The Final Epistle of Elder Hopkins to the North Carolinians

It is with mixed emotions that I sit down to compose this, the final epistle of my missionary service in Boise. First of all, I thank God for each and every one of you who have shown your support over these past two years as I've been in Boise, whether by letters, e-mails, cards or other, unwritten and intangible ways. I know that the prayers which have been offered for me were not few in number, neither were they tethered to any specific religion or faith. I can truly rejoice, knowing the goodness in the hearts of the people I am privileged enough to call friends. "I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." (Romans 15:29)

The thought on my mind now - and I'm sure many of your minds - is: "Now what?"

I may not be able to lay out the course of the rest of my life or be certain of where I will graduate, who I will marry, how many children I have or where I will work and live in the future. However, I do have the tools to know that my future will be exactly what my Heavenly Father knows it can be. As Luke put it, the scriptures were written "that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." (Luke 1:4) Through study of the scriptures, prayer and attending Church, I have confidence that God will lead me to where I need to go, who I need to meet and what I need to do.

Jeffrey R Holland said, "God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go." I really like that sentiment. We've all made mistakes. I'm not even talking about sins at this point, but just mistakes. I'll name a few of mine so you can get an idea of what I mean.

I did not study as hard in college as I could have, or take it as seriously as I should have. I am willing to change that. I was not as physically active as I could have been. I am willing to change that. I did not tell my family often enough how much I love them. I am willing to change that.

Hopefully from those few illustrations, you can see what I'm trying to get at. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was not ONLY to take away our sins. And it isn't ONLY sins that we can repent of. This was a fallacy I had in my mind before my mission. The Atonement - that is, Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary - is not solely for mending things of a spiritual nature. The everyday, the secular, the ordinary things are also included - probably more often - in that all-encompassing act of forgiveness and compassion. Repentance includes small, seemingly insignificant changes we make to be better people, and consequently, better disciples of Christ. They may seem like little things today, but they could end up being, over time, large problems that seem difficult to handle. "The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken" said Samuel Johnson. So we need to learn to repent and change even the little things in our lives to be better.

Our future depends on it.

The last remark I want to make has to do with having hope. As Ether said in the Book of Mormon, "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." (Ether 12:4)

The future is all about faith and hope. We have to have confidence that God will keep His promises. That when we pray, He will dedicate our performance to the welfare of our souls (See 2 Nephi 32:9). I know He will. There is no other way to express it. Faith is not blind, that much I know. It may not be seen, but it is felt.

As President Thomas S. Monson, the living Prophet on the Earth today, said in April of 2009, "My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

I may need sunglasses.

With all the gratitude I posses,

Elder Mike Hopkins