SEPTEMBER 15, 2014
The beach looks Gorgeous! Glad you were able to
enjoy some different
weather while there. You have to get a good windy stormy day at the
beach and then one nice one where you want to be out and about. Glad
Rissa was able to come one more time before heading out, she is
definitely in for some warmer weather... Lucky her.... Glad it's not
me! Humidity comes from the devil I swear....
Anyhow.
Thanks for all of the videos! I watched Loris first which is why I
responded to that movie and no other ones, but they did all work! So
thanks :) it was fun to see everyone and hear your voices, thanks for
the messages! I am excited to see everyone soon as well :) and wow, you
got the flight papers? 12:30... I knew it was going to be an early
morning... But that's enough trunky talk!
We had a TON of meetings this week, with two 4:30am wakeup calls to
travel and be there in time. Let's just say by the time Sunday night
rolled around yesterday I was exhausted and planning was a little
slower haha. But it was an exciting week. We had Elder Wilford
Andersen from the second quorum of the 70 come and speak to us. He did
a mission leadership council and with all of the Zone Leaders and
Sister Training Leaders which was great! We did an hour of question
and answer session and it was neat to hear what people asked and how
he responded.
One of the things that stood out to me was when he said "you choose to
serve a mission eons ago, not a year or so" but eons ago. Knowing that
this is what I wanted to do before I even came here, it was neat to
hear him talk about that and comforting to know, I chose this! And I
man so grateful I did!
I have learned and changed so much on my mission, and I can't imagine
who I would be if I had not come. The experiences I have had and the
people I have met have changed me. They have helped me to rely more on
the spirit and his guidance and to realize that he really can be with
you always, but we have to want it, and we have to act in a way that
allows him to be with us.
Another thing that elder Andersen talked about was the difference
between head, heart and soul knowledge. And I am without notes and
trying to explain this through email so forgive me if this does not
make sense. But he talked about how as missionaries we teach a lot of
head knowledge, and so do all teachers. Head knowledge is the
information we need to know, the 'cold hard facts' if you will. We
learn the doctrine and then we teach the doctrine to others.
Then comes the heart knowledge. This is where we rely heavily on the
spirit in the lessons to change their hearts. The spirit is what helps
them take that head knowledge and apply it in their lives and know
that it is true. This is gaining our personal testimony, and is
something that everyone needs. We need spiritual experiences which
confirm to us the truth or the falsehood of whatever we are learning
and thinking about. As we ponder and act on the doctrine of Christ,
our hearts are touched and our lives are changed. We know who we are
and why we are here and what we need to do. We start to study the
scriptures, pray daily, attend church and other meetings etc. All of
these things help to strengthen our conversion to the gospel.
Then there is the last step, soul knowledge. Elder Andersen said this
isn't what the brethren call it our doctrine but it is the best thing
he can think of to call it. I call it conversion.
When the spirit confirms something to us, then we are changed. But
what do we do about it? This is where soul knowledge comes in.
When we recognize that we have been changed, and then when we apply
that change in our lives and truly live it, that's conversion. We each
have to make the conscious decision to act in such a way. This is the
difference between reading your scriptures every day, and loving your
scriptures. Between praying over your food to communing with you
Father openly and honestly. The difference between showing up at
church every week, and coming prepared to be deified.
I don't remember who said it, but one of the general authorities were
asked "what do you do when you find yourself in a boring sacrament
meeting?" He pondered for a moment and then replied, "I don't know, I
I have never found myself in one".
Conversion: It's living it because you know you need it, it obeying because you
have been advised to. Now being obedient because a leader, or your
Savior asked you to is a perfectly good reason to be obedient. I have
done it many times, but once we let it change us, then we become
converted and we want to obey because we know it is what we need for
Salvation. We see that not reading our scriptures today DOES hurt us!
That missing his Sunday DOES hurt us, that forgetting to pray about a
decision DOES hurt us!
Conversion helps us to have that long term perspective and
understanding of who we are as a child of God, our loving Heavenly
Father. And then knowing why that matters. It's great to know you are
a child of God (head knowledge), and it's good to follow what He asks
because We love Him (heart knowledge) but it's best to live it, love
it and share it because we know this is the only way we can truly be
with our families for eternity (soul knowledge) and knowing that
everyone needs this understanding.
Soul knowledge, or conversion, it changes you! But it is your decision
to let it.
So that was a tie bit about what we learned from Elder Andersen this
week! He is great and it was awesome to have him here in the mission,
the spirit he brought is going to keep us moving onward and upward.
Also this week we got to attend district meeting which was good, and
conduct two exchanges with two different sets of sisters, and we were
asked to attend Stake correlation which was awesome, we are going to
help the Stake Relief Society train the RS presidencies on how to work
with their sister missionaries more effectively, especially after the
changes from the first presidency. Then we got to go to church, and
then we attended Doylestown ward again his week with sister Hammons
because she came again!
She is doing marvelously! She is reading and praying and solving
pretty much all of her concerns. She is ready to come back and receive
the blessings of being an active member of Gods church. It's awesome
to see how the spirit is working with her to help her resolve concerns
on her own.
Man the gospel just makes so much sense! I love it :)
Well. Life is good, working our tails off and keeping busy. I got a
letter from Marnie this week and I didn't even get to read it for 3
days again, which is a good problem to have! We have been able to
focus a lot on some of the members who are not as active, and it has
been a really neat experience. It's all about helping them gain that
heart knowledge and the hat into soul knowledge.
So everyone work on that soul knowledge. That is the most important
thing for you to learn here on Earth and it will take your whole life
to gain it, so start now and get going on it!
Sorry for the random typos, this one is coming from the Laundromat via iPad.
Love to all!
Sister Wilson :)
Sister Kindra Wilson
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
721 Paxon Hollow Road suite B
Broomall PA 19008
weather while there. You have to get a good windy stormy day at the
beach and then one nice one where you want to be out and about. Glad
Rissa was able to come one more time before heading out, she is
definitely in for some warmer weather... Lucky her.... Glad it's not
me! Humidity comes from the devil I swear....
Anyhow.
Thanks for all of the videos! I watched Loris first which is why I
responded to that movie and no other ones, but they did all work! So
thanks :) it was fun to see everyone and hear your voices, thanks for
the messages! I am excited to see everyone soon as well :) and wow, you
got the flight papers? 12:30... I knew it was going to be an early
morning... But that's enough trunky talk!
We had a TON of meetings this week, with two 4:30am wakeup calls to
travel and be there in time. Let's just say by the time Sunday night
rolled around yesterday I was exhausted and planning was a little
slower haha. But it was an exciting week. We had Elder Wilford
Andersen from the second quorum of the 70 come and speak to us. He did
a mission leadership council and with all of the Zone Leaders and
Sister Training Leaders which was great! We did an hour of question
and answer session and it was neat to hear what people asked and how
he responded.
One of the things that stood out to me was when he said "you choose to
serve a mission eons ago, not a year or so" but eons ago. Knowing that
this is what I wanted to do before I even came here, it was neat to
hear him talk about that and comforting to know, I chose this! And I
man so grateful I did!
I have learned and changed so much on my mission, and I can't imagine
who I would be if I had not come. The experiences I have had and the
people I have met have changed me. They have helped me to rely more on
the spirit and his guidance and to realize that he really can be with
you always, but we have to want it, and we have to act in a way that
allows him to be with us.
Another thing that elder Andersen talked about was the difference
between head, heart and soul knowledge. And I am without notes and
trying to explain this through email so forgive me if this does not
make sense. But he talked about how as missionaries we teach a lot of
head knowledge, and so do all teachers. Head knowledge is the
information we need to know, the 'cold hard facts' if you will. We
learn the doctrine and then we teach the doctrine to others.
Then comes the heart knowledge. This is where we rely heavily on the
spirit in the lessons to change their hearts. The spirit is what helps
them take that head knowledge and apply it in their lives and know
that it is true. This is gaining our personal testimony, and is
something that everyone needs. We need spiritual experiences which
confirm to us the truth or the falsehood of whatever we are learning
and thinking about. As we ponder and act on the doctrine of Christ,
our hearts are touched and our lives are changed. We know who we are
and why we are here and what we need to do. We start to study the
scriptures, pray daily, attend church and other meetings etc. All of
these things help to strengthen our conversion to the gospel.
Then there is the last step, soul knowledge. Elder Andersen said this
isn't what the brethren call it our doctrine but it is the best thing
he can think of to call it. I call it conversion.
When the spirit confirms something to us, then we are changed. But
what do we do about it? This is where soul knowledge comes in.
When we recognize that we have been changed, and then when we apply
that change in our lives and truly live it, that's conversion. We each
have to make the conscious decision to act in such a way. This is the
difference between reading your scriptures every day, and loving your
scriptures. Between praying over your food to communing with you
Father openly and honestly. The difference between showing up at
church every week, and coming prepared to be deified.
I don't remember who said it, but one of the general authorities were
asked "what do you do when you find yourself in a boring sacrament
meeting?" He pondered for a moment and then replied, "I don't know, I
I have never found myself in one".
Conversion: It's living it because you know you need it, it obeying because you
have been advised to. Now being obedient because a leader, or your
Savior asked you to is a perfectly good reason to be obedient. I have
done it many times, but once we let it change us, then we become
converted and we want to obey because we know it is what we need for
Salvation. We see that not reading our scriptures today DOES hurt us!
That missing his Sunday DOES hurt us, that forgetting to pray about a
decision DOES hurt us!
Conversion helps us to have that long term perspective and
understanding of who we are as a child of God, our loving Heavenly
Father. And then knowing why that matters. It's great to know you are
a child of God (head knowledge), and it's good to follow what He asks
because We love Him (heart knowledge) but it's best to live it, love
it and share it because we know this is the only way we can truly be
with our families for eternity (soul knowledge) and knowing that
everyone needs this understanding.
Soul knowledge, or conversion, it changes you! But it is your decision
to let it.
So that was a tie bit about what we learned from Elder Andersen this
week! He is great and it was awesome to have him here in the mission,
the spirit he brought is going to keep us moving onward and upward.
Also this week we got to attend district meeting which was good, and
conduct two exchanges with two different sets of sisters, and we were
asked to attend Stake correlation which was awesome, we are going to
help the Stake Relief Society train the RS presidencies on how to work
with their sister missionaries more effectively, especially after the
changes from the first presidency. Then we got to go to church, and
then we attended Doylestown ward again his week with sister Hammons
because she came again!
She is doing marvelously! She is reading and praying and solving
pretty much all of her concerns. She is ready to come back and receive
the blessings of being an active member of Gods church. It's awesome
to see how the spirit is working with her to help her resolve concerns
on her own.
Man the gospel just makes so much sense! I love it :)
Well. Life is good, working our tails off and keeping busy. I got a
letter from Marnie this week and I didn't even get to read it for 3
days again, which is a good problem to have! We have been able to
focus a lot on some of the members who are not as active, and it has
been a really neat experience. It's all about helping them gain that
heart knowledge and the hat into soul knowledge.
So everyone work on that soul knowledge. That is the most important
thing for you to learn here on Earth and it will take your whole life
to gain it, so start now and get going on it!
Sorry for the random typos, this one is coming from the Laundromat via iPad.
Love to all!
Sister Wilson :)
Sister Kindra Wilson
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
721 Paxon Hollow Road suite B
Broomall PA 19008
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