Monday, December 15, 2014

Merry Christmas From Snowy CO!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!!


Um, Good Morning Sunshine!

Can you tell Sis G is estatic this is her last planning session?!? ( poor girl)


































Daddy-O

This week has been INSANE! It was Sister Grenfell's last week as a missionary so it was interesting to be a part of that. Did you ever have to "kill" off a missionary? Well, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but it sure did teach me a lot. I'm sure on the mission you found that there were some times when you thought of home and wanted to be there, well, being with Sister Grenfell and going through things with her, taught me that I am in no way shape or form ready to be home or want to be. There was so much sadness in her that came from knowing that she wouldn't me a missionary anymore and it made me really thankful for the time I still have to serve diligently. We had zone meeting this week which was fabulous! We had all three of us train the missionaries, the two zone leaders trained and then the district leaders did the role plays. I learned A LOT. One of the role plays talked about what we want to become while we are here.  We thought about who we were before, who we are now, and who we want to become. We wrote down what we wanted our older selves to tell us and this is what I wrote: "ALWAYS remember the covenants you've made at baptism and in the temple. STAY TRUE TO YOUR COVENANTS." That really is what I always want to remind myself of, because that is what I am accountable to God for. Elder Rusick (ZL) taught us about spiritual maturity and how through living the gospel of Jesus Christ, we become spiritually mature. One thing he said really stuck out to me, "If the heart is sincere, the change is immediate. Deep repentance is a lot shorter than we think it is." COOL RIGHT?!? Ugh, I am still thinking that one over in my mind! One of the other things I learned, and the last one I will share was in the training Sister Grenfell gave. She explained that in order to become what we want to become, we need to do what is expected and will turn us into what we want to become. She used this analogy: If you want to be a soccer player, you better not spend all your time studying to become a doctor, it won't lead you to your desire. If you want to become a doctor, you better not spend your time playing soccer, it won't lead you to what you want to become. So it is with all of us, we have to do the things that will lead you to what you want to become. 

Some other wonderful things happened this week. We taught an investigator named Lisa this week, she wasn't really progressing before but when we taught her last we watched the Restoration DVD with her and it really touched her, she identified with Joseph Smith because, she too, is trying to find out what is right. This time when we went to go see her we talked to her about prayer and the Book of Mormon, we invited her to read and pray and that when she did that, Heavenly Father would answer her prayers and help her receive answers. Then we invited her to be baptized on January 17th and she accepted the baptism date without hardly thinking about it. As we walked out, we reflected on the prayer we said before we went and taught her. We specifically prayed that she would progress towards January 17th for her baptism. OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! Later on in the week, we were texting people to remind them about church. Ruth, preparing for baptism on December 27th, responded and said she just had her work schedule changed so she couldn't come. We told her that if she didn't come to church she couldn't be baptized on December 27th. (**Investigators have to come to church a few mandatory times before they can be baptized.**) She responded within an hour and said she would be at church, she found someone to cover her shift. MIRACLE. Ruth was at church yesterday and has been smoke free for a week, I have never seen anyone that has wanted to change so much in my life! BLESSINGS. 

We also had some fun times this week, we got to Christmas carol with the YSA sisters to some of our investigators which was a blast and a half.  We ate at subway 3 days in a row.... ew. The things we do to see investigators and less actives... We burnt a skirt for sister g right before church, it went a lot better than Sister Packer and I's last skirt burning experience. BAHAHAHAHA anyways, I love you so much and I love being a missionary. I thought the Christmas season would be really hard not being with you all but as I was reading through a blessing I got last transfer from Elder Bambo, I came across this part, it said that as I work hard and serve the Lord, the blessings and promises in D&C 31 that my family will live, shall be upon me and that as I work hard they will receive safety and comfort. I hope you all are finding that and I hope I can continue to work hard so that you all can also receive those blessings. XOXO 

<3 SISTER HOOPES

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