Mosiah 2:41: "And
moreover, I would desire that ye should consider
on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the
commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed
in all things, both temporal and spiritual." Im Chase Hobson. I'm a member of the LDS Church. I'm a returned missionary.
I try to be a good
person as much as I can. And I'm Yurok and
Modoc, clan of the Hupa. I'm an integrated studies major. I'm integrating American Indian
studies and peace and justice studies. It's really important to become
educated because that's what we have; that's who we are. That's what carries
over in everything. The more we learn, the more we
grow, the more educated we are, the more we can share
and we can actually understand other things. When I hear "child of
promise," I think--you know, I think of a bright future. Being a child of God, what that
means to me is--it's so simple, but it's so understated
at the same time, because I think we actually hear
the words "child of God" a lot. But I don't think it fully
registers that we're actually God's children. That's how I feel when I pray,
and that's my relationship to God, is He's my Father. It's a very familial
bond, and that's really what that means to me. I know He's my Father;
I know He loves me, the same way that, you know,
I feel about my family members here on earth. Family is everything. And especially
culturally, for Natives, it's a very
family-oriented culture. We take care of our elders
and our extended family. We call everyone "Auntie"
and "Uncle," "Grandpa." We know everyone, and
everyone is family. We look at that, and we
see how we're all related. We're all connected somehow. And the more we appreciate
that, the more family actually means to us. It's way easier to
accomplish things after knowing who you
are, through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing my testimony,
knowing the gospel has helped me through
a lot of hard times just because I know who I am. I know, you know, what
things are trivial and what things,
really, I can overcome. "And if they hold out
faithful to the end they are received
into heaven, that thereby they may dwell
with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that
these things are true; for the Lord God
hath spoken it."