Called to Serve: I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day weekend!

I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day weekend! Holidays are fun as a missionary because it gives us an excuse to make treats and visit people who normally don't let us in….it's amazing what people will do when you come holding a plate of freshly baked cookies ;) hahahah!

My companion and I have been really focused on finding this week...we are determined to find new people to teach! Of course, we've been tracting quite a bit... but we're trying to be creative in our finding efforts. So we tried out some new techniques this week. We tried dancing on the corner with a Book of Mormon but that just caused people to honk at us...HA! Just kidding, we didn't do that! I pretended to...but no real hip shaking happened there. On the real, we set up a table at a little flea-market type place with bunches of books and pamphlets and pass along cards. We talked to a few people, but we went at a slow time of day. I'm sure it will be a hit when we go on a Saturday morning! Nonetheless, we had fun and talked to some interesting people. We also started a youth sports day at the church and the "ticket into the door" is a non-member or less-active friend. We tried it for the first time this weekend and it was a hit! We had 2 less active kids there and one non-member. We had a great time playing with all of them and afterward we taught a lesson to everyone there. I'm excited to see where things will go as we continue to do this! You gotta get creative as a missionary....it's definitely more fun!

D, our investigator from Jamaica, finally came to church this week! And he LOVED it. In fact, he brought his friend with him and they both loved it so much that his friend is going to start taking the lessons! I loved seeing the ward members come introduce themselves and really take them under their wing. We turned around to talk to someone and when we looked back at D and his friend, a member had his arm around them and was taking them to Sunday school. That was awesome. Members play such a huge role in helping our investigators! D is super excited to be baptized. He's gonna be outta town for a while, so we're gonna have the missionaries teach him while he's gone...but he is so cute. I love seeing how excited he gets when he learns something new. Our bishop's wife has come to a few lessons with us and she mentioned how she's seen such a big change in him lately. He's truly feeling the spirit and growing in his faith! This is what the gospel is all about.

We got a massive dump of snow which ruined our p-day....we wanted to go hike “Garden of the Gods”...but it was still beautiful to look at in the snow. All of God's creations here are just so beautiful. It's easy to appreciate the beauty around us...especially here in Colorado. I run in the mornings and have a perfect view of Pike's Peak. "Purple Mountain’s majesty..." That's the truest statement.

I love you all! Take care

xoxo

Sister Hoer