Die Hoffnung und Der Glaube!.....Week 9 in Klagenfurt

Another week come and gone... and look whats landed in your inbox! It doesn't rhyme. Sorry. And then I also realize that this gets posted on a blog... so like... many of you don't even get this in your inbox. Life. There is so much to it. But in the same thought... it can be so simple. Why is that? So this week was Christmas. Yes. I do like Christmas. It also caused me to do some really deep pondering and thinking about life and about my calling as a missionary. I have many things to rant about today! I came prepared... #boyscout

This week rocked. The best part was certainly skyping home to my family! Oh how wonderful that was. I think that'll even be something I miss when I'm not a missionary... Skyping... It's so cool! I got one more chance to skype on mothers day. Daaang time goes by too fast! Life is so good. I wish you could all understand the joy in my life! The constant burning of love and happiness and joy and wonderfulness in my heart! It's so good!

I got an email a while back and in it the writer told me how the message she got from conference was to be fearless in Missionary Work. That hit me way hard! Cuz like... I'm a missionary and its kind of expected to be fearless. And its something I've not been the best at. Now, I have done a ton of things that are hard and I've been in countless situations where I needed to step up.. but like I still feel like there are times when I need to be more fearless.

The example I came up with and my goal for the coming months is... asking members for referrals. Directly and with purpose. Because that's something I've always been afraid of doing. Asking someone straight up, who they know that we can teach. I've gotten many referrals during my time but I cant think of one where I directly asked. So thats my goal and way of being fearless! And of course there's a lot more to it... but I've got a good idea!

I want to talk about Hope and Faith.

Hope leads to faith as we learn in the scriptures. Faith consists of hope. Hope is a prerequisite of faith. I've hit a wall in goal setting. We are instructed to set goals in FAITH. So whats the difference between setting a goal in FAITH and setting a goal in HOPE. So I took this all apart this week and studied it!

The biggest difference that I could find between hope and faith was one thing.... ACTION. Faith without works is dead. So could we then say that faith without works is hope?

I hope to baptize 1 person this transfer. I hope to do good on my test.

But that seems relatively empty to me. I think it would mean a lot more and have much more depth if I could rather say...

I have faith that we can baptize one person this transfer. I have faith that I will do good on my test.

It puts more depth to it because with the word Faith comes the associated action. In saying I hope that I will do good on a test... there is a lack of confidence. I likely haven't studied well for it. I haven't done my part. Whereas Faith... I have faith... means that I have done what I can to study and I have faith that based on my preparation that I will do well. Faith has action to back it up... which leads to my 2nd point..

A difference between faith and hope is that Faith usually has to do with things we can control or things we can affect. To hope for it to snow is a good desire... but there isn't much I can do to manipulate the weather and cause it to snow. Hope therefore can also be applied to things that we cannot control.

I mean that in setting a goal... I have to put forth effort to get the results I want. I can in essence control the look of my results based on the effort I put in. In hoping to teach people... nothing happens until I find people. In having faith that I can teach someone... the act of faith then leads me to find someone who will be taught.

And all this, if it makes any sense to you, has been on my mind because I feel my goals have become goals of hope rather than goals of faith. I set goals, hoping they will be achieved rather than doing all I can to achieve it.

My goal now is to change that. I have faith that I can change. And that means that I have to actively do something in my life to change that! Oh I could rant for ages about this and so much more, but my goal is to put my goals into action and change my Hope into Faith.

Well howdy do? That's all I really have to say this week. So many thoughts. They're overtaking my mind. I hope you have a wonderful close to 2014 and that you can all achieve the new goals of 2015! Change Hope into Faith! And see the miracles :)

I love you all! Thanks for everything :)

Elder Rodgers <3