
  
  We clapped at the door and a man who was visibly irritated that we had stopped by at about 9 o'clock at night, told us he would text us if he had time another day to have a lesson with him. I tried to be more personable with him and said that I liked his shirt because it was a Muay Thai MMA shirt. It softened him up a little bit to where we could talk a little about the UFC. Still a bit annoyed, we gave him our number and went home.
  
  When we got home, we checked our phone and Manuel had left a text saying "10am. Tomorrow in the chapel. Be there." and nothing else. We were a bit shocked and the next day, eagerly headed over to the church building, where we found him waiting outside! We walked in, showed him the chapel, and I played "Come follow me" on the piano to start the lesson. When we started, we asked him a few questions to see why he was interested and he totally opened up and told us about the feelings of guilt, anger, and regret that he had felt for his past life and the need for peace that he had. The spirit was so strong as we testified of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his healing power in our lives. This is truly my favorite part of the mission. Testifying of truths that I have seen change and bring hope to my own life. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. Those feelings of guilt, pain, anxiety, depression, bad habits, whatever it may be can be washed away through faith in Jesus Christ, true repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.
  
  We invited Manuel to be baptized and he accepted. For years he has been rejecting the missionaries that have stopped by his house, and that day the Lord had mercy on him and changed his heart because of his true desire to change. He has been reading the Book of Mormon daily with his wife who is a member of the church. He told us in the next lesson of the immediate peace he has felt has he has kept his commitments to read the Book of Mormon, pray to God, and go to church. Jesus Christ is truly the Healer, and the Savior of the world. I am grateful for the witness of the Spirit that I have received of this truth and the evidence of it daily in the lives of others and myself."

He asked all of us what changes we had seen in Luke. Here's how everyone responded:

• Emma said Luke seemed more humble and in tuned with the Spirit.
• Gavin said he seemed confident in sharing the gospel and he made him excited to go on a mission.
• Eva said he allowed himself to be an instrument in the Lord's hands
• Eliza said
• I talked about how much I loved hearing Luke talk about the miracles he saw. He really recognized the hand of the Lord in the work.
• Matt said he loved watching Luke recognize his weaknesses and take them to the Lord and let him change him. Sometimes he would talk negatively about the ward or one of his fellow missionaries and the next week he would work on it and come back humble and had an attitude change.

He then recapped all the things we talked about and told Luke to remember that he and his future companion, his wife, will have more unity if they have the same goals. Then he talked about the changes that we saw in him and told him to try to keep these characteristics as he moves forward with more callings. Then he told Luke he could take off his tags and he was now released. We were all silent as we watched Luke take his tags off and stare at them in his hands. We all teared up, 2 years of hard work and now it is complete! Wow, what an amazing moment!