Another Week, Another .....

California is still Beautiful, although we did have two days where the sky looked like it thought about raining. We got a few sprinkles, but nothing to tell about.

The week had an interesting start,  but not interesting in the kind of way that I am going to write home about, so there is a no go on that.

However, The end of the week was pretty sweet! Carlos came with us to a baptism for an 8-year-old girl. It was good for him to see what it would be like at his baptism, and he seemed to enjoy it to some degree. We taught him again on Sunday. The spirit for that lesson was Awesome. One thing that he said that I have been thinking about is that when we teach him he sees a light around us. Not around the members that teach with us in their home, but just the missionaries. It is neat to see that We really do have that mantle placed upon us to be Witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Carlos is a funny guy. Sister Gillespie and I joke that he is already halfway Mormon. He never comes less than 10 minutes late to any of our appointments, and for our last meeting he brought Chocolate pie. If being late but bringing refreshments isn't part of our culture, I don't know what is. ;)

On Saturday we got to go serve Jeff and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever! We got there and were chatting and getting things ready for his outdoor projects. Well, while we were talking he told us that he had been thinking about us throughout the week. We asked him what about, and he said that he had decided that he was going to make us a promise. He said that he wanted to go back to church at least once because he just saw something wrong with the idea that he couldn't remember why he had stopped going!  We told him we thought that was a great idea and he let us know that he would also bring his mom because he knew that she would enjoy it!! He couldn't make it this Sunday, but we are so excited that we have his word that he will be there! 

Saturday was also the General Women's Conference. If you are a woman between the ages of 8 and 800 you should have been there. If you were not, go look it up and watch it online. Right now. 

Like really, before you continue reading this. 

Done? Perfect!

We are a covenant people. We have been blessed by our Heavenly Father to be born at a time when most of us have the opportunity to make every covenant possible with Him. Just as Sister Linda K. Burton said, all of the easy things that needed done in the Church have been done already. We are here to take care of the rest. This means that we must live up to our covenants with the Lord. If we are not living according to that which we have promised it is time to fix it and move on from today delighting in being obedient to those promises that we have made. If you do not feel like you have been keeping your covenants, then today is the day to fix it. In the words of an apostle, "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the next best time to plant a tree is today." Love the Lord and remember the blessings promised to you when you do those things that he asks of us. 

Also from the Women's Conference-- A HUGE thank you to my Mom. She is the best woman ever. She has carefully prepared me to make the covenants that I have with my Heavenly Father, and I would be no where near where I am today without her! 

This week was 5th Sunday, and our Bishop taught us some of the things he learned in the meeting that all of the Bishops and Stake Presidents were able to attend with Elder Anderson a couple of weeks ago. Three main things were pointed out:

1. The Christianity of the world is under attack. This nation is no longer a place where everyone has a belief in Jesus Christ and a Bible on the coffee table. 

2. The Family is under attack. More specifically, marriage is under attack. People no longer define marriage and family in a way that is pleasing to God.

3. Technology is dangerous and it is slowly poisoning us. While technology can be great, it must be used with boundaries that protect it with the Evils that it can present. 

His message was really good, and I think that it is important that all church members recognize these things in their lives so that they can learn how to protect themselves from the dangers that may lurk within.

I love this Gospel, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to devote every minute of every day to my Father in Heaven. I want to be a covenant keeping woman that can recognize how to be a blessing to the people around me. I love you all and I hope that this week you find a way to be a little better than you were the week before :)

Love,

Sister Hope

Sister Gillespie and I have matching socks and decided it was worth taking a picture.

                       She says we dont take enough, so you are welcome :)

      And, look closely: We LOVE listening to general conference talks in the car! 

Because we dont have anything else to take pictures of :)

Blisters and Blessings: Hard Work for Great Rewards

 
 Well, It's been another week in paradise. The week started off a little rough, but I can't make people make better choices, so I just do my best to fulfill my purpose :)

   This week has actually been really fun overall! We went to go visit a less active member on Wednesday and when we drove up to their house they were outside working on pouring cement for a patio. We decided that this was a great service opportunity and got out to help them! It was a lot of fun! Jeff, the less active member, was also very impressed that we were willing to help out even though we were wearing our missionary clothes. We went back later and have been working with him all week to help him finish the patio. As we helped him physically, we also taught him the first lesson! We even struck a deal with him! He agreed to let us teach him all of the lessons and keep all of the commitments that we give to him if we come back and help him with his projects on Saturday afternoons! We have been trying to get in with this family for a very long time! Sister Gillespie was saying all week, "The harder the cement gets, the softer their hearts get!" It's true. When we put forth that charity and show people that we really care about them and want to help them, they want to know more about us and why we have the character we do. Jeff just kept telling us that he was impressed that two girls without a clue of how to make a patio would work that hard and listen well to his instructions! It was so fun to serve him and get to know him as we did. He is pretty much the coolest guy you will ever meet. He is a teacher at a school for juvenile delinquents. When he talked about his students, you could tell that he loved them and wanted to help them even though most of them were people that were really in the slumps at a young age. I can't wait to see where the gospel takes him!

 

   Also this week we put one of our investigators on date. His name is Carlos. He is pretty interesting and has been going to church since I have been here. He seems to understand everything that we teach and asks a lot of questions. He also always comments though that it just makes sense to think about things the way that we teach them.

This week I also got a package from the best mom ever, so, shout out to her :) Enjoy all of the pictures!

 

Love, 

Sister Hope 

Missionary work is hard work, but it is fun work!

We got to go to Young Women's this week! It was so fun!

 "I 'mustache' you a question, but I'm 'shaving' it for later!"

Who knew making you had to be acrobatic to make a patio? :)

Jeff even had us leave our mark on the patio! :)

Blisters to prove it :)

In case anyone wondered, my mom is the best mom. and yes, she did send me potatoes, because California just doesnt know how to do them right! :)

This is the view of the orange trees from our front door. The are all around us though. We go running in the orange grove in the mornings for our exercise. Sister Gillespie and I have both decided though that if you really want to know what it looks like, just watch a tropicana commercial because we are pretty sure at any moment some guy's hand is going to reach out of a tree looking for juice. :) 

 

Miracles and Mantles

Well, In case any of you are wondering, Heavenly Father is a pretty awesome! I feel like I learn more in a day as a missionary than I did in most of my life previous. Sister Gillespie and I had a few really neat experiences this week. One day, we had a few appointments fall through, so we prayed and decided to walk the area a little before our dinner appointment. As we were walking Sister Gillespie stopped me and said that she recognized the house that we were walking next to. She said that the house belonged to a former investigator and that her and her last companion had come here wanting to meet her but hadn't gone inside the fence because of the large dogs that were in the front yard. We were debating on whether or not to go and knock when a woman, Sushawna, walked out. She came out to the fence and talked to us. She said that she had been sick for quite some time and that she was struggling because of the loss of family members and friends. We taught her a little about the Plan of Salvation and offered to come back with the Elders so that they could give her a priesthood blessing. We set up a return appointment, but unfortunately that fell through. We prayed with her and got on our way so that we wouldn't be late to our dinner appointment, but we were met in the street by a woman walking alone. Her name was a Jackie, and when we were about 20 yards away she started freaking out and yelled, "No way! No way! Are you guys the mormons?" We told her that we were and she apologized for smelling like alcohol and told us about how she was having a really hard time because she was living with an abusive boyfriend and both of her parents had recently died. She said that she was walking hoping that she could find someone that could help her be happier. We told her that what we had to offer could bless her a lot and bring her so much happiness and she asked if we could pray with her and then come back to her house to talk with her. We agreed and set an appointment. However, she hasn't been seen since. It is a little disappointing, but these experiences definitely showed us that we are better tools in Heavenly Father's hands when we put ourselves in the situation where He can put people in our paths. What a huge blessing!

It's funny how this whole missionary thing works. I get disappointed a lot, and I still am happy most of the time. That's pretty cool when you really think about it. 

So, the other neat thing about this week was that Elder Neal L. Anderson came and spoke to the Redlands Stake.  We were informed that the last time an apostle was on assignment in this area was in 1987. Crazy! It's true thought that no matter how many times you meet an apostle, it is still one of the coolest feelings because you can feel the spirit of the mantle that they wear. There are lots of lessons that I learned from him this weekend, so brace yourself for this.

On Saturday morning we had a multi-mission conference with him. It included all of the missionaries from the Redlands mission and the Rancho Cucamonga mission. He talked to us a lot about the Atonement and how we cant really understand it unless we are actively using it.  That includes us as missionaries teaching it to others. He talked a lot about the enabling power of the atonement and how it has the power to make us into people that we never thought we were capable of becoming. It was pretty cool. He also taught us that as we learn and grow as missionaries we need to remember that we cant go home and get distracted. He told us to seal in our our hearts that the lord answers prayers. He told us a story about when he was first called to be a general authority. He said that he had some questions about something and he finally decided to go talk to president Packer that was his mentor of sorts at the time. President Packer asked him if he had prayed about it. He said that or course he had; he was a general authority of course. President Packer looked at him and said, "Well have you prayed about it all day and all night as Enos did?" WHOA! How true is that. He told us to remember that some things take more faith than others and to never forget that.

His stake conference message was a little bit different than anything I have heard before. There were a lot of community members present, so there was no clear invitation. Usually in stake conference there is some underlying message that they are trying to get us to understand and act upon. this was interesting because Elder Anderson basically just taught and testified of the first three lessons in Preach My Gospel (The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ). I wish that I could just give you a copy of his talk because it was really good. One of my favorite parts from Sunday was another story that he told. He talked about two farmers. One cared for his crops as much as he could. he worked in his fields every day trying to make himself a plentiful harvest. The other farmer did similarly, only he didn't work on Sundays. Well, when harvest time came, it was no surprise that the farmer that worked 7 days a week rather than giving one day to the Lord had a better harvest. The farmer that worked on Sundays asked his friend, "don't you wish that you had done like me?" The farmer that was obedient to the Lord thought about that for a few minutes and then responded and told him, "The Lord doesn't balance His books in October." What a powerful lesson for all of us to remember. Go read 3 Nephi 27:11. You wont regret it.

My favorite part of the weekend was at the very end of Elder Anderson's address to the stake. He looked at them and said something along the lines of, "Jesus Christ lives. He appeared to Joseph Smith, and He has appeared to many others." He then shook his head and rolled his eyes and said, "But that's not important. What is important is that He lives. I am His witness."
That was so powerful. It really reminded me that the apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. It reaffirmed my testimony because to me the prophets could be one of two things. They are either men of God that, through divine revelation, are sent to lead and guide the church, or they are evil men sent to deceive the people. I know that these apostles are men of God, and that they do Witness of Jesus Christ.

A few light hearted things before I close. First, EVERYONE here comments on my last name, I probably need to humble myself and repent, but I have been starting to just respond with, "Yeah, don't you wish that your name was a Christlike attribute?" Also, will someone please send me mail. I dont really care who anymore. I just know that I haven't had any. At the library where we email we have to have a piece of mail as proof of address in order to get a library card and use the computers. I have to use a guest computer right now, and that's more difficult because there is a longer wait. I sound petty. Oh well. I love you all and hope that you are having a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Hope

Sunny and 75 :)

Besides the lucky people in Hawaii, I am pretty sure that this is paradise!

  So, This week has been such an adventure!! I am finally out of the MTC and that is great! My new companion is Sister Gillespie. She is from Chicago, but she went to school in Rexburg. I have been learning so much from her, and I have loved every step of the way. The day we left Utah it snowed, so it was pretty awesome to be welcomed by 68 degree weather. Everyone that has been here for a while thought they were freezing though. I told President Van Cott to send me to the desert in August, I will drink up that 120 sunshine :) 

  We don't really have any progressing investigators, so no news there. Hopefully next week I will be able to tell you all sorts of uplifting stories like that. But this week I have some fun ones! 

First off, almost everyone I have met knows people that I at least know of in Idaho. Even weirder is the number of connections people have had to Wendell and Gooding. It's pretty strange. I tell people that I am from Twin Falls, and they start telling me stories about Wendell. 

  So, last week sometime (who knows when-- the days all blend together) we were at the Library doing our weekly planning. This little old man walked out of the library and then came back in because he forgot his walker. He came up to our table, and said, "Every step counts when your 92." How true is that? But more true, Every step counts every day. Sister Gillespie and I have been listening to the John Bytheway talks that mom sent with me. In one of them he says that the most important question we can ask ourselves is the one our parents asked us every time we left home as teenagers. "Where are you going? and who are you going with?" Think about it in an eternal perspective. Where are we going? Who do we have helping us? Who is getting in our way of returning honorably to our Heavenly Father? Food for thought #deep.

  So, our area covers two little mountain communities. One of them is Forrest Falls. We went up there last week to talk to all of the less actives in the area. While we were there, we were looking for a man's house, and went to about 4 others first. However, to get anywhere near these houses we had to cross a foot bridge made out of two logs about 10 feet above a creek. This might just sound like fun, but try it in a pencil skirt carrying a 15 pound bag. It was an adventure. We didn't find the man we were looking for, but we did find an interesting old woman that is not a member and that used to be a pastor. She gave us this religious magazine and wanted to trade for whatever message we had to share. 

  Also up in the mountains, the squirrels are grey. That's weird. Squirrels are supposed to be brown. I got distracted every time I saw one.

  Oh, there was one cool investigator story from this week. So, On our way to a visit with a new convert we met this woman named Kim. She is very religious, and we were talking with her. She loves the bible and said that she was hesitant to talk with us because the bible says be beware of false prophets. however, we gave her a Book of Mormon and read with her the part on the title page where it says something like- ' we invite all men everywhere to read this book for themselves and ask God in the name of Jesus Christ if it is true.'   Um, pretty cool. She said she would check it out, and said we could come  back to talk about it with her. So, that was awesome!

  I am loving it here! The field is white, already to harvest! What a great time to labor!

Oh, and for those of you missionaries or about-to-be missionaries-- read Alma 17:13 and think about how it applies to you and your friends as we embark in this marvelous work :) 

 

Love you all!!

Sister Tara Hope

 

PS:Oh, also, we live in a home-share in the middle of a bunch of orange groves. If you ever wondered what happiness and sunshine smells like-- The answer is orange blossoms at 6:30 AM in march :) Yeah, its paradise :)

 

My district with one of our teachers, Sister Wilkenson.

That one was some fun at the MTC. It was our best attempt to dress up like Laman and Nephi.

This is my district at the map

This is the bridge we had to cross. I know. I am pretty much the wildest sister missionary you know ;) Trust me, it was much scarier than it looks!

Your missionary has arrived!

I am here safe! It's a nice 60-ish outside. It has been an adventure!

(Picture of incoming missionaries with Mission President at the airport)

Excerpts from Tara's letter to Mom…

Make sure you send anything and everything through the US Postal Service. I love you so much! I know I am doing what my Heavenly Father wants me to. This Gospel is pretty much the coolest thing ever.  thanks for teaching me how to not only live it, but love it.  Tell my siblings to write me letters! I would even enjoy drawings from little people =).  Tonight we get to stay in this castle of house (seriously, the houses in actual Redlands are FABULOUS). We get to meet our new companions and such tomorrow.  My mission president is great.  

The temple here is tiny - smaller that Twin Falls.  It is going to be quite the adventure here! 

Time to be obedient!

Love, Sister Tara Hope