1 Cor. 13:8 - Charity Never Faileth

So, the main big news of this week is that I have a new companion: Elder Philip Dela Cruz from Honolulu Hawaii! Elder Threet is getting the Big Transfer back to Arizona. It's going to be good to have a new companion to help me in the Meridian North area. Elder Dela Cruz is a good teacher and is really bold, which is good. We hope to find a lot more people to teach this transfer. In fact, the whole mission does. We had a mission-wide fast to help us find new investigators this past Sunday. So far, we've already seen the hand of the Lord bless us with new families to teach. What a blessing.

One thing I've really enjoyed studying lately is the doctrine of charity, or the pure love of Christ. In the New Testament, we are taught that the two great commandments are "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." (Luke 10:27) These two commandments pretty much sum up every other commandment we are to live by. If we truly love the Savior we will keep his commandments (John 14:15) and if we truly love our fellow men, we will strive to serve and help them in any capacity we can, overlooking their inadequacies as God overlooks ours.

A scripture I really like is 1st Peter 4:8 which reads: "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." Another translation reads "...for charity preventeth a multitude of sins." I love that. Having love for others not only helps us, but prevents sins from happening. If we loved our neighbor, we would never envy the things that they have to the point of stealing, because we respect them too much to do so. If we loved our neighbor, we would not want to say an unkind remark about them, whether in their presence our without their knowledge. If we loved our neighbor, as Peter writes, a multitude of sins could be avoided.

Want a guide to self-improvement? Try substituting your name for the word "charity" in these verses from 1st Corinthians 13:

4 Elder Hopkins suffereth long, and is kind; Elder Hopkins envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not [his] own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Do all those characteristics match up to your traits? Probably not. Me neither. But that's ok, because that's what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. We realize we're not perfect and we can't be without some help. In fact, in this life, we will never be. But because our Savior gave up His life for us on the cross and suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, he fills in those imperfect gaps we all have in our lives through his grace and love. As the ancient prophet Moroni said:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ (Moroni 10:32)

I know I have flaws. I know there are PLENTY of things in my life I've done wrong and regret. But through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I can be cleansed from sins and return to live with my Heavenly Father again someday. Because of what Christ did, I can be with my family forever. I know God and the Savior love us despite all of our mistakes and because of that, I try harder to love other people as much as God would. To truly see them as brothers and sisters. To see them as children of God.

Thanks to all of you who still care about me despite my frailties and mistakes. You mean more than you realize. Hope all is going well in your part of the globe!

Until next time,

Elder Hopkins