• Hope letters

    Abide In Faith

    While serving in Guatemala as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Randall Ellsworth survived a devastating earthquake, which hurled a beam down on his back, paralyzing his legs and severely damaging his kidneys. He was the only American injured in the quake, which claimed the lives of some eighteen thousand persons. After receiving emergency medical treatment, Elder Ellsworth was flown to a large hospital near his home in Rockville, Maryland. While he was confined there, a newscaster conducted with him an interview that I witnessed through the miracle of television. The reporter asked, “Can you…

  • Thoughts

    Finding Him

    Last summer I had a chance to go to a Toby Mac concert.  I’m a lover of christian music and so I couldn’t wait!  I enlisted my two daughters to go with me and, since we all grew up listening to christian music, they were in. It was a little different than what I expected.  I was the minority being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but listening to Toby Mac was incredible. In the middle of the concert, Toby got a break and they brought in a preacher.  He was all about saving…

  • Hope letters

    That Darn Cold

    Two weeks ago, my husband got sick with a nasty cold.  It was not just sniffles.  It was full blown fever, chills, heaviness in his chest.  He thought he could die. It was that bad.  Hey.  It happens.  We all get sick sometimes.  The problem was timing.  We had a daughter getting married and it was important that he could show up and support her. As this cold dragged on, the realization that being there was becoming bleak.  With the wedding in two days, we were still waiting for the fever to break, a sign that he was getting better.…

  • Hope letters

    Miracles Through Death

    One of the hardest things to go through in this life is losing someone. Especially a child.    Our oldest got invited to a sleepover birthday celebration for one of his friends.  That night, as most boys do, they stayed up playing games and eating junk food. Early in the morning they decided to go swimming in a reservoir close to his friend’s home. Having been up all night, they made it out about 100 feet and then realized they were exhausted and decided to swim back.  All of the boys made it back except one.  My son.  As they looked…

  • Hope letters

    Help Through Prayer

    When I was a young resident physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, I worked long hours and traveled between the hospital and our home in Watertown, Massachusetts, mostly by bicycle since my wife and young family needed our car. One evening I was riding home after a long period in the hospital, feeling tired and hungry and at least a bit discouraged. I knew I needed to give my wife and four small children not only my time and energy when I got home but also a cheery attitude. I was, frankly, finding it hard to just keep pedaling. My route…

  • Hope letters

    Who Filled The Font

    After missing a bus in Nairobi, Kenya, my companion and I decided to share the gospel with everyone we saw while waiting for another bus to our area.  We talked to over 400 people. One of them was Benard, who worked construction nearby.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it daily and ask God if it was true. Four months later, I was transferred to Nairobi.  At my first sacrament meeting there, I saw Benard.  He had since been baptized and ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. Benard excitedly invited us to visit his home…

  • Hope letters

    Thank God for Redirected Prayers

    I had the coolest experience today. I was thinking about this house we are planning to build. It’s really been a strain. We’ve gone back-and-forth, over and over about if we should do it or not. Today, which is Sunday, I thought, “Well, let me really go pray about this.” I went to my bedside and knelt down. (My husband was not home.) I then began to pray about the house and I did so for maybe 3 or 4 minutes, when my son’s name came to mind. Suddenly I was filled with a great desire to pray for him.…

  • Hope letters

    A Prayer of Protection

    Our family was headed to spend the weekend with my parents who were living in Providence Utah with us living in West Jordan at the time.  Before we would leave to go on a trip we would make it a point of praying and asking for safety and protection while doing so. This has proved to be a blessing many times over and I’m very thankful that we have always made a point to do so.  On this occasion we had made it to Brigham City and stopped at the stop light before starting up the hill that would take…