HOPE

Dajia hao!!

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week where I got to see tons of amazing missionaries including many dear friends from the MTC! It's such an uplifting and powerful experience to be united with so many great people in this cause for justice, peace, goodness, and love! We were asked to prepare a talk about hope, then 2 missionaries would be asked to share. I totally stressed over it, because my English is getting worse and worse. Then I wasn't even called on, but I figured someone might as well read it....so I'm going to copy it into this email :D yaaaaay.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a friend serving in Taipei. Enclosed in the letter was a bookmark with a quote by Emily Dickinson printed on it that read,
"Hope is the thing with feathers--
That perches in the soul--
And sings the tune without the words--
And never stops--at all."

I love the idea of hope being a living entity that perches deep inside of us and when properly cared for and nourished has the capactiy to keep "singing", to continue radiating its power in our souls and strengthening and fortifying our hearts.

Before I came on a mission, I don't know if I ever thought of hope as something so powerful, I certainly didn't know it was a Christlike attribute. But over the past month as I've studied the topic of hope in the scriptures and thought about the role it has played over the course of my life, and especially in my life as a missionary, I've come to realize just how important and empowering an attribute it is.

I think in a lot of ways, my decision to serve a mission was rooted in hope. I was very unsure of myself and my abilities, but I had received a call from God, and so I came on a mission hoping that I could rise to the challenge, hoping that I could learn Chinese and hoping that I could be successful in fulfilling my purpose and doing the work of the Lord. In Moroni 7, Moroni quotes his father Mormon concerning faith. In verse 33 he says, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me", and then in verse 40: "How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?"
Faith and hope are inseparably connected, and as Mormon expressed, "without faith there is no hope" (v. 42). I'm so grateful Heavenly Father blessed me with a particle of hope, some combination of a desire to serve a mission and trusting God to help me make up for what I lacked, that opened my heart to strengthen my faith and give me the confidence and ability to do God's work. Being a missionary is the most challenging thing I've ever done, but I find that as I continue to build the faith of others, my own faith is strengthened, and that hope that I was called here at this time to fulfill God's purposes is alive in my soul. I find I've never been happier, my mind has never been clearer, and I've never felt closer to God. Stronger faith also helps me to have hope and love for my investigators. I know God has a plan for them, and it's such a tremendous blessing when I get to be part of His plan to bring them home.

I've also been thinking a lot about how the Savior Himself exemplified this attribute. My mind is drawn back to Elder Holland's most recent conference address about the Savior and some of His interactions with His 12 apostles. I think the account Elder Holland shared in conference about the Savior going back to find some of His apostles fishing after His crucifixion exemplifies Christ's hope in others. The Savior asks Peter 3 times, "lovest thou me?", and then commands him, "feed my sheep." At this point, Peter had denied knowing Christ 3 times, and after the Savior's death he kind of gave up on ministering in the gospel. Christ STILL comes back to him, encourages him, and calls him back to the work. I think it must be because Christ had hope in Peter's abilities. Christ had a perfect understanding of how His gospel should go forth, and we, the imperfect laborers, are called to go and do, hoping and relying on the power of our Savior to fulfill these our sacred callings.

I have great hope in the fact that the Lord's vision for me as His laborer in the vineyard greatly exceeds my own. He knows what I am meant to do and who I am divinely designed to become. I have great trust that as I continue to feed this hope within me through studying the scriptures, praying to be guided by the will of my Heavenly Father, and pressing forward acting in faith, my hope in the Savior and His power to make me an effective tool in His hands for publishing peace will become an "anchor to my soul" (Ether 12:4). Hope in Christ will continue to "sing" inside my soul, helping me to find joy in the journey and spiritual strength to help God's children come unto their Redeemer with full purpose of heart. If we have hope in the Savior, our faith will grow, we will not fear what man can do nor the snares the Adversary lays for us, because in the strength of God and in Christ, we can do ALL things they have asked us to do (Alma 26:12). I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are with us in this work. As we look for them and strive to remain under their influence each day, I know we can bring Taiwan the beautiful truth of the gospel in a powerful way that can touch and change each life for good.

soooooo....whaddya think?? Haha I know it's a little scatter brained. And I didn't share really any personal experiences. But I can share one right now!! Hmm let's see.....we have an investigator, Chen JieMei, she is about 54. We've been meeting with her for several weeks. When we first met her, she came to English class and we tried to meet with her after, but she was just like "do you have a book of mormon in English?" She was only really interested in studying English and so we kind of thought "oh well." But now we meet with her once or twice a week, and she is growing so much in her understanding of the gospel. We've been dying for her to come to church, which has been impossible cause her husband demands she stay at home. We keep inviting her though, and keep praying that she can make it. Yesterday she randomly showed up for the last two hours and with a sneaky look on her face said, "My husband went swimming." She loved it so much. I could tell it was a fantastic experience for her. God hears our prayers, He answers our prayers, the tricky part is just learning how to trust His timing, to trust Him enough to completely submit to His will and know that the things that happen in our lives and the challenges we face will be for our good.

Keep pressing forward with a perfect brightness of hope! It will give you great strength, I know it will.
love love love
Sister Coco Mack