It was our last full day in Mexico together. As such, we all went to el Centro (the northmost part of Reynosa) to buy some goodies and souvenirs for the family. The Centro (downtown) was notorious for its array of commerce because of its immediate proximity to the International bridge crossing into Texas. I was determined to find something for my mom, dad, sister, and new Brother-in-law although I wasn’t sure what (See "Eternal Family"). There was much to choose from but I wanted to get something authentic Mexican, not something that could be just as easily bought back home. I decided on a handmade leather belt for my sister with a Mexican agricultural pattern sewn into it; I figured that she would be into something fashion-related. For my mom and dad, I got colorful knitted wool sweaters, matching but different colors; one was red and black and the other was pink. I’ve seen people in Utah wearing them but these ones were authentic and if they didn’t want them, I could wear them myself. And for my new brother-in-law, Alex, I struggled to find something because I didn’t know what he’d like but I settled on an authentic Mexican sombrero bearing the colors of the Mexican flag. I couldn’t leave Mexico without it.
For ourselves, we found a man, whom the others already knew about, who made handmade bracelets for about twenty pesos each (about 1 USD). They usually cost more but we cut a deal with him because of our mass order. Elder Johnson, Elder Brogan, Elder Webb, Elder Hale, and I asked for a bracelet that read “District D” which included the Mexican flag colors. Each one took about fifteen minutes to weave by his skilled hands. He was a real professional. Since that was going to take a while, we went window shopping and got other goodies for our families. We visited everything from the Tianguis to the Coppel (another clothing store) to the boot store. We bought some things from the local market stands but we did more looking than actual spending. The best part of that day was just being among old friends. After we had our bags of goodies, we rested a bit around the plaza and just enjoyed the day speaking in English; it was funny seeing all the other shoppers staring at us in our fast-paced excitement like kids on a field trip to the amusement park, a group of white shirts and ties yammering in English, almost all of us Caucasians in Mexico. We found the greatest joy in the simple things that couldn’t be bought with all the money in the world.
For our last evening in Mexico, we were driven to the President’s House for one last private devotional. It was a beautiful house in a private community on the edge of the Riveras area called Privada Las Fuentes, which was almost exactly one mile southwest from where we lived in Riveras as the crow flies. I’d only seen pictures of his place before the mission and of course, we weren’t allowed in because it was a private community anyway. The only reason anybody really got to see his house was when they were going home and they posted pictures on the Facebook page. It looked just how I remembered it to be almost 2 years earlier. President Regalado left us to wait in his gorgeous and spacious living room for what must have been at least half an hour as he went and made other preparations. It was unlike most other houses I'd sat in while in Mexico. We sat there in comfortable silence on comfortable furniture in the air-conditioned place, lights off, both relieved and exhausted. Pure silent bliss. It was such a change from the constant rush to get things done. For once, we didn't have to think about the time of day or where to go next, or what to eat. For once, we could rest for real.
I don't know how long President Regalado and the other Office Elders were gone but they were gone a while; although we were leaving, they still had their responsibilities to the rest of the missionaries in the mission. They may have been gone for over an hour; there was no way to tell given that we were all half asleep and in no hurry. When they returned, the rest of the evening was dedicated to us. The Office Elders who were in attendance were almost as excited to be there as we were.
We shared some final feelings and testimonies as part of our farewell devotional. It was solemn yet exciting, full of emotions. We were given gifts including a sort of mission yearbook of all the missionaries who’d ever served in our mission, our magnetic picture (the sweaty one that was taken on our first day in the mission) that was kept in the offices for making transfer assignments which they’d signed, a framed picture of Christ, a couple of CDs that they'd burned with some photos and videos on them, and returned our testimony we’d written on our first day in the field (the day I met my trainer, Elder Howard). We put a crayon rubbing of our name tag in the President’s hymn book to immortalize what our favorite hymn was. Mine was “We are all Enlisted” or “Somos los Soldados” in Spanish.
The setting sun shined its gorgeous orange and red rays as always. I must say that Mexico has the most beautiful sunsets in the world; that's one positive of the dust and humidity. The night hour grew deep, dark, and late. We were driven to Sirloin Steakhouse all you can eat buffet for our "last supper". It was just as subpar as the last three or so times I’d eaten there but the company was priceless. It was hard to believe that we’d be having our next dinner with our own families in our own homes in under 24-hours from that moment in America the Beautiful. (See "Adventures of District D -- Part 2")
President Regalado enjoyed himself just as much as we did. He promised the Elder who could stack the tallest ice cream cone the privilege of driving us back to the mission home (remember, we didn’t have cars and really weren’t allowed to drive). He was true to his promise. I think Elder Allen won. His ice cream must have been over a foot tall and he wasn't the only competitor who got close. It probably wasn’t in his best judgment to let a guy who hadn’t driven in at least two years take the wheel on the wild lawless roads of Reynosa at night while holding not only his life but the rest of our lives in his hands when we only had to survive a couple more hours on Mexican soil. But like always, we were safe. Truth be told, when we got rides from members or simply rode in taxis, most people never wore seat belts so I’d gotten so used to going without them because nobody enforced them. But I made sure mine clicked that time no matter how short the ride back to the mission home was because I was going to take no chances. We got home late because the mission schedule curfew of being in bed by 10:30 didn't apply to us. As we drove back to the Mission home in the dark cover of night and all I could see was store lights, car lights, and street lights, it was a solemn thought thinking that I'd probably never see what they'd look like again.
Elder Howard, my first trainer, sent me an email a few weeks earlier congratulating me on concluding my mission and shared his last experience with me (See "Testimonies and Trainers"). He said he’d knelt in quiet prayer on his last night as a missionary to give thanks and to ask the Lord to accept his service (See "Prayers"). I felt it was only right to follow his example and do as he did. We got home very late and I wanted to be refreshed to leave early the next morning as I was already physically tired, not just from the late hour but from the years of intense service, but not before I offered a similar silent prayer of gratitude on my knees by the side of my bed and reflected slowly and deeply on my specific blessings. But alas, words could not do justice in prayer for the gratitude that I felt for my God. I closed my eyes and slept for the last time as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. By that time tomorrow, I would be in the comfort of my own home with family I hadn't seen in almost 2 years.
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