Sanchong District - Week 22 - Do Get Your Hopes Up

We have an investigator who has been off and on about baptism for quite some time now. There have been many different obstacles keeping her from getting baptized on the several different dates she has set; family health problems, lack of desire and understanding, fear. The journey so far has been hard to navigate what with all those bumps in the road. Some days have been so filled with fog that we can only see far ahead enough to take tiny steps forward if any.

It's been running through my head the past few days how people often say "don't get your hopes up." I want Sister Jian to get baptized so much because I just know how it will change her life. But when it comes down to it, it's not my choice. I can only do so much. When we find ourselves in a situation we don't have much control over, it's easy to tell ourselves not to get our hopes up. I used to say it all the time. Why do we do that? So that we can save ourselves from disappointment? We're probably going to be disappointed anyway. 

There are many things that we hope for. For example, I hope that I my team will win the state championship. I hope that I will be promoted at work. I hope that my whole family and I will stay healthy. Or I hope our dear investigator will be baptized. But what do we do when these proximate hopes aren't realized? 

As I was mulling this over in my mind, I came to a conclusion: I ought to choose to be hopeful and cheerful and life will be more joyful to live. Therefore, the key to missionary work (and life, might I add) is not to not get your hopes up. It's to keep your hopes up, regardless of the circumstances. 

Well, how can we do that? I made "hope" the topic of my personal study these past two days in order to find the answer. There is one true source of hope, and that is Jesus Christ. To hope means to trust that the Lord will fulfill his promises to us. I was reading in Hebrews 10 about this subject and wow, I love the Bible. I have been soaking up the words of the Apostle Paul lately and it's amazing.

18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil

We can trust that God will fulfill his promise of granting us eternal life if we "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" (2 Nephi 31: 20). And when we do trust, we find consolation, refuge, and hope. An anchor. Further, hope moves us to act, to work hard and be diligent, to make good things happen for ourselves and for others (D&C 58:27). And we can trust that God will fulfill his promises to us no matter what happens to us now if we follow Christ. It is because of and in the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can have this anchor of hope. 

So I invite you this week to keep your head up. Keep moving forward. Keep your hopes high! I find that as I have been trying that this past week, I've been able to deal with disappointments so much easier. Instead of not getting my hopes up and just wading in a state of foggy hopelessness, I've been looking ahead toward a light that is ever present, and it makes me feel cheerful. It helps me have a desire to keep working hard, even when my proximate hopes are not fulfilled. Whatever the trouble is we're facing, I know that all will be corrected through Jesus Christ's Atonement. That is something to be hopeful for.

I love you all and I shall see you next week.

P.S. This week I hit my five-months-in-Taiwan mark. I LOVE TAIWAN. It is going by too fast what in the world.

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