New Year. Keep Improving.

Well this week has been busy with lots of crazy things! We were able to have so many different adventures and I have enjoyed it so much!

So, to start off. Last Monday we got to do an awesome Pday activity! We went up to Oak Glenn for Sister Lee's last Pday. It was way fun! A member of our ward, Lori (Whose maiden name is Beach and has family history stories that sound very similar to moms... Interesting, but I will have to let you know more about it when I actually know more than that) took us up to go have lunch and do some sight seeing. We were able to enjoy ourselves a little and have the best apple pie ever.(Oak Glenn is a huge apple orchard touristy place.)

We went to this cute little restaurant and they had some nice mascots :)

Frosty, Sister Hope, Sister Lee, Lori, Sister Decker, Rudolf :)

Yum :)

We took a lot of trio selfies... We must have enjoyed ourselves or something ;)

Also, Wildlife... What the??Over all, it was a very fun trip! I can officially say that there really are cool things to do in our mission!

I am sure that you are all dying to know how Christmas was. It was wonderful! We got to spend it with many families in the ward having a grand time. Over all though, it was a pretty slow week. We spent a lot of time visiting people that Sister Lee wanted to see one more time. It was fun, but We are definitely ready to get to working really hard. All of the investigators in the area were baptized, so we are looking for more of those. 

The other highlight of this week was that we were able to have a mission conference this week! Woo Hoo! It was pretty fun to be able to see all of the missionaries! As President Van Cott always says, we really are a peculiar people. A bunch of kids in Sunday best gathered together early on a Saturday to study about Christ? A little strange, but I am so grateful to be a part of it!

We talked about being Christlike missionaries. There are so many things that we can learn from The Savior. A member of our mission presidency told a nice parable of the men at the pearly gates. i am sure that you have all heard it before, but one more time cant hurt: 

There were 3 men that passed away and were met at the pearly gates where they were told that they would need to prepare to go into a room with an interviewer and account for their lives. 

The first man went into the room and sat down. The interviewer asked, "What do you know about Jesus Christ?"

This man was not very religious but had heard about Christ and responded that He was a man that had lived in Jerusalem and was crucified for the sins of the people. After the man finished his comments, the interviewer thanked him and showed him to a door.

The second man entered the room and, after being seated, was given the same question, "What do you know about Jesus Christ?"

This man had been pretty religious in his life. He went to church on Sundays-- Unless the Superbowl was on. He talked of Christ and told of the many miracles that had been performed. How He had fulfilled prophesy and was the Son of God and The Savior of the world. When he was finished the interviewer again thanked him and showed him to a door.

The third mad entered the room. This man had been humble in his life, but had given everything that he had to help others find happiness and peace in this life and hope for the life to come. Upon walking in the room and laying eyes on the interviewer, he fell to his knees and cried, "My Lord, My God!" and bathed His feet with His tears. 

How well do we know our Savior? Is the spirit of Christ with us always, or is it just a fleeting moment in late December? Can we confidently say that we have done all that we can to truly KNOW our Lord and Savior. To know His sacrifice. To know his Atonement for us. To know that He knows us personally and really can carry us through our trials?

John 17:3

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Joseph Smith told a story (and I hope that I get it right) about a dream he had when the apostles were out on missions teaching people. He dreamed that he saw the apostles all standing together in a circle. They were distraught and discouraged because they hadn't been accomplish everything that they had set out to do. As they stood and wept their heads hung in despair. The Prophet Joseph watched from afar off. He saw the apostles, devastated, but he also saw something more. He saw the Savior standing over them-- weeping and trying to help them so see the greater perspective. To know that He felt their pains, and was capable of helping them to overcome them. To feel buoyed up by his Atoning grace. The prophet Joseph saw these things and was trying to shout to the Brethren-- To tell them that Christ was there, that he was strengthening them, but he woke. He woke himself up shouting. 

How wonderful it is to know that our Savior weeps for us. He feels our pains and he is there to strengthen us. Consider all of the times that Christ prays in the scriptures. He Prays for US. For those who desire to humbly follow Him, to be His servants, bot be strengthened by His merit, and His mercy. 

We are coming to the start of a new year. A time to reflect and know how to be better. As we come to know our Savior we can have Eternal life. Never lose the testimony that you have, and in spite of trials and heartache, keep moving forward. The Lord will grant you with the strength that you need to be the best that you can be. We must remember that we will never attain perfection in this life, but we can certainly move from grace to grace slowly but surely coming to know our Savior, and therefore being more like Him, and allowing ourselves to be Perfected in Him. 

Take it from Jeffrey R. Holland. We must hold on to what we have won, no matter the size of the victory. Then always be better. Take the time to know what the Lord expects of you personally to be better. I know that this will bring strength and comfort because we have divine help in achieving this worthy goal.

I am so very grateful for the experiences that I have and the knowledge that I have attained. I pray that I will continue to grow so that I may truly know my savior, and I pray the same for all of you.

I love you and I hope that you all have a wonderful new year! Let the Spirit of this time of year stay with you continually!

All my love from the best mission in the world!

Sister Hope

Goodbyes and Hellos and Goodbyes

Well, It has been quite the week of change. Monday we got the call about transfers and such and were planning out the last few things that we needed to do since our area was being closed, and staying mighty busy. We got a call around 3 that we would need to be at the mission office on Tuesday morning at noon rather than the usual Wednesday morning. That meant that we were only able to let a few people know that we were leaving and we were off. It had its pros and cons. I hate telling people goodbye, but we seemed very thrown out of our area.  It was a bit strange. 

Here are a few last pictures from Fontana :)

The Schultz Boys :)

Brother and Sister Schultz

Venus, Erika and Elizabeth

Dori

This week has also been a week of Hellos! It is a bit stange to be back in Redlands, but I am loving it already! My area is Mostly Loma Linda. I know that doesnt really mean anything to most of you, but its fine. Loma Linda Medical School Is here, so we have a lot of medical students and Residents in our ward. It is pretty fun :) Lots of cute Young families! 

It has also been fun to be reunited with Sister Lee and Sister Decker. We are having so much fun together, and things are going surprisingly smoothly for a trio. We have lots to do and have stayed very busy. 

I got to come just in time to celebrate Sister Decker's 22nd Birthday! 

We are enjoying the Christmas season and it has been great so far. 

We have been able to do a lot of caroling, and that has been fun. It is so nice to be able to share the Christmas spirit. I am loving every minute of it.

Over all the week has been great. 
Do you remember Travis from singles ward? Well him and his family live in this wards bounderies. WE were able to go and visit them and it was wonderful. We have heard that Travis wsa almost set for baptism, but that his family wasnt very supportive. We are hoping that this is the time that that may be able to change. We had a very nice visit with them and we are going to try to start teaching them again :)

This coming week is looking to be very busy as well. With Christmas and Sister Lee going home one week from today. We re pretty booked for the week. It is wonderful! It is a little weird knowing that I am someones replacement and being here together for a few weeks. I am not sure that I like it yet, but we are having a wonderful time, and there is lots to do.

I love you all! I hope that you have a wonderful week! and MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Sister Hope

Transfers

Well, this has been an interesting week. It has flown by, that is for sure. The transfer itself has flown. It is crazy! It has only been a 5 week transfer though, so I guess that it makes sense.

We had a pretty good week. We were able to meet with a few of our investigators. It was great fun.
We had a really awesome lesson with Dori this week. We talked about prayer and the power it can have in our lives. She prayed for the first time and it was very exciting! We love her so much! She was supposed to come to church on Sunday, but her birthday was on Saturday and so that didn't work out. 

It was sad, but hopefully it will work sometime in the very near future. It has been so neat to work with her. She has the light of Christ burning so bright within her. Whenever we share scriptures with her she always talks bout how familiar they are and how she knows that they are true and from God. She is wonderful! 

In other news, this week has been a little slow because I finally caught the plague that all of the other missionaries in this ward have had. Yikes! I kind of forgot that cold season would come with or without the cold. 

Despite the illnesses going around, we sang in a missionary choir this week in church! We have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward, so it was us and the two sets of elders. It was fun! We sang "Come unto Christ." It was the Youth theme song for 2014, and it was great. I even saw a few people crying, so by Andrea's standard we must have done our job right :) 

I guess I should have said that this ward "had" 3 sets of missionaries. We got our transfer calls this morning. Sister Rogerson will be going to Colton, and I will be going back to Redlands! :) The Alder ward is losing their sister missionaries :( It is sad to leave, and there are so many people that I will miss here, but I am excited to be headed back to Redlands. I will be in the Mountain View ward. And, I will be in a TRIO!! Yikes! I am kind of terrified. It will be okay though. I am going to be with Sister Decker, who replaced me in the Mill Creek ward, and Sister Lee, that I was roommates with when I was in YSA. Sister Lee goes home on the 29th so that will be fun! I will get to help her finish her mission! I already know and love both of them, so I am very excited! It will be interesting though, that is for sure :) 

Well, I dont have too much  time because Sister Rogerson and I have LOTS of packing to do! I love you all and I hope that you have a GREAT week!

Merry Christmas! Share the spirit with someone today :) 

Sister Hope

Christmas

Hey everyone!

I hope that all of you have had a super wonderful week! It is great to hear about all the Christmas fun! 

This week has been pretty slow here. Sister Rogerson was sick most of the week, so we spent a lot of time at home. She has recovered, so we are picking back up :) 

I think the most exciting thing about this week was learning about the "He is the Gift" initiative! It is way awesome! I hope that all of you take the time to ponder on this message that is being given to us/

Elder Jeffery R. Holland once said, "a simple reminder that this Church is always only one generation away from extinction. That does not change however many decades old we are now. It was true in 1840, it was true in 1891, and is true in 1981. We are always just one generation away from extinction. All we would have to do, I assume, to destroy this work is stop teaching our children for one generation. Just everybody stop, close the books, seal up your heart, keep your mouth shut, and don’t bear a testimony. In one generation it would be 1820 all over again."

It is a pretty scary thought. 

I think that is one thing that has surprised me most about being out on my mission. The overall lack of attention that people give to our savior. It is not uncommon at all to come across people that have little idea about why Jesus Christ is such a big deal or why so many people will devote their lives to him. Even more astonishing is that more and more often we come across children who dont even recognize the name "Christ," and havent a clue about who he was. 

It is so troubling to me that there are people that go through this life with all the trials and tribulations that come from mortality without a knowledge of the peace and happiness that they could have. 

This Christmas season I hope that each and every one of you is taking the time to share the gift that you have. Dont let your brothers and sisters all around you go another day without knowing that you have something that could bring them happiness :) 

You have all had the opportunity to discover the gift (at least I hope so :)) so now it is time to embrace the gift and to share it. Jesus Christ was the greatest gift ever given to this world. We know about Him and we have the opportunity to help others discover this also :) How Wonderful!! :) 

He is the gift!! How special :) 

I hope that you all go take the time to watch this video and share it with others to bring their hearts back to the true meaning of Christmas! Share it on all of your social medias :) I love you and I hope that you have a great week feasting upon the words of Christ and drawing nearer to our savior :)

"Redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.

"Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be throught th emerits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead."
2 Nephi 2:6-8 (emphasis added) 

"Our duty is to preach the Gospel to all men... That is what God expects of us." 
-President John Taylor

I love you all, I hope that you have a wonderful week! 

Sister Hope

Milestones, Heartbreaks, and Grattitude

Well, this week has been another busy one, as always :) We are always busy and doing all that we can to work hard to bring others to a knowledge of their savior and His atonement :)

Well this week I hit my 9 month mark as my mother was so excited to remind me:) It was pretty uneventful day. I was on exchanges. Thats about it. :) However, I dont think that I have mentioned. My MTC companion, Sister Edgley, and I have met up again! She is serving in another ward here in Fontana and we are roommates :) 

So, this is what missionaries look like after 9 months in the field ;)

Definitely exhausting! And yes, I asked her if I could send this picture home.

In other news, there is this wonderful family that we have been working with that I would love to tell all of you about, but if you are my mother or full of pregnancy hormones you may want to take caution before you keep reading.This is highly emotional, and I know the sensitivity level of the people that I write. You have been warned.

These are the daughters of a woman that we have been working with. Her name is Venus. She is 22 and she just got baptized in August. She has had a rough road in life, but her testimony of the Gospel and of the Savior are inspiring. She has lived out of her car, bounced around living with friends and acquaintances, she just got laid off of work, and she is going to school for social work in an effort to make a better life for her children. She gives everything that she has to raising those girls and never asks for help. She doesnt want people to think that she was baptized in order to be on church welfare, and therefore is extremely reluctant to ask for help there. She just found out that the daycare that her youngest daughter goes to wants to adopt their family for Christmas and give them a tree stocked with presents and a Dinner to accompany it, and she is trying to refuse it. She has come so far in life and although she struggles, she does all that she can to protect and take care of her kids that she is raising on her own. She knows things are hard for them, but she also knows that there are people around her that need it much more than she does. 

The girls are Erika (5) and Elizabeth (3). They are full of spunk and sass, and we LOVE them so much!! They love to read in the scriptures with us and are always asking their mom when the sisters are coming over :) They love Frozen and tangled, and going to daycare and school :)

Now is when the tears start-- Elizabeth has cystic fibrosis and epilepsy. She is not expected to live past Christmas. This is why the daycare is adopting them and they are asking that they celebrate Christmas early so that Elizabeth can enjoy it. We have been watching these girls the last month and a half or so and have watched as the color has gone out of Elizabeth and as she grown more and more tired. To see a little girl with so much life and energy decay in a matter of months is truly heartbreaking.

I am so incredibly grateful for a knowledge of the plan of salvation. To know that this little girl has too great a spirit to stay here on this earth. That she is more needed in the spirit world. I am grateful that I know what happens after this life and although there are tragedies all around us they dont have to define us as people. They can help us grow and be stronger. We are privileged to have heartbreaks and struggles in life. It shows that our Father in Heaven loves us, trusts us, and knows that if we choose that we can have the power and strength that we need from our Savior Jesus Christ to make it through and become the people that he wants us to be. Satan cannot stop a burning testimony unless we let him. 

In other and brighter news, Here are some things that I am grateful for :)

My mom. If you know my mom and havent hugged her yet today, 

please try your best to do so. These are the sticky dots that I use to 

mark my scriptures. A couple of weeks ago I had none. I was out and

it was pretty upsetting. I can now say that I have the best mom ever 

and that I am in possession of over 2,880 dots :)

You are the best, mom!

I am also incredibly grateful for my companion. She is so great and I know that I am so lucky to be able to spend

 my time with such a wonderful person :) 

And I am grateful for cute scarves. 65 degrees is rough after 8 months of summer..

I am also grateful that we are so blessed with wonderful weather here in California. We helped a woman in our ward

decorate for Christmas this week and we were able to do it in Tshirts. Also, we took an ice cream break because it 

got too warm. Its a tender mercy when the Ice Cream Truck drives by ;) 

Well, I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful week and that you recognize all of the things that you are 

truly blessed to have. Even if it is just a knowledge and a testimony that God loves you and he has a plan for you 

and your family. 

Look for the opportunity to serve someone else this week and make your Thanksgiving a time to not only state your 

gratitude, but to show it to the people around you and even more importantly to your God. 

I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Sister Hope

Also grateful for warm PJs and Comp Unity. The door of our apartment doesnt seal all the way so when it 

drops to 55 at night we are practically icicles :) 

New Week, New Goals :)

This week has been a little rockier than others, but with the mercies of the Lord, things have worked together for our good. We were able to pick up 6 new investigators! It is wonderful to see the hand of the Lord in our work. This truly is His work, not ours.

This week we had a Zone Conference! It was so much fun. I love being instructed as missionaries. I think it is pretty close to the top of my favorite things list. We talked a lot about conversion and how that happens. Sometimes missionaries work with people and they get baptized and the road kind of ends there. They are not truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore do not live that testimony. We are all looking for those converts that want to do everything for the right reasons. Those converts that cant been burned out of  the church. It is neat to be able to study examples of conversion in the scriptures. To see that there really are so many pieces that add together to achieve conversion. Unfortunately missionaries aren't a huge part of that. It has to be the Spirit, and they have to have a sincere desire. It is great though.

Also a cool thing from Zone Conference, Sister Rogerson and I had been talking about how we would probably be working up in the nicer part of Fontana because of the new set of Elders (We now have a senior couple, Sister Rogerson and I, and two sets of Elders) and were excited about the prospect, even though most of our investigators are in the more humble parts of town. I really like that we have felt like that we need to work more up there and then at zone conference we received a second witness. President Van Cott told us that sometimes we focus too much attention on those who have everything wrong with them. Sometimes there are people prepared and are already living good lives. Hopefully we can find those people in the next few weeks. We have been talking to the members and lots of them are willing and wanting to talk more to their neighbors, so we are excited to be working with them!

I am looking forward to a great week! I love you all!

Sister Hope

Transfers

Well, there is a first time for everything! 

I am finally getting to stay in my area with my same companion for more than one transfer! WooHoo! Sister Rogerson and I are very excited. We are teaching so many great people, and have had so many great times serving the Lord. 

Our zone is changing quite a bit this transfer. There are a bunch of Elders coming in this transfer and hardly any sisters, which is different than it has been in quite some time. So, there are just lots of changes being made. The ward I am in now is getting another set of Elders. That means we will have two sets of Elders, us sisters, and a Senior Couple, The Hills :) 

We are excited for the adventures ahead :) 

I am so very grateful that I am able to be here in the California Redlands Mission! This week has been kind of stressful for Sister Rogerson due to a family in the ward that lives in some pretty interesting circumstances.  I am so grateful for my mission president and the time that he takes to take care of us. He was so very wonderful in helping my companion and also in letting me know what I can do to help. I am so blessed to be under the direction of inspired priesthood leaders that truly love and care about us and the work that we are doing. I love all of the things that he teaches us from the scriptures and know that part of why I am here is so that I can learn from him. 

It is just an extra witness that all things happen for a reason and Heavenly Father is very much involved in the details of our lives. He knows who we are. He knows what we need and he is there helping us along the way to fulfill the prayers and promises to prophets and leaders among us. President Van Cott often talks about how his ultimate goal is for us to become the people that God intends us to be. He knows that by doing so, we will be a great mission and we will find success in our work. I also love the prayer of Nephi at the end of his writings saying, "I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day" (2Nephi33:12).

That's a prayer of a righteous man of God. Heavenly Father wants all of us to return to Him. What are we doing to help that cause? :)

I love you all! I hope that you are having a great week! :) 

Love, Sister Hope :)

This is one of my new favorite babies since I never get pictures of any in Idaho :) Love you :)

This is our WML daughter :) 

Fun in Fontana

Well, this has been a very interesting week full of fun! We had a great week seeing as Sky was baptized and all went well with that. We were able to have a smooth running baptism with lots of people there to support her and most of them were crying by the end. Baptisms are often the most stressful thing ever, but this one was great! So grateful for the blessing it is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in bringing souls into the kingdom of God :)

here are a bunch of pictures! Hope that you enjoy! :) 

Baptism!

Sister Hope, Lisa (Sky's mom), Sister Rogerson, Sky's Grandma, and Sky :) 

Sister Rogerson and I decided to  decorate some doors of investigators, less actives, and members to show a little extra love and add some trick to our treat! It was super fun, but we did get caught a few times ;)

Sometimes we had to do a little improvising because there were dogs that were barking at us...

Sometimes Sister Rogerson hid in the bushes while I decorated doors...

and sometimes we just couldnt get away fast enough :)

or as we walked up to the door they came out and invited us in...

overall though, it was pretty great, so we took a celebration selfie ;)

Also on Halloween, I got to do Sky's makeup! She wanted to be a broken porcelain doll-- I think its pretty good :)

Also, here are some interesting things that we see every single day :) 

I just love Fontana :)

it rotates, its pretty creepy

Bless their hearts :)

his may be something that people want.. Im not really sure

Also, it rained this week and dropped down to about 60 degrees. Considering it was in the 90s a few days ago-- Yes, we think we are freezing to death :) We have been all bundled up the last few days :)

Well, I hope that you enjoy all of these photos :)  We have sure enjoyed our week :) 

This week we were also able to pick up a new investigator named Trisha! She is so great! She has a lot of struggles in her life, but she is at the point that she wants to change. It is sad sometimes to see people well into their lives that just haven't figured things out yet, but we are ever so grateful when they decide that they are ready to be better. 

We were able to have some great missionary moments this week with Trish! I just want to tell ya'll about her! :) 

So Trish is a neighbor to a member of our ward, Sister Gifford. At our mission conference a couple of weeks ago we were told that we should be asking referrals from EVERYONE. We visit Sister Gifford pretty often because we are helping her give up smoking and be active in the church. She has told us many times that she doesn't know anyone that we could teach. We had seen Trish around her house a few times, and we asked her if we could teach her. She told us that she didn't think that Trish would be ready, but that she would think about it and try. As it turns out, Trish had a very humbling experience and came to Sister Gifford for help. Sister Gifford told her that the only thing that would help her is the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that she knew a couple of girls that could help her with that. 

Wooo Hooo!

So we got to go over and teach Trish about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Atonement and the effect that it can have on our lives. It was a great lesson that was guided by the spirit more than any lesson I think that I have ever taught. It was so neat so see her really relax and come to a realization of truth. As we were able to follow the promptings that we received, even though they were a little different than what we had planned, we were able to help Trish recognize her real desires in life and see that the happiness that the Gospel brings really is what she wants. Its what all of us want! 

A couple of days after we had this lesson we had the prompting to go over to her house. We found a way to fit it in our schedule and stopped by. When we knocked on the door, we were almost knocked out by the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol as she opened. She was a little intoxicated to say the least. We went in and found out that she was having further problems in life and thought that she had found a solution. We talked with her a little bit, and in the end poured her alcohol down the drain and took many of her cigarettes. We left that night wondering what we had done and if it had been best.

The next day--Sunday in fact-- we stopped by to check on her. She had a nice hangover, but we were able to talk to her. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and more about desires. She wants to be baptized and get her life on track. She let us take her coffee pot and we left her with no alcohol and one cigarette. 

I am so very grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It compels us to BE better. Not just Do better, but be better. I know that it is true because of the fruits. When the Gospel is lived fully, it produces Christlike people that are striving to be better all the time. I love the testimony I continue to grow. I love knowing that this life is not the end and that as we have short-term discipline, it turns into long-term rewards. If God's goal is for all of us to have eternal happiness in His presence, wouldn't you think that the things that he tells us to do would be worth while? Even if they are hard?

I sure love all of you! I hope that you are all doing everything you can and trying a little harder to be a little better and growing to be more and more like our Savior Jesus Christ! 

Love,

Sister Hope