Fare the well

This is Teddy. isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen?

Anywhoo, This week has been pretty exciting. It has been full of lots of goodbyes for Sister Lee. She has been in this area for 6 months, so the people here are definitely going to miss her.

I think everything has been pretty same old same old. We have been meeting with LaVerne and Taraka. Penny and Pauline are still doing great.

We did get to do the Just Serve Helping Hands project this week. We cleaned up the main road here in town. It was fun. We had the section of the road that ran through the desert, and it was super windy that day, so we were caked in sand by the time we left. We also found a rattle snake. It was pretty fun though. And we only had to wash our hair like 4 times afterwards :)

In other news, So long to sister Lee! I sure love her! I can’t wait to meet my new companion though :) It will be a new adventure as always!

I love you all!

Sister Hope

A week of miracles

This week has been awesome working with one of our newer investigators-- Taraka. He is probably the coolest person I have ever met. He studies the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book for 4 hours a day. Talk about feasting upon the words of Christ. It has been so cool to observe. He has been reading and has been receiving so many answers to prayers. He loves the ward and refers to them as his new family and is excited for when he can join in as an official member. I love how much the Lord is in charge of this work. We met Taraka because we had the prompting to hand out "Because He Lives" cards at a service project. He saw us around town a couple of times and we didnt think much of it. Then he committed himself to be at church and came. He doesnt have a car or a drivers licence so he walks about an hour and a half to the church for everything including our lessons. I am astonished by his faith. 

It is always so amazing to me to see the great faith of investigators that have caught hold of the Spirit. Taraka is a great example of that. 

It makes me ask myself where my faith is. This transfer has been so wonderful working with people who dive into the deepend of the Gospel and feel right at home. It is AMAZING. 

Taraka is always texting us all of his insights that he gets as he studies the scriptures. It is so cool. 

Sorry I am a little boring this week! 

Love you all!

Sister Hope

Penny and Pauline's Baptism

Well this week has pretty much been consumed in baptism things. We have been planning and preparing and everything went off without a hitch last night! Woo Hoo!!

Sister Hope, Pauline, Brother Cross, Penny, Sister Lee, and Steve (Pauline's husband) In the back.

Pauline

Penny

We also got to have some adventures trying to empty the font afterwards to clean it. It took like 2 and 1/2 hours. Yikes.

Pre-Baptism pedicures

In other news, I have gotten really good at letting dogs sit on me... And checking for people at the door with them :)

Well, That has pretty much been our week. We met a man named Taraka that came to both church and the baptism. We should be meeting with him to teach him a lesson tomorrow. We would love your prayers in that.

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

Sister Hope

Progress

This week has been crazy busy getting things lined up with our progressing investigators. They have definitely kept us busy! I don’t have a ton of time so here are a few pictures!

Love you all!

Sister Hope

Last week LaVerne took us out for sushi. yikes :) I think it is growing on me though! I ate the whole roll :)

More haircuts-- LaVerne

Also, we went to the zoo today! Woo Hoo!! :)

It has been so fun working with investigators that seem to want to run rather than be pulled in their progress in this gospel. Our God truly is a God of miracles. I have seen so many the past few weeks. Here are just a few of the things that our friends have given up so that they can make covenants with God and strive to come to know Him and to know our Savior through receiving the restored Gospel. I love this work!

#Becausehelives

I hope that I can have time to write to you about such a wonderful week! Things have been going so great! The work has literally exploded! :)

I cannot think of another way to do this other than to just write it out day by day for you, so here it goes:

Monday:

Pday as usual. I gave Sister Lee a haircut. Yikes. I am not sure why people trust me sometimes. I mean "I've seen my mom do it a lot." It turned out I hope that I can have time to write to you about such a wonderful week! Things have been going so great! The work has literally exploded! :)

I cannot think of another way to do this other than to just write it out day by day for you, so here it goes:

Monday:

Pday as usual. I gave Sister Lee a haircut. Yikes. I am not sure why people trust me sometimes. I mean "I've seen my mom do it a lot." It turned out good though. I guess that you all can be the judges :) I keep having more people ask me about it now and ask me if I will give them a haircut too. Maybe I will just go to beauty school when I get home ;)

Before:people ask me about it now and ask me if I will give them a haircut too. Maybe I will just go to beauty school when I get home ;)

Before:

We were able to have a lesson with Penny and Pauline at night! Woo Hoo! It was so awesome. They told us all about the many blessings that they had seen in the last week after starting to learn about the Gospel and reading in the Book of Mormon. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so good. It was definitely on my list of top 10 lessons on my mission. They asked us when they could be baptized and said that they would prefer sooner rather than later :) There will be much more about them later :)

Tuesday:

Tuesday was also great. We had some service in the afternoon, and then were able to have a lesson with LaVerne before dinner. She is doing great as well. She is now preparing for baptism also. She is so good :) She always gives us pictures from all of the trips she has been on in her life

After:

Later on Monday we were able to have a lesson with Penny and Pauline at night! Woo Hoo! It was so awesome. They told us all about the many blessings that they had seen in the last week after starting to learn about the Gospel and reading in the Book of Mormon. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so good. It was definitely on my list of top 10 lessons on my mission. They asked us when they could be baptized and said that they would prefer sooner rather than later :) There will be much more about them later :)

Tuesday:

Tuesday was also great. We had some service in the afternoon, and then were able to have a lesson with LaVerne before dinner. She is doing great as well. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is now preparing for baptism also. She is so good :) She always gives us pictures from all of the trips she has been on in her life. I think I could make a scrapbook :) Its pretty fun :)

Wednesday:

This day was a little less exciting. We spent most of the day waiting for our car to be fixed and we were stuck in a city 20 miles away. There was one real pro though-- We got to wait at the only Sonic in the mission :) It was kind of the best thing ever :) 

Also, Sister Lee drew me this cool plan of Salvation :) 

 Thursday:

This day we brought back a bit more excitement. We had a lesson with LaVerne. We were able to read with her in the book of mormon. We wanted to read where she was, so we read Jacob 2. That was a little interesting, but great none the less :) 

We also stopped by to see Pauline. Her husband-- Steve-- Had gone in for surgery the day before. She was a little rough, but overall great. She has a lot of struggles in life-- however, she is so great because she sees so clearly how the Gospel is there to help and how it makes everything better-- Not perfect, but better. Her faith is absolutely amazing :) 

Friday:

We finally got to see Wendy on Friday! We were able to give her a church tour and talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Once again, she asked us when she could be baptized :) The Spirit is so amazing!

Also, Penny asked me to cut her hair this day as a service to her. She really liked Sister Lee's. I had spiked sister Lee's into a mohawk that day and when I finished cutting Penny's she asked if I would spike hers too. :) 

My Mohawk Girls :) 

Saturday!

WooHoo!! This day was pretty much the bomb. We had a mission conference all morning. Elder Brent H. Neilson, of the Seventy was there. It was awesome. He wasn't here on assignment, he just was just down here doing other things and wanted to visit the mission. It was awesome. He talked alot about the fundamentals of misionary work. He also talked alot about the Atonement and how this life is supposed to be uncomfortable. It was really good. I just love being visited by our General Authorities :) 

Here's an extra secret-- He is speaking in General Conference on Sunday, so when you watch him you can know that I shook his hand this week and we talked about Good ol' Twin Falls :)

After Mission Conference we rushed back to DHS and had a lesson with Pauline. We taught the Word of Wisdom. She accepted and has set the goal to be done with her habits by April 5. She is awesome! We love her faith :) 

After that lesson we went over to LaVerns so that we could drive in front of her out to Yucca Valley to go to the General Women's Broadcast. It was great. LaVerne was there, Wendy was there, and Penny and Pauline watched it at home so that they wouldnt have to leave Steve :) 

Sunday:

Sunday was also pretty fantastic. We taught this cute old couple that grew up in Twin in like the 30s and 40s. They were laughing because none of the buildings that they asked me about are still standing.

We also were able to have a Word of Wisdom lesson with Penny. She accepted also, and she is working with Pauline towards the 5th of April. We also stopped by LaVernes, and she gave us her coffee pot :) 

I love being able to work with people who see the blessings of the Gospel and are so willing and so ready to accept it. The Lord's hand truly is in this work. I love being able to see that. I know that this really is God's work here on the Earth. We are here to be instruments in His hands in bringing to pass the immortality and Eternal Life of Man. I love it. I love you all!

Sister Hope

Oh, and since I dont have time to write about it. Go to helives.mormon.org and watch and share that video. Have a contest to see who can get the most likes on it on facebook :) Its a wonderful Time of year! Cant wait for conference!