Moving Along

This is me and Sister Gillespie enjoying our adventure clothes! Its
hot here all the time, so we have Popsicles too! :)

Hey Family!

I hope that you all got to enjoy your long memorial day weekend! It
was a great week here, and yesterday was a super fun P-day! We didnt
get to email because the library was closed, but we got to got to a
ward activity and play kickball.. Which meant we got to wear pants :)
It was super fun though! We had 4 meal appointments, so we ate well.
Only one of them didnt have an investigator or less active, and it was
the ward activity :)
This week has been pretty great! We did a lot of teaching, and the
work is really picking up in this ward. We taught a lot of our new
investigators, and we met a new family that we think may be very
interested in the church! The Mom, Carmen, and Dad, Frank, have 4
kids, so it will be very exciting if they take the Gospel and run with
it!
We also had a Zone Conference this week with President Van Cott. It
was super great! I love President! He taught us a lot on how to be
more effective in our planning so that we are more purposeful in every
minute, and we also learned a lot and practiced a lot of teaching
simply. President loves the pamphlets, and has really opened my eyes
on showing me that they can simplify without it just being a picture
book for the investigator. The gospel really is pretty simple though,
I guess I just needed someone to show me that it can be taught at a
primary level to an adult.
Every time I talk with President Van Cott it is mind blowing to me how
young he is. His 6 year old son came and sat with him during part of
the conference, and I was filled with gratitude for the sacrifices
that their young family makes for missionary work! They are the
greatest!
As for this week I am getting pretty excited! I am being transferred!!
I love Sister Gillespie and I love the Mill Creek ward, but I am
looking forward to a new adventure!
The next 6 weeks will be spent in the YSA ward here in the Redlands
stake! it covers the entire Redlands, and Yucaipa stakes. My new
companion will be Sister Dowd-- I haven't met her yet, so we will see
what happens. We are getting doubled in to the area, so it will be fun
to figure things out. I taught a lesson to a YSA girl-- Cameron--
Earlier this week though and she is wanting to be baptized! So that
will be fun! We will also be covering part of mill Creek ward though,
so that will be awesome!! I am looking forward to the changes, maybe
with some nerves, but looking forward to them none the less. Sister
Gillespie will still be in my district and zone, so I will still see
her all the time! I am excited for that as well.
Well, we dont have much time seeing as it is a proselyting day, So I
will try to send you more fun things next week! I hope you all got to
enjoy your memorial day weekend!

Love you all!
Sister Hope

The zone before transfers this week!

98 degrees and rising-- except for hotter than that.

Kyndras Baptism!

This is the sister-missionary-socks-and-chacos-because-we-are-going-out-to-check-the-mail-and-real-shoes-take-too-long-and-I-only-have-three-pairs-of-real-socks look!
No reason to waste perfectly good normal socks that can be used in the morning when its freezing to run out
to the car or the mailbox!



Don't worry! The emergency latch inside of our trunk works-- We tested :)

Greetings from one of the hottest places on earth! We have been having
such great adventures in the California sunshine this week! Its been
over 100 F at least 5 days this week. One day is was at 103 at 6pm. I
keep saying how grateful I am for the air conditioning in our car, but
since we park and walk as often as possible, we really dont get to
fully enjoy it.
This week has been pretty fun! Not as many lessons as normal, but the
ones we have had were great!
I have been working on my studying skills a lot the last couple of
weeks, and it has been pretty rewarding! I have been trying to study
more out of preach my gospel rather than just studying what I think
will be useful and I have felt much more satisfied in my studies. I
wish that I had realized 10 weeks ago what a blessing this manual is
to us. I hope that I never forget it! It really is helping me to draw
that line between simplicity and complexity in my mind. I hope that it
is working in my teaching as well. Sister Gillespie and I have been
practicing doing a one minute version of the Restoration. The simple
yet strong testimony that we are able to bear is something that I know
could positively influence those that we teach. We haven't had very
much opportunity to use it, but the practicing alone helps the rest of
our lessons cut the fluff. If you haven't noticed by the length of the
emails that I write-- that is something that I struggle with.
One of the things that we have been told by President Van Cott is that
although we are not a tracting mission, we should be knocking doors
when we are in an area and our plans have fallen through. If we are in
that area, it is for a reason. So, we have had some interesting
experiences knocking on doors when appointments fall through. It
hasn't been too bad. People politely decline for the most part :) If
only they knew what they were missing!!
In other news-- our now recent convert family is doing wonderful!!
Carlos-- who was baptized 3 weeks ago and then given the priesthood
last week-- baptized his wife, Kyndra, on Saturday night! It is so
wonderful to see how far this family has come! I am so excited for
them! They already have their eyes on the temple! They are preparing
to go to the family history center to search for their ancestry, and
take those names to the temple! They are also looking forward to the
day when they can take their family to the temple to be sealed for
time and all eternity! They are the best!!  We had a lesson with them
early in the week and taught about missionary work. We were
encouraging them to invite lots of friends to the baptism to help them
celebrate this beautiful turning point in their lives. During the
lesson they bore testimony of the gospel. It was so sweet to hear such
simple testimony from saints that are so fresh in the Gospel! It
really struck me that we don't have to know everything to know that
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the earth today and it really
does bring our families happiness when we accept the principles
taught!
This is the last week of the transfer which also means it is the last
week of my training! Woo Hoo! I hope I get to stay in this area with
Sister Gillespie though! I really do love it!
Well I hope that all of you are finding ways that Heavenly Father is
blessing you and then being grateful for those blessings and doing all
that you can to use them! I love you all and I hope you have a
wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Hope :)

 

Interesting week...

Well, this week has been nice and interesting. We have had a lot of fun!

Tuesday was pretty harsh, our appointments with investigators all fell
through. It was okay though, we got to teach some members, and it was
good.

Wednesday we taught Carolyn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are
very excited for her. She has been to church twice now and is
progressing towards baptism. We have her on date, and she seems
willing to accept all of the things that we teach her. We had an
interesting lesson on the priesthood and the keys and authorities and
the power. It was good, but I am sure that she is confused beyond all
belief now. Hopefully we will get things straightened out. She is an
interesting lady, but we love teaching her and we are excited to see
the blessings that the gospel holds for her.
Wednesday we also got to teach Carlos and Kyndra. They are doing
awesome. They are working on being better about family scripture study
and prayer, and we have been challenging them to start doing family
home evening. We will see how it goes. Carlos got the priesthood
yesterday and is going to be able to baptize Kyndra on Saturday. It is
very cool for their family!

Thursday we went on exchanges. Sister Gillespie went to MLC, and I was
her in Mill Creek ward with Sister Hamblin. She has only been out for
about a week, so I was a bit worried that it would be like the blind
leading the blind. The day went well though, and we got to visit lots
of people. No upsets, and I know the area much better than I thought I
did.
Sister Gillespie came back that night and we taught Michael in the
Chapel with Bishop Larson. It went really well, and Michael committed
to be baptized. However, he has had a few tough things happen since
then, so it probably wont happen as quickly as we would have liked.

Friday was a lot of fun. We went up the mountain to Angelus Oaks and
taught Jan. She is so much fun! She was an online referral and she
referred herself. She is very busy though, so we have yet to see her
at church. We always enjoy our trips to her home though :)
Fun Story! Also, every Friday there are these guys that sit on the
side of the road under a tent that says, "Need Prayers?" We always
want to stop when we drive by, but we never have time to. Well this
week we had time, so we stopped and talked to them for a few minutes.
They are not affiliated with any church, so they just come out and
talk to people and pray with them in an effort to help those who stand
in need. It's pretty cool really. They said a prayer with us and they
pray a lot like we do. We told them we will come back and next time we
will pray :)

Saturday we got to visit lots of people and teach a lot of lessons,
but the most interesting was to a Brother Hayden. He is not a member,
but his wife has been a member for over 40 years. He is agnostic
though and does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is
pretty skeptical of all things Christianity. We had a really good time
talking though. He was a history teacher and so he kept trying to pull
out historical things about Christ and religion that we wouldn't know
about, but he was pleasently surprised that I knew most of what he was
talking about and could carry a conversation. Don't be confused. This
was not a bashing lesson. Just a fun discussion on the legitimacy of
the Bible. He loves the sister missionaries and welcomed us back. He
is even going to read 3 Nephi and the first chapter of Jesus the
Christ before we come back! We are excited to see if he will take the
leap of faith to ask if Jesus Christ really is our Savior!

Sunday we got to teach a few old widows for mothers day. It was a lot
of fun! I love my mother and my family. It is a glorious time to be a
member of this gospel! We get to rise up and raise children in
righteousness when the world is so crazy!
Love you all :)
Sister Hope

Being a missionary . . .

Family!

Still sad to see no letters in the mailbox, but I guess I will get over it and live, right? Doesn't appear as if it is going to change,so I suppose this is the way it will be.

This week hasn't been too exciting as far as progressing investigators go. We have continued working with Michael, and Kyndra. We taught Michael in a members home this week. We got to go to the Carlson's home, and it was awesome! Brother Carlson is a high school water polo coach and probably the coolest man I have ever met! He was really good for Michael too. He told him that he has the answer to all of his problems right in front of him and it is time to stop worrying about the future, let himself up and start taking action! it was great! Michael really respected him. The only reason we are teaching him as sisters is because he doesn't like the Elders, or men in general. He really responded to Brother Carlson though, and that was a huge step for him!
Kyndra is coming a long great as well. We had to push her baptism back a week because of scheduling conflicts, but she will be getting baptized in a couple of weeks, hopefully by Carlos. They both left church early on Sunday though because Carlos said he felt sick. It was too bad. Carlos was supposed to be there early to have his interview with the Bishop to receive the Priesthood, and then be ordained during Elder's Quorum, but neither worked out. Lame, but it will happen,
their family is great!


As for adventures this week there has been a couple. Sister Gillespie decided that I should drive this week so that I can actually know our area for and exchange that we are doing this week. All good and fine, but I really don't prefer to drive. Also, we had to switch cars this week with some Sisters down in the desert which means that this girl had to drive on the California freeway! It was terrifying to say the least!! way too many lanes of traffic and drivers that are in too big of a hurry and like to cut you off going 80mph. Not my idea of fun.


Also, you might think that I am spoiled getting to be in big city southern California, but you have no idea. The Arnott's (our home share family) Have been out of town this weekend. Well last night we got home to do some training and plan for the night and I ran upstairs to get some water. To my surprise There was half of a rabbit carcass in the middle of their living room. Luckily on of their sons live close by and was taking care of the animals for them while they were away. We called him and he came right  over to take care of the problem. I guess being from Idaho didn't even prepare me for that one. Gross to say the least.


Well on that happy note, I hope that you are all having a great week and that you are remembering to see the blessings all around you. Heavenly Father gives us so much! Do something with it this week! :)


Love you all,
Sister Hope