Release Letter

22 May 2025 

Dear Brother and Sister Page,

We want to thank you for allowing Elder Page to serve with us in the California Bakersfield Mission.  We are happy to see him return home to loved ones. We are delighted that he has completed his assignment with honor as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Page's official release date will be 20 Jun 2025.  

You may be confident that the effect of his missionary service will be far reaching in the lives of many, many people and in the units of the Church in which he served. His testimony has grown and he has labored to become converted to Christ and helped others do the same.

May you and he continue to be blessed for his sacrifice, enjoying always the happiness that comes from willing service.  We wish for him the Lord's choicest blessings in this next phase of his life.  We desire to keep in contact and watch his continued progress and development for the rest of his life.

With love and appreciation,

President Blair H. Burton

Sister Vicky Burton

California Bakersfield Mission

Un misionero acabando...

Day: 714

TOTAL Pushup Count: 135,140

Bunos dias mi gente! Bienvenidos al último correo de mi jornada por ésta locura que llaman una misión. Here's what we did:

- Last pday we played volleyball  That's about it... 

- On Tuesday we went over to the East side for district council with Elder Harrison. We blindfolded my comp Elder Ricks and had him fall backwards into my arms. Except I wasn't there... The sisters had secretly laid a mattress on the ground so Elder Ricks' life flashed before his blindfolded eyes before he hit it 

- We taught a member in Nigeria two mission prep lessons over WhatsApp 

- We found a young family that was so open to our message it was amazing! Their two year old was laughing the whole time and it killed us

- We picked up some new RAVs from the dealership and raced them to the church (not really, we drove responsibly Grandpa )

- I drove six other departing missionaries down to LA for our departing temple trip. After our session one of the temple workers showed us the massive assembly hall that takes up the entire third floor and an altar in one of the sealing rooms that came from the original Salt Lake temple. We also explored the baptistry after changing and saw some super cool paintings. On the way home we saw a handful of protesters and a ton of Marines, but we made it back safely without any hiccups :) 

- I got pooped on by a bird... 

- I conducted my last MLC meeting, and we gave a training on getting numbers turned in on time 

- We taught a lesson to an inactive member. When we asked him if he wanted to hear about any topic in specific he opened my Bible and turned to Hosea chapter 7 and said, "I want to read something from here". Thank goodness there was a verse about redemption hidden among all the scriptures about the wrath of God towards the house of Israel  if not, I don't know what we would've done. Tender mercies I guess 

- Yesterday was Fathers day. In sacrament meeting we all shared our Dads' favorite scriptures and it ended up being a super powerful meeting. I also got to call my papá 

- Ryan came to church! He's been pretty mia lately so it was awesome to be able to see him one more time before I go home

- We taught Dylan about the 10 commandments and showed him all the hand signs to go along with them. It ended up being super fun

- I had my last meeting with President and Sister Burton  They gifted me a copy of Jesus the Christ and gave us a bunch of food because they have to clean out their house

Well. This is it. Thank you all for reading my emails over the last two years. I love you all and pray that our Heavenly Father blesses you tantísimo! My homecoming will be this Sunday the 22nd at 12:00pm at this address:

452 West 550 South, Spanish Fork, UT 84660

You're all invited! There will be food at my house after second hour, so if for no other reason you can show up there . I'll leave the spiritual thought until Sunday, but if you aren't able to make it, I'll most definitely mention my favorite scripture, Genesis 28:15. Please give it a read and remember how much God loves you!

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page

Fotos!

Un misionero apurado otra vez

Day: 2 years minus like 3 weeks

Pushup Count: 73

Buenas tardes a todos. Como les va? Esta fue una semana maravillosa! Así pasó:

- Last pday we played basketball and gatorball and Elder Ricks worked out in a hoodie in the backyard 

- Tuesday we flew down to Lancaster in our Sienna and went to a wonderful district council with Elder Macdonald

- I got Winchell's for the last time  goodbye free food for being a missionary

- I went on an exchange with Elders Fluckiger and Anderson. They made soup for dinner and waffles for breakfast so I was content  we also watched the youth in their ward prepare for a play they're putting on which was pretty entertaining 

- We had a lesson sitting in the grass 

- I went on exchanges with Elder Mathews in my own area and we had a bunch of sweet lessons 

- The next day our plan A for exchanges fell through so we went to plan B. Plan B also failed so I ended up going with Elder Paxman and Elder Frates last minute. It was awesome. We spoke so much Spanish and talked to so many people 

- For those of you who weren't counting, that's exchange #60 for me as an AP  glad to be done 

- We had a lesson with Dillon! Unfortunately his brother made us listen to his favorite preacher for like ten minutes before we could start 

- Benny bought us stuffed crust pretzel pizza from little ceasars... I'm scared to admit how much I liked it 

- We finally met with the Burtons after a month of not talking  it was a big one 

I apologize for the rush, I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Spiritual Thought:

Psalm 147:2-4 — 

"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names."

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page 

Fotos!

Un misionero dando patadas

Buenos tardes mi gente! This was another good week in Bakes. Pretty average, but we'll see what we can pull out of it. Highlights:

- Last pday we went to the park and played untimate frisbee and basketball... Turns out I'm not terrible when I'm not playing against professional NBA players

- I made rice and it's getting real close 

- We bought chips for memorial day... Mine tasted way too much like what they said they were going to taste like

- Tuesday we went down to Valencia for district council and Elder Hanson edified us as always 

- We went to the only MOD pizza in our mission 

- I went to Peachland on exchanges, one of the richest areas in our mission, and we walked a whole bunch  it was super fun. We talked to this really cool Catholic dude

- I kicked a Chihuahua... 

- A guy told us that he almost killed his cousin and if he ever saw him again he'd finish the job. He was 100% serious 

- I went to La Cresta with Elder Mitchell! We spoke so much Spanish and had a pass off lesson with the one and only Elder Paxman

- Elder Archibald and I ran a 5k in our matching pink shorts

- The final exchange of the week was to Bakes 1st with Elders Callaway and Ludwig. I had a lot of fun. An old lady gave us a tub of cookies and I caved and ate a whole bunch of them

- We ate at a Hawaiian place. I got the lava shrimp and it wasn't the best, but I could've eaten the mac salad for days

- I had my last fast Sunday as a missionary... 

- Our friend Ally got baptized! It was super super good. I gave a lil talk on baptism and played the piano (as always). Her boyfriend baptized her and a bunch of her friends came

Well this week the heat started. We had a couple of days over 100 but nothing too crazy yet. It's been fun to remember how last summer went and get a small taste of the skin melting sun out here. Besides that we're doing good :)

Spiritual Thought 

"Burying our weapons of rebellion leads to a unique joy. With all who have ever become converted to the Lord, we are “brought to sing [the song of] redeeming love.” Our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Redeemer, have confirmed Their unending commitment to our ultimate happiness through the most profound love and sacrifice. We experience Their love daily. Surely we can reciprocate with our own love and loyalty. May we bury—very, very deep—any element of rebellion against God in our lives and replace it with a willing heart and a willing mind." — D. Todd Christofferson, October 2024

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page

Fotos!