A Letter full of Gratitude and Love..

Hello family and friends,

I hope this letter finds everyone well, I also hope that everyone is enjoying the cool weather back home and the wonderful Christmas season, I'm trying not to be sarcastic, its just very hot here, its incredibly hot, but its fine I'm used to it now. kinda...

Our thanksgiving was at KFC, I had mashed potatoes, corn, peas, beans, garlic bread, and peach cobbler, it was not easy to pull off but we did it, it was amazing.

My mission has been great, I have my fair share of ups and downs but one of the many things I have taken from my experiences thus far is how grateful I am for what I have back home in America. We have so much there, more than most people will ever come to appreciate. I don't think its possible to truly understand unless you have left your '"NORMAL" and think "wow I really did have a lot".

For me I have seen so many things I didn't think I would ever see in my lifetime, when you see it and think "did that really just happen"? I always think nope, that wouldn't happen in Loomis..

I am eternally grateful for everything in my life for a ward that functions properly, where things are not perfect but they roll forward, a place were I feel completely and utterly safe.

Grateful for parents that have taught me the gospel principles in my life and have given me so much, for my amazing mother who has taught me so many things, who has always been at my side in times of need. For an amazing father who has also always been there for me, who has shown me what is means to be a man and how to love and respect your wife, for showing me how to work hard and for giving me so many fond memories riding dirt bikes in the desert, in the mountains and everywhere in between.

I'm grateful for 3 wonderful sisters who have always been more like mothers to me as I grew up, although I did everything I could to bother and tease them as I grew up, I can't imagine what life would be like without them. I love and appreciate my brother in laws also..Im so lucky to have Grandparents that love me. I'm grateful that I was born into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I'm so blessed to have such a loving extended family. I'm grateful for my friends who throughout the years respected my beliefs and loved me for who I was and gave me the space I needed at times, for all that I learned in school over the years, for the wonderful education that I was privileged to obtain through normal correct government institutions.

I'm grateful for my young men leaders, for all the things they did for me, my bishops and my stake president, my Sunday school teachers my seminary teachers.

I'm grateful for my father in heaven as he has blessed me with all these things in my life.
I'm grateful that Jesus Christ died for me, that a soul so rebellious as mine could some day return to dwell in the presence of my father.

I love you all so much I'm grateful for all you do for me.

Thank you. Really thank you isn't enough but thank you.
Much love,
Elder Lawson

He's one of the "Angels in the back" its like finding a needle in a haystack..but he's there, far right..

Eating at KFC..a taste from home.

Learning new games..