Happy July everyone, from Sunny CO!

Pappa Bear, 

 This week was rough because of the holiday, members and nonmembers were nowhere to be found! I guess here there are a lot of places to go camping and hiking so people are really into doing that on holidays and such. But not every week can be epic, sometimes we have to have our "off weeks" to humble us and help us rely on the savior. There were a few highlights though that I wanted to share with you. 

On Tuesday we went on exchanges, I got to go with Sister Mall to the Malley ward. I LOVE SISTER MALL. She is leaving at the end of this transfer and she is just so full of love and never wants to waste a minute, she's my kind of missionary. We have made it a goal to never leave an area without talking to someone whether by street contacting, tracting or a potential in the area we can go see. It's a really effective thing to do and you talk to a ton of people you wouldn't have thought to talk to, I really like it.

 One of the biggest highlights of the week was seeing Yovanne, she's the excommunicated member that wants to be re-baptized. We taught her the law of chastity this week and at first it was super rough, as soon as we brought it up she kind of hardened and so it was hard to teach her because she didn't really want to talk about it or answer any questions we asked her. It didn't go as we planned at all, but then something really cool happened. As she talked we both just listened and when we turned our focus from teaching to listening, the spirit told us what to say. We were able to come to the conclusion that she felt that she had not repented fully. She told us that the law of chastity was an awkward thing for her to talk about and she also said that she had been praying the night before and the spirit told her she needed to repent. She said she thought about it and she decided that she did need to do that so she prayed and talked to heavenly father about it. We told her that we were very proud of her for listening to the spirit and doing what she needed to to be closer to her heavenly father. She then continued to tell us that she was doubting that she'd be able to be baptized again because of her past and that she was feeling pretty hopeless. We were able to testify to her that her heavenly father loved her so much, that he was so proud of her and that he wouldn't deny her the blessings of salvation if she was repenting and doing all she could to get back on the pathway towards him. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG and I knew we had taught Yovanne by the spirit. 

The other really neat experience happened yesterday. We didn't have any set appointments and so the night before we planned out a potential 

appointment every 30 minutes. It was about 3:30 and I had a prompting that we should go see a returning less active. We had seen her last week and we had already taught her the lessons but we decided to go over. When we got there she answered the door and she had tears streaming down her face. We had no idea what was going on and so we went in and she told us that right before we got there her ex-husband called and told her that he couldn't pay the mortgage anymore and he would have to file for bankruptcy which meant the mortgage would fall on her. Her current husband said that he wasn't willing to deal with that and said that she should decide what she wanted from their house and pack her things and go. She was in shock and both sister reynolds and i had no idea what to say. I had no idea what to do, this was a serious real life issue that I hadn't ever faced in my entire life but I knew God wanted us to be there. So after a couple minutes of her telling us what was going on and then silence, she asked us what we wanted to talk about. We told her we wanted to watch a video presentation of the restoration but that it didn't really seem fitting anymore. She said it was fine and so we watched it. It was amazing to feel the spirit of the room change as we watched all the struggles and trials of the early saints. By the end, all of us felt that our problems were so small and that there wasn't anything God couldn't help us with. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the message of the restored gospel can heal any wound, not matter how serious. When we are being taught those truths by the spirit we are made whole. It was an incredible experience and I know the lord is working through sister reynolds and I here in east lake. 

Transfers are in two weeks, everyone is voting me off the island since I seem to be well seasoned here in east lake but I'm just not ready to go. Sister Pitts and I were talking and she said "You really are sealed to the East Lake Ward aren't you?" I am.... its pretty pathetic. But I do know that its all up to Heavenly Father and I'll go wherever he sends me. We spent our fourth of july at home. All the missionaries had to be in by 6 so we watched the testaments and played harry potter trivia. We also discovered some really cool straws from 7/11 so we had fun with those too. Oh and just in case you were wondering, I made it through a whole tube of toothpaste in 6 months and I am pretty proud of it. So I have estimated that I will need about 2 more tubes before my time is up. HAHA! I love you Dad, I hope you have a great day and don't cry anymore... Just kidding. Its okay to cry, plus its not crying if your eyes are just a little sweaty. NO WORRIES! XOXOXOXO 

P.S. The last picture was us and our car full of all of our stuff since we are moving houses today.... ah!!!

SISTER HOOPES

Kenzie's New Mission Pres. has some "Big Pants" to fill :)

PAPPA BEAR, 

Well this week was pretty CRAZY! President Toombs left on Saturday but the last time we saw him was on Tuesday. We all circled around him and sister toombs and pretty much had story time. We were able to ask him anything we wanted, and they talked about what their mission has meant to them. It was pretty surreal and a very unique experience. I've attached my last mission pic with President. WHAT A STUD. 

On Wednesday we got to meet with Jimmy Brown, an investigator of ours, his wife is a less active member and he is 68 years old and has stage 4 cancer. Our relief society has been taking them meals and that's how we got in with them. About a month ago Jimmy told a sister in the ward that he wanted to be baptized while she was taking dinner over to them. Sister Berry and Sister Brown were both floored. She called us right away and we taught Jimmy the first lesson a few days later. For several weeks we tried to set up an appointment to come see them and every time it would fall through because of Jimmy's illness. We had talked to President Toombs about the situation and he said that Jimmy wouldn't have to attend church before being baptized. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. This past Wednesday we invited Jimmy to be baptized this Saturday, he accepted. In that lesson we taught him all of lesson 2 and 3. Two days later we taught him the last lesson which were all the commandments and he had our district leader interview him for baptism.He passed with flying colors. June 28th, 2014 Jimmy Brown was baptized. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! Brother Warner, a member of the bishopric, baptized him. We got really worried because the Browns were running a little late to the baptism.... like 30 minutes late... and the font was draining so we had to try and fill it and shut the water off so we could all hear. When it was time for the actual baptism the water had drained again and it was only up to their knees. Brother Warner had to help Jimmy down the steps and help him kneel down, it made me cringe just because of how frail he is. He was baptized face down because the water was so low but it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. A MIRACLE FOR SURE. We had a group of about 12 missionaries sing come thou fount and it was beautiful. The spirit was so strong! Sunday morning Jimmy made it to church with his wife Carol so he could be confirmed. We helped them in and sat down in the front row with them. Brother Warner confirmed Jimmy and it was so powerful, everyone in the meeting felt the spirit and it was so touching the hear the words that were said to him. He was told that when those tender moments happened and he'd have to say his goodbye's his words would be filled with the spirit and be able to touch the hearts of the ones he loved. Jimmy and Carol were able to partake of the sacrament following his confirmation, jimmy for the first time and carol for the first time in a long time. She leaned over to me and asked "Should I take it? I haven't done it in a long time." I said that of course she should and she responded that that's the reason everyone was there, to take of the sacrament. I told her that was right and that her Heavenly Father was so proud of her and Jimmy. After the meeting Brother Warner thanked us for letting him be a part of the baptism, he said that he felt so blessed and he was excited for this new addition into our ward and would like to accompany us the next time we visited the Browns. I've learned a whole awful lot from this whole experience. First:  One is never too far in life to change themselves to be more in line with the Savior. Second, when people are involved in helping someone along their covenant path their testimony grows and they change as well as the person receiving the saving ordinances. And third, that the Lord knows the timing in which things need and must happen. 

***Jimmy Brown and his family on their

baptism day. ***

A couple other neat things happened this week, we were able to see Cienna. She was a potential from when sister grenfell and i first got to east lake. A couple months ago we stopped by to try and see her and her mom answered the door. She was frazzled and said it wasn't a good time because they were in the middle of a family emergency. We tried stopping by a couple weeks later and no one was home. Finally on wednesday we stopped by again because another appointment had fallen through. Her mom answered again and said she was so happy we came back. We asked is Cienna was home and she said she wasn't but that she would be back later that night. She asked if we could come back and we said of course. Her mom proceeded to tell us that the family emergency that occurred was that Cienna had run away and they couldn't find her. She had come back the day before we stopped by. She was happy we came because she wants Cienna to have God in her life. We were able to meet with her later that night and she told us that she wanted to change, she wanted better friends, wanted to go a different direction with her life and make better choices. We are meeting with her again tonight with a young woman in our ward. We hope to have Cienna at mutual this week, as well as church and set with a baptismal date. 

The Jones kids are doing as great as ever! This week we talked about missionary work! Austin has more recently decided to serve a mission and is excited every time we talk about it. Arthur's biggest concern was that he wouldn't be able to date.... we assured him that by the time he makes it to 18 he will think girls are gross anyways! HAHA! Troy's concern was that he didn't want to knock doors all day. We assured him that by the time he goes on his mission he will rarely if ever have to knock doors. It was a really great lesson and its been awesome to see this family grow. 

We had an interesting lesson with the Lopez girls this week. Sister Lopez put scriptures on the end of some roasting sticks and had all of us take a stick, read the scripture, discuss what it meant and why it was important and then we could roast a marshmallow. It was a really cute idea. After we roasted marshmallows we talked about how we knew God was our loving heavenly father. We all circled around and said what we thought, it was really powerful to hear the girls bear their testimonies of who their Heavenly Father was to them. It was a beautiful night and the spirit was felt.

The Lopez girls roasting marshmallows and reading scriptures.

Sorry this e-mail didn't discuss too much of the week but it hit the highlights for sure! I love being a missionary and its crazy how fast the time flies when you are doing the Lord's work. Sometimes it can be really stressful and frustrating but moments like the ones that have happened this week make all the difference and lift your spirits higher than they've ever been before. There's no substitute for missionary work than work. When you're working you're happy and when you're happy the work moves swiftly. I love you so much dad! Hope all is well and stays well. XOXO 

<3/ SISTER HOOPES

P.S. when we were setting up for the baptism we found some really huge pants... so of course we wore them...


 ****The pants that Kenzie's new Pres is going to have to fill.   Man those are huge!****

Blown up houses, a British Companion, and many other noteworthy news stories :)

Papa Bear,

Thank you for your letter! Any letter is exactly what I need, no matter the length :) Im glad y'all made it through the week of never ending food, I was worried! But it sounds like you will have some fun backpacking to look forward to! Cant wait to see pictures of that! My letter may not be very long either. There seem to be about a billion and a half missionaries here all at once trying to get to their emails from home. CRAZY! This week went really well. Sister Reynolds and I are getting along really well. I took your advice and observed and also served. I have found that loving people in or out of things is the most effective, however it takes a lot of time and effort on my part. Which, in the end is so worth it. We talked the other day just about how the Lord can't bless us and put the prepared in our path if we aren't doing all that is in our power to be worthy of that. It seemed to really help us get on the same page. On Tuesday we taught 7 lessons, 3 of which were member present lessons. The scripture study class that we teach seems to be gaining momentum and we have more and more people there every week! YAY! No efforts are wasted! On Wednesday we got to go to the temple. This month I went to the temple with gratitude instead of a question. I felt so happy just being there and being able to feel the spirit. We were able to go with Annie Pitts and Sister Pitts, it was WONDERFUL! :) I LOVE THE TEMPLE! I was able to see Sister Grenfell when we went, it was nice to catch up. She is finding lots of success in her new area and ward! On Saturday we had a ward activity that the missionaries were invited to go to. The whole previous week we spent time less active tracting and handing out fliers for the activity. On Saturday we had over 100 people at the ward activity! IT WAS AWESOME! A member in the ward is part of a band called the WannaBeattles. They performed and it attracted a lot of nonmember neighbors and friends! Every week I am just so thankful to be here in East Lake! Now for the funny part of the email. Since my companion is British I have been writing down all the interestingly strange things she says, here is what they were this week: Jabs, instead of shots. Zed, instead of saying just "Z" at the end of the alphabet. Trousers, instead of pants. In England pants are like underwear so that has made for some interesting conversations/misunderstandings... Garden, instead of back yard or any kind of yard or open grass field. And my favorite, CHEEKY! She says it all the time and I think its the most hilarious thing ever! For example, the other day we were picking up a member to go with us to an appointment and at her house there was this convert there who was helping her with some house problems. We got out of the car and he helped load her wheelchair in the back. He said to us, "Dang, if my missionaries looked like you two, I would have converted a lot sooner." #SUPERAWKWARD! Sister Reynolds looks at me with a horrified face and then grinned and said "Cheeky!" BAHAHAHA IT WAS SO FUNNY! Anyways, we ate dinner at a members house last night and as we were talking he mentioned living in Arizona! I asked him if he knew any Harwards and he said "Yeah, I knew a Rand Harward." (***Rand Harward is McKenzie's uncle***) They were MTC companions! He showed me a couple pictures of them together in the MTC and he said that he met the whole family in the airport before they left! So Brother Cottam has met mom!!!! CRAZY!!! It blew my mind! Well, I love you! I hope you have a GRAND week and I think you're the best! 

P.S. There was a house that blew up one road down from us, they still don't know what it was but it was pretty scary. We are all okay and all the insulation is cleaned up off of our house.

***I realize these aren't pictures of McKenzie, however, they are the pics she took of my brother, Rand, while he was in the MTC preparing to serve a mission in Uruguay, South America in the late 80's.**

Rand and Bro. Cottam

The guy on the right is the man whose house they were having dinner at this past week.  The world is a small place in the church.  Where there is usually 6 degrees of separation, in the church there seems to be 2. :)

This is what Rand still looks like today.  Not even kidding.  The kid is ageless. :)

I guess Rand broke his foot in the MTC and I must have forgotten?? 

A New Beginning! :) The adventures of Reynolds and Hoopes Begin!!

***Before today's posting, I wanted to share with you all why all these letters are addressed to McKenzie's Father...I was asked a few times by people why McKenzie's letters are never addressed to me, her mom. McKenzie and I write to each other, however, if I posted those, it would be much too personal.  These letters I post are ones that are sent to Blaine and our family in general. After I take out things that are personal (aka family secrets, lol) then these are fit for the public's eyes. Just wanted to clear that up. :)  And now, enjoy!!

Beautiful CO skies

Sister Hoopes and Sister ????? (Reynolds maybe??) Stay tuned for next weeks pictures and we'll see. :)

Goodbye Pres. and Sister Toomes, we will miss you!!

Sister Svedin (a sister missionary trainer)

PAPA BEAR!!!!! 

Since you will probably want to know where I am, I'll tell you! After the rest of this letter is typed..... now you're probably scrolling to the bottom. That's okay! I LOVE YOU! I'm always so happy to hear that all is well at home! It makes my heart glad! I would have to agree with you that Calvin is the cutest little boy to walk the face of the earth... until I have a son... bahaha! He's safe for a while! His cards make me laugh so hard and smile always! He is so thoughtful, organized and athletic! He amazes me so much! I am so proud of Chris! What an achievement! Thank you for those pictures! Candice told me she came down! She said she LOVED it and how much she loves and misses you all! I am so happy she feels welcome with you all. It makes me happy to know that you all can still be close and love each other even if I'm not there. She is especially impressed with Hailey and Kenyon. She thinks Hailey is becoming exactly like me! To some extent I agree but Hailey is so special and very much her own person. I have seen a lot of positive growth in her and I know she is becoming exactly who her Heavenly Father wants her to be. She really loves all of you, as do I!  You'll be happy to know I am completely well and happy as ever! :) So for this week! We had some pretty cool things happen! We had Carissa, our recent convert, bring a friend to a scripture study class we have. We haven't started teaching him or anything, he's out of our area, but she is on fire! She is so close to the spirit and to Heavenly Father and I love seeing that in her! She is working at paying tithing and is really trying so hard to do the right things! We had mission conference this week! WOW! It was so cool! It felt like a mini MTC all over again! The whole chapel and overflow were filled to the brim with missionaries and it was so great! President and Sister Toombs spoke to us and gave their departing testimonies... Talk about a heart wrencher! Sister Toombs talked about how important is it for us to be obedient because in order to be true disciples of Christ, his image has to be seen in us and that only comes through being obedient! President spoke about who we really are. He talked about who our Heavenly Father is and how he is the God of millions upon millions of galaxies, yet we are the crowning glory of all his creations. HOW SPECIAL ARE EACH OF US?!? SO INCREDIBLY SPECIAL. That fact alone changes lives. It's changed mine. Often times I really have to try hard to remember that because the work can be hard on you in every way possible and it gets even more discouraging when you don't remember where you came from. Remembering makes you capable of SO much! It takes the fear, the loneliness and the stress away from the work. On Wednesday we go to mutual with the youth to extend invitations to do missionary work and try to get people to fellowship the ym/yw age investigators we have that attend. So we always do a spiritual thought in opening exercises and this week we decided to do the first vision. We got to the point where we were supposed to recite the first vision and it was my turn to speak. I started saying the experience of Joseph Smith and the spirit touched my heart so deeply. I started to tear up, which looking back was super embarrassing in front of a bunch of youth, but in a way I needed that experience. I was able to truly testify of the divinity and importance of that event. Everyone in the room could feel the spirit and we invited them all to think about their testimony and the things they believe and to tell those things to someone close to them this week. Hopefully they did it, we will follow up this Wednesday! But it was a really neat experience, one that helped me more fully know that it was true. On Saturday we got to teach the Martin Family again and it went really well. We were finally able to talk about the restoration and they came to church on Sunday! It was really great! WE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE THERE ON SUNDAY!!! We had three of the Martins, Beth and her son (friends of the Pitts that we hope to start teaching, we set up an appointment with them), Maxine (a former investigator), the Lopez's (current investigators with a bap date), and the Jones family (ARTHUR AND TROY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY..... BOOOOOOOOOOOOYAH)! We also had the Carrolls there (returning less actives). Brother Carroll even went out and bought a white shirt and tie to wear! The Williams, also a less active family. Carissa, I just love that she is still goin' strong! And now, for the BIG NEWS! Sister Hoopes is officially....... STILL AN EAST LAKE MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOO! SOOOOO HAPPY! Although, my lovely trainer, best friend, and mom Sister Grenfell has moved on. She is now serving in Aurora in a highly concentrated poly ward! She is so excited, she has also become a sister training leader (which is the equivalent of a zone leader). I was sad to see her go and I feel like my heart is still pretty sad but I know I will see her again, whether that's in a year when I come home or whether its while we are still here it'll be great! My new companion is SISTER REYNOLDS!! She is from England and has been out one transfer longer than I have. This is the first time she has ever been transferred so she is a little scared and doesn't know what to expect but I reassured her that she has entered into the GREATEST PART OF THE MISSION and that she will probably want to be sealed to East Lake for eternity. We are getting along so well already and I know it'll be great for the both of us! She has such a cute accent and her brother is serving in GILBERT, AZ! Cool right?!? Anyways, life is great pops! I feel so blessed to still be here, I love it so much. It's a home away from home and I am excited about this new adventure with Sister Reynolds! :) I LOVE YOU! 

<3 Sister Hoopes

P.S. Other missionaries are starting to see our awesome shirts and are asking when they can have one.... The jealousy tactic has worked ;) 

Their Last Week Together......

Some P-day fun!

"Hello Dahling, isn't it a fabulous day??" (cheeky!)

Papa Bear, 

 Can I just say that your hammocks look so so so legit! You'll sleep real nice in there! :) Maybe next summer you and I can take them out and camp for a day or two! I'd love that. The Pitts are a really special family, they truly LOVE all the missionaries they get and have helped me feel like I have a family here in CO. There are several families I feel that way about!  Your mission broke 500 baptisms?!? HOLY NUGGETS! THATS AWESOME! :) 

So this week was pretty awesome! We picked up a few new investigators but one was really neat. So do you remember me telling you about the Browns? Her husband has stage 4 liver cancer and could pass at any moment. A sister in the ward has faithfully written her every month for visiting teaching. We went over one day just to see if we could get in and we did! Several days later a sister took them dinner and Brother Brown, not yet a member, told this sister he had thought about it a lot and wanted to be baptized. EVERYONE was shocked. We went over yesterday and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. Because of his health, we called President Toombs and asked how we should proceed with putting him on date and all. He said that as soon as he was done with the missionary lessons he could be baptized. HOW EXCITING IS THAT! It really was a neat experience. 

On Monday we got to spend the day at a recently converted members home! They BBQ'ed for us and it was amazing! There were about 24 missionaries there and it was a blast. We played yard games like cornhole and ladder ball, just like how we would! We also got to play volleyball and frisbee. It was a lot of fun. 

Tuesday we had a great lesson with an investigator Shannon! We also started teaching her son Matt and we invited them to church... again! BUT THIS WEEK THEY BOTH CAME! IT WAS SO AWESOME! This week at church 4 of our investigators came to church, it was a miracle Sunday! Both sets of the East Lake missionaries and the youth are singing the new youth theme song this Sunday, Come Unto Christ. Ethan Pitts is going to play his cello and Sister Pitts is accompanying, we are so excited! This will be the third time we are singing in church with the youth, we do it so that the youth have something to invite their friends to. MANY of our youth have taken the challenge to invite, WE CAN'T GO WRONG WHEN WE INVITE! We have even had our youth investigators come practice with us and have said they will invite their families to come and hear. It has proven to be a GREAT missionary tool! I was able to go on exchanges with the sister training leaders, I went with Sister Mall. I LOVE HER. At first I was super nervous and had a bad taste in my mouth for exchanges but it was amazing how much I loved it. I felt super confident that if I stay here in East Lake I will be able to lead the area with very few slip ups. It was just what I needed to feel okay about transfers coming up this week. Sister Mall taught me a lot and I really love her. She only has 2 months left so she has a LOT of wisdom! So on Sunday, we had more less actives and investigators there at first than active members, IT WAS SO FRIGGEN COOL! I love love love seeing the chapel so packed with people I love so much, it just makes my heart RACE! Being a missionary is so awesome. 

Dad, I wanna tell you something. Sister Mall asked me at the end of exchanges "Why did you come on a mission?" and my answer was that I knew it was exactly what my Heavenly Father wanted for me at this point in my life. I also told her about when I got really anxious and unsure about serving because of other things that were going on in my life at the time, and I told her about what you said to me. Dad, I am so thankful you were there for me when I started to doubt what the spirit witnessed to me was true. You helped me to see the path I needed to take even if it wasn't the easy one. There are so many missionaries here that have sacrificed more than I have to be here, but I am thankful that you helped me to feel peace about the things that I was going to be sacrificing. I LOVE YOU. Sister Mall also asked me "When did you gain a testimony of the gospel?" I dont know if i ever told you this, but the thing that helped me to know that what I believed in was true, was when I decided to not date Mitchell anymore. That broke my heart in half but the deal breaker for me was being with someone who I knew didn't believe the same way I did no matter how much I wanted him to. It really made me think about what I believed. Making the conscious choice to get rid of the things that were holding me back from being closer to my Heavenly Father helped me to feel the spirit more in my life and made me sure of the fact that the gospel was true. Without sacrificing what I thought was good then, for something much better which I'm experiencing now was worth the little act of faith. Its true what the song says, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven." Sometimes we have to go through hard things to understand that our Savior Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to repent and become perfected in him. I just wanted you to know that I do have a testimony of the restored gospel and that I know why I'm here in CO, even when it isnt easy.

Today we got to spend the day with the lovely Olson women. Sister Brandie Olson is a hero to me. She is a strong, happy, recently single mother to three lovely girls and I LOVE HER. She is the most patient and wonderful person. We exercise at 6 am every morning with her and sometimes Saige, the oldest (12). So today we went to an outdoor mall, kind of like the outlets and we had a great time! 

I HOPE YOU HAVE A FABBBBBBBB WEEK PAPA! :) 

I LOVE YOU! 

<3/ Your very own sister missionary!  

Missionary work is the BOMB.COM!

(I love Sis. G's straw placement)

A nice day of bike riding :)

DADDY-OOOOOOOOO-

Just wanted to tell you that you're the best dad.... ever! WOW! Dad, your encouragement means so much to me! I feel like Sister Grenfell and I have been working harder than ever before especially because President Toombs pretty much promised we will get split... SO SAD! However, a lot can happen in between now and transfers in two weeks... hahaha I HOPE AT LEAST. So this week was SUPER awesome! On Wednesday we got to go to the temple! I have been focused on what filling the measure of my creation means at this point in my life. I am starting to understand more and more every day that filling the measure of what I am right now is to bring others unto Christ, when I am doing that, I am fulfilling my purpose. That same night we taught the Haney's! We picked up Shon, their 12 year old brother, as a new investigator and set all 5 of them on date for baptism! June 28th is their date. Then all four of the girls came to mutual with us in the same night! CRAZY RIGHT! IT WAS SO AWESOME! Within the East Lake ward right now, between both us and the elders we have 10 people with baptismal dates. We got to teach the law of chastity to a less active lady who has been struggling to live it. It was an incredible lesson! We helped her realize that the law of chastity is really a law of love. It helps us to develop healthy and meaningful relationships with those we love. It allows us to see others as what they are, children of god! It was a wonderful lesson. On Thursday we got to be in Sister Ose's home while it was being dedicated by Elder Bushman. It was the first time he had ever dedicated a home or seen a home dedicated. The spirit was so strong and it reminded me of the same feelings I had when you would dedicated our homes. On Saturday we biked! IT WAS SO FUN! I will attach pictures! We got to have a lesson with the Martin family! We had it outside in hammocks... it was awesome. We were able to teach them about who our Heavenly Father is, who our Savior Jesus Christ is and about why families are so important. It's interesting to teach those principles to people who haven't ever heard them. It makes you really grateful that you know you have a father in heaven who watches over you. Then they all agreed to come to church! Sunday morning came and their whole family came! It was a wonderful Sunday! The chapel was so full that we almost had to open it up into the gym! I love Sunday's! Anyways, I hope you know I love you so much! I am thankful for your prayers, for your happy emails, and that you are so diligent about emailing! It means so much to me! I have some good pictures attached this week! One is of Sister Grenfell and I after service, we got big gulps... I did it Daddy-Style and got a double big gulp! It was so wonderful! Then one of us biking. Another of us at the Lloyd's house for dinner, they showed us their tree house! :) I also got my scriptures engraved this week! Holllllllla!!!! :) LOVE YOU!

Another day in Paradise

***I'm going to put the captions that McKenzie did when she sent these pics***

3 generation missionary pic (mom, grandma, daughter)

On our way to Kohls for a p-day trip

Sis G in a future Vogue snapshot

This is me saying "I love you mom!"

Dad, 

Well, this week was pretty awesome! I learned a lot of valuable lessons, one being that no matter what happens in life, if Heavenly Father is your number one, you can't go wrong or fall away. The times when I am the happiest and most confident is when I know I'm doing exactly what God wants me to be doing. I've seen so many people on my mission that have fallen away because they haven't truly found the JOY that comes from living and keeping the commandments. This week at Zone Conference we learned about the importance of teaching the principle of how the gospel blesses families. President Toombs KILLED IT! I never realized how blessed I really am to have an eternal family. Being away from y'all has really made me grateful for what I have. COOL STORY OF THE WEEK HERE WE GO: The mission office sent us a referral so we went over to contact them, the guy didn't live there anymore but as we were walking back to our (suuuuuuuuper clean and waxed) car, we saw this lady and her daughter so we went and talked to them. The mom had just got back from the dentist so she wasn't too interested in talking right then, but the daughter was REALLY excited to see us. We asked if there was a time to come back and see her and her daughter, Shaylyn (the 11 year old) said "MONDAY! Come back Monday." Christy (the mom) said that was fine. Monday came and we had some other things get in the way but we dropped off a sticky note that said we'd try back on Wednesday. Wednesday comes around and its about 7, we stopped in and Selena (the oldest daughter, 15) answered. She said her mom wasn't there so we asked if we could come back another time to share a message. She said we could just come in right then and teach them... SO we did. She gathered all her sisters around which ended up being 3 other sisters, Mariah, Shaylyn, and Allya. So they all kind of huddled around us and we started teaching them. We asked them how they thought God felt about them and Selena said "Well I know I have made some mistakes in my life but it can be okay if I repent right? That's what you said I had to do?" SO COOL! So we explained that a little more. Then later in the lesson Mariah said "Well I was baptized once but it was by a lady in a hot tub... Is that the right way to be baptized? It seemed a little weird, so what's the right way?" GOLDEN QUESTIONS! The mom and dad came home right before we could get to Joseph Smith so we had to just set up another time to come finish but then the mom welcomed us and was really kind and the dad introduced himself and shook our hands. Before we left we asked if we could say a prayer with them and we all kneeled down around their coffee table (it felt like how we would do it with the missionaries when they'd come over) there were 9 of us there so it was pretty crowded but the spirit was so strong! We also were able to teach two younger boys this week, their parents are members but they are divorced so Arthur is 11 and unbaptized, Troy is 8 and unbaptized. So we taught them and challenged them to read their scriptures and say their prayers every day. We even made them charts to mark their progress. The boys have an older brother who is 14, baptized, but ordained so we are working with the young mens president and the elders to fix that. But we gave Austin (the oldest brother) the responsibility to make sure he helps his brothers read and pray. We saw them several days later and Troy said "Austin and us have been reading every day and praying too. And yesterday we read 10 verses instead of 5!" IT MELTED MY HEART! It's amazing the dedication they have to wanting to learn and know and such a young age! A fun experience we had this week, Sister G and I had a few openings in our Saturday schedule and the city was throwing a big festival so we decided to go and hand out a ton of commissary including books or mormon, mormon.org cards, and the family proclamation brochures! We calculated that we talked to over 100 people and handed out over 100 mormon.org cards! FINDING IDEAS FOR THE WIN! We haven't gotten any new investigators because of it yet, but maybe missionaries in other area will benefit from it! So this week was really awesome and we are now heading into the 4th week of the transfer... I will also hit my 4 month mark this week.... ITS CRAZY HOW FAST TIME FLIES! I love you so much pops, thank you for all your prayers and all your love! I LOVE YOU! <3 

Yours Truly, 

Sister Hoopes