Laramie Letter #14

 Rashauna and sister missionaries with Grandma Thompson

(R's new Wyoming sweatshirt)

 



 Catching snow in Larmaie

 

Letter from niece Mariah Davidson

 

 

I'm working on a Christmas list, but all I have on there is stamps...... hahaha and Sister De Voe and I are doing much better health-wise. It's fantastic to feel normal again.

 

It has been such a busy week. They just keep getting busier. Blessings of hard work and I think Heavenly Father gives us quite a few perks for biking around everywhere. It takes a lot more faith to bike all the way across town to try and visit someone than to just jump in a car and drive there, and faith preceeds miracles.

 

It snowed on Thursday. We had just finished our weekly district meeting when we noticed. I was wearing a sweater. An Elder gave me his scarf and gloves and Sister De Voe and I jumped on our bikes to hurry to an appointment with A. After a lesson with her, we saw another set of Elders who gave me a jacket. I immediately thought of 3 Nephi 13:33 Put God first (or others, because when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God) we just get taken care of. I've seen it happen so many times. It's amazing to see how the Lord provides for us out here. That night, we finally got to meet with T!! The girl that asked to meet with us after the Relief Society Broadcast. She is not in our ward, but said that we are the first set of missionaries that she feels comfortable with, so I'm hoping that is reason enough to be able to keep teaching her. She is incredible. She said the closing prayer for our meeting and thanked Heavenly Father for the spirit that she felt. She knows it's true and that makes biking through any weather worth it.

 

We stopped by S's house for a quick visit one night and she hasn't been reading. We took just a minute to explain why we invite people to do things like pray and read. We explained how we can share our experiences to her every time, but she'll never know it for herself without acting and experiencing the spirit for herself. Her whole demeanor changed. We weren't asking her to read as a favor for us anymore, but she recognized that Heavenly Father wanted her to. That was neat. She expressed her sincere desire to learn more and we promised we'd visit soon. She doesn't like setting appointments so we just drop in whenever and she loves it hahaha. I like it too. :)

 

The manager at Salvation Army, M, has agreed to take the missionary discussions!!! I have been so bold with her (in a loving and fun way) and it's neat to see her interest increase. She told me about it on Saturday and I said, "Oh wow, that is so neat." In a calm voice because I didn't want to freak her out, but as she walked away I couldn't help myself. I continued, "M..... I'm so happy I could scream right now!!" She laughed and pointed to the door. I ran outside and stayed true to my word, screaming for all of Laramie to hear. Don't worry, it was a happy sound, and M loved it.

 

One of the coolest experiences of the week happened when Sister De Voe and I met with a less active. We had invited her to watch Elder Scott's talk from the Sunday Morning session of conference. She hadn't done so, but said that she wanted to, it was just hard for her to remember. She suggested that we watch it right then while we were there. Perfect! Only problem, I couldn't remember what it was about, I just knew that she needed to hear it. So we watched it and it is all about repentance. I was a little nervous...... Afterward, we talked about it though and I can't tell you how happy I was for the spirit directing us to share that particular talk with her. It was exactly what she needed to hear. Repentance is such an important part of the gospel and of understanding Christ better. It was one of the more powerful lessons we've had.

 

Sunday evening we tried to meet with a former investigator who still doesn't want to come to church, but said he had something for me. He went in to grab something and came back with a yellow bag. It had a brand new Wyoming sweatshirt in it!!! I couldn't believe it!! I guess I had mentioned I wanted one so he bought me one exactly like the one he has haha. Pretty sweet.

 

We've been playing a lot of volleyball on our day off. I didn't even go shopping this week so we could play longer hahaha. I don't mean to brag, but we all keep getting better. It's been great. We also carved pumpkins!! Some of the free ones we got from Salvation Army. I brought mine over to Grandma to give to her and a bunch of other missionaries followed suit. She now has a very festive front porch :) I loved seeing how happy she got.

 

We have SOOOO much going on this upcoming week. I don't know how we are going to get everywhere we need to on bikes, but somehow everything always works out.

 

Love and miss you!!

Sister Hoer