HOPE. even when all you can do is cling on .........is it week four already? Not really keeping track anymore...

Dear family and friends,

I've included a letter from my mission president because I feel that it goes along with what I have struggled with and felt this week. It is my hope that it will help you as well :)

President Alba

Mission Letter 3-24-14

A Brightness of Hope

In chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel – Christlike Attributes, we learn about hope.

“Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement.” Preach My Gospel, p 117.

I have found it that as my faith increases so does my hope and as my hope increases, so does my hope. They go hand in hand one helping the other to grow as we come to realize the importance of what we do and what our purpose is as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul teaches us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of thing not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) So, the substance of all the things which we hope for is what makes up our faith. What a marvelous manifestation and insight to this Christlike attribute is given to us by Paul. Having a greater substance of all the thing that we hope for will help our faith to increase.

In the 13th Article of Faith it states: “- We believer all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

Hope is therefore worth seeking after. Hope has given me the ability to believe even more. At times when hope was waning or not existent in my life, I found that I was a miserable and lost soul. When I focused on hoping for things to get better whether it was illness, results from sin, trials and tribulations, at that moment when I began to regain lost hope, things became brighter and my attitude towards all things changed. I needed to focus on hoping for things that mattered – not for things of the world but for things that would fortify and strengthen my soul.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell former member of the Quorum of the Twelve said the following about hope:

“Real hope keeps us “anxiously engaged” in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes on the mortal scoreboard (see D&C 58:27). Likewise, real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine. Hope is serene, not giddy, eager without being naive, and pleasantly steady without being smug. Hope is realistic anticipation which takes the form of a determination—not only to survive adversity but, moreover, to “endure … well” to the end (D&C 121:8).

“Real hope inspires quiet Christian service, not flashy public fanaticism. Finley Peter Dunne impishly observed, “A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts” (quoted in The Third—and Possibly the Best—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, comp. Robert Byrne [1986], no. 549).

The greatest source of hope is of course the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of all things good and true. His love will always be available to us and that should give us hope during times of trial.

Our Savior’s love shines like the sun with perfect light,
As from above it breaks through clouds of strife,
Lighting our way, it leads us back into his sight,
Where we may stay, to share eternal life.

The Spirit, voice of goodness, whispers in our hearts
A better choice than evil’s anguished cries.
Loud may the sound of hope ring till all doubt departs,
And we are bound to him by loving ties.

Our Father, God of all creation, hear us pray
In reverence, awed by thy Son’s sacrifice.
Praises we sing. We love thy law; we will obey.
Our heavenly King, in thee our hearts rejoice.

LDS Hymns – Our Savior’s Love – No. 113

I pray that all our hearts rejoice in this knowledge. He lives! He will return once again to gather His children. Let us have a greater hope regardless of the things we struggle with and He will deliver us and claim us as His own.

I love each one of you. I rejoice in your goodness and your dedication to His cause.

Love,

President Alba

This week has been amazing! I feel like I say that almost every week, but it is true! Although there are a lot of things that I miss, I wouldn't want to be anywhere but here! This is truly where I want to be!

I taught my first law of chastity lesson this week. It was intense, but it was amazing to feel my testimony of it inside of me during the lesson. I truly could testify of it being a law given to everyone from our Heavenly Father.

Your letter goes along perfectly with what this week has been for me. I started this week out excited, but as disappointment came, I felt weak and helpless. My companions and I had a really good sit down talk during 12 week, and we talked about how even though we can't force others to choose to accept and live the gospel, we cannot lower our expectations from them because that would be expecting them to fail. When we as missionaries set goals we are setting our expectations. I have felt very hopeless setting goals the past few weeks because I have felt that they won't be met, but I think now I understand the purpose of goals. They are to help me have faith, and to help me expect the investigators to succeed. God has a plan for each of His children. Regardless of what choices they are making with their agency, He has provided a way back for them, and it cost Him dearly. The price He paid was His Son. That is a lot of hope and faith. So who am I to lose hope when an investigator chooses not to follow through? I am still here to love them and to sacrifice my time to be here to give them that choice.

Also, during the singing practice last night, I saw the picture over one of the beds in the mission home. It was of the Oakland Temple, bathed in late afternoon sunshine, gleaming and white. It beckoned out to the valley below, and in the near distance was San Francisco, and in contrast looked very grey. The word that immediately popped into my mind was "Destruction." Only hours before, I had heard that missionaries had been recently pulled out of the city.

I have also recently been studying Lehi's Dream. It's amazing how those who are pressing forward on the iron rod have two outcomes. They either heed the mocking of those in the large and spacious building and fall away, or they heed not the mocking and they continually press forward until they partake of the fruit. Yet, even then, they have a choice to make. They continue to beckon to others to come and eat of the Tree of Life and feel that joy and love, OR after they have partaken, they heed the mocking and feel ashamed and fall away. I applied all this to finding. Do I let the mocking of others put me in a position where I can no longer help others to come unto Christ, or do I heed them not and keep beckoning to others.

These three corresponding events have really affected me. Things seemed to fall in place in my mind. This morning I prayed for a long while, and Heavenly Father let me feel the urgency of the work being hastened. He also let me feel of His love and protection, but of my need to step up to the plate. I have a work to do. I want to help, but I've got to do my part.

I have come up with my mission goals finally. I had waited because I wanted to see what the field was like, before I set them. My goals for my whole mission are the following:

1) Listen to and follow the Spirit

2) Love others with complete Charity

3) Be exactly obedient

Other than what I have already written, things are going well in the Redwoods YSA. Elliott and Jessica are progressing, and I love my dear sweet companions. They are angels sent from God to help bear me up in times of need. I truly feel like the other missionaries here are my brothers and sisters. I'm trying to see everyone I contact in that light as well.

oh! and Daisy!

she's come to church twice! so cool.... not much to tell, other than she is so sweet. said that she feels peace when she prays, and that she knows it helps her with he homework and everything. She passed a big test Sat. Pray for her.

also, i need prayers to help find people. 

I love you all. Sorry if the letter doesn't make a lot of sense. I copied it from the one I wrote President Alba. I get a little long-winded.

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:

also, a video I really liked this week is the mormon message: "the voice of the spirit." Will you watch it? :)

also, I just love Lehi's dream. Classic. 1 Nephi 8 and 11.

Love, Sister Miller