Only The Beginning: A Final Farewell To The MTC September 30, 2014

As Elder Lickiss prepares to leave the MTC he shares with us his last day with a group of people he has grown to love.

Elder Lickiss Shares

"My final days at the MTC have been amazing. I am utterly sad that my Hermanas have left, they left this morning between 3-5 am. I leave tomorrow at 5 am, my bus takes off at 9, and I will arrive in Texas at about 11:50 am. I have (had) hard times here but I have loved it because I just love the people. I love my house, I will miss that too. I do believe this is the best MTC is the world, it's huge, it's clean, it's perfect. There is so much room and there are palm trees. The food is questionable but it is worth it."

"Anyways, I have loved it here, I have loved the people here so much, this is a once in a lifetime experience and I am not going to waste it complaining. I have grown and have a crazy love for the people of Mexico. They are just such a fun innocent people."

"I am ready for Texas, not with the language, but with the spirit. I have learned that you teach with the spirit first and then in Spanish. 3 months is when everyone says I will be fluent, if I am diligent and if I am obedient."

"I am sad to be leaving all these wonderful things, nevertheless, the field will have so many more things and people to love. In my eyes I have only changed a little here, but I need to stop focusing on me. My goal is to change the world, and in that action, I will be changed. I know if I bear my testimony to you all every chance I get then your testimonies will be strengthened as well. We can not live our lives peacefully without it, and we will not make it in the next life without God. Not only do we need to know and love Him, we need to recognize what He does, and serve Him."

"I pray that everyone I love will have a taste of the fruit that is this Gospel. Then, you will remember that fruit, and when I testify to you, you will smell that fruit. Then maybe, just maybe, you will pursue that fruit. Then you will do all that you can do to get more o the fruit, you will make every action you do be in the direction of the fruit and when you have the fruit in your hands you will devour it every day and you will keep eating it so you don't forget what it tastes like, Then you will look and see all the people that you love that don't have the fruit and you will desire so much that they have the fruit as well, or at least if they already have it, to remember what is tastes like, and partake thereof everyday. I have tasted this fruit, currently I can smell it, and everyday I am pursuing it. Then I will have it, and at that day will I become the number 4 missionary (a talked called "The Fourth Missionary") and I will share that fruit with the world. No language barrier, no physical barrier, no barrier or distraction of the heart, will stop me from sharing this fruit with the world. Tasting the fruit is only the beginning, just look up into heaven where the tree of life grows on every corner. Taste the fruit, pursue it, share it and, become like God, forever."

"I love you, I will always love you, see you in a moment."

Here are some pictures of Elder Lickiss' world for the past 6 weeks