Hope

Hey all, 

I'm super excited about Boo's call! I'm going to guess Tampa Bay, Florida for state side, and the Lyon, France mission. :) As well, congrats on the first place finish [Olympus water polo tournament last weekend], glad everyone's doing great. 

This week's been pretty good. Lots of pretty normal work this week on my end, so no crazy stories. Unfortunately that kinda makes for a boring email, but I'll do my best! 

We had exchanges with Bathurst here Friday and Saturday. We went out and taught Jeff, and that went well. His baby is back home, I don't remember if I mentioned that in last week's email, but she's doing really well. We also taught Nadia again, and it was a super awesome lesson. We taught about the Restoration, and again, she asked lots of really really good questions. The spirit was really strong, and the members we took bore super powerful witness of everything. It's really cool teaching her. 

We also ended up helping someone move, which was pretty... Interesting. We got there, and the other guy helping her was listening to screamo music the entire time. She fed us pizza for helping out, but it was pickle pizza. Really don't go well together. Don't recommend it. 

The rest of the week has been pretty boring. We posted a Bible ad, and have gotten like 10 hits off of it, which is pretty cool. We've been trying to deliver a lot of those. 

I have a few thoughts on hope. I think a good place to start is understanding the opposite, discouragement. Discouragement would be complete hopelessness, or a view on life like there's no point in trying. There' s definitely a difference in discouragement and disappointment. Disappointment we feel let down, but we don't let it stop us from moving forward, we still have HOPE in our ending, that there is a point. 

So if we want hope, hope that everything works out, hope that we will succeed, or whatever it my be, we ultimately are exercising our agency to choose to see the future in a positive light. I think Mormon teaches that pretty well in the Book of Mormon, that if we have faith, then we believe in God, and His will for us. We believe that Jesus Christ has atoned for our sins, and so because of that belief, and our faith (or actions) showing that belief, we change our behavior. We no longer look with fear towards death, but as another part of life. 

Hope means we trust people again, we give second chances, we do something nice for another, we try new things, we experiment, we rely on others, we get to know our neighbors, we lend money, and on and on. So much of our life relies on us living with hope, to lose hope means you lose purpose, you lose your vision of the end, you lose the savor of life. 

I think there are two things that really give me hope. One is my personal experience in my life has taught me I am happier when I live with hope. It gives me hope because if it wasn't making me happier, there wouldn't be a reason to be living that way. It's working, and because it's working I can trust it and the sources that tell me to rely on hope. The second is an understanding of the Godhead. Because I can rely on God's will to lead my future, on Jesus Christ's Atonement to cover my past, and the Holy Ghost to guide my current actions, I don't need to worry. I literally have the three best people possible watching out for me. Literally any hardships I face will help me grow—past, present or future. I can't lose, so long as I choose to win. 

If you want more hope, I recommend a couple steps. One, read a talk by Elder Bednar, call Pray Always. Two, in your prayers, focus on hope, and noticing moments in your day where you consciously recognize moments where you can act with hope, then choose to do so. I've noticed that God's grace helps build me by helping me notice moments where I can choose, and then letting me choose. I think it's something that applies to everyone, and that can help you have more hope. 

Love you so much! I know you can grow and I know you're already doing a lot better than you think you are. Again, super excited about Boo's call. Good luck Dad with the conference! Love you, and safe travels. Love you all! 

Elder Marsh