Kindra as a Sister Missionary!

MY LAST WORDS AS A SISTER MISSIONARY!!

Nov 3, 2014

I will not have much time next week, if any at all to email. So this is the last email from Sister Wilson as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. How surreal. See you on November 11th in OREGON!

So this week was pretty good! Everyone is now making death jokes and asking if I have started packing yet etc. Which is fine, when they ask how many days I have left I tell them how many days until my birthday, or until the Temple instead :) But in all reality I am excited to come home. I am excited to meet baby Gene and see how big Clara has gotten and hug everyone! Especially my mom :)

Honestly, I thought this mission would never end. Sometimes it felt like it was going to go on and on and I was stuck in this phase of my life. Other times it felt like it was flying by and I couldn't soak everything in!

But in all reality this year and a half has been quite the ride! Crazy stories, crazy people, people I love, people who will be a part of my life for the rest of eternity, I have found friends I would never have found if I had not come, I have learned so many things I cant even begin to list them. I have had trials and struggles like everyone, I have laughed and cried and felt every emotion in between, sometimes all in one day.

Nothing can prepare you for this experience, but there is also nothing like it.

There is nothing like being able to see someone's life change completely because they now know who they are as a child of God. That they have a Heavenly Father who loves them and is so intimately aware of them, they don't even realize it.

There is nothing like being able to be a part of a family coming back to the gospel and re-learning the simple truths and to feel the change in their home as they do so.

There are so many experiences that you don't understand unless  you have been there. Not always good ones. Sometimes you are out walking around in the rain for hours and cant find a single person who wants to talk to you. Sometimes people who you are pouring your heart out to decide they don't want the happiness you have to give to them, sometimes they struggle and don't make the best choices.

Sometimes you have to step back and realize that we are all human beings having a mortal experience. Everyone has different trials, strengths, experiences, opinions and they make choices differently than we would.

And that is the beauty of it all!

Knowing that we are all different, and are all brought to Earth to have different experiences, but we are all here to learn the same thing. To remember who we are as children of God and to learn how He has given us guidance to return to live with Him and our families after we die.

I am so grateful that I chose to listen to God when He told me I should go on a mission. I cant imagine not having these experiences. And I cant imagine how long it would have taken me to learn the things I have here.

I know that this experience has transformed me and helped me to become more of the person that God wants me to be, more of the person who He needs me to be and I have learned much about how He communicates that with me.

It has been amazing to realize how much the spirit is in our life's. How much guidance we are given through the spirit and how much faster we can learn and understand when we allow Him to be a part of our daily life.

I have learned the importance of going to church. It all starts with missing one Sunday to go on a drive with the family, or to do something that is still good. Spending time with family is exactly what God wants us to do! But there is a time and a place for everything, and church is a place that God needs us EVERY WEEK. Its a place where we need to be EVERY week in order to build ourselves up, and to strengthen others.

Then we need to read our scriptures daily. I have learned from having scripture study planned out into my daily schedule how important that is. The days that we miss study and I don't get to read out of the Book of Mormon are days that could have gone more smoothly or could have been better in some way. It is amazing the difference that is made in your daily life when we allow the study of scriptures to be in them. That is something that I will strive to have in my life everyday for the rest of my life. I have seen the difference in the families and individuals that are reading and studying and learning together, and those that are not. Its something you cannot create. It is something that only comes from a study of the scriptures. And oh how I have come to love them on my mission!

Also prayer. I cant imagine going through a day without talking with my Heavenly Father multiple times. I have made it a goal on my mission to have God be the first person I talk to in the mornings and the last person I talk to at night. As I have had this focus in my evenings I have been able to ponder on what I want to talk to Him about. I have been able to focus on what I really want to tell Father about my day, and what He would enjoy hearing from me.
I have learned how much He truly is aware of me as His daughter. I know that He is aware of each of us because I have had experiences that show me that He is in my everyday. Which is something I have come to love and appreciate.

Lastly, I have learned how much I love the Temple. Not being able to attend for the past 18 months has helped me to truly appreciate what it is like to live so close to one. I am so grateful that we have a Temple so close to home, and that I am able to attend the Temple while I am in Rexburg. I am excited to being able to attend weekly. To have that added strength in my life! That is something that I need and something I am SO excited to have again.

Overall I have learned that life is hard, yes. But we can make it harder, or we can make it easier. The choice is ours, and it is not by doing anything big and grand.

I have learned that it is in the simple, daily and constant decisions we make. It is in the little things that we gain some of the biggest comforts and best guidance. Reading our scriptures, attending church, praying often, and attending the Temple. These are things that we each NEED in our life. They are things that we think we can live without, and honestly, you can.

For a short time.

Then things slip, and life gets hard. We don't have the spirit how we need him in our life and the guidance is lost. It is when we have separated ourselves from God by not doing the simple things that life gets harder.
When we give our focus to God, and do the simple things. When we truly turn to Him in prayer and seek His guidance in reading and church and Temple attendance, that it is there!

That does not mean life is easy when you do the small and little things. But that means that we have the spirit to help us, and we are not trying to carry everything on our own.

We learned from conference this past session that the command "come unto me" from our Savior. Jesus the Christ is the most simple command that has been given.

Come unto me. Some of the most powerful words given to us, and they come with a powerful promise in Matthew chapter 18: 28-30

"28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light"

Ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Rest, something we all want and need!

My mission has taught me of the importance of coming unto our Savior! And relying on Him. He is waiting to help us, but we must let Him in.

I know that this is the gospel of Christ once again restored to the Earth. I know that God has called Prophets to lead and guide His church since the beginning of time, and that He has called a Prophet to lead us today.
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. He is my advocate with the Father, and it is through Him that I have been given the opportunity to live with my Father again.
I am eternally grateful to my Savior, Jesus Christ, for His example, love, service and support through my life. I know that He lives. I know that He loves me, and I know that God loves me. With a perfect and eternal love, no matter what we do. We cannot change how God feels about us, we can only change how we feel about Him. And it is through the small and simple ways that we come to know Him and love Him. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to teach what I know to my brothers and sisters here in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. I know that I have been transformed as I have relied on my Savior and grown closer to God through these past 18 months.

And my time is short remaining. I have one week left, and it is going to be a good one. Because I love being a missionary!

And I will love getting to hug my mom, sisters and friends in just 8 short days.

I love you all! I pray for you daily! I can feel your prayers and love, thank you does not begin to cover my feelings of gratitude, but it will have to do for now.

Love you all!

See you soon!

Much love,

Sister Kindra Wilson

Penn Philadelphia Mission :)