Has it been 18 months?

Has 18 months really gone by? 

I still perfectly remember my first day, going to bed in the MTC, looking up at the bunkbed above me  in the quietness of the night, and thinking I have 18 months of this.

What seems so daunting and eternal has gone by in the blink of an eye;

Before the misison I had the opportunity to study in Spain. I remember the week after I opened my call we went to Barcelona as a group. We went to a famous look at point to see the view. The study abroad director, Brad Wilcox, pulled me to the side to look over at the view below us. You could see everything, buildings and the ocean and the sagrada familia in the distance. And as I tried taking everything in Brad asked me' "can you imagine yourself here Hermana Cragun? Can you imagine all the people you're going to meet and the experiences you're going to have?" Of course I always thought about my mission, what it was going to be like, the miracles is as going to see... And now 18 months later, I can look back and say, the mission was nothing how I thought it was going to be like. But it was perfect for me.

The mission has overall been the best decision of my whole life, without a doubt. The people I have met, who I have grown to love. The experiences and refinements the Lord has placed in my path to shape me, and help me grow. It has been a privilege serving here in Spain Barcelona 

It's impossible to list everything the Lord has taken the time to carefully teach me, but know I have personally come to know and love the savior even more. I've come to understand how perfect his gospel is, and how the Book of Mormon has the power to change and better our lives. Change is a miracle, and if we let Christ, he will shape us into the people he knows we can become, using our weaknesses to make them strengths. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and  my Savior Jesus Christ, they have an infinite snd perfect love for everyone, and they've given me the greatest privilege to serve the people of Spain. I love Spain. 

I love Spain. 

My heart is aching thinking leaving these people, and not being able to be called Hermana Cragun anymore, or get to have investigators anymore, but I will forever carry these experiences with me, they have made me who I am, and Spain and my mission will forever be a part of the person I have become. 

Con mucho amor 

Hermana Cragun