Greeley Letter #14

Chocolate dipped strawberries made for the missionaries by a ward member

on Valentine's Day.

Someone else filled their room with balloons on another day.

Valentine's Day Photo

 

 

Z, the woman that came up to me at the library last week, is doing great! She loves us. Absolutely loves us. We're working on actually starting to teach her, but in the mean time the member that she is friends with had her and us over for dinner on Valentine's day. We just sat and talked for a while afterward, while the member was putting kids to bed. We are definitely teaching her the gospel it's just not as official as most of our appointments. We continue to feel that it needs to be her decision though, so we continue to love her and answer all the questions she has about the gospel. I don't think it will be long till we extend another invitation though.... that's just what we do.

 

Saturday night, a member invited family, friends (specifically one nonmember friend) and us to attend the blessing of their baby and dinner afterward at the church building. We got our food and sat down at the nonmember's table. I was nervous, but we simply had to. The spirit made sure we did this one thing. She is so easy to talk to!! I love her. She was saying how honored she felt to be invited to such a beautiful ceremony and was telling us that her husband recently said, "We should look into the Mormon faith more." Uhhhh..... well we're the people to talk to. Her member friend is already working on getting them and us over for dinner and their first discussion!!!! MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!!! Everybody get excited and invite your friends to things. Anything. Pinewood derby race. Dinner. Baby blessings. Church. Baptism. :) So cool.

 

Last week we met with L and her daughter K (referrals from a member!!!!). We met with them again last Sunday and brought a member with us. It was awesome. We planned on teaching the restoration which is basically all about Prophets anciently, Christ and His Atonement, and then modern prophets. Well, she openly says she doesn't know much about the Atonement so that's what we spent most of our time on. It was so cool. I love how simple the gospel is and I love how much L sees God's hand in her life. She has been through a lot in the last two years and she said during our last visit that maybe it was because she had to meet us. She has had missionaries come to her door multiple times and she has always turned them away until we came along. We have another appointment with her next Sunday.

 

So many cool things happening in Greeley. We also met with one of the coolest less-actives ever. K does archery, shoots, and wants to take me fishing. She has 6 kids and has had some rough experiences, but she's open to meeting with us and even expressed her desire to go to the temple. I'm so excited about her. She and I just clicked. Lately it's been really cool to see evidence of why I am here. It's incredible. I feel like I'm going to be friends with people here for a very long time.

 

R and S are doing alright. I think we have to tell them that we can't visit them anymore. It's heartbreaking, but they aren't doing what they say they'll do and I know there are others who not only need this, but are ready for it. So.... that's really depressing. I love them.

 

To end on a lighter note. I came home to a room completely full of balloons on Tuesday night. So cool. So random. I love surprises :)

 

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

Greeley Letter #13

Doing more artwork for fellow missionaries

Capes made by Sis. Smith (complete with their names on back)

Eating sorbet and playing Connect Four

P-day 

The car takes another hit...

 

 



We moved into a new house on Tuesday. It was so sad leaving the Buss's, but our new "family" is incredible. They are some of the nicest people. They make us breakfast and are hilarious. They are actually members in the Spanish Branch so I'm not really sure why we are living with them while the spanish sisters are in an apartment, but I couldn't be happier with how it all worked out. I feel so lucky every day. Heavenly Father really loves me. I often feel like I don't deserve it, which makes me realize just how unconditional His love is.

 

We set two of our investigators with a baptism date!! March 15th. It's the two grandkids of the less active couple. They continue to participate in our discussions and love to read the scriptures. They are adorable. It's different teaching children. I feel like we use a lot more analogies and it has just really helped me to teach more simply. I just want everyone to know everything, but there is wisdom in learning precept upon precept.

 

A lady hit our car on Saturday..... so we are driving "the transformer" again haha. The front right bumper is again in our trunk and I just laughed when it happened because 1) no one was hurt and 2) it looks almost the same as last time..... I think this car is bad luck. Everything happens for a reason right? Who knows what will happen because of this little set back.

 

T is doing fantastic. She continues to meet with us once a week, attends church, and is doing missionary work left and right. It's so cool to see how understanding the Atonement causes us to reach out and want to share it with others. I want to study the Atonement more often this transfer. It's hard sometimes to get motivated to go out in the snow and work until late, but I feel like that is simply a result of not understanding/remembering the Atonement. It is the source of power and strength by which we are able to accomplish all He asks of us. I can be awfully forgetful sometimes, so that's my plan.

 

A miracle just happened right this second!!!!!!! I have chills all over right now. One of our potential investigators just came over, sat down, and talked to me for a little while. I can't even describe how much I love this woman. She is a friend of one of the ward members and has met with missionaries a little bit before. She keeps reaching out to us and I have to believe that she is one of the main reasons I am still in Greeley. She asked when we could come over this week!!!! Wow I'm so excited!! I really really really really love this woman. I can't wait to start meeting with her, but we keep getting the impression to be patient and to let her come to us. We're trying to follow the spirit (even though I just want to start teaching every time I talk to her).

 

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

Greeley Letter #12

Habitat for Humanity missionary crew

 

"Working" at the food bank...

 

Most of the missionaries in Rashauna's zone.

 

 

We had two amazing service projects this week. They were the usual ones, Habitat for Humanity build and the food bank. However we made them an absolute blast. People around saw how much fun we were having and commented on how neat it is that we take time to volunteer and that we can have such a blast in the process. Attitude is everything. Heavenly Father gave us power to control our thoughts, actions, and emotions. That is hard for me to accept sometimes when I'm letting myself feel discouraged, but it's true. We choose how we feel and I love that He has given us the ability to do so.

 

On Saturday, I found out that I'm staying here for another transfer!! I couldn't be more excited. A lot of my good missionary friends are leaving, but that just means I'll get to make more friends, right? Sister Tafengatoto and I will still be together and I know that there is a lot that we are supposed to do here. I know there are people that we have been working with that need us and it's nice to know Heavenly Father feels the same way.  

 

R wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so he and S didn't make it to church, but we are very hopefully about next Sunday. The A family are amazing. It probably doesn't seem like much, but as I was leaving their house last night, Mama L said, "wait, we got this for you!" It was an avocado.... I almost cried... over an avocado. Pathetic? Maybe, but it's those small things that get me. The cool part about it was that last p-day I got them the game Phase 10 and printed out a few pictures for them. I love when people are thinking of each other at the same time. Pretty rad. We've also been able to make contact with several people that we haven't been able to reach the last few weeks. This week has a lot of potential.

 

I love teaching the gospel. I think the best way we can teach is by following Christ's example and asking inspired questions. I try really hard to ask a lot of questions and we were able to have a really cool discussion on Sunday during our Gospel Principles class (our Ward Mission Leader started teaching the lesson, but gladly accepted our offer to take over because his baby girl kept getting more and more upset as the seconds passed). I actually really like spur of the moment opportunities. They make for a spiritually guided discussion. Regular scripture study makes me feel like I can do anything. There is so much strength that we recieve from the scriptures, from obtaining knowledge and truth from Heavenly Father through His spirit.

 

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer