October 7, 2013

Hello Family!

Well overall this week has been rough since nothing went our way and we didn't get much of anything done.  It was very hard and very humbling to know we need to rely on the Heavenly Father more in helping us do the right things through the day.  But on the bright side conference was this weekend and that made me feel so much better!

 I wish I could talk about every talk in this email because they were all so amazing and pertained to missionary work so much.  Just share a few of the ones I really liked then I chose one to talk about as my spiritual thought.  I really liked Elder Bednar's talk on tithing and it made me want to pay tithing, but then I realized I have no money haha.  But I like how he put into perspective the blessing we get from paying tithing.  Sometimes we get huge blessing we see right away, but most the time our blessing are through "small and simple means."  Like when we want to have a new job, instead of Heavenly Father giving us a new job he gives us a desire to get off our butts and go to work in trying to get a job.  That's a huge blessing for me cause most the time the hardest step is the first one.  Another talk I loved was the one Richard J. Maynes in the Sunday morning session.  How we need to have Spiritual endurance.  Once we make and receive our ordinances and covenants we must endure to the end in righteousness.  My favorite quote from that talk is "We must be the rock the river cannot sway."

The last talk I loved was President Monson's on Sunday.  WOW.  I don't ever remember seeing him tear up in a talk or pour his love in such abundance like that before.  From the moment he started talking I felt the spirit so strongly and the love he has for his wife and all of us.

 I didn't write much down from his talk because the main message I gained from it was that we are loved by our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.  Once we know that for ourselves life changes so much.  It doesn't get easier, but becomes more enjoyable.  My favorite quote from conference came when he said "Good Trees do not grow with ease."

Alright now the talk I really wanted to talk about comes from President Packer.  I thought so hard about which one to talk about and felt like this one was a good one to expounded on.  "Gospel centered home is a safe place."  How true is that?  I hear parents all the time on my mission, and from my own parents say how dangerous the world is and they worry about what their kids see everyday.  Well President Packer gave us our solution and that solution is the GOSPEL.  I know the times in my own life when I have felt the most safe is at Young mens, church, when being at a family party, and especially when being in my home saying prayers or reading scriptures as a family.

President Packer say that "Youth who study the scriputes daily and our active in the church have less of a chance of falling away from the path."  (He had some percent, but I can't rember it.)  I love that so much and can see how true it is.  I never studied the scriptures that well before I came out on a mission and I regret it.  Since I have to study every morning it has become my favorite part of the day and it makes a huge difference in my mission if I study or not.  For those of you at home it is hard to make time for scripture study cause you are so busy and tired at night to study.  Well I have your solution.

Instead of watching tv right when you come home or before you go to bed turn it off gather the family sit down at the table and have scripture study for an hour.  You should have personnel study but good to get the family involved.  I listened to a talk by John Bytheway last night and he said he gave up his channel surfing at from 10 to 12 and went to bed at 10 so he could wake up at 5 to get to work and have an extra 2 hours from 6 to 8 to write a book he always wanted to write.  He said after finshing the book he looked at the four months it took him to write and all the things he learned in those two hours in the morning.  Then he tried to think of all the things he would have learned from two hours of watching tv and he couldn't think of one.  So with scripture study think of all the things you could learn if you spent an hour with your family studying and becoming closer to your Heavenly Father.  Think of all the knowledge you would gain in a year with at least 365 hours of scripture study.  Think of how much closer you would be to your Heavenly Father and how much more the Love of Christ would be in your life and in your home.  Pretty crazy how much one hour of no tv and just scripture study could change your life.  I know we all have busy lives, but I promise you that as you take time to study the scriptures your life will be blessed just like President Packer said.  I don't know if I heard it in conference or another Elder told me, but I love this quote.  "To talk to your Heavenly Father you must pray. For your Heavenly Father to talk to you, you must study the scriptures."  With that I challenge you to have daily scripture study in you families and maybe take time each week to study a certain talk from conference each week and better apply its teachings in your life.  As we study the scriptures we gain Christlike Attributes which better our lives and the lives of others.

Hope all is well at home and you enjoy your week!  LOVE YOU ALL TO SHREDZZ!!

Love,

Elder Wilson