Hey good to hear your insights from conference and everything!
I'm
glad all is going well and that yall are enjoying your time together
now that Dad has less to worry about at the moment. I encourage yall to
continue to take that extra time and use it for the benefit of the
missionary work in Naperville/Aurora. I love yall so much. I'm so
grateful for the upbringing that I was blessed to have. The way that
yall have taught me by example and helping me to not falter beyond
repair has been so important to me. Dad thank you so much for going on a
mission and for helping Solomon to be an example to me of a great
missionary as well. I can't even imagine what it would be like to find
the gospel so soon before going on a mission. I know how much my mission
has already been a learning experience for me so I'm glad for all of
the odds you went against to be an example to me. Thank you for
stressing the importance of the gospel to me. When I was young and
didn't understand how vital the gospel was yall helped me come to church
every week and helped me do things that I didn't necessarily want to do
at the time. Yall always followed through on the rules that you
established. I'm very grateful for that especially. I remember one time
that really influenced me so much was when mom you set up that we'd have
to practice piano for 30 minutes a day and that we could skip a day but
the time would add up. I just remembered one week that I was slack and
not being able to play any games until I practiced for like 240 minutes
or something crazy like that haha. Thanks for staying true to the
established consequences even when I was whining or when things got
tough. That discipline is something that has stuck in my mind. There are
always consequences for actions and the gospel is there to help us have
the best time through everything. Whether we like it or not sin is
going to bring terribly negative consequences in the long run. People
who lack discipline have such a hard time grasping this concept. It's
such a blessing to me to have loving parents that have helped me stay on
the right path and helped me understand how life works. I love yall so
much. Parenting me must have been so hard haha I really apologize for
all the trouble that I gave yall growing up. I know I was such a bad kid
at many stages of my youth but I just want yall to know that I couldn't
have been taught better. Yall truly fulfilled your role in teaching me
correct principles and really discerning my needs. I know that yall know
better than me. Haha I bet yall didn't expect to hear that from me
before I exited my teenage years =P. But honestly I just really love
yall so much. I would not be the person I am today without that
direction.
I loved conference. There were so many amazing
talks. One that surprisingly really spoke to me was Elder L. Whitney
Clayton's talk on Marriage: Watch and Learn. Now don't get me wrong, I'm
not getting ahead of myself but something that really helps
me understand and things that just really stick out to me are types or
similes. Like, how our Earth is a perfect type for our mortal lives: how
it was baptized by water and will be baptized of fire to give a small
simple example of that. I can't help but realize how much my mission is
helping me prepare for an eternal family some day. Basically many of
the qualities that make a successful marriage make a successful
relationship with a missionary companion. Not only that but the
simple fact that love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity and
learning about marriage and the relationship between a husband and wife
is one of the best ways to learn how to emulate that Christlike love and
apply it to all people. I've decided that I want faith and charity/love
to be the two greatest Christlike qualities that I want to improve on
my mission and continuing all throughout my life. Loving of Heavenly
Father and our neighbors are truly the two great commandments. It's
through these two qualities that we emulate Christ. They basically are a
starting point for every other spiritual principle. If we truly
love God we show that love through our obedience to his commandments.
And it's through loving our neighbors that we serve them and bless them
and become a conduit that the Spirit can use to touch their lives and
bring them that ultimate happiness that can only come through the true
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Conference has helped me get a little more spiritual
fire going but I definitely don't want this to be just a great memory.
I've learned a lot about the importance of great meetings like this
throughout my mission. They become lifechanging when we simply select a
few things that really stood out to us and write them down on a little
post-it or notecard and work to apply those principles into our being.
If we try to work on everything that we learned/heard about we'll notice
this pendulum affect in our lives where we lose some of the things that
we used to do and replace with the new things we've learned. Our goal
is not to forget all of the other conferences we've seen but to
continually apply new things so that we can truly continue bettering
ourselves. Once the things we learn become a part of us we can then
build and make more things a part of us. If we simply act these things
for awhile instead of instilling them in our souls we're not going to
become the people that our Heavenly Father wants us to becoming. It's
all about becoming like Christ as opposed to simply acting like Christ.
Things are going really great right now. Audree came to
the Saturday afternoon session of conference and Wondell was able to
make it to all three Saturday sessions. We're going to push Wondell's
baptism back for now as he works to follow all of the commandments but
Audree is looking really good for this Saturday. I'm very excited for
her. Her and her family are really going to be blessed by this gospel.
She has a lot of people in her life that are ready for the gospel and
it's been great being able to see her friends and begin to teach them.
Many people's lives are going to be changed by her simple act of
listening to us. It's amazing the ripple effect that one small notion in
the gospel does.
As yall continue strong in missionary work just know
that planting seeds is a big part of it. While people may not accept the
message at first just know things will work out all according to God's
will in the future. Whenever I begin to be disappointed about how many
people reject our message on a daily basis I just think of the words of
Alma in chapter 29. O that I were an angel and could have the wish of
mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a
voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I
would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance
and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our
God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
Everything will happen according to God's will. We just need to do the best with what God has allotted unto us.
Love yall so much,
Elder Nair
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