Hope and Less Important Things:

The first week of the semester has been accomplished ;)

Referring back to my goal list..

1. (mental cross off of list.. instantaneous feeling of satisfaction) I got a job! Whoo hoo! Newest employee at the Student Records office in the graduation department. I work night shift as a processor .. degree audits and whatnot. I was pretty confident I wouldn’t get the job when they didn’t call me till the day after they said they would.. but faith restored! They did. It didn’t help my confidence level considering that when I walked in for the interview the front desk asked me what department’s position I was interviewing for and I had no idea (Please don’t tell the dude I’m interviewing with. Please don’t tell the dude I’m interviewing with).. real classy and prepared and whatnot. I know how to make first impressions.

2. Sooo.. Statistics and human biology will be hard. BUT my Bio teacher, Bro Wray is hilarious and really does love biology, which is super cool; I love teachers who love their subject. He keeps sharing random, relatively awkward human body facts that he says are great for date conversation. AND I have a girl statistics teacher! The majority of professors are guys, but Sister Moon is pretty adorable (her scripture for her class this semester is D&C45:62 “For verily I say unto you, that great things await you”- how cute/cool is that?!) I’m going to try extra hard to like bio.. its about the human body (I have one of those), so at least it’s applicable. And in statistics I’ll try not to end myself! Go team!! Whoo!

OH! PS.. My Social Work professor and his new wife (I learned in class) were totally sitting across from me on the way back to RX from Vegas after break. They may have been the most adorable old person couple I’ve ever seen. Newlywed mushiness has no age boundaries!

3. Yoga… was not a thing this week. BUT I did go to the gym three times! Which is rather out of character for me, who believes that the gym is for cool people who know how to work out and who are really attractive and stuff.  

4. Prayers are so full I got a new calling! Blessings? I am teaching Gospel Doctrine now instead of Relief Society (which I loved last semester). I will be teaching Old Testament.. Which may or may not partially be Heavenly Father’s way of striking me down (JK.. “All his (Emily’s) perils (callings) and travails will give him experience and be for his (Emily’s) good” D&C127) because I’ve always said it’s my least fav book of scripture. AND I get to talk in sacrament meeting tomorrow!

5. I think we’ve done pretty well in the hang out with random people department

                -I ended up getting pulled into speed dating when I was trying to enjoy my solitary time eating a cookie (yes I failed #6 mostly) .. and then re-met this kid whose name is Nolan (who is a body contortionist.. among other random things), who I sat next to at the plasma center a few weeks before! Me and Amber went and played Settlers of Cataan with him and his roomies after. Apparently he didn’t recognize me until later into the night when he told me he had thought I really didn’t like him. Apparently I was reading and he was trying to talk to me ** life lesson** be super nice to everyone who talks to you! Even when your book is super awesome and you feel like you’ve already filled the social chatting obligations. Anywho.. we brought four of our girlfriends over later that week to play games again. Apples to apples is my favorite but I must disagree with whoever decided that the cards you win represent your personality.. that idea never works in my favor (one of my cards was manly). PS. We have this super nifty jungle horticulture garden in the Benson I wasn’t aware of.. that I now am, thanks to these fine young men.

                -AND yesterday me and Amber (yes we are kinda attached at the hip- I promise I know how to function independently) met this cool kid named Sam. Sam does kung fu, and is from Cali .. and he came over for dinner (we made BOMB chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies) and we went to his house to make rice pudding and watch Charlie St. Cloud (highly depressing/ a little creepy, but otherwise pretty solid).

6 (stop eating cookies). Reference #5 (I don’t want to talk about it)

7-9. to be continued when I have something exciting to say about them.

More Important Things:
This Sunday I have the pleasure of talking about HOPE in sacrament meeting, this is a topic that I don’t necessarily feel super qualified to talk about because I’ve never really studied the meaning of hope. That is probably exactly why I was asked to speak on it.. and I have found that it’s a much less simple concept than I had previously thought:

I have had some really awesome conversations with some even cooler people about hope this week (including my cute dad), been reading up on it from talks by our prophets, and been looking up scriptures and dictionary definitions. Elder Uchtdorf’s talk “The Infinite Power of Hope” is beautiful!

After studying what hope is, one question in my mind is how to define the difference between Faith and Hope.. there is a difference but they can be and are used so interchangeably

-I love what Uchtdorf said about Hope & Faith: “Hope comes of faith,  for without faith, there is no hope.  In like manner faith comes of hope, for faith is “the substance of things hoped for.” 

                       If we don’t have faith or believe in anything.. we can’t have hope for joy ahead AND the things we have FAITH (faith leads to action.. to our obedience, to our charity..ect) in allow us to have HOPE for the joy ahead (including eternal life) of us

·      
 -     -LOVE this: “Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity.”

·       -AND this: “No matter how bleak the chapter of our lives may look today, because of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will exceed our grandest expectations. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 2

The things we hope in sustain us during our daily walk. They uphold us through trials, temptations, and sorrow. Everyone has experienced discouragement and difficulty. Indeed, there are times when the darkness may seem unbearable. It is in these times that the divine principles of the restored gospel we hope in can uphold us and carry us until, once again, we walk in the light.

            I remember having a discussion with one of my favorite people, ZP, about the gospel and him questioning whether the reason our church has the principals it has is because they are pleasing to people, it gives hope and people like that.. OR because we know that the plan of salvation is a real plan. What sticks out to me now is the truth that my faith is not founded on my hope of joy one day. My hope is founded on my faith (belief- personal knowledge in what isn’t tangible) that God is real, personal revelation is a true tool we have to see into the windows of heaven, and Jesus Christ did die for me in order for me to one day be at the side of our Heavenly Father, again. I have this hope and this joy because I have faith in these principals. And my hope backs up my faith when it is being tested by this world.. it is not the foundation of faith, it is the effect.

-This is what happens what you type HOPE into the search bar on LDS.org (awesome, huh?): “Hope is the confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness. The scriptures often speak of hope as anticipation of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

-The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty. For example, we may say that we hope for a change in the weather or a visit from a friend. In the language of the gospel, however, the word hope is sure, unwavering, and active. Prophets speak of having a “firm hope” (Alma 34:41) and a “lively hope” (1 Peter 1:3). The prophet Moroni taught, “Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God” (Ether 12:4).When we have hope, we trust God's promises. We have a quiet assurance that if we do “the works of righteousness,” we “shall receive [our] reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (D&C 59:23)”

                I love the phrase “anchor to the souls of men” .. Hope is that anchor.. it is what lifts us to feeling joy in our circumstance not because of them- just like Uchtdorf talked about in this last past conference. Hope is what gives me the surety that no matter what happens in my life, it is for my good. Because I have faith in a Heavenly Father who fulfils his promises, a savior who is my advocate, and a holy spirit who is working for my good, which leads me to obedience- I have HOPE (a surety and an expression of my longing) that my soul is guided not only in this mortal life, in the decisions I make here, but into the next- that my righteousness will bring me to live with my Father in Heaven, again.