Greeley Letter #18

The p-day bike riding club is growing...

Cool train.

Doing sidewalk are with this cute little fella.

This week has been incredible. First of all, Sister Grammer and I don't stop laughing. Life is great. We eat as many breakfast and lunches as we can outside (when weather permits) and enjoy herbal tea out of jars. Missionary work is just wonderful.

Updates on people (this is what really made this week so incredible): B!!! She read Mosiah 24:14-15 all on her own. We were elated when we saw the difference that it made during lessons this week when she took this initiative. She said the scriptures applied perfectly to her and we are so excited that she is making some progress. Nothing happens until people start exercising faith and doing things on their own to feel the spirit.

R came to church and paid his tithing, like usual. It's so interesting to me that some people have the hardest time ever with some commandments while others do them without even thinking. And vice versa. Tithing is an easy commandment for R.  I've just learned so much about people on my mission. It's very interesting.

A and S (and their daughter C) responded really well to the First Vision and the Book of Mormon. I know A already knows it's true but she's understandably having a hard time moving forward unless her family is on board. We can respect that, so they didn't say yes or no but they agreed to pray about a baptismal date. Progress :) That's what it's all about. More important than where we are is the direction we are facing.

We had an amazing discussion with a less-active and his fiancé. They want to get back to church and she has thought about baptism a lot!! We are really excited to start meeting with them.

Z, my friend and former investigator, had us over on Friday for a PB&J lunch and to help her start packing/organizing. She just found out that she has to be out of her house by the end of the month because her landlord is selling it. Sad day, but PB&J's always cheer me up and I'm sure it did the same for her. We're going to be going over there every Friday to help out. President Brown shared with us at a meeting once, "When is there a time that you are serving that you aren't teaching." I'm hoping that we will be able to teach her through this service opportunity.

Sister Grammer and I got to go to a baptism Saturday morning for one of the women she helped teach in her last area. Baptisms are the best. It is such a simple and powerful ceremony. I loved feeling the spirit there. I didn't even know the lady who was baptized, but I know that God loves her and that she was truly making covenants with Him that have the potential to bless her for her entire life.

Okay, Sunday started off kind of terrible. I was just in a bad mood and pretty exhausted. However, Heavenly Father loves us and the day just kept getting better and better. R came to church. I already said that. We got 4 referrals. Remember L? Well, we haven't been able to get in touch with her, but we felt like we should just stop by. She opened the door and said that now was a really bad time, they had just gotten some pretty bad news (I thought to myself, "Perfect! That means we came at the right time"). She paused and said, "We can't meet with you, but do you want to come in and just pray with us before you leave?" Of course! We came in and she explained that, upon hearing the bad news, she turned to her daughter and said, "Let's pray." Right then, there was a knock on the door and there we were. I know that Heavenly Father was watching out for her and didn't want her to be alone during that tough time. I told her that and she knew it, too. We have an appointment with her next Sunday. She told us, "Every time I try and shut the door, God keeps doing things like this to tell me to keep it open." Such a cool experience. I love being an instrument in God's hands. Then, we met a man who is excited to meet with missionaries and read the Book of Mormon. He speaks Spanish so we are going to pass him along to the Spanish speaking missionaries, but we're all on the same team, right? I was still super excited. We also had a lesson with a woman who we met back in November. She wants to meet again this week!! Over all, it's just been a really fun and spiritually uplifting week.

God loves us. I used to see that written various places, pretty randomly and never really knew why it was so important. Bathroom stalls, on the sides of buildings, sidewalks. I continue to learn why it's important to me personally, but it is amazing to see other people come to know what that means and why it's important to them.

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

The things you find at the store!

Pretty sweet find in the toy department.