by Ardeth Greene Kapp
wish I could sit with you in my swing back porch of my house to watch a sunset. It's so fun to listen to the crickets sing. Those who know how to listen can distinguish between loving call, a warning signal and messages that simply say "Here I am." Did you know that the crickets actually listen with ears that are on their knees? When I kneel I also try to listen so you can better understand the needs, desires and aspirations of young women in the Church. I do this every time I read your letters and I have the opportunity to hear them express their thoughts and feelings. Imagine
are sitting with me in my porch swing and that together we will hear messages from some of the letters I have received recently:
"Dear Sister Kapp: This year I had great difficulty with my self-esteem and with a friend (also a member of the Church) who has given me back and gone with other friends. Sometimes I feel terribly alone. I know that Heavenly Father knows my problems, but also I know I need them to progress, even if sometimes it is hard to remember. "
listen to another young man who shares the feelings of his heart:
" They always say that something must happen in our lives that do we have the desire change. Well, something happened. I have still a long way to go but I finally understood that my Heavenly Father is with me even if I have cheated in some way. I'm making a big effort to tidy up my life and do what is right. I am determined to do no matter what time I take although it is very difficult. How I wish I could just get closer to my Heavenly Father and Mother and give them a strong I could hug and tell them to return victorious. "
listen now a part of a letter received by a mother as anxious as grateful. Her daughter, seventeen, who could be judged as rebellious by some who have not learned to recognize his call help, write:
"Dear Mom and Dad: I know that I was not very good daughter. I hope things can be arranged between us. Please do not lose hope in me. Do not think that they do not say that I love really means that. Please understand what I'm trying to say. We will stay united and we love each other through the hardest and worst moments. And we will because we are a family. "
hear these messages from our beautiful young women and do it with my ears and my heart. I want to reach each and share with them what I've learned over the years about hope. If I could, I would also hope to provide you, but I learned that only comes to us to move forward. This short time away from our heavenly home and our parents, we have been given to our agency for the purpose of being tried in all ways (see 2 Nephi 2:24-28). We can safely assume that we have difficult days with some hard evidence. But if we learn from them and grow as a result of them, we will be better and stronger individual. When I am faced with things that are difficult and I can not understand, I review in my mind the words of a song I learned years ago when I was not sure that my prayers were heard and hope needed to keep going:
fire Maybe God
try to make you and shine.
cesarno But His love can
For Him you are special.
God walks by your side;
triumph of His hand.
My sister Sharon had an album that played over and over time until you have memorized the words and sings to me sometimes. Tells the story of a girl in a small mining town in Leadville, Colorado. Some people who lived in a forest had been found. They knew who he was or where he came from, but collected and reared. She had drive and hope which led, eventually, that little place some of the most prestigious in Europe.
As the musical version of Molly Brown's story unfolds, we see first as a peasant girl with few opportunities, no education and without refinement. Then we found struggling on the ground with his adoptive brothers who the flip. One of his brothers said: "Molly beat you, beat you!" And young Molly responds: "I'm not losing, I'm not losing, but even if it were never hear me say it. I hate the word up, but I love the word fight, because it means hope and that is exactly what I have.'s Hope something more beautiful, cleaner somewhere, and if I eat fish heads all my life do not you think that I could eat on a plate but only once and wearing a red silk dress? " And then begins belting out "And then I will read and write. I'll see all there is to do. And if they go all the way to something and meet someone, that someone I have to be" . Does that sound that you like to have hope?
Hope and Molly determination led to great triumphs. Then one day he came aboard the tragic Titanic, which sank to the ocean floor more than a thousand passengers. But Molly Brown did not sink, climbed into a lifeboat with others and began to row. The night was cold and dark and the survivors were prisoners of fear of being buried in the water. Some cried out in anguish: "Do not make it!" But Molly Brown refused to give up. She continued rowing. The owners of the New York Times called it "The invincible Molly Brown." It was full of hope, and hope unwavering also inspired others to take it.
Before I began to think about the path to "something" which Molly sang and how we could find. As a youth I remember standing at the kitchen window and continue with the sight of the stone path running east to reach where to look. On each side of the road was overgrown grass in the summer and deep snow in the winter and had only a few scattered houses. I thought: what will be out there for me? Where do I belong? I'm sure you will be asked the same questions. There were times when things do not look very promising. The school I had been very difficult. My friends were leaving and I felt stupid. Do you have any idea how that makes him a person? It's horrible.
When I was twelve years old and feeling very discouraged after a long and difficult winter, my parents had a plan that represented a lot of sacrifices but they hoped would give me hope. Decided to take me beyond the stone path, crossing the Canadian border, crossing the great states of Montana and Idaho to reach Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend a general conference of the Church.
arrived early the first day of the conference and wait in line hoping to get in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, which knew only from photographs. Finally, sections found seats in the balcony where I could actually see the Prophet and to hear him speak live, which I had never thought could happen. The feeling I had at that time was one of hope and understand the meaning of true "path to something." Determined there that day to plant my feet on that path, the straight and narrow path that leads to the celestial kingdom and never give up. I have come to know without any doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way of hope that leads us back to our Heavenly Father and our eternal home.
Hear the Lord's promise us. He says: "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I encircle the arms of my love" (D & C 6:20), and comforts us by saying: "Come unto me all ye that labor and laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls "(Matthew 11:28-29).
However, if we were together on the porch of the back of my house, I stop and ask, "Do you understand the plan of our Heavenly Father and the part that you have in it?" I make this plea to young women: Find your own porch away from the loud voices of the world. Learn to listen, not crickets, but the constant whispers of the Spirit with His message of hope that will help them every step of the way back to the heavenly kingdom.
Can you imagine what would happen if each student send a message of hope to the world that would inspire others to never give up? That is exactly what has happened. Each of the 300,000 young women of the Church were recently invited to participate in a grand global celebration, they were invited to prepare short messages of love and hope to the world and put them inside a helium balloon that would release the dawn of a memorable day autumn.
Angela Santana sent his message of love from Brazil: "We feel peace when we live in righteousness. It's having the Spirit with us, giving us assurance of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Is ready for the day when we can live eternally in the heavenly realms with Heavenly Father. " On the envelope he wrote: "If a man has hope, will never feel unhappy." Shauna
Bocutt of fifteen years, sent from Kinshasa, Zaire, his message of hope and included this special testimony: "I know that Heavenly Father loves me because I asked."
In the Philippines, Dhezie Jimeno wrote: "I would like to share with you a message I hope to keep to the delight of his heart. The message is that God cares and loves them very much. Yes, in life we \u200b\u200bexperience pain and sorrow, sadness and tribulations, but all these things are to experience us, and we can make work together for our benefit. The difficulties are only sent from the Lord, if the experience is evidence of His trust in us. Therefore, we should be happy, be happy, because it is a way of being wise. We just have to call in fervent prayer. I know that God never fails us, He is there, is listening and is deeply interested in us. We have in him a friend. "
With the Gospel in our lives and with our feet firmly planted on the road that leads to the celestial kingdom, we can move forward and upward. There will be some steep hills to climb but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has made agreements with us and has promised to scale to our side every step of the road. His hope, coupled with the hope of thousands of others, can bring light and hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a troubled world. Make agreement on the same day (if not already done so) to plant your feet firmly on the path that leads to the celestial kingdom and never give up. This time, everyone else is a time for hope.
(the book Walking by Faith)
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