So, once again, no time for much of a letter. I'll write better next week. We tried a new cafe this week, and it is terrible. Live and learn, right? Gotta love Sonic references; haha. No one out there except a select few will get that.
Anyways, this week was mostly spent inside. I was sick; without going into much detail, I couldn't leave the apartment for more than 30 minutes. As such, we were only able to go out Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm doing fine now, so let's pray that it stays that way.
One thing that I noticed was how hard it is to pick back up momentum. This is true in science, and it's true in spiritual things. Don't put yourself into that situation. It's so much easier to just push through the hard things and keep doing your responsibilities to the Lord and yourself, than to put them off small and then pick them back up again. A great example of this is scripture study. How often do we tell ourselves that we're going to do it everyday, like we're commanded, and start it diligently. But then something happens in life, and we tell ourselves "Oh, I'll just have to do it tomorrow. I don't have time tonight." Then tomorrow comes, and we still don't have time. So we push it off. Then a weeks worth of tomorrows come, and we still haven't done it. So now we have to more or less start all over again. Often, we just give up and wait for the next General Conference until our guilt causes us to want to change, and the Spirit inspires us to make the effort to do so.
Science gives us a wonderful tip in this case. Momentum is, more or less, an object's tendency to keep moving forward; or, in other words, its tendency to resist change. For those of you who don't know, the equation for momentum is
p = mv
meaning, momentum is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by the velocity by which it is traveling. This means that, when an object slows down, it loses momentum; also, when an object gains mass, or "gets bigger," in a way, it loses momentum. It being the system; we'll not go into that; haha.
How does this apply to us, spiritually? Our spiritual momentum is our tendency to keep moving forward in the Gospel. It is based on the mass of our testimony and the velocity in which we are traveling down the strait and narrow. The greater and stronger a testimony we have, the greater our spiritual momentum. Also, the faster we move down the strait and narrow - or in other words, grow spiritually - the greater our spiritual momentum. Whenever our testimony dwindles, or loses mass, we lose momentum. Also, whenever our spiritual growth is stunted, we lose momentum. With loss momentum, it becomes harder to keep pushing forward.
First, we look at the mass of our testimony. Whenever we develop faith, hope, or charity; when we serve our neighbor, or have a prayer answered, share our testimony, or hear the testimony of others (combined mass-momentum equations is a much deeper topic for another time; I'll have to remember that though! Haha) our testimonies grow. We feel; the Spirit and our mass increases. Whenever we encounter fear, doubt, despair, or confusion, our testimony loses mass. It becomes smaller, weaker, for fear is the opposite of faith (if I had more time, I would quote better; maybe next time). Doubt, despair, confusion, or anything along those lines is from Satan, and it weakens and corrodes our testimonies. Thus, we lose mass, and our momentum slows down. It becomes harder to keep attending Church, to keep reading the scriptures, to keep paying tithing; in short, to keep moving down the strait and narrow. It can come from critics insulting the Church or the doctrines we cherish; it can come from financial difficulties we face in life; it can come from the sickness or death of a loved one. Any one of these things, and many others, can cause damage to our testimonies.
Second, we look at the velocity of our travel down the strait and narrow. - our spiritual growth This is measured by our keeping of the commandments. When we read the scriptures, partake of the Sacrament worthily, pay our tithing, go to the temple, pray, have family home evenings, attend Church activities, and do all things that have been told us by the Lord's prophets - ancient and modern - we increase the speed of our spiritual growth. When we stop these things, however, our growth is stunted, and thus our velocity reduces. We could also look at the vector portion of velocity (the direction in which the growth is directed) but that also will have to be for another time.
Whenever mass or velocity is changed, our momentum changes. Thus, if our mass increases, our decreases, so does our momentum; it is the same with velocity. This helps us see how to cope with life. Allow me to explain.
Often in life, we encounter trials that try our testimonies, or slow our growth. How do we cope with these things, without losing momentum? Whenever mass or velocity is decreased, to maintain momentum one simply has to increase the other. Example: critics ridicule and challenge Church doctrine, and cause one's testimony to decrease. This can be remedied by an increased resolution to study the scriptures and attend the temple, so that one might better understand the doctrine and receive the revelation of its truthfulness. By increasing one's velocity, it makes up for the loss of mass in testimony; thus momentum is conserved. Alternatively, if one is very busy, and their ability to study the scriptures is reduced, or to attend activities is hurt, they must build their testimony - pray more earnestly, share one's testimony more frequently and fervently, be kind and loving to others more sincerely. In doing so, the loss in velocity is compensated by the increase in mass, and thus their momentum is conserved.
The best part? By increasing one part of the equation - mass, or velocity - in the face of difficulties, we are able to make it through our trials. And when our trials are over, and our mass or velocity returns to normal, the other portion has been increased, and thus our overall momentum increases! We are able to work through challenges better, and feel the Spirit more strongly in our lives.
I know these things are true. Hopefully I haven't bored some of you, but do what you can to learn from it. There are many wonderful gems in here, and I can't wait to write more about it; probably when I get off mission.
I love you all! I love the Gospel, and I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This is Their work, and I am so privileged to be doing it.
--Elder Collings
Anyways, this week was mostly spent inside. I was sick; without going into much detail, I couldn't leave the apartment for more than 30 minutes. As such, we were only able to go out Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm doing fine now, so let's pray that it stays that way.
One thing that I noticed was how hard it is to pick back up momentum. This is true in science, and it's true in spiritual things. Don't put yourself into that situation. It's so much easier to just push through the hard things and keep doing your responsibilities to the Lord and yourself, than to put them off small and then pick them back up again. A great example of this is scripture study. How often do we tell ourselves that we're going to do it everyday, like we're commanded, and start it diligently. But then something happens in life, and we tell ourselves "Oh, I'll just have to do it tomorrow. I don't have time tonight." Then tomorrow comes, and we still don't have time. So we push it off. Then a weeks worth of tomorrows come, and we still haven't done it. So now we have to more or less start all over again. Often, we just give up and wait for the next General Conference until our guilt causes us to want to change, and the Spirit inspires us to make the effort to do so.
Science gives us a wonderful tip in this case. Momentum is, more or less, an object's tendency to keep moving forward; or, in other words, its tendency to resist change. For those of you who don't know, the equation for momentum is
p = mv
meaning, momentum is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by the velocity by which it is traveling. This means that, when an object slows down, it loses momentum; also, when an object gains mass, or "gets bigger," in a way, it loses momentum. It being the system; we'll not go into that; haha.
How does this apply to us, spiritually? Our spiritual momentum is our tendency to keep moving forward in the Gospel. It is based on the mass of our testimony and the velocity in which we are traveling down the strait and narrow. The greater and stronger a testimony we have, the greater our spiritual momentum. Also, the faster we move down the strait and narrow - or in other words, grow spiritually - the greater our spiritual momentum. Whenever our testimony dwindles, or loses mass, we lose momentum. Also, whenever our spiritual growth is stunted, we lose momentum. With loss momentum, it becomes harder to keep pushing forward.
First, we look at the mass of our testimony. Whenever we develop faith, hope, or charity; when we serve our neighbor, or have a prayer answered, share our testimony, or hear the testimony of others (combined mass-momentum equations is a much deeper topic for another time; I'll have to remember that though! Haha) our testimonies grow. We feel; the Spirit and our mass increases. Whenever we encounter fear, doubt, despair, or confusion, our testimony loses mass. It becomes smaller, weaker, for fear is the opposite of faith (if I had more time, I would quote better; maybe next time). Doubt, despair, confusion, or anything along those lines is from Satan, and it weakens and corrodes our testimonies. Thus, we lose mass, and our momentum slows down. It becomes harder to keep attending Church, to keep reading the scriptures, to keep paying tithing; in short, to keep moving down the strait and narrow. It can come from critics insulting the Church or the doctrines we cherish; it can come from financial difficulties we face in life; it can come from the sickness or death of a loved one. Any one of these things, and many others, can cause damage to our testimonies.
Second, we look at the velocity of our travel down the strait and narrow. - our spiritual growth This is measured by our keeping of the commandments. When we read the scriptures, partake of the Sacrament worthily, pay our tithing, go to the temple, pray, have family home evenings, attend Church activities, and do all things that have been told us by the Lord's prophets - ancient and modern - we increase the speed of our spiritual growth. When we stop these things, however, our growth is stunted, and thus our velocity reduces. We could also look at the vector portion of velocity (the direction in which the growth is directed) but that also will have to be for another time.
Whenever mass or velocity is changed, our momentum changes. Thus, if our mass increases, our decreases, so does our momentum; it is the same with velocity. This helps us see how to cope with life. Allow me to explain.
Often in life, we encounter trials that try our testimonies, or slow our growth. How do we cope with these things, without losing momentum? Whenever mass or velocity is decreased, to maintain momentum one simply has to increase the other. Example: critics ridicule and challenge Church doctrine, and cause one's testimony to decrease. This can be remedied by an increased resolution to study the scriptures and attend the temple, so that one might better understand the doctrine and receive the revelation of its truthfulness. By increasing one's velocity, it makes up for the loss of mass in testimony; thus momentum is conserved. Alternatively, if one is very busy, and their ability to study the scriptures is reduced, or to attend activities is hurt, they must build their testimony - pray more earnestly, share one's testimony more frequently and fervently, be kind and loving to others more sincerely. In doing so, the loss in velocity is compensated by the increase in mass, and thus their momentum is conserved.
The best part? By increasing one part of the equation - mass, or velocity - in the face of difficulties, we are able to make it through our trials. And when our trials are over, and our mass or velocity returns to normal, the other portion has been increased, and thus our overall momentum increases! We are able to work through challenges better, and feel the Spirit more strongly in our lives.
I know these things are true. Hopefully I haven't bored some of you, but do what you can to learn from it. There are many wonderful gems in here, and I can't wait to write more about it; probably when I get off mission.
I love you all! I love the Gospel, and I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This is Their work, and I am so privileged to be doing it.
--Elder Collings
You'll have company: our bishop's son, Austin Hopkins, received his call to Ghana. He'll leave in January.
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