We Need to Have Hope

Dear One and All,

What a week! We have absolutely nobody to teach! BUT I'm not looking at this as a bad week, or that I am a failure. In fact, I think I have learned a lot more from this week than I have in weeks where I've taught lots of lessons. Sometimes, I feel like the Lord gives us some harder times so that we can learn and grow. It is through these times that we learn lessons that we would not have otherwise learned. If we always had success, we would not learn how to deal with failure.

I made my own sushi!

It's the same in every book that I've read -- think about it. Harry Potter. The Lord of the Rings. The Hunger Games. All of those books are interesting and good because the main character has trials and LEARNS FROM THEM. If everything was all fine and dandy, why would we want to read about it?

In a talk from one of our church leaders, a man named Elder Uchtdorf, he explains it like this:

“I am sure you are aware that every cultural tradition is rich with journey stories. For instance, you may be familiar with the journey of Dorothy and her dog, Toto, in The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and Toto are swept up in a tornado an deposited in the Land of Oz. There, Dorothy finds that distinctive, yellow-brick road that makes the path for a journey that eventually leads her home. Then there is Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge, whose journey takes him not from place to place but from time to time. It’s a journey right within his own heart that helped him to understand why he became the way he was and to see what would happen to him if he continue on his path of selfishness and ingratitude...And of course there is Bilbo Baggins, the small, unassuming hobbit who would have very much preferred to stay home and eat his soup. But after a knock at his door, he follows the call of the great unknown and steps out into the world, together with a wizard and a band of dwarfs, to fulfill a dangerous but vitally important mission...Don’t we love these journey stories because we can see ourselves in the travelers? Their successes and failures can help us find out own way through life. (The Wonderful Journey Home)”

Then there is the story of a man who did nothing but serve those around Him. He showed love and kindness to all He met. He even sacrificed His life for them, His friends. Yes, Christ, the greatest of us all, the Son of the very living God, experienced hard times too. More than any of us can fathom. More than any of us will ever have to experience. His own people, the very people He served and loved and taught among, rejected Him. They did not understand who He was, or what His purpose was. Even Christ's closest friends denied that they knew Him. The very people He had sacrificed so much for sentenced Him to death. If that isn't a hard time, then I don't know what is.

But then, I think of all that came to pass because of that "hard time." Because Christ suffered a short while, we all can overcome death and sin. We can return to our Heavenly Father and have Eternal Life. That, in the long run, made all the suffering and pain and sorrow worth it. And Christ knew that. He never lost sight of that. He ALWAYS remembered His purpose in life, and that made all the "hard times" worth it to Him. In the same way, we need to remember in our harder times, that not only does it all have purpose, but it is also part of God's plan. These hard times refine us and make us better. We just need to have hope.

In the missionary handbook, Preach My Gospel, it describes hope as "an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement."

We all just need to have the HOPE that God will ALWAYS fulfill His promises. Our hard times have meaning. At the end of our stories, there is victory. There is the House Cup. Our home in the Shire. Christmas Morning.

Hope for your future, for it is bright,

Sister Weigl

At a Relief Society (church) activity

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. How often do local women wear the native dress?  Like the holiday for when they turn 20?  Any other ones?

Mostly, you just see really old people wearing kimonos sometimes, and you hardly EVER see men in the traditional clothing. Mostly just for family pictures or weddings or other special holidays.

2. Is there a men's equivalent of the native dress? 

Yes, there is. It's called a hakama. 

3. Where do most people buy their clothing?  Is there special shops for the native dress? Can you go to a shop and get your pictures done in a kimono?

I don't really know where people buy them, probably just at a kimono store or something. And yes, you can go get your picture taken in the traditional clothing, but it is REALLY expensive because it takes forever to put a kimono on.

4. How do most people do their laundry?

They wash it in a washing machine and then hang it out to dry. No dryers.

5. Do they have dry cleaners in Japan?  Or places you can take to have your laundry done?

Hmmmmm I don't think so...maybe. Okay, I have no idea really.