Family,
Thank you for your letters, ahem, I mean emails. I loved them! Yay you got the package!! I was a little worried because it took so long to get there! When did it finally get there? Court I LOVE THE WATCH. It was perfect and I realized after skype that you'd mentioned I'd get one. It's perfect and I love it. ALL the letters made me cry if I didn't tell you that before. Thanks again for it :).
So, I just have a lot that of things I learned that for whatever reason I feel like I should share. It's about all that's coming up instead other information. So here ya go :).
This week I learned about knowledge. I learned that knowledge is power. I was thinking about contacting people and how I could personally just contact differently, more effectively. I thought and thought, and then one morning, I learned about it in the book Jesus the Christ. It was only chapter two and my mind was blown. I read about the pre mortal life we lived and about the war in heaven. I realized that the war was not one of blood and carnage, but of words and ideas. Knowledge. The battle was one of knowing what was true, what was not, what was good and what was better. It was a battle of knowledge. Sometimes I read about the preearth life and my perspective is SO blown out into space that all doubts of anything are just squashed. I then read in Mosiah 14:11.
He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; forhe shall abear their iniquities.
I realized. Christ had to have the literal knowledge of what we each personally felt and would feel in this life including heartaches, sufferings, sorrows, trials, moans, groans, tantrums, flake outs, grief, weaknesses small and great, and finally death. He had to in a way ''go to school'' and learn what all of that really was. This Knowledge He gained was all apart of His ministry and mission. But it started back in the premortal life when Christ created the earth and from that, gained the knowledge of it and all of its elements. He had the knowledge of how we can attain glory like unto the Father and it was from doing the Father's Will. I feel like that's maybe why He was chosen over Lucifer, because His knowledge was sufficient to complete the mission.
I then thought about people. People listen to other people who know what they're talking about. People LIKE to know things. That's how people gain power in the first place. Hitler was a very smart man, in the fact that he knew a lot about leadership and how to save a country from poverty. People trusted that. I thought about how people really do want to know things and as a missionary, THAT'S why we spend the hours we do studying. We need the knowledge to be relyable sources to these people. Will we know all the answers? No. But will we be more effective? Absolutely!
So. That morning after learning and thinking about all that, I had an experience that confirmed this.
We went out to work that morning and I was determined to talk to more people. I felt like another layer of the veil had been peeled from my eyes and that I was one layer away from seeing the literal spirits on the other side. We got on the first tram and I was standing close to a woman in her 50's.
I asked her, ''Excuse me, what do you think the purpose of life is?'' She looked at my nametag and shook her head. She said, ''No, I know what you do.'' I looked at my nametag innocently and asked patiently, ''What does that mean to you?'' She said in broken English, ''You see the people without hope, and want to give them hope. In the Bible Jesus did not teach to have church. What you do is not what Jesus taught.'' Somewhere in there I said patiently, ''It was just a question.'' She proceeded to chew me out and then walked off the tram with all the confidence in the world that she was right. I felt like how the scriptures describe Christ who's led dumb as a lamb waiting to be sacrificed. I said not a word in response. The next thing I said outloud to myself and to my Father in Heaven was, ''Holy cow. Father, that was wrong in so many ways.'' I was tempted to be angry and almost wished I could have looked her in the eye and said, ''If you knew who Christ was at all, you would know that you don't know a thing in my heart. You don't know why I'm here.'' But, I pushed these feelings away. I remembered that behind every person's reaction was a reason for it. I don't know her background. I don't know all the heartache or trials she's endured. Instead, I was determined to keep going. I imagined myself looking Satan straight in the eye and giving him a good smirk. I sat down and saw a girl sitting close to me. After a moment, I turned to her and smiled. I said, ''Hello, how are you today?'' She looked a little surprised and said, ''Good. And... how are you?'' ''I'm doing so great.'' We talked for a moment, and then she asked what I was doing here. Honestly, I don't remember everything I told her. But at some point I mention something about God and that I was here to teach people about Him. She looked at me and said, ''I was just thinking about that. This is a crazy coincidence.'' ''It's not a coincidence,'' I said. ''I don't believe in those.'' I told her that I knew I was a child of God and that He loved me. I knew that she was His daughter and that He loves her too. I proceeded to tell her about the Book of Mormon and we exchanged numbers. She doesn't have time to meet until March, but she's found.
My perspective is not always so intense and deep, but it taught me that I know the people who are ready ARE out there and I also witnessed the reality of the battle that is raging all around us. People are searching and waiting to be found. I also know that we just need to be ourselves in this work! We are never asked to do anything without the ability to do it with God. What a promise! I'm so grateful for my Father in Heaven who loves me! I'm grateful for that knowledge! I'm grateful for knowledge!
Mom, Dad. Thanks for teaching me what you have. That girl, Shiva, may not realize, but I know I will be forever grateful that you toughed it out and taught me those lessons that probably took time and a LOT of patience to sit down and teach. But I'M HAPPY you did. The people here are benefitting from it. I know this work is the Lord's! I know He knows us! I know He has a plan specifically made for each of us! I know that anything we want to know, we can work and pray learn about if it's in line with God's Will and if we do all we can to obtain it! In the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Amen.
Love,
Sister Packer
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