Aloha Ohana and Haoaloha,
Well this week was tough - I have been contemplating what it truly means to have a perfect brightness of hope. I teach others how to endure and my favorite scripture to use is in 2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." I love the promise of eternal life; I feel like I know how to feast upon the words of Christ as I have come to love the scriptures and constantly reading from them, learning from them, and coming closer to my Savior; but then I came to understand a perfect brightness of hope this week. To remind you of the plans of this past week - we were supposed to have 3 baptisms - none of them happened. To say the least I was upset. We had worked so hard with these people and they were ready and still want to be baptized but with one getting a job (which we had been praying for) then being scheduled to work during her baptism, then losing the job and being so upset that she drank coffee (her date is now May 11th). Then the others had a good friend pass away and the funeral service was scheduled at the same time as their baptism, then the afternoon they had to work and the next day their family was going out of town. (I hope all of that made sense) By the end of that day- I was so confused at how I should be feeling. We are supposed to have this brightness of hope all the time but at the same time I don't think we are supposed to be robots. We have emotions and we should be able to feel. I was frustrated and upset not at anyone in particular but at the situation that had seemed so perfect but then fell through. I realized that perfect brightness of hope does not mean that I have to be smiling all the time and laughing and having the best time of my life; But, I am supposed to trust in my Father in Heaven and accept the things that come my way and have faith that everything will work out. So then I started to see the positive. I have 3 amazing people that want to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized - their day was pushed back - their desire is still there - I didn't lose 3 people. Yes it is nice to have them baptized as soon as possible but in God's timing it is not about the numbers of the week. Success is success whether it happened this week or in a few weeks from now. I realized that perfect brightness of hope came as I allowed my faith to shine through the hard times- realizing that it was not ideal but that the light was still bright and something I needed to keep working toward.
As far as people go they are all doing great. Pono is my tender mercy a lot because he is so good. He came to his lesson this week with his Book of Mormon all highlighted and showing us what he had learned and questions he had. It makes my heart feel so full!
Then David is a new member and has been wavering a bit and we were concerned about him. We have been trying to see him more but he had been avoiding us for a few weeks now. The other day we stopped by and he was back :) He was so happy to see us. I know that a few members of the ward had stopped by earlier in the week and I think that had made all the difference. We read 1 Nephi 10 and he loved it. A few days earlier the family had read 1 Nephi 8 and had been making guesses of what all the symbolism meant. Then the family loved chapter 10 as it went over all the meanings and they just applied it to their life as a family. They are working so hard to go to the temple with the ward and then coming to Salt Lake to be sealed in November! Once again a moment where my heart is full!
"And they went about doing good..." (not sure where the scripture is) That is how I felt this week. With the cancellation of our baptisms I was sad and our numbers didn't match our goals like we had hoped but we went about and did good. We helped a less active start living the Word of Wisdom (coffee was her problem) with her son. We made her a smoothie 3 times this week and she loved it. She lived the Word of Wisdom for a week now and we were so proud of her and so was her son! We helped a women, who owns a shop and sews for a living, with ironing and another project. She is not super interested in the church but she called us the day after to thank us again for coming over for a few hours and helping she told us, "I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Thank you so much for all the help. It wasn't just helping it was uplifting." Did that count for numbers - no but it was going about doing good.
Easter was really good. We were able to spend the evening with a less active family and then a less active guy who has been coming back to church these past two weeks. Our dinner appointment had canceled and so Sister Mottl and I thought of who we could see that would be lonely on Easter. It was perfect because as we visited with them we became family. There was no extravagant meal - only what we had brought, some rice, and what a meager income from the family could provide. I was able to see a single father, with the world on his back smile. I don't always know what to say to them, when they have it so hard. All I can think is to help them realize the blessings that come with living the gospel and allowing the Christ to help carry our load. He told us that his life has been so much better ever sense he has joined the church and even if he sometimes can't make it to church Christ is always in his heart. So often I am the one that is taught. I just love these people so much and they are so strong. I am so blessed to have my life full of people that I love.
I think that is it for now. I hope that this email made sense. I love this work so much! I love seeing how the gospel brings a perfect brightness of hope even when the load we are sometimes given seems impossible to carry. Sometimes we have to take it one day at a time; but that is fine. Progress is progress no matter how slow. I love the fact that I am not done learning. My progress may have been slow but I have progressed from the girl that started her mission months ago to the one I am today. I love you all! Alofa iate oe! Ofa atu! Aishiteru! Yokew yuk! Aloha wau ia oe!
Love Always,
Sister Cassidy Lang
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