[ For my talk, I made myself a little blue print instead of reading and probably rambled for a bit here and there, but this "very rough draft" is the basics of what I was trying to say...]
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Buenos días, hermanos y hermanas. Estoy muy emocionado por
la oportunidad de hablar con ustedes hoy. Mi nombre es Hermana Holly Howell, y
Yo voy a San Diego California el cuatro de Marzo, para mi mision.
For those of you that don’t speak Spanish—and I will
momentarily be including myself into that category—I said good morning, and I
am excited for the opportunity to speak with you today. I also introduced
myself and told you I was leaving for my mission on March 4th.
I pray that the Spirit will be with me today as I talk. I am
going to have to get a lot more comfortable with these pulpits, and talking to
people in general. From what I hear, that will be my life for the next 18
months.
Looking back and evaluating the last 18+
years
of my life, I can’t help but
think/question/wonder why I have waited this long, waited for His name to be
plastered on a little black badge over my chest, before I felt like I could
truly Testify of my Savior Jesus Christ? Many of you will argue with me on
this, and I’ll probably forfeit,
But how much time in our lives do we waste waiting for the
perfect scenario, the perfect moment, the “April the 25th” moments
where “It’s not too hot, not too cold, and all you need is a light jacket” to
actually get out there a tell people about the Gospel?!
If you had the cure for Cancer, wouldn’t you be out there in
the streets right now, telling everyone and their bird about it?? And yet… we keep our mouths shut, about the
Savior of the World?
We’re not just talking about Cancer here anymore, are we? To
the list we could add stubbed toes, cuts and bruises, depression, heartache,
sorrow, regret, mistakes, illnesses, catastrophes, disasters, sins, failures…
Christ is, for all of these and more, the
literal “Cure-all.”
President Boyd K. Packer says,
“A testimony of the hope of redemption is
something which cannot be measured or counted. Jesus Christ is the source of
that hope.”
What we have—this message we should be shouting from
the roof tops—is that of Hope.
But what is Hope?
In Elder Uchtdorfs
talk, “The Infinite Power of Hope,” he says this:
“Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise
to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words
of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It
is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance.
In the language of the gospel, this hope
is sure, unwavering, and active. The prophets of old speak of a “firm hope” and a “lively hope.” It is a hope glorifying God through good works. With hope comes joy
and happiness. With hope, we can “have patience, and bear … [our] afflictions.”
The Title of President
Boyd K Packer’s talk, and the subject of my own, is “THE REASON FOR OUR HOPE.”
To repeat again President Packer’s coining phrase, He says,
“A testimony of the hope of redemption is
something which cannot be measured or counted. Jesus Christ is the source of that hope.”
If the
source of our hope is Jesus Christ, what then is our Reason? why are we given
hope.? Why do we gain testimony of redemption in Jesus Christ, if that hope
solely remains within ourselves? The reason
we are given hope is to share it. If not it is wasted.
President Packer
Continues:
“No matter
how large the organization of the Church becomes or how many millions of
members join our ranks, no matter how many continents and countries our
missionaries enter or how many different languages we speak, the
true success of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be measured by the spiritual
strength of its individual members. We need the strength of conviction that is found in the heart of
every loyal disciple of Christ.
We seek to
strengthen the testimonies of the young and old, the married and single. We
need to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to men, women, and children, those of
every race and nationality, the rich and the poor. We need the recent convert
and those among our numbers descended from the pioneers. We need to seek out
those who have strayed and assist them to return to the fold. We
need everyone’s wisdom and insight and spiritual strength. Each member of this Church as an
individual is a critical element of the body of the Church.
Each member serves as a testimony of the
life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We are at war with the forces of the
adversary, and we need each and every one of us if we are going to succeed in
the work the Savior has for us to do.”
Brothers and Sisters, We have that HOPE!! That is why we are HERE. And with
that Hope we can accomplish so many wonderful things, hastening this great and
marvelous work our God is putting forth for us to do!
In Addition to both Presidents Packer and Uchtdorf,
President Eyring says this of Hope:
“Whoever you are and wherever you may be, you hold in your hands the
happiness of more people than you can now imagine. Every day and every hour you
can choose to make or keep a covenant with God.
Wherever you are on the path to inherit the gift of eternal life,
you have the opportunity to show many people the way to greater happiness. When
you choose whether to make or keep a covenant with God, you choose whether you
will leave an inheritance of hope to those who might follow your example.”
Hope in itself is a powerful thing. It brings true
happiness into people’s lives. It gets people out of bed in the morning. For
some of us, that is perhaps the hardest thing for us to accomplish. Hope that
the sun will be there when we get up, hope that there will still be air to fill
our lungs. Hope that someone will just smile at us, so we will know that we are
loved.
But
Hope in Jesus Christ? How much more powerful is this?!
God’s only perfect son took upon Himself the pains and afflictions of every
single person, individually, shedding blood for them both in the Garden, and on
the Cross at Calvary. He could have stayed perfect.
Unscathed. Put Himself above the world and left us to suffer as a result of our
own unrighteous choices. But HE LOVED US. He had HOPE in us! Had hope that we could be redeemed, that we
would be able to believe in Him, that we would be able to endure to the end,
despite all our heartaches and sorrows. And That is why He did it.
Isaiah 53:3-4
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed
him not.
4 ¶Surely he hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
The Gospel is Restored! We again have HOPE! We know
the Savior personally, and need no longer “hide our faces from Him.” What He
asks of us now is to continue in that hope that He has in us. To, in turn, have
hope and faith in Him, to share that Hope and Faith with others. To not be ashamed of him.
Undoubtedly, faith and hope go hand in hand, and are most
definitely interrelated. But for the purpose of the following, I will now
suggest that Hope is of the Heart,
and that Faith is of the Mind.
That Hope is like our spirit, like our soul, and
thus connected to the feelings within our Hearts.
That Faith is like our body, the physical gift from God
of life on this earth, and thus connected to our minds, which guide and direct
our actions.
Within each of us is the Light of Christ—the Hope in
Christ—that is increased as we receive the Holy Ghost at baptism. It’s that
burning desire within us, that deep feeling in our chest that testifies to us
of truth.
At the times when that burning sensation becomes too
uncomfortable, we are compelled act. The Heart, full of Hope, offers the reins
to the uneasy Mind.
What do we do? Does Faith leap to the challenge?!...
or does Doubt cloud the desires and the Hope of our Heart?
Psalms
43:5
“Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise
him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God”
Faith
and Doubt cannot Coexist.
Let
us take that Leap of Faith, that Hop of Hope if you will, and share with others
the Good News. We shouldn’t be afraid to Speak about Jesus Christ to other
people!
“We talk of Christ! We Rejoice in Christ, We preach of Christ, we
Prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our Prophecies that our children
may know to what source they may look to for a remission of their sins!” (2
Nephi 25:26)
I
challenge each of you today to share your testimony of the Savior with someone
outside of this Church Building. Go out, open your mouths, and bear testimony
of Hope. I’m not up here to tell you what to say, but more to compel your heart
to say what it already knows to be true.
I
add to the challenge—Don’t Stop spreading the Gospel! Don’t wait for the
perfect day, because that will never come, and April 25th is always
rainy anyways! Don’t wait till you have a badge on your chest. Do it Now and
Don’t stop!
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[[I also talked about Adam and Eve in the Garden. How they were only given one commandment and they broke it! And all they understood of their punishment was Death! How grateful they were when they learned Jesus would be provided as a Savior for them!! They had the opportunity to repent of their sins! So many of our brothers and sisters in the world don't have that knowledge! All they know is "Death" and that's the end. That they can't repent of those mistakes they've made. What a wonderful blessing we have to know that, and even more wonderful the responsibility to share it! ]]
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