Without Hope

My sister, Hope’s name has always been one of the unique things about her. She loves the name because she can always find souvenirs with her name. Her name is also easily translated into different languages in Spanish she is known as Esperanza and Toivo in Finnish. Plus her name is really easy to put into all kind of sentences. “I ‘Hope’ it doesn’t rain today”, “’Hope’fully I get a lucky break”, and “You are our only ‘Hope’”. My sister has heard all of these puns and her reaction is to laugh politely and to then move on with her life. One of the phrases that Hope often hears comes from her husband, who often remarks, “Where would I be without ‘Hope’?” Where would the world be without my sister? I might not be able to answer what might the world be without Hope, but I can definitely think of the things that she has done to help the people around her.

To my parents Hope has always been the child that they haven't had to worry about. My parents whose first daughter had been a terror at night always worried if their second oldest, Hope, would have such trouble sleeping. Early on their fears were assuaged as they would often find that Hope would find her way to the crib and be sleeping long before my parents even thought of putting her down to sleep at night. If Hope hadn't been born then I feel like my parents would have been a little less likely to have more children. Plus my oldest sister would have missed having a younger sister that she could hangout with and treat as a friend.

Hope, my Mom, and Audrey.

When the two of my sisters were both younger the two of them hung out a lot. As the two of them got older, that wasn't always the case. But at a young age Hope and Audrey, my other sister, were always doing something with each other. The two sisters' escapades included choreographing dances together, filming skits, and making tons and tons of cookies. The two of them were inseparable and without Hope who knows what might have happened to Audrey.

Beyond the impact that Hope had on her sister there was also the impact that she had on me and my younger brother. As I stated before Hope might have softened my parents' hearts towards having more children, but beyond that there were other things that my sister did to help me and my brother. Mitchell, my brother, and I were always very close to my sister. When Hope was in high school Mitchell and I were making our way through the awkward years of middle school. During those years Hope was always a friend to the two of us helping us to not feel as weird about the future. She also acted as an inspiration by being a very good cross country and track runner and also a very talented flute player. Watching her made me and my brother want to be better at the things we were doing and gave us hope that things would get better down the road.

Me and Hope.

After Hope graduated from high school she met the most important person in her life. That person's name was Joe. Joe who was attending college ran into my sister at a party and the first thing Joe ever said to Hope was, "I heard your name was Esperanza." From what I've heard my sister wasn't too impressed to be called Esperanza by this boy she had just met. But with time Hope began to really like Joe a lot and the two of them spent tons of time together. Eventually they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

 After a few years of marriage my sister gave birth to a baby boy. That baby boy is probably the happiest baby that I have ever seen and everybody thinks that he is absolutely adorable. Now at this point I can tell one thing for sure that wouldn't have happened if there was no Hope. That is that this baby boy wouldn't exist. Because Hope is definitely this boy's mother and no one else could be his mother no matter who they were or what skills they had. Without Hope there wouldn't be this kid and there would probably be lots of other things that wouldn't be. So what I can say is that without Hope in the world there wouldn't be as good of a world. Today I want to thank Hope for being my sister and for making the world a better place.

Hope, Joe, and their baby boy.

A Good Sister

I can still remember the fights that I had with my oldest sister when the two of us were growing up. To win every fight she had with me she would sit on top of me until I conceded and told her that she was right and I was wrong. These fights occurred often and I never once got close to beating her. Even when I finally got bigger than her, my sister always had a way of defeating me physically or of just pointing out flaws in my arguments. 

I have always kind of secretly admired my sister. She always seemed to be able to do everything right. She was smart, beautiful, and fast. Her achievements include being student body president, leading her cross country team to a Region Championship, being a Sterling Scholar, and receiving full ride scholarships at every university she applied at. She was just good at everything she did. 

I remember trying to emulate her success during my high school years. But my attempts at winning a Region Championship, being a Sterling Scholar, and running for Student Government just did not end as well. I can remember thinking why had I not been able to do the things my sister had done? I thought I was just as talented. But somehow I just couldn't do the things that she had done. 

Even as she continued to grow my sister still saw success in everything she did. When she got married in college, she still found time to finish her degree in English, have a full time job, student teach, and then give birth to her first child. There was nothing to stop this girl. Then afterwards she has continued her success and is currently raising two wonderful children in a nice home in Colorado with her awesome husband. 

My goal has always been to be like my sister and to this day I still want to try to do a lot of the things she has done. But like I said before I have not had too much success trying to do the things she did. My high school years were a struggle for me and were not filled with great achievements. For the longest time I could not figure out why. But as I have talked to my sister and paid more attention to her life I have come to see what the difference truly is. The difference is that she puts Christ first in her life. 

My sister has plenty of talents and abilities, but the thing that has made her so good at everything she tries to do is that she loves Jesus. In high school she always went to seminary and was even on seminary council. Then when she went off to college she made sure that she still read her scriptures and went to church even without anyone telling her that she needed to do those things. Even now that she is married she makes sure to teach her young children about Christ. My sister makes sure that those kids know who is most important in their lives. Because of all this time my sister has spent trying to put God first she has received blessings in her life. 

Now I'm trying to change my life and make it more like my sister's. Because she found the secret to success in life. She knows to "seek ...first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you." (3 Nephi 13:33). This principle that my sister tries so hard to live truly does bring blessings. I have seen those blessings start to come into my life as I've tried to put Christ first by keeping His commandments. I now know from personal experience that these blessings are not just for me, but for everybody. So let us all put Christ first.

My Sister and her happy family.

Record Keeping

"There shall be a record kept among you..."

Doctrine and Covenants 21:1

Since I was six years old I have always had a journal. That journal unfortunately has mostly remained empty with only a few entries that I have made throughout the years. In fact my whole year at college before my mission has one entry that I made several weeks into the school year.

Writing in my journal has always been something that I wanted to do, but I have never made a huge priority. So when I left on my mission I made a goal to write in my journal every single day that I was out. So far since June 19, 2013 I have not yet missed a day of writing.

Keeping this daily journal for the last thirteen months has been a real blessing in my life. As the Book of Mormon prophet Alma said, "[These records] have enlarged the memory..." (Alma 37:8) As I go back and look at the events that are recorded in my journal I am able to remember events with greater clarity. I have been able to see the growth in my testimony from the first day of my mission until now. I can see how the hopelessness I felt at the beginning of my mission has now turned into a strong faith in Jesus Christ. If it wasn't for a journal I wouldn't be able to see all the small steps that led to this testimony.

I am thankful for how my journal has helped bless me, but the reason I keep a journal is not just for me. I keep a record so my posterity can be blessed. I want my children to be able to see how I have been blessed in my life. I want them to see how my testimony has grown as I have also grown. I want them to read my journal and learn that there is a God and that He does love His children.

I hope that my journals can help my children out in a similar way to how the scriptures have helped me. Because if not for the written records of the prophets in the Book of Mormon and the Bible there would be much I would be lacking in my testimony. The records of the prophets have "convince [me] of the error of [my] ways, and brought [me] to the knowledge of [my] God unto the salvation of [my] soul." (Alma 37:8).

Now I know that my journal will never take the place of the scriptures. I know that if my children are to gain a testimony of God that they will need to do it from their own experiences and as they read from the scriptures. But I hope that my record will help people to avoid the mistakes that I have made and to go looking for answers themselves. I really hope that my journal can encourage others to go to the scriptures and to read from them.

Let us all keep records as the Lord has commanded us to. So we may be an influence to the generations yet to come. So they may see that God blesses men now and will continue to bless men. As we do this we will be able to see blessings in our lives and be able to strengthen our own testimony that God truly does bless us in the details of our lives.