Wednesday, January 16, 2013

14 January 2013

Hey!
 
As always it's great to hear from yall. Things are going well here. Stake Conference was this week. It was a great meeting and the temple president, stake patriarch, and the stake president and his counselors spoke. They talked a lot about going to the temple. It's such a blessing to have a temple close by. I really wish I had gone more while I was at home. It will be awesome getting to go with my recent converts down the road for sure though. I'm so excited!
 
Time is flying here though. I really don't like it! I try not to think about how short of a time this two years is but there are definitely certain things that bring it to realization every now and then. I felt like two years was forever back home but now that the time is going so quick and you can see how much work there is to be done I don't like thinking about how this will eventually come to an end. Two years definitely doesn't feel like enough time at this point. It's going to be awesome being a member missionary though. Being out here really helped me see how important and helpful member work is. I wish I had helped the missionaries out more while I was at home but hopefully it's never too soon to change. I know there's a lot of my friends that need the gospel and that there will be plenty of missionary work that I can still do after this.
 
It's been so great having senior missionaries in the ward. They really do a lot of good. I hope I get an opportunity to do that someday as well. I really just love staying occupied in this great cause. It's building my testimony so much. It's nothing I could have ever anticipated happening to me. Being set apart from the world as a servant of Christ is the greatest thing ever. There are many things that I thought I might miss before I came out here but now I realize many of those things are things that I never want to go back to. Everyday I just see myself maturing and preparing to be a father. This mission is truly helping me achieve my full potential as a human being. I feel like a block of marble turning into a sculpture. Everything that's not the person I will be some day is being chipped away. Little infirmities and tendencies that I have a slowly and carefully being chiseled. It's great.
 
I've been thinking a lot about God's love lately. It's so eternal and true. I really can't fathom how this being, who has known us eternally in the past and will know us eternally in the future, does what he does. There are so many occasions where we suffer the consequences of breaking God's commandments and I just can't imagine how hard it would be for God to watch us bear the consequences of our actions. With people I'm working with I get to experience just a tiny microscopic portion of this. When people suffer from not following the commandments that we tell them and then their life begins falling apart I feel so sad. I love these people so much and there isn't one person here who I've known more than a couple months. My heart aches for these people constantly but I know what they are going through is almost always a direct consequence of their actions. God must be so heartbroken sometimes. He's known us and loved us forever and he still has to witness us fall short of our potential. I really hope that I can be the best that I can so God doesn't have to be heartbroken over my decisions. I hope that I can help as many people gain a love for their Father in Heaven so he doesn't have to witness as many children going through these difficult consequences.
 
I couldn't possibly come back from this mission and go against the testimony that I have. No matter what I go through in life I know that God is there. I know that he has established this church for our benefit in these days and I know that the prophet is inspired. I hope no one that gains a testimony of the truth fails to nourish it enough and let it whither away. I want to again thank you mom and dad for the direction that you gave me all throughout my childhood. I'm sorry for being such a pain in the butt growing up and the times that I've gone against the knowledge that you taught me. Mom, I want to especially thank you for letting me kick you in the ribcage and steal all your nutrition for nine months. I know I don't remember it but I know I wouldn't be here without your patient perseverance. Dad, thanks for being there for me. I'm so glad you never allowed work, or service in the church, or anything interfere with spending time with us. Seeing so many families where the dad just works all the time and then the family gets the tired leftovers of dad just makes me appreciate my childhood so much. I'm so glad to have had the nuture and the care of both a mom and dad in my youth.
 
I love yall so much,
Elder Nair  

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