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

Rawlins Letter #10

Doing service work at the prision

Exploring on P-day

Finding a crazy wind tunnel

Meeting our new friend who is biking from Kentucky to Oregon

Finding a place to study (?) on P-day

With R at church

4th of July

A little disheveled after climbing down from the roof to watch fireworks

Our district wore red, white and blue for the entire week of July 4th

Very interesting week. I feel like I always say this but...it's been our best week yet in Rawlins!! We had several really neat spiritual experiences in lessons and a lot of member participation. It has been wonderful.

We also met J. She is riding her bike from Kentucky to Oregon, so you can imagine that I was immediately drawn to her. Well her knee had been bugging her so she decided to take a day off in Rawlins. (What a coincidence...haha, NOT!) We met around lunch time and she ended up spending the rest of the day with us. (Yup, we just happened to have ridden our bikes that day.) So we rode to a service project at the art shop where J painted a little bit, we set her up with a free tour of the old penitentiary while we went to some appointments, we enjoyed dinner together, and talked about the gospel on and off the entire day. It was tough saying goodbye to her. We all just got very attached to each other. Sister Waite hid a picture of Jesus in J's pack and we told her about the gospel library app to access the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon.

The next day she continued on her trip heading North. She called us that night and told us the coolest story. She was biking and trying to decide whether to stay in a town she was coming up on or to continue another 20 miles to Sweetwater Campground. She said a little prayer, telling us that God had led her to the right places so far along her journey, and she trusted Him to do so now. She got to the first possible place and started talking to a man. She asked about Sweetwater. He responded with, "Oh, it's just a bunch of Mormons up there." She told us when she heard that, she immediately knew it was an answer to her prayer and thought, "that's where I need to go." Two days ago she didn't know anything about us or our faith, and now she is biking an extra 20 miles to be around members of the church. She told us they are taking great care of her and she'd already received a couple of jello cups, haha, typical :) and that she "found Jesus" (the pass along card Sister Waite hid). I couldn't have been happier. We plan on keeping in touch.

R is incredible. He left today for Chicago and will be getting baptized there where his family and new ward family can attend. We all thought that was for the best. I made him promise to send me a picture of his baptism :) I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting to know that extremely intelligent and humble man. I've learned so much from him in such a short amount of time. He is truly seeking all the knowledge he can about the gospel. He basically taught us why commandments are so important. He has a solid testimony. He found an article that he shared with us this week (written by a person not of our faith). Check it out at the end of my letter.

T is doing really well.  Two more lessons this week and on track for her baptism this Saturday!!! After we get done emailing today, we're headed over to her place to spend time with her :)  She has quite a few less-active family members that she is including in the program. It's really neat. It's going to be so good for the whole family.

Fourth of July was really fun. We went hiking for our morning work out and did our studies in the mountains. We were invited to three different barbeques. We ate at one, enjoyed dessert at another, and then just played hide and go seek instead of eating anything at the last one. We had to be home at our normal time and fireworks didn't start until 10 pm....that was a bummer. Sister Waite and I got home and when we heard them start to go off, we decided we just had to see them. I helped Sister Waite up the first part of the tree near our house. We were cracking up as she stepped on my shoulder to get up the last part and then turned to help me get up. We continued up the limb that goes closest to our house. Hanging on this branch with our arms, we could stretch our legs toward the house and just barely make it. We sat up there and enjoyed the limited view of fireworks through a tiny break in the trees. We stargazed for a little while after they ended and then headed back down the tree in the dark...still wearing skirts...What an adventure!

Sunday was a day of miracles. We contacted two referrals. The first one had been looking for a Book of Mormon for over a year now. We were able to bring him one and teach him a little more about it. His friend spoke primarily Spanish (and English was definitely a second language for him, as well) so I said a prayer in Spanish! I felt the Spirit, so I'm just hoping it made sense. It was simple, but simple can be the most powerful sometimes, right? Anyway, he talked to us about seeing the Salt Lake Temple and wanting to go there, but he wants to be able to go and say he is Mormon. Haha, okay..."So, you want to get baptized first?" He had a huge smile on his face and said, "Yes." Wow. The next person we contacted was a girl that just graduated from high school. At first she told us she was a different religion and not really interested, but she was nice enough to let us in and talk for a little bit. As we continued asking questions and try to get to know her, she expressed her concerns about the faith she grew up in, how she actually doesn't agree with most of it, and how she is looking elsewhere for truth. We shared a few things about the restoration of the gospel and Plan of Salvation. We left her with a Book of Mormon and she can't wait for us to come back.

Heavenly Father really loves us. So many little things are evidence of this love every day to me. That doesn't mean that everything always goes right, but there's always more than enough good to carry me through. I'm convinced being grateful helps us notice all these little things.

Love you!

Sister Rashauna Hoer

Article mentioned above, written by someone of another faith:

One religious group shows consistent growth year by year and decade by decade. Mormons keep growing their church. Why? I propose six reasons.

1. Mormons have bigger families.

This is the easiest and simplest explanation. But it's far from the entire story. In fact, if family size were determinative, then many churches in America would be growing at a rate that exceeded general population growth. After all, the birth rate of religious families generally exceeds that of nonreligious families. Instead, church after church shrinks or remains basically steady in spite of the higher birth rate. Mormons start with a bigger baseline family, but then they tend to hold on to their kids while many other religions often do not.

2. Mormons have lower divorce rates. 

While regular church-going evangelicals divorce less often than secular couples, Mormon-marrying Mormons have the lowest divorce rate of any major religious group. Families that stay together are more likely to pray together. Few experiences are more demoralizing to a young Christian than seeing his parents destroy their own marriage and destroy their own kids' childhoods in a blaze of selfishness, lust, and pride. 

3. Mormons share their faith.

Who hasn't met a Mormon missionary? My wife used to debate them at the doorstep, but we made many new Mormon friends and now welcome them into our home, offer them rides in the rain, and generally get to know young people who experience a very different young adult rite of passage than your typical evangelical. A Mormon mission is a sacrifice—a deep sacrifice. Evangelism not only wins converts, it also strengthens the faith of the evangelist. 

4. Mormons are "orthodox."

No evangelical can call Mormons "orthodox" in terms of the Apostles' Creed and biblical canon. But they are orthodox within their own, distinct faith tradition. In other words, members of a Mormon church tend to know and believe their faith. Go to a typical evangelical church and you'll often find very wide theological divergence. Nationally, 84 million people self-report as evangelicals, but of that number only 19 million according to Barna actually have orthodox evangelical beliefs. In other words, the evangelical church must improve in transmitting even the most basic elements of the Christian faith from generation to generation. 

5. Mormon leaders ask a lot of their members.

I'm always amazed at the level of church involvement of Mormons compared to evangelicals. From giving, to service, to teaching, to raw number of hours in the church building, Mormons are simply doing more. To some evangelical critics, you'd think we lose members because we're so demanding. But compared to the Mormon experience, evangelical churches are a carnival ride of short services, low accountability, and rare church discipline. If you're a faithful Mormon, you're not living a 95 percent secular life like so many evangelicals. At least in this regard, Mormons are truly countercultural. 

6. Mormons are less selfish.

Add up points one through five, and you get to the sum. Too many of us evangelicals have forgotten the fundamental paradox of Scripture—you won't gain your life until you lose your life. We ask our kids to lose just a little life to gain . . . what, exactly? If Christianity isn't worth losing everything, is it worth only losing some things? And if it's not worth losing everything, why is it worth losing anything? 

Big families, intact families, years-long missions, faithfulness to church teaching, and a lifetime of service add up to a sustainable, Christ-honoring counterculture. By contrast many of our churches will prove to be ashes and dust—unable to resist a culture that relentlessly demonizes even the small remaining differences between evangelicals and atheists. 

As a member of another Christian denomination in America, I've got my theological differences with the LDS church. But if we evangelicals don't believe we have anything to learn from our Mormon friends, then we're foolish. Our churches will not grow by conforming, by shedding the last remaining distinctions between Christians and the secular world. That route is well-traveled by the imploding mainline denominations. Instead of asking less of our families and youth, let's ask more by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit. Instead of giving less, let's give more. Instead of believing we're unique theological snowflakes capable of discerning truth on our own, let's teach church doctrine early and well. And let's not be afraid of church discipline. 

What are the core lessons for the church? Conform and die. Resist and live.

David French is an attorney, author, and blogger at Patheos.

Rawlins Letter #9

Working out at the park

Frosting fight...

...the frosting won!

The frosting that was left went on Sister Young's birthday cake.

Meeting up with the Wilderness District on the way to Laramie

No caption needed.

Visiting with Grandma T in Laramie!

Last Monday we were playing soccer in the park on P-day and the ball managed to get by me right as a guy was walking by. He let the ball come to him, juggled it a few times and passed it to me. I said, "Whoa, you wanna play with us?" He agreed and got to meet all four of us sister missionaries. Since then, we played Tuesday and Wednesday for a little bit and got to meet all of his friends. They call me "hermana" because they can't say my name and I try to speak Spanish to them. They've asked us all sorts of questions and we've invited them all to church. Quite a few are actually interested. It's great! Soccer: best finding activity on my mission, so far.

Sister Waite and I decided that it simply doesn't matter what you teach. How you teach is the real indicator of someone's progression. If the Spirit is present, He will teach people exactly what they (and we, as a matter of fact) need to hear. We've been trying to focus on that even more.

We helped out a less-active with gardening again and guess who showed up to church this Sunday!!! Yup, she made it!!! That was really exciting. T is doing great! She came to church this week and we taught her the Plan of Salvation which was really powerful. She still has some questions about a few things but feels it's true. Questions are a good thing. If we don't ask questions, we'll never find answers. And, let me tell you, she's got some great questions. Lessons are totally led by the Spirit. T is one of the most prepared people I've ever met. It is so clear how much Heavenly Father loves that woman. She's been through a lot and deserves this Gospel and the blessings that come because of it. 

Everybody deserves the Gospel.

We had a meeting in Laramie on Friday (I got to stop by and visit with Grandma T!!!! We sang her a song just like the good 'old days). On Saturday, Sister Waite and I decided to pray together to request help in finding an SD card that she had misplaced. It had been missing for quite some time and had her pretty worried. I would be too in that situation. I had no idea where she had put it or anything. She said a prayer, during which I had the clearest impression to look in a very specific drawer. It seemed so silly, but after the prayer I told Sister Waite the thought that had come into my head and went to the drawer. I started taking a few things out pretty casually, not really expecting anything when all the sudden I froze. I was looking at her SD card. I pulled it out and we both screamed. Prayers are answered. There is just no way I would've known to look there without help. So neat :)

A member took us and T out to dinner on Saturday night and someone paid for the four of us. So cool. I LOVE WYOMING!!! I love seeing the blessings that come to people that want to do nice things for missionaries, too. It was just a great experience.

Sunday was the grand finale. Whoa. We had three investigators at church. M, one of our ward missionaries, invited her friend to come. He's now interested in learning more. We had quite a few less-actives at church. Sundays like this are not an indicator of good missionaries at all. It's simply miracles that Heavenly Father is blessing people in Rawlins with ... but it's also soooo nice to see results from our actions.

We fixed Sister Waite's bike!!! Stoked!!!

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

Rawlins Letter #8

Advise from Sister Hoer: always take a jumping picture

Lake Marie, Wyoming - on the way to Zone Conference in Laramie

Lake Marie

This is the last Zone Conference for the four of us

Watermelon!

This is the "small shopping cart"

Last Monday I got a letter from Sister Grammer, my last companion. I was so excited to read it but we were on our way to the store. I tried to read it at red lights but stoplights in general are few and far between and they never last long, making my attempt to read futile. We got to the store and I thought, "I don't need anything, I'll take this in to read while I follow my companion around" (shopping is not my favorite thing to do, ha-ha). It was a normal, extremely windy Wyoming day. We got out of the truck and I locked it just as a gust of wind came and snatched the two precious pages from my grasp. I watched them tumble and dance away from me at an impressive speed. I yelled, "Nooooooooooooooo!" Without communicating, Sister Waite and I broke out into a full sprint after them. I caught up with one and was able to step on it. This resulted in me almost doing the splits in the parking lot. I was laughing so hard already! Then, I looked up just in time to see Sister Waite dive into a planter. When she emerged she held up the second page of the letter. Victory!!! Wyoming wind: 0, Sister Missionaries: 1.

We've met with the most amazing families this week. A couple less-actives that we have been trying to meet with for forever it seems like. We enjoyed dinner at the Smiley's. We have a new Ward Mission Leader, Brother Bobik. He and his family are great. We just feel like we have so much support out here. So many other families have just been answers to prayers this week. The Rodriguezs, Birds, Brights, Faveros, Bates...they are all fantastic! We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday. It was my last one. We took the scenic route to Laramie through Medicine Bow National Forest. It was gorgeous!!! The focus of the meeting was on the importance of families. It was really powerful, but kind of hard to discuss. I feel like I already think about my family all of the time these days.  

I gained a stronger testimony of revelation through scripture this week. I've been reading the Book of Mormon trying to read it again before I get home. Saturday morning I was reading and was able to have a question answered. One that I've had for a long time. I was not reading about this topic, I was just reading through 2 Nephi Chapter 2. I know that scripture study invites the Spirit and that's where real and lasting knowledge comes from. Such a cool feeling.

We got a referral for a man that lives on the fourth floor of an apartment building. That is all the information we got. We got it on Friday, and Saturday we had plans to visit one of our investigators. We pulled up to the house and I said, "This isn't where we're supposed to be." Sister Waite agreed and said "Let's go try to visit that guy." I was thinking the same thing, so we went to the apartment building to find out you need a code or someone to buzz you in the door. Not knowing which room was his, I started guessing codes. No luck. I started pushing room buttons. No luck. I don't think Sister Waite liked my idea of trying to get in so we were about to give up when we heard the door make a weird noise...someone buzzed us in!! I opened the door and we got into the sketchy elevator to go to the fourth floor. When the door opened, there was a man standing there that looked very surprised to see us. Nearby was an abnormally small shopping card. We introduced ourselves and he responded with, "You must be the Elder's replacements." I think we found our guy!!! Well, he kind of found us. He looked down the hallway and said to someone we couldn't see (the person that buzzed us in, probably) "Trust me, this has nothing to do with you." Ha-ha! We were just confused at this point. He walked past us, taking the shopping cart into the elevator and said, "Excuse me, I just need to take this downstairs. Would you like to come?" We hesitated...he continued, "Oh, that's right, you can't come in elevators," and the doors shut. Hahaha! When the doors opened again, he and two other men came out. They introduced themselves as Brothers so-and-so. Two members of the Church had decided to visit this man, their former co-worker at exactly the right time! We were all able to go in and have a lesson. This is the most intelligent and interesting man I've met. He wants to get baptized as soon as possible!!! He is moving to Chicago so it'll probably happen there, but we are still so excited! Apparently he met with the Elders quite a few times. He invited us to all go to dinner sometime this week before he leaves for Chicago. Sister Waite and I left before the other gentlemen and we were in the elevator talking about how weird and wonderful and strange and spiritual and awkward and miraculous everything was. The doors of the elevator opened and right there in the doorway was that little shopping cart. We just burst into laughter.

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. I related rollerblading adventures in San Diego to the gospel. I think it went pretty well. People in the ward seemed to like it. We also got to teach the youth missionary prep class. That was a little crazy. I think a few of them had a good experience, which made the slightly frustrating time worth it in my opinion. Hats off to all of you who work with the youth. Respect.

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

PS: Did I mention that people keep giving us watermelons? Livin' the dream, as Moriah Mason would say!

Rawlins Letter #7

Homemade wheat bread - thanks for the recipe, mom!

We went over to the Smiley's for dinner and they gave us each a care package.

I made sweet potato fries with a giant sweet potato a member gave us.

(Note: this email follows news that her mission president gave her last Friday that her uncle had passed away, as well as an email we sent to her about her uncle that she received yesterday.)

I have been praying nonstop for the family and occasionally (usually right when I feel like giving up) I get the most peaceful feeling. I know it must be beyond difficult to go through what the family is going through right now, but I know Heavenly Father is watching over all of us. I am so touched by all of the tender mericies you told me about. The fact that Robert got to talk to all of us kids and Christina before his passing, you were able to spend quality time with him, and that Eric and Grandpa were able to be there. I just loved the story about Bryce giving Robert blessings. I was sobbing, but just have full faith in the Priesthood and the Atonement.  I love thinking about how peaceful and pain free Robert is. The glue that's holding me together right now for so many reasons is - the Gospel. Where would we be without it?

So, I got a blessing just the day before President called to tell me about Robert. I never ask for blessings. Never. It was really cool to have the peace that comes with a Priesthood blessing when hearing the news. President Brown and my companion, Sister Waite, have been incredible. I am very well taken care of out here and it's comforting to know that you are all taken care of by the same source. Different people, but it can be traced back to Heavenly Father. In a stake conference in Loveland someone said, "You think you are going through a change, but you're not. You were in His hands before and you are in His hands now." That phrase has come to my mind a lot whenever I start to worry about how the family is doing.

As far as a weekly email goes:

I believe in prayer. We have had so many answered prayers this week. We were able to contact R and S (after a long dry spell) and will be having a lesson with them tonight. We'll probably be teaching the Play of Salvation, which will be hard for me right now, but really neat at the same time.

We knocked on a woman's door. Someone in our ward had recommended that we stop by. A young woman answered and seemed very hesitant but explained that she was a member of the church.  We asked if we could share a brief message and she invited us in.  After a little bit we figured out that she has been thinking of going back to church and said, "I saw you walk up and I was so excited because I knew exactly what you wanted to talk about."

T and her family came to church!! During a lesson this week we asked how she was feeling. She answered, "Good, really good. Actually, I've been feeling good every since you two showed up." Heavenly Father knows His children. There have been several times that we have said things or taught things that were exactly what she was thinking and needed to discuss. There is just no way that we would be able to know that. I know that the spirit is helping us in every way possible to help her come unto Christ. It's incredible. We invited her to be baptized on the 12th of July. The whole family gasped. Sister Waite and I paused...is this good, bad, terrible, wonderful...we had no idea what was going on. T then explained to us that 12 is a very important number in their family. Their anniversary, birthdays, all sorts of important days all fall on the 12th of various months. She had a huge smile when she said yes and said she can't stop thinking about it.

Heavenly Father continues to spoil Sister Waite and I in Rawlins. Members here are just incredible.

Love, Sister Rashauna Hoer

PS: Family, the surveys have me laughing like a weirdo! I LOVE your answers!!!

Rawlins Letter #6

Art project!

Elder Ramirez's birthday party.

The Wilderness District.

Windy Wyoming.

Last Monday our amazing Relief Society president had us come over to the art shop she works at and make cameos. Soooo neat. I just love and really miss art projects. I also forgot my planner today. I use that a lot to do my weekly recap so...I'll do my best. 

This has easily been one of our best weeks here. Things are finally moving forward at a noticeable pace. It was good, but slow trying to get things going with two new missionaries in the area. However, we have really been able to learn and see how hard work yields results. Not always when you want them (I always want them immediately) but having faith that they will come in the Lord's time. This experience has already been helpful in promising our investigators blessings that are sure to come when we keep going.

Sister Waite and I decided to try and read all of Preach My Gospel before the end of the transfer. This was last Friday and we finished yesterday. It was a really cool experience. All we were doing for studies was reading, reading, reading, but we really enjoyed it. I learned so many new things. We even read the "Learn the Mission Language" chapter and replaced "mission" with "spirit", learning the spirit language, Ha ha! We had fun and were uplifted in a lot of ways. 

We made some amazing progress with K. She is reading scriptures everyday and finally starting to see the blessings from doing so. It's difficult to act in faith for that long but she's doing it. We felt the spirit so strong in our last lesson with her. She is inspiring. We're hoping we'll be able to help her get to church this week. Cross your fingers...or pray. Yeah praying will probably be more productive :)

We have a new investigator named T. She is incredible. Our first lesson with her and her husband (a member) we just answered questions she had about the temple. She told us that she asked her husband to be sealed to her in the temple when she gets baptized!!! We love visiting her and her family. Her daughter is going to girls camp this week and they are excited about church this week. They make every hard day worth while. We are looking forward to meeting with them again this week. 

We found out on Saturday that we get to stay another six weeks here together!!! Sister Waite and I were very excited about that. The R family threw an ice cream party for us and the other sisters :) Saturday was just a great day. We got to help out with the Pen to Pen Fun Run a local 5K race/bbq party, have dinner with the S family, visit with the R family and we got to visit with some investigator families. It was just the best day ever.

Love you all, thanks for all the love and support :)

Love Sister Rashauna Hoer

Rawlins Letter #5

Sunrise Party on P-day!

Me and Sister Waite

The beautiful Wyoming landscape

Enjoying the sunrise

A quote from Relief Society I really like...

Working to fill sandbags in Saratoga

Preparing for the flood

We haven't been able to meet with R and S again yet. Simply due to scheduling conflicts. They invited us blowing though, haha! We explained to them that's not really what we do while we're on our missions. They are really cool, though, and hopefully we'll meet with them soon.

Wednesday morning we got a call requesting that we go to Saratoga as soon as possible to help with some flooding down there. We spent 7 hours straight filling sandbags and then went back the next day to help out again. Exhausting, but rewarding work. It was really neat working alongside inmates from up north, other members of the church, missionaries, Saratoga residents, and several Wyoming National Guard members. I wish bad things (like flooding) didn't happen, but I love seeing people all working together regardless of who you are, where you're from, or what you believe. We really enjoyed the opportunity to help out.

We helped out a less active member with some gardening when we saw her outside working. She is a delightful and interesting person to visit. We shared an Ensign article with her last time we visited with her that she read! How exciting. She also really likes Alphonse Mucha and, when I said he is one of my favorite artists, she gave me a few amazing pictures of his!!! They are already up on my wall. 

People continue to spoil us here and I just love the people we visit more and more (not because of the spoiling, but because they are so down to earth). Just great people out here. We had two really cool lessons with referrals that we invited the members to invite into their home. That makes such a big difference. We have 5 new investigators for this week alone thanks to the Spirit and member support - we couldn't do it without them.

So, while reading the Book of Mormon I recently discovered a new meaning to 1 Nephi 2:4. It says that Lehi and his family "departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents". This told me that the three most important things in the world (other than the Gospel, of course) are family, food, and camping. So make sure to prioritize those things ;)

This morning Sister Waite and I got up super early. We woke up the other sisters, told them to put on warm clothes, and to get into the truck as soon as possible. We drove out to this really cool spot to watch the sunrise and we supplied breakfast. It was delightful and Wyoming is soooooo pretty.  So much open space. It's peaceful and beautiful.

Love you all!!! Hope you have a great week.

Sister Rashauna Hoer