A Fascinating Week!

Mom, Dad, Tyler, Brandon, Bryson, Alyssa, Ethan, and Ash (who thinks I will be dead by the time she is a missionary),

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!!!!  Maybe I will warm myself up a big old can of stew in memorial. :)  I loved hearing about the Russia party and dangly earrings and all that fun stuff. :)  You are all the best!!!

This week was another classic missionary week full of ups and downs.  We went to the temple on Friday.... and it was the. best. thing. ever.  It was so wonderful and so needed.  We all got to go as a zone to the 7:00 session and it was absolutely fantastic.  I don't know what else I am allowed to even say in here, but just know that I loved it all. :)

Also we got a call from the Assistants this week asking me and Sister Day to do a musical number for our huge zone conference.  Haha wish us luck this week!  I am playing the piano, so thankfully I don't have to sing or anything.  :)  The piano was really the best thing I ever did - I use it so much here.

I am curious about something.  In Alyssa's letter, she said that you had an FHE on Hope.  That is funny, because that was a theme of mine this week!  I have done a lot of thinking about hope.  It can seem kind of ambiguous, so I really wanted to understand what it meant.  We all know the three big virtues are faith, hope, and charity.  I did a lot of thinking on faith and hope; I think they are sister virtues and sometimes they seem very similar.  What I concluded is that faith is believing, or having a knowledge of Jesus Christ and His plan/Atonement.  It is knowing what it is and how it works, and acting on it.  You obey when you have faith, you keep the commandments when you have faith, and you try to repent when you have faith. Hope is something a little different, however.  Hope is knowing all of the things that faith encompasses, but also believing that it will work for YOU.  Not that it works for mankind or humanity or your friend or your mom or everyone else, but for you personally.  That YOU can be forgiven.  That YOU can change.  That God loves YOU, even though you are flawed and imperfect.  Hope is what makes faith-filled people keep growing, keep changing, and keep repenting.  Without hope, all your faith is incomplete.  It is this hope that makes us happy, optimistic, and confident (Elder Uchtdorf explained hope that way once).  Without it, Satan makes us belittle ourselves and doubt ourselves into damnation (not progressing).  I know that Hope comes from Christ and despair from the devil.  I wish I could always remember to keep that Hope so I can build on my foundation and have that true Charity.  Good stuff!

I am here going to paste something I wrote to my mission president that happened this week:

A miracle I saw in our area actually happened yesterday. [...] It has been an interesting week for both me and Sister Day. Our numbers were really down, and it was Saturday night and we had no lessons planned for Sunday. I really, really desired to get two lessons on Sunday, so we made plans and I prayed very specifically that we could get those two lessons. The next day came and the plans we had to teach didn't work out, but we were invited to a members home where we were able to teach her non-member mother and aunt, and then we were able to stop by one of our recent convert's house and share a lesson with his family. It was a miracle, and a direct answer to my prayer! I love the Lord, and I love doing His work here.

I am so grateful to be here in Florida.  It is beautiful, and the people are beautiful.  I love meeting and loving everyone, from the Action Gator mechanics to our apartment gate house workers to the mailman to the relief society president to people biking down the street or the Panda Express worker on break.  There are so many people to know and love! I don't want to leave them!  Thanks for supporting me and loving me and helping me know how to love others!  Haha but especially I love you - my family! :)  I will talk to you again soon!

Love, Hermana Kara Allred