There is Hope Smiling Brightly before us!

Well, this week has been full of adventures as always. We have been so

very busy! It has been wonderful though :)

We have been blessed to be able to teach so many people about prophets

and apostles in preparation for conference. It is such a huge blessing!!

I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have that there truly is a

prophet on the earth today. We are not left here alone. God is

communicating with us and he is blessing us with the words we need for eternal life.

We have had so many incredible miracles this week! It really has been

almost too good to be true. This week we got to teach the Soto family

about the Story of Enos and about prayer. We truly love them so much.

Their family has been so prepared to hear the the Good News that we

have to share. The lesson was wonderful and the spirit was great. We

invited them to attend conference and they said they would. This week

Sister Soto came to Women's Conference! She loved it!

Even better was that Sister Rogers, a member of our ward, gave all of

us a ride there. Her and Sister Soto hit it off and Sister Rogers is

taking such good care of them. Sister Rogers is taking Sister Soto,

and 2 other investigators along with Sister Kagle, a less active, to

Los Angeles in October to go to see the temple and go to the visitors

center there! Members are so great!! We LOVE them!

Also this week we got to go and see Sister Kagle. We continued helping

her clean her home and got her excited for conference. She doesn't

come to church because she works on Sundays, but we are hoping that

changes soon and so is she! She is so wonderful! I am so grateful to

have been able to meet her! :)

I have been really bad about telling you about all of the exchanges I

have been on this transfer, but its okay. :) This week I was on

exchanges with Sister Buswell. She serves in this ward as well, so it

was very fun! :) While we were together we went to do some service--

and by service I mean pick up trash on the streets of Fontana-- and we

came upon the most friendly man! His name is Bishop Davis. He is the

Bishop of a local Christian church. He was so sweet. He was very

excited to meet us and even offered to have us over for dinner as a

welcome to Fontana! So fun! I love kind people! They are so wonderful!

I cannot believe how many of them I have been blessed to meet in the

last 6 weeks.

With that its time for....... TRANSFERS!!

You would think with me only having been here for 6 weeks, and Sister

Young having been here for 7 and 1/2 months that I would be staying

and she would be heading out to another new adventure, but nope! I am

packing my bags again! Its time to move out! We found out Yesterday

that I will be moving to the other side of Fontana, to the Alder ward,

and that I will be with Sister Rogerson! I am so excited! Sister Young

and I have had a ton of fun though. We have decided it has been a

companionship worth a wedding invitation ;) Also, since I am in the

same stake and zone we will see each other a lot in the next few

weeks! We have general conference this weekend, the stake activity-- a

fiesta!-- in a couple of weeks, hopefully the Soto family baptism,

Elder Evans from the Quorem of the Seventy on the 16 of October, a

temple trip, and any other exciting events that may be happening in

the next 6 weeks!

In other news I am also very excited to go be with Sister Rogerson!

She was in my Zone in Redlands, and we drove to Fontana together. We

also went on exchanges with each other a couple of weeks ago. She is

wonderful, and we are going to have so much fun! She is from either

North or South Carolina, so that will be fun as well! We found out

transfers from President and Sister Van Cott yesterday because they

spoke in the sacrament meeting before ours. Sister Van Cott said she

was jealous for the rest of the sisters because this transfer was

going to be a blast for sister Rogerson and I. I hope so! I am so

excited to go meet everyone in the Alder ward and serve them!

One more thing. A nice scripture thought :)

In Alma 26 Ammon glories in the Lord and shares his testimony of the

Gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly repentance. 

In verses 21-22 he says:

"And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth

these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things,

save it be the penitent.

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good

works, and prayeth continually without ceasing-- unto such is given to

know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal

things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto

such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been

given to us to bring these our brethren to repentance."

Cling to the promises in the scriptures.

I love you all! Have a good week and remember to go into conference

with a question in you heart! God speaks to us and "He revealeth His

secrets unto His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7) If you want to know

the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, listen to the men who know :)

Sister Hope :)

PS: Shoot! I completely forgot for a minute! This week we also got to
watch a sneak preview of "Meet the Mormons" !!! It was so great! Take
all of your friends!
(Unless you are a mom of a missionary, then you will just cry)

Somos las misioneras para La Iglesia de JesuCristo de los Santos de
los Ultimos Dias! :)
Camera:Sister Buswell Left to Right, Hermana Deroche, Sister Young, Sister Davis, Sister
Hope, Hermana Stevensen

Also, I have been using my nail painting talents to serve people! Love
the women we meet! :)

Sister Buswell and I accidentally match all the time. Yikes!

Sister Buswell, Sister Davis, Sister Hope, Sister Young, Hermana
Stevensen, Hermana Deroche

Women's Conference with our investigators!

Familia Mendoza

Familia Mendoza

Spiritual Gifts

Family and Friends,

This week has been so spectacular!! I just want to share a couple of

quick awesome things that happened:

The first on was Monday night. We got to have a combined Family Home

Evening with a couple of families in our ward. Familia Mondragon y

familia Ramirez. They are both Hispanic families. We decided to have

them have the Family night in Spanish because Hermana Ramirez and

Hermano Mondragon prefer it. The lesson was on the Plan of Salvation,

and we were very excited about it. We told them to just talk and

pretend like we understood everything they were saying. It was truly a

remarkable night. Here is the real miracle and the spiritual gift

though: Sister Young and I both understood. We were able to keep track

of the conversation and knew what was going on the whole time. We

didn't understand every word, but we knew what they were talking about

and understood. We were both very surprised by it, and we even said

the prayers for the lesson. It was interesting that after the closing

prayer was said, we went back to having to ask what words meant. It

really was quite the experience! Heavenly Father really has opened up

the windows of Heaven. When the Spirit was there and we were talking

about spiritual truth we were able to exercise spiritual gifts and

power! It was amazing!:)

To add to that, I really have been learning so much Spanish here in

Fontana. We taught another member of our ward in Spanish later in the

week. We have been able to share our testimonies and ask if people

want to learn more. Wow!!

[It may or may not be my secret desire to get transferred to a Spanish

area. Probably not going to happen, but I definitely would not

complain if it did :) ]

The next experience was also very fun. On Tuesday we had a crazy

rainstorm. It was pouring! Within about 10 minutes the streets were

starting to flood, and we were walking through ankle deep water--

that's right, WALKING :) We were loving it though. However, about 15

minutes in to that we were absolutely soaked. We also were blessed to

have a few cars drive past and splash us. Like in the movies when the

splash is taller than any normal sized person. So, it was quite the

adventure. When the rain stopped we were still on our way to someones

home. We were trying to decide who would let us in to wring out our

clothes. We finally decided to to to the Mendoza family's home. We

knocked on the door and when sister Mendoza saw us she almost started

crying. She was so excited to see us. She is one of the most humble

women I have ever met, and she said that she had been trying to get a

hold of us that day and wasn't able to. She told us that she had made

dinner and knew that she had blessed with more than enough for her

family and because of that she was praying that she would be able to

contact us so that we could come over for dinner as well. We didn't

have anyone feeding us and it was just very cool to see that Heavenly

Father really does lead us and guide us to where we need to be. He

places thoughts in our minds so that we can know that he is aware of

us and so that others are able to know that as well.

I am so grateful for all of the little things that we are able to

learn each day. Heavenly Father really does bring about mighty

miracles. If miracles have ceased in your life, it is because faith

has ceased. Have the faith that God really is there providing more for

you than you are aware of.

I love you all!

Sister Hope

The rains came down and the floods came up!

So many turtles. I surely hope that we dont get salmonella

Service at sister Kagle's House!

"When ye are in the service of your fellowbeings, you are only in the service of your God." [Mosiah 2:17]

Heavenly Father truly has poured out His blessings upon us this week.

This week I went on exchanges with Sister Randall. All of our

appointments fell through, but we got to have a really good lesson

with a less active girl in the ward. She is 17 and doesn't come to

church because her mom works on Sundays. Last week Sister Young and I

had a movie night with her and her friend that is not a member and

watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration." It was so fun, but

we had to go before the movie was over so that we would be home on

time. So, when we went back over, we shared a brief message of the

Restoration and invited her to pray to know for herself if that was

true. The spirit was wonderful!

Anywhoo-- regarding Christlike service, there are so many stories I

could tell from this week about how loving and charitable the people

around us have been, here are a few :)

Wednesday it was blazing hot. We stopped by a home where members

lived, but the wife was not home so we couldn't go inside. He told us

to go stop by the home next door that some members of the Polynesian

ward lived there and that we could talk to them. We went over and they

welcomed us in. They gave us all sorts of food and drink and

popcicles. We had never met these people before. I cant even say their

last name, but they were so willing to reach out in love to us :)

Next is Gina. Gina and her family have been loving the missionaries

for quite some time. She is the sweetest woman I have met. Everytime

we stop by she tries to send us home with all sorts of food and soap

and pretty much anything you can think of. This week we went over and

she taught us how to make sopes (Its a mexican food I think) and fed

us more dinner than we could possibly need!

Last, is kind of a funny story. Yesterday was the Soto's youngest sons

birthday. He turned seven, and we baked him a cake. We were in a hurry

out of our apartment to go to their house and give him his gift and on

our way out locked our keys in the apartment. Lucky for us we didn't

notice until about 5:15, and the management office closed at 5. That

meant that we were out of luck until the morning. Lucky for us, there

are so many kind people. Our next appointment, the Johnson's, came and

picked us up from the Soto's and brought us back afterwards. They fed

us a delicious dinner and even let us do our planning at their house.

They also gave us towels and toothbrushes and soap so that we would be

able to shower that night and get ready for bed. We then got to go

back to the Soto's who gave us pillows and blankets and offered us

clothes to wear. Lastly, the other Sisters in our apartment complex

let us come sleep on their couches for the night and get ready at

their apartment. This morning we were able to go to the property

management and have them let us in. We were also blessed to be able to

find our keys :)

Heavenly Father is so good to us. Find a way this week to reach out in

real Christ-like and selfless service to others. You never know how

much it will bless them :)

Love you all!

Sister Hope

We needed some natural light to try to make it look like we weren't so tired :)

Gina  :)

This is Sister Ramirez. She is the sweetest! She is helping us on our Spanish and is also going to thread our eyebrows today!

I now know what the heck these are :)

Sister Ramirez also makes these awesome Pinatas!

Selfie Sunday :)

It has seriously been on fire this week. This is what happened to my
lotion from leaving it in the car during church. If you look closely
the temperature is 110! yikes! it has been a fiery week!

Cutest little boy every! We love his prayers! he is so full of gratitude!

The Soto Family!! :)

Sister Johnson! :)

Christlike service :)

homeless for the night :)