Honorable Release Letter

April 27, 2015

Dear President De Visser

Enclosed is the Honorable Release Certificate for Sister Rebecca Gifford who will soon complete her full-time missionary service in the Oregon Salem Mission. Please give her the enclosed certificate following your personal interview with her.

While here in the Oregon Salem Mission, Sister Gifford was a Senior Companion, Trainer and a Sister Training Leader.  She has fulfilled these callings with faith, diligence and obedience.

Off the coast of Oregon stands the fourth largest haystack rock in the world.  This rock represents the vision for our new mission which has come through divine inspiration. To our missionaries here in Salem the rock has come to be a very personal representation of the Savior himself.  In Doctrine & Covenants 6:34, it states, “Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.”  Sister Gifford has learned to build upon that rock, the Savior Jesus Christ, and we trust that she will continue to build upon the rock of Christ all the days of her life.

Sister Gifford is comfortable with, and prepared to share her testimony and experiences with others.  We hope that you will call upon her to do so in sacrament meetings and other youth oriented events.

Through serving the Master she has grown closer to Him and become more like Him.  So now, with some reluctance, but with great joy, we turn Sister Gifford back to your care and into the loving arms of her family and friends.

We will miss her and will forever pray for her continued growth and fulfillment of all she has been foreordained to accomplish here upon the earth and into the eternities.

With Love,

Michael R. Samuelian

Mission President

Good-bye Oregon Salem Mission

Wow!  Well emotions are all over the place right now.  I will save this weeks e-mail for in-person but I will let you in on just a couple things.  

We were able to have a lesson with the Kiner family.  They are praying about being baptized May 28th.  I learned this week about the importance of offering service.  Great things come from it! 

My heart ached yesterday, as it was my last Sunday as a full time representative of Jesus Christ.  Sunday's have been some of the greatest and also hardest days the past year and a half.  I was able to bear my testimony one last time to the ward members.  I felt like someone reached in my chest and ripped out my heart as I was up there.  I feel gipped only getting to serve in Dallas for 6 weeks. Haha.  But I am so grateful that I even got the chance to serve here.

I will forever be grateful for my mission.  I have learned so many things about myself and others.  This is the Lord's work!  Our Savior is SO real and he can heal us of anything.  I just want to bear my testimony a million times on this email but I know I will get to do that a lot in person over the next few weeks but know that I know that this is the Savior's church and He leads and guides it through our living prophet Thomas S. Monson.

Tomorrow I will be spending part of the day in Portland, going to the temple one final time with the departing missionaries and then spending the rest of the day in Newberg with President and Sister Samuelian. The Oregon Salem Mission is the best place on earth!  I will you see you all in 2 days.

Love,

Hermana Gifford

Lora Parker-she wanted to hold roses in our picture haha

Sister Darci Kugler

Sister Judy McApline-she is our mission grandma :)

The Dallas district.

The one and only Kiner Family!!

The Sayer Family

World's best cup of hot cocoa!

The Johnson family-they aren't in our Ward but a neighboring Dallas Ward. They are great member missionaries.