Called to Serve: All hail broke loose this week! Hahhaha! But literally. The craziest hail storm hit Parker this week!

Hail

Hand fulls of hail

All hail broke loose this week! Hahhaha! But literally. The craziest hail storm hit Parker this week. We were not outside when it hit- thank goodness! But when we got home, it literally looked like it had snowed, but it was hail! There were piles everywhere and the roofs were all covered. It was quite the sight to see! Other than that, we've had some beautiful, sunny warm days. It's about time!

We had a really good week. We are making a strong effort to talk to more people because we need to do more finding. There is a statistic that out of every 1,000 people, one of them will accept the gospel. So we decided we just gotta talk to 1,000 people, and we will find the one. It's been fun and discouraging at the same time. We are talking to a LOT more people and knocking on a lot more doors. Some of them are not so pleasant. But the good moments outweigh the bad here on the mission! And it's interesting how the Lord will bless us. I've noticed a definite pattern. Whenever someone gets upset and slams the door, the next person we talk to is usually very friendly and nice to us. The Lord must know I need nice people because they make me forget all about the slammers. One guy we talked to this week was very interested in the gospel! We taught him quite a bit there on his doorstep then he said he would love to take the missionary lessons! So we asked when we could come back and teach him...then he says "Well I'm just visiting here. I actually live in Aurora." COOL. He's not even in our mission. But we still planted a seed and told him how to get in contact with the missionaries in his neighborhood! He is still a precious child of God.

We were able to meet with M this week! We had a good lesson. We talked about her baptismal date which has come and gone and why she didn't feel ready. We decided to go back to the basics. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She said she didn't know for sure if Joseph Smith is a prophet. After teaching about Joseph Smith, we asked what it would mean to her if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God. Her response was awesome. She says "Well if he's really a prophet, then I definitely want to be baptized" YES! So we challenged her this week to read Joseph Smith's history and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I am really happy that she still wants to learn and progress towards baptism. It will all be when she becomes converted and learns for herself that these things we teach are true. She is now diligently reading the Book of Mormon and praying, so her answer is more likely to come!

We also finally had a lesson with the E family!!! We have been trying for 6 weeks to set up an appointment with them and we finally did it. They are a part member/ less active family. The mom has only been a member for 3 years as well as her daughter. The mom was the only one who we taught, but she definitely needed it. We taught her the lesson of the Restoration. She really opened up to us and explained that she has been feeling promptings to start reading and going to church again. That is probably why she was willing to let us teach her. She even asked if we could continue to teach her. It was awesome to see that her desire to come back is really there. We just gotta help her and continually encourage her! We challenged her to read every day and come to church on Sunday. We'll see what happens there!

A lot of things have been happening in our ward lately. A lot of families moved out, but we also had a lot move in! It's exciting to see new faces. A lot of the youth are also moving away for college or leaving on missions too! It was tender to say goodbye to them. Sometimes I feel like they don't care about us missionaries, but one of the young men told me that he has really learned a lot from me and my example. He has come to many lessons with us to teach M so he's been teaching with us for a while. I'm excited for him and happy that we actually do make a difference!

Our new mission president got here this weekend! I am excited to meet him this week. It will be a good chance for all of us as missionaries to step up our game and become who we really want to be. He emailed us today and told us that each of us have a new slate with him. I haven't been here too long...but I am excited to really start today to become exactly the missionary I want to be. And better yet...the missionary the Lord wants me to be. The Lord really does bless us as we serve Him! I have little moments multiple times a day where I stop and say a little prayer of thanks because the Lord was watching out for us. Even with the smallest things. He is there for us every second of every day! And as we are obedient and worthy of the spirit, He will only bless us more. He will give us what we put into this work. I am determined every morning to give it my all and do everything I possibly can to accomplish the Lord's will that day. This is such a great opportunity to dedicate all my time to the Lord and helping my fellow children of God find the light.

Go share your testimony with someone today! It could change their life.

Love you all!!!

xoxo

Sister Hoer

P.S. I hit my five month mark yesterday! Is that crazy or what!?!