Called to Serve: I survived my 2nd week!

I survived my second week! And now I am outta here. Monday I will be in Colorado!!!!! It still feels so surreal. I literally just got here! Although it feels like I've been here for months. This week I feel like I have grown so much. One of our teachers told us that the MTC is like being in a taffy puller...we are just being stretched to the very most. It is so true!!! I have learned so much. But there is still so much i have yet to learn out in the field. SO much happened this week that I don't even know where to begin! When the sisters in the other district left for the field, they passed on this magic 8 ball that has been passed down from room to room in the MTC for who knows how long. So the sisters in my room have had way too much fun asking questions to the magic 8 ball. It's probably not a very good thing for us misisonaries to be doing..don't worry I only asked one question. hahah!

We finished teaching our investigators this week! Two of our investigators committed to baptism. That was the coolest thing ever. I was really sad to stop teaching them because I wanted to continue to see them grow further! We have one other investigator and our last lesson with her is tonight. She's a little harder to get through to, but we do our best. Oh and one day, our teachers decided to give us a surprise investigator and see how well we could do on the fly focusing on the investigator's needs and preparing a lesson quickly by the spirit. So we walk to the building to meet our investigator and guess who opens the door. Nick Taufer. He started to welcome all us sisters and when he saw me, he flipped. He was like...holy cow!!! Sister Hoer!!! When our teacher realized we knew eachother he had a little private powow with nick and we ended up teaching a different person. I sure messed up that plan for him. I felt so bad! But when the sisters realized I knew our "investigator" they were mind blown. They already think I know half the MTC so when this investigator turned out to be someone I know, they went crazy. It was a little embarrassing but also hilarious. I feel like the Steve Hoer of the MTC! LOLZ

On Sunday we got to watch the Character of Christ by David A. Bednar. That literally changed my life. I highly reccommend everyone to watch it. It made me realize that I really need to focus on others. I have been trying really hard to forget myself. Because that is how Christ was. He never gave any thought to His own needs. I was a little surprised at how hard this is! But it gets easier with time. And once I'm in the mission field with real investigators, it will be much easier to forget myself and care for them. Pretty much I'm learning how to be Christlike. The spirit here is SO strong and it's incredible how much guidance you can receive if you just LISTEN. When we pray about our investigators, we take a few silent moments after prayer to just listen. And oh boy, we receive some great inspirations. Another thing that has really stood out to me this week is that we CAN get personal revelation anytime if we are able to hear it. We do these BOM readings where we read a few verses very slowly and then we stop and think and talk about what stood out to us. The Lord is constantly speaking to us but we don't always hear it. We read the first 5 verses of 1 nephi chapter 1 and I learned SO MUCH. I didn't think that was possible. But I was really focusing on what the Lord had to tell me and sure enough, He spoke. My prayers were answered, I was comforted, and I received guidance as to what the Lord wants me to do. All in just 5 verses!! It was incredible. I have grown such a love for the Book of Mormon. And I have seen how it has changed lives. It's a powerful book!!

I am having some very tender experiences here at the MTC. I literally am not doing this alone. The Lord is helping me every step of the way. I invite you all to rely on the Lord! Turn to Him for everything. I wish I had known all these things earlier...life would have been a lot easier. But I am learning these things now for my mission and for the rest of my life. The church is true!!! Our heavenly father loves us all so much. I know that to be true. I love you all!!!

Sister Hoer