Pondering about hope, and a panda jumpsuit

August 1, 2016

Hey Fam!

It has been another good week here in Astoria.
We had two days this week where it seemed like the appointments were
coming to us. The day just filled and the appointments stopped right at
9:00. Yesterday we had planned on stopping by a potential investigator on a
particular street and ended up spending almost two hours there because
people would not stop talking to us.

We had exchanges so I went up to LongBeach again which meant I got
another run on the beach, and it was raining pretty hard. Needless to
say I'm still trying to dry my shoes and get all the sand out of them
haha

Kevin passed his baptismal interview on Saturday so he is going to be
baptized this coming Saturday, we are stoked!

We found a less-active named Matthew this week that we work out with
in the mornings three times weekly. He is by far one of my favorite
people ever. When we knocked on his door for the first time he was
wearing a panda jumpsuit unbuttoned to his sternum, with Ray Bans and
a SnapBack he got at a gas station. For our workout on Saturday he
wore a bat costume with uggs haha, he knows his stuff though. He is my
height and has about 80 more pounds of muscle than me ha.

This week I have been thinking about hope and its importance in the
following scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 4 "...faith, hope,
charity, and love qualify him for the work" We know the "work"
mentioned is missionary work but how does hope fit into it? Well to
start, faith is the motivation. It's a principle of action so it's the
one that gets us on our feet and actually doing things. Charity and
love are the action. They are what give meaning to our work and
yield the results. "...and without charity [we] are nothing." We are
nothing because any other method of work is faulty and cannot handle
the pressure of an eternal weight. Hope is the destination. It is the
promise that we have that our hard work will pay off. For missionaries
it's Alma 26. I believe in the Lord's promises and hold fast to my
hope that they will be fulfilled.

Have a great week,

~Paul