New Companion/Daily Walk With The Savior

We did not get a family letter this week but I will share Jake's testimony in the letter I got this week.  Also we got his official return date--Thursday May 14th--Yay!

Farewell to a great companion, Elder Whitehead

Happy Missionaries--Dinner at the Bishop's House!

Today I will simply bear my testimony.  Jesus Christ loves us.  He always has and always will.  I remember being at Especially For Youth when I was 17 and we were given a challenge to sit and read about the life of Jesus Christ.  For the first time my eyes were open and this man, Jesus, was real.  He was more than a person who lived 2000 years ago.  He was there for me and I knew it.  When I listened to the talk titled "The Character of Christ" another very real experience happened.  I sat there in the Missionary Training Center learning about Christ's outward thoughts instead of turning inward to his own personal needs.  I felt the love of Christ once again.  The spirit was so strong and I was so motivated to do everything I could for my Savior.  Many times we feel amazing moments with our Savior that we will never forget.  Those times are special as they add great strength to our testimony and foundation.  however, day to day we forget those moments as we get caught up in life.  The only solution is to have our own daily walk with our Savior.  It has to be personal. There should not be a day that goes by where we don't feel His love and the Spirit's direction.  Without our daily walk we will not live the way our experience has taught us to, and we will live beneath our privilege.

I bear testimony that Jesus Christ is in your midst.
Love, Elder Hoddy  

We Cannot Be Perfect In This Life but We Can Be Perfect In Christ

ELDER BEUS!!! He is going to my companion starting tomorrow and he is seriously one of my favorite people in the whole world. We served together in the Choctaw ward forever ago! Heavenly Father must really love me!

Serving with Elder Whitehead has been so much fun... We've made a lot of post mission plans, but he's on of those BYUi kind of people which is a huge bummer. I served by him in the Village, Choctaw, and got to be his companion. We are friends forever. Anyways there is simply a lot of excitement around here with the soon arrival of Elder Beus.

Here's a quick thought for you that I've been sharing today. I read D&C 50 and verse 40-41 really stuck out... Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me.

Having Christ in our lives is like joining bank accounts with a rich person in marriage. Although we have incredible amounts of debt, Christ's assets are infinite. If we will use His atonement and grow in grace we will never need to worry because assests will be always be greater than debts. We cannot be perfect in this life, but we can be perfect in Christ. I love the quote about the blasphemy we tell ourselves that our power to mess up is greater than Christ's power to heal and redeem. We have a Savior to watch over us all the time and he cares about us more deeply than we can imagine. I am so grateful for my Savior and his gospel. I hope you will take as many opportunities as you can to learn the gospel. #OurDailyWalk

Watching Elder Whitehead prepare to go home has been really interesting. His greatest excitement is to spend time with his family and he has so many different goals than when he came out. Last night, he bore his final testimony to one of our favorite investigator families and let his heart out on how much better off families are in the gospel. It is amazing how much peace we have in this life know that we are a part of an eternal family. That fact gives me a lot of motivation to be my absolute best. I am grateful for the amazing Hoddy family and all the support that you give me. 

The valentines box was hilarious! All of them were so good and I read them all a few times. Thanks for doing that.

I love you.

-Elder Hoddy

Prayer and Priesthood Blessings

Dang that's sad to hear about Grandpa and Liz. I really hope that everything turns out alright and good things come from this. As far as Livi's hair goes I think it's pretty cool and I'm glad she did it. It might scare me a little bit if she was planning on keeping it forever, but High school seems like the time in life to be a little crazy and do some fun things. There will be plenty of time to be grown up, so I'm glad she's being adventurous and having a good time. Ain't nobody got time for boring people.

Mom the topic that has really been on my mind lately has been prayer. I have pondered and pondered truly trying to understand its power. We read so many scriptures that if we ask it shall be given and if we lack wisdom, God will give liberally, but too often we forget or don't understand the power in these promises because we fail to recognize the answers. And, as it is written-- Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive. (D&C 29:6). If you want to take the time to unite the family to pray for something, I promise that the prayers will be answered, and that is not my promise alone. An important question to ask is, what does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus Christ? Does it mean to say His name at the end? I think very literally we should be asking for the same things our Savior would ask for; however Jesus Christ thinks differently that we do, so we have to find the right things to ask for first. You must... Ask the Father in my name, in faith believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men (D&C 18:18). And it shall come to pass that he that asketh in Spirit shall receive in Spirit... and it shall be given you what you shall ask (D&C 48:28, 50:30). I testify that our prayers are answered. If we pray sincerely, our righteous desires will grow and we will be given the things we need most. We must ask for the things that are right, believing that we will receive (3 Nephi 18:20) I challenge you to look for more in your prayers and to search for the answers.

I had a great opportunity to give Elder Whitehead a blessing yesterday because he has kidney stone and was in a lot of pain. I thoughtfully carefully about the right things to say because I knew the counsel and blessings were coming from our loving Heavenly Father. The promise came of divine assistance to get through his challenges and we finished our night in peace. The gospel is true. The gospel is real.

-Elder Hoddy