The Hope
What a wondrous week! The beauty of spring truly has impressed on me the beauty of new life (resurrection) after a long time of death.
This week we continued working with some of the people that I mentioned last week. Most noteworthy would be the progress that we've made with Coralee, Bro Gordon's fiancé. It has been a very fun experience teaching both of them together. Brother Gordon is a very good fellowship. He's not pushy but he makes his desires known. He said in front of Coralee that he's not going to force anything upon her but that he hopes very much that she decided to be baptized.
Yesterday we had a long lesson with Coralee and Bro Gordon. It was long, but good. We talked about really important things, and by the end Coralee and Bro Gordon both committed to live the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, and Coralee set a tentative baptismal date for the 2nd of April. That is very exciting!
Now Sunday. On Sunday the new Easter initiative was released. If you haven't seen it here is the link to the site with the video and several other things the church is releasing along with this initiative.
We showed the video to about four or five groups of people on Sunday. It was very interesting that each time we watched it something different stood out to the people watching it. That's the way the spirit works though. It teaches individually and specifically to what people need to be taught. As we showed it to a family who have recently had to deal with a loss of a family member. The part where it talks (and shows pictures of) about deceased family members was especially poignant and pressing. It made me to reflect on what is our hope in and what is the source of our hope.
Do we hope for healing of our infirmities whether mental or physical?
Do we hope to see our loved ones again?
Do we hope for peace?
Do we hope to feel loved?
I know my answer is a resounding yes. However if our hope is built upon things of the world, it will crumble and fall as things of the world rise and fall. I read a very good conference address the other day. It was by Neil A Maxwell from the 1994 General Conference. He talked about retaining our hope in a world where hope seems to continually crumble and fail. I really liked something that he said.
"Though otherwise “lively,” hope stands quietly with us at funerals. Our tears are just as wet, but not because of despair. Rather, they are tears of appreciation evoked by poignant separation. They will change, erelong, to tears of glorious anticipation. Yet the emptiness is so real and so restless it initiates a retroactive inventory of what is now so painfully missing, doing so, however, while forecasting fulness and resplendent reunion!" It's really something that just clicked for me when I read this.
Along with this new initiative the church has an invitations for us:
"Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will all live again after death. Using the hashtag #Hallelujah, share the joy of Easter by posting a photo on social media of a loved one who has passed on—and whom you're anxious to see again someday."
(Found at the bottom of the page of the link I shared earlier)
Here is mine (since this is the closest thing I have to social media)
To meet those who passed before and to reunite with those with whom we've parted #Hallelujah
Love ya
Élder Connor Waldrón