Rawlins Letter #11

Sister Waite and I ...

Summerfest Outhouse Races: Cops vs Firefighters

The Dunk Tank (if you look closely you can see the ball I just threw...)

Yes, there is still snow in Wyoming! And I fell through at one point.

Summer in the Wyoming...snow!

Bowling on P-day

Retro Bowling Alley -- everyone in the place gets to see your overhead score.

T's baptism! I just love T and her family!

We talked to J (the cyclist) this week. Last we heard she was staying with another Mormon family in Rexburg, haha! She's so much fun to talk to. We love getting updates from her occasionally. It's so interesting to think about who I will probably keep in touch with. Some people are those I've spent 6 months with and others I've only known for about 6 hours. Just strange to think about. People come into our lives all the time for different reasons. 

We felt impressed to knock on a few doors one day. We did so and asked, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" A woman responded simply with one word, "Why?" She was obviously going through a hard time. She told us that she would listen, but wasn't in a place to really hear it right now, so we said alright and left her with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We talked a little longer about other things, but before we left I bore a simple testimony that she is not alone and that this information would help her. She teared up and answered, "I hope so." We'll see what happens, or maybe we won't, but I know she felt the Spirit. I pray that she felt a little more hopeful from our exchange.

Not a spiritual tidbit: We got to help out with the Summerfest on Saturday. Outhouse races and stuff like that. Hilarious. Someone (the woman's husband) paid for us to throw balls for a dunk tank where the woman we do service for (we LOVE her!) volunteered to be dunked. I got her 3 out of 5 times. We'll see if she let's us come back ;)  The day before, Sister Waite and I were planning and we were discussing someone we haven't been able to contact in a while. We both agreed and wrote down that we'd run into them at Summerfest. Well, guess who we ran into...Yup, our investigator who invited us to come over any time. We stopped by on Sunday evening and visited with them. Miracles!!!

T was baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. Her baptism was one of the most spiritually powerful ceremonies of my mission. It was so obvious how ready T was for the baptismal covenant. She was glowing. I love seeing people so happy. That kind of happiness only comes from the gospel. T's family is another family I plan on staying in touch with for a long time. I feel like part of their family. We were over there every day this week and we just loved every second of it. I love when people have questions when we teach, that usually means they have a sincere desire to not just know, but to understand. T always has good questions. We get stumped every now and then, but we are all learning together. 

One of our investigators that has really struggled with drinking has made some amazing progress this week. He was at church with his family (they are members). It is cool to see families all together at church. Preach My Gospel says: "Heaven is a continuation of the ideal home." I know that the ideal home is a Christ-centered home. Not a perfect home, but one where individuals are working together to become better. He is the source of true peace in this life.

And that's the update. Love you all.

Sister Rashauna Hoer