Hope hasn’t been canceled.

When the COVID-19 virus hit and New Zealand went into lock down, I came home from a walk one day and found this sign taped to my door.

(BTW is it canceled or cancelled?  Which spelling is correct?  According to Grammarly.com, both spellings are correct:  Americans favor canceled –one L- while cancelled –two Ls- is preferred in British English and other dialects.)

Sunday afternoon, I was thinking about some of my family, friends, and missionaries who have been struggling with trials and “storms” in life and of the difficulties facing the world around me.  I recognize how it could be so easy to lose hope. 

As you most likely know from past blogs, I like to read and study BYU Devotional talks as well as General Conference talks.  This week I read a talk that I really liked which spoke of hope as an anchor to our soul.  That being the title of the talk given by Alan R. Harker, helped me to gain a greater understanding of hope.   Brother Harper states: 

“I have always been curious about hope and how we obtain it. It is something we all desire. In scripture it is always sandwiched between faith and charity. What is this hope, how does it act as an anchor of our souls, and how do we obtain this hope that we all seem to so desire? I will endeavor to address, if not answer, some of those questions today. 

I wish to dismiss rather quickly two worldly notions regarding both hope and anchors. Hope in the scriptural sense is not wishing. We use the word hope far too often in that shallow context and thereby confuse ourselves into believing that hope is a transitory state that can be achieved in times of duress through mere desire or anxious longing. This is not the hope that is “both sure and stedfast.” 

Just as hope is not the same as wishing, neither are anchors dead weight meant to slow us down or impede our progress. The proper use of an anchor is paramount to safety on the water.”

Brother Harker goes on to tell a story of a storm where boats left in the harbor were damaged and broken while boats that went to sea and dropped an anchor weathered the storm without damage. He says:

“The boats that had left the harbor were among the few vessels that successfully weathered the storm. They went to sea and dropped an anchor—not just any anchor but a storm, or sea, anchor. These anchors are clearly not a new invention, although the materials and technology of them have improved over time. Storm anchors are basically underwater kites or parachutes. 

There are multiple purposes for this type of anchor. Even in a substantial storm, the anchor prevents the vessel from being significantly moved from its initial position. A boat that gets turned sideways in high seas is apt to capsize and founder. This anchor allows the vessel to maintain stable orientation relative to prevailing winds and predominant waves. The differential movement between the tethered vessel and the underlying waves yields a more responsive rudder, allowing the ship to navigate changes in the oncoming waves. Finally, the anchor prevents a vessel caught on a large wave from sliding headlong down and crashing into the next wave. 

I am sure it is apparent where my metaphor is taking us. Real hope, based on eternal principles and spiritual experiences, is an anchor to our souls, intended to have and capable of having precisely the same effects as a sea anchor. In the storms that will descend on our seemingly safe harbor of home, family, church, and career, real hope grants us stability, affirms our orientation, and allows us to steer through troubled waters with measured progress.”

Brother Harker goes on to say: 

“I am most grateful that my children have made the necessary efforts to forge anchors of their own—anchors made through years of experience with the Atonement and our Savior’s love. My daughter’s expressions of desperation and comfort, grief and hope, are universal. They are mirrored perfectly in Paul’s exhortation to the Romans. The individual circumstances will change, but we will all experience this spiritual learning cycle over and over again so that we might know the good from evil and experience joy and sorrow, sickness and health—all that we might seek solace in the Atonement offered by our Savior and Redeemer. Our tribulations come in various forms: death, chronic pain, financial hardship, infidelity, divorce, prodigal children, or addiction. The sources are innumerable. 

But it is precisely the universality of our experiences that allowed Paul to foresee the consequences of our faithful and spiritual acquisition of hope. These consequences are found in a subsequent verse that I have likewise withheld: 

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 

And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. [Romans 5:1–5] 

With our anchors of hope duly deployed, we are prepared to more carefully listen to the promptings of the Spirit. We are prepared through our humble understanding of the Atonement and God’s love to offer a reflection of that love to all around us. This is charity—that through our words, actions, and service, the love of God is shed abroad as we proclaim our unashamed testament to the reality of His being, to our Father’s love for each of His children, and to His promise of redemption and eternal life. The Holy Ghost then bears witness to the truthfulness of that unashamed testament. 

In following this pattern, a new property of spiritual anchors begins to emerge. Each of us begins to share our anchors—mine become yours and yours become mine. And all are strengthened together against the oncoming storm. Inspired prophets, seers, and revelators have urged us to this end from the beginning and still do to this day. 

Paul’s words were perfectly summarized by Nephi: “Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men” (2 Nephi 31:20). Paul simply and eloquently instructed us in the process by which faith, hope, and charity are linked inexorably to our eternal progression and well-being.”

I have quoted a lot of this speech but Brother Harker gives additional examples and experiences from his own life that are touching.  I would encourage you to read for yourself. 

This has been a great week!   We are beginning to get new missionaries in the mission.  On Tuesday we had a transfer planning meeting and on Thursday we welcomed 17 missionaries to the mission.  As I mentioned in last week’s blog, these missionaries are New Zealand citizens who were brought home at the beginning of the COVID situation when all missionaries were returned to their home countries (Unless their home country borders were closed.) 

It was so fun to be with the missionaries again.  We had an orientation to the mission and lunch before the missionaries went out into the mission to begin their new assignments.  We will be getting more missionaries in the next two weeks.

I’ve made my daily trek to the sea except for Saturday.

This rock wall at the end of the beach has this gorgeous “basket” of red flowers

There are groups of swimmers every morning at the beach.  Today it was 49 degrees.
I’m sure they must wear wet suits but we did see one man walking
into the sea in bare skin and swim shorts.  BRRRR!

Looking in one directions this morning I saw the moon.  It made me think of the song my grandchildren sing:
 Mr Moon, Mr Moon you’re up too soon.  The sun is still in the sky! 
Go back to bed and cover up your head and stay till the day is nigh.

Except it was the sun coming up and the moon not yet gone to bed.

   

Saturday, I went to Whangarei 2 hours north, to check on a missionary who was attacked by a dog on Friday evening.  The sister’s face was badly lacerated requiring plastic surgery.  It was good to see that she was doing as well as possible.  I went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for her and then to the grocery story to pick up some applesauce and pudding and easy things to chew and swallow.

Sister Lucas rode with me so after my “ministering” we took a walk along the Hatea River which runs through Whangarei and empties into the sea.  It was a beautiful day and the walk was wonderful.  I got my 10,000 steps plus even though we didn’t walk to the beach.

Orange trees loaded with fruit.

Wall art.

White faced heron.

On our way back to Auckland, we stopped at the Kauri Museum.  I have been there several times but Sister Lucas had never been there and it is a site that one should not miss when in New Zealand.

Kauri are among the world's mightiest trees, growing to over 50 m tall, with trunk girths up to 16 m, and living for over 2,000 years.  If you would like to learn about the Kauri tree, here is a link.

Here some pictures taken inside the museum.

Slabs of wood from kauri trees line some of the walls inside the museum.  This is one of the oldest ones I saw.
I really like the grain and color of the wood.

One of the rooms in the museum contains a very large collection of Kauri gum.
The gum was most valuable and caused a “rush” similar to the California gold rush.

Kauri gum is a fossilised resin extracted from kauri trees which is made into crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, before Māori and European settlers caused deforestation, causing several areas to revert to sand dunes, scrubs, and swamps. Even afterward, ancient kauri fields continued to provide a source for the gum and the remaining forests.

Kauri gum was Auckland's main export in the second half of the 19th century, sustaining much of the early growth of the city. Between 1850 and 1950, 450,000 tons of gum were exported. The peak in the gum market was 1899, with 11,116 tons exported that year, with a value of £600,000 ($989,700). The average annual export was over 5,000 tons, with the average price gained £63 ($103.91) per ton.

If you would like to read about the gum and the collection/digging for it, you may do so here.

We have had no new cases of COVID-19 for I believe 17 days.  The government officials met today, Monday the 8th, and this was their decision:

“The Government has announced that New Zealand can safely move out of Alert Level 2 at 11:59pm on Monday 8 June.  

Until then, we're still at Alert Level 2, and all Alert Level 2 guidance and restrictions apply. 

At Alert Level 1, everyone can return without restriction to work, school, sports and domestic travel, and you can get together with as many people as you want.
Controls at the borders remain for those entering New Zealand, including health screening and testing for all arrivals, and mandatory 14 day managed quarantine or isolation. 

As we unite to recover from the effects of COVID-19, it's still important that we keep the basic hygiene measures, including washing your hands and coughing or sneezing into your elbow.”

This is great news!!  I haven’t heard yet but I’m thinking that restrictions on missionaries teaching and door knocking may be lifted and we may be able to return to church on Sunday since there is no restriction now on group sizes.  We will have to wait to see what instructions we receive from the Church leaders.

Two of my dinners:  Chicken on salad greens

and pulled pork sandwich with oven roasted potatoes and yams along with a caprese salad.

As we go into this next week, I pray for your health, happiness, and safety.  I encourage you to have hope. 

I love my Savior.  I love you my family and friends.