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Remember this?

And this?

And who could ever forget this? 

Or this? 

Yep. Sometimes in life you just have to be a little bit nostalgic. Just for a moment. I think today is one of those days.

One year ago today, I took my last look out across the Dnepr river and boarded a plane that would take me away from my beloved second homeland. As I watched my river and city slip underneath the plane's wing out of my reach, I sensed that I had likewise left my heart down there--the heart I had given to the Lord and to the people of Ukraine. Those 18 months changed me. They changed the course of my life. They changed eternity. And I will forever be grateful to God for giving them to me.

There is no way I can adequately describe my mission in a few paragraphs here on my blog without seeming trite. But suffice it to say that my mission--the Russian language, Ukrainian culture, my companions and other missionaries, the church members, my friends, the people I taught, the traits I developed, the growth of my faith--became so inextricably woven into my soul that I can no longer think of myself without it. I left my mission a year ago today. But, for the rest of eternity, my mission will never leave me.

I remember those first few days, weeks, and months after coming home and how I fought to transition back into life while still being true to the person I'd become as a missionary. I well remember the feeling of being completely lost without my missionary badge and longing to be back in the streets of my beloved Ukraine preaching the gospel. And that was a struggle.

But as much as I loathed removing my beloved name tag last August 20th, and as much as I felt a deep desiderium for my mission in the subsequent months, I have learned to be grateful to God for letting me come home from my mission. (As you might remember from this post.) And I've grown more in this past year than I even thought possible. Because of my classes at BYU, my research with chromatin remodeling, the people I have met, my time in Moscow this summer, and the relationships I've continued to develop I've changed and developed in ways for which I will always be grateful. And this past year would have been completely different had I not served my mission.

Because of my mission, this past year has been the best one of my life. And because of my mission, I anticipate being able express a similar sentiment each August 20th.