Canon City is so crazy! It's very different than any environment I've ever been in. But, I am loving it!

Canon City is so crazy! It's very different than any environment I've ever been in. But, I am loving it! It's a nice change of pace. Literally. The speed limit on most roads is only 25 or 30 mph. I'm a city driver! 

This week we saw some really cool things happen. We had a laurel in one of the wards come on a "mini mission" with us. She spent a couple days with us and got a taste of what missionary life is like.  One of the days, we decided to take her tracking with us and show her what it's like. We didn't have much success at first. We talked to a lot of people and gave out a lot of cards, but the miracle came with the very last person we talked to. We were walking back to our car and the mini missionary with us noticed a man on his porch. We decided we'd talk to him before we got back in our car. Well, we were about 20 feet from him when he got up and went inside. BUMMER. There were kids playing on the grass so we started talking to them instead. Their mom was inside and saw us talking to them so she came out. We ended up talking to her and even though we originally desired to talk to the man on the porch, this lady was the reason we needed to come over.

We'll call her H. We got talking with H and she told us she had just moved to Colorado with her kids 2 weeks ago. They don't have any of their furniture or belongings because it's back in their home state. But, we got talking and she told us she is really looking for a church to join here. Hello! We have the answer! So we talked about our basic beliefs and she told us she just recently found a belief in God. She never believed He existed until she gave birth to her daughter. She said both her daughter and herself stopped breathing when she gave birth and the doctors thought they had both died. This went on for 3 minutes then they got their breath back and they are both living today. She said that experience proved to her that there is a God and He loves them. How cool is that!? 

We continued to testify to her and explain more about God's love and how He sent his son. We introduced her to the Book of Mormon and I asked her to read the paragraph in the introduction that quotes Joseph Smith in saying that a man would grow nearer to God by reading the Book of Mormon than by any other book. She said that was extremely powerful and she has a great desire to grow closer to God. H has been prepared with these experiences and it is no coincidence that we started talking to her. She said she'd love for us to teach her more! I am really excited about this. It was super neat because this experience testified to me that the spirit really guides us and makes sure that we are in the right place at the right time. I felt the spirit testify through me of exactly what I needed to say to H. 

We also found a sweet old lady who will begin taking the lessons this week! We met her briefly but then she expressed a need for service. So we came back the next day and did some weeding for her. Afterwords, she tried to pay us for our service and we told her we don't want money. But we did make out a deal that if we did service for her, she could pay us by letting us teach her. She has lost many loved ones in her life and is quite interested in the plan of salvation. So we are going to continue to do service for her and have lessons afterwords. It's gonna be awesome! She's a sweet old lady who lives alone. And, boy does she have jokes! I love it. 

The people here are so interesting to talk to. And, most of them will talk your ear off! Yesterday we sat on the porch with a cute lil granny and her grandpa friend and we just chatted. We talked a lot about Jesus Christ but she was just so happy to have us join her on her porch and visit with her. They are so friendly here and love to talk. I learn so much about these people and I feel so much love for them.

Things are going great here. Some days it feels slow but the work is picking up. The Lord always provides and when we are obedient to the promptings of the spirit, He will not let us down. 

I hope y'all are excited to go back to school! Soak up the sun while you can. 

Love you all!!!

xoxxo

Sister Hoer

We had dinner at the Gooseberry Patch!

The Laurel that did a mini mission with us this week.

The Lord is just polishing you and blessing you with these experiences because He trusts you!

I'm loving Canon City! We also cover a few teeny tiny towns around Canon. Everything here is very different! I'm getting a taste of small town living. It's interesting. The people here are wonderful though. I absolutely love talking to them and learning about where they come from and why they believe what they believe. 

So unfortunately I lost my notebook with my notes about this week in it...and apparently my brain is empty because I don't remember anything that happened this week. We lost half our teaching pool...that was a major bummer! Literally everyone is moving! We call them to set up an appointment and they say "I moved". WHat!? So this week we really focused on our finding efforts and are doing all we can to find more people to teach! 

There is this awesome family that we've been working with. The mom is a member and her kids have been baptized, but they've been less active for many years. And, they are coming back into activity stronger than ever! We meet with them to help them with their struggles and help them learn more about how to stay steadfast in the faith. They have been coming to church every week! The mom is working towards going to the temple for her own endowment. It's so awesome to see that their lives have changed because they put Christ at the center of their family. The dad had always sworn that he would never step foot into a church building. But he's been at church with his family the past 2 weeks. With time, I know he will come to accept the gospel. He makes it very clear that he doesn't wanna be pushed into it. But he'll accept it when he's ready.

Another cool fact for the week. I ate dinner with my psychology teacher's parents! It's such a small world. And, I'm amazed at the connections I've made on my mission! It's funny how people here react when I tell them I'm from Las Vegas. They either get real excited and tell me stories about a time they went to Vegas. Or they roll their eyes and tell me they cannot believe I lived in sin city my whole life. Its hilarious! 

But, yeah. Things are going great here. I'm getting used to this area and the people. The Lord has put a lot of obstacles in front of me to climb. But because of them, I am stronger. I have really come to recognize adversity as a gift. When you can step back and look at all the things you gain from your trials and sorrows, they are so much greater than anything you've had before. You are a better person. The Lord is just polishing you and blessing you with these experiences because He trusts you and knows your potential. This is a wonderful life.

xoxox

Sister Hoer

Our new car! jk~

Who knows why there is this huge duck here?

A sweet YW doing a mini mission with us this week.

Little taste of home!

I had my first kiss on the mission!

All right everyone I have a confession. I had my first kiss on the mission! HAHA! Do not be alarmed though, it was a kiss from my adopted grandma here in Canon City. Let me tell you about Grandma M. She is such a sweet soul. She is not a member, but the missionaries have been doing service for her the past 6 months. She's up there in age and just needs help with everyday things like cleaning and taking care of her house. I fell in love with her instantly! She has a firecracker personality. And she has a colorful vocabulary. It makes me laugh. So the first time I met her, she said she loves to give the missionaries nick names. So I am now "The pretty one". I was flattered! Then a few days later, we had dinner with her. I was just chatting with her and she said something funny. So I said "Grandma M, You're so cute!" Then she stopped in the middle of her sentence, looked at me...then grabbed my face and kissed me! It came out of no where. And I'm sure her lipstick got on me. But it was hilarious. She is seriously so funny. I love being around her! We talk to her a lot about God and Jesus Christ. She has some interesting beliefs, but she's come a long way since when the missionaries first met her. And, yesterday she came to church and even bore her testimony! It was more of a testimony of gratitude for the service and love she has felt. But, it was still awesome. She is so wonderful. We do service for her weekly so I look forward to getting to know Grandma M better!

Golly, so Canon City! It's crazy here! I am almost in culture shock because it's so different than Parker. Yesterday in ward council, they were brainstorming dates for a ward activity. Someone threw out October 11th, and the Elder Quorum president said that would be impossible because that's opening day for Elk hunting. Never heard that in ward council before! but I am loving it more and more everyday. Oh and we get free food every Friday after district meeting! #winning It's a teeny tiny old town. The people here are just living life and doing what they can to get by. But, it's great because they are really searching for something more to life...help from above. I've heard of some amazing miracles happening here and I know that I will see those same miracles as I am obedient and do all I can to work hard! It's really about forgetting myself and loving these people. Whether it's my companion or the investigators or the members. I am really learning to rely on the Lord for strength and help to accomplish His will. I have literally felt the Lord speaking through me as I met these people this week. It was interesting because I met them all for the first time and taught them for the first time. But, I was so guided by the spirit. I knew nothing about them or their past besides the 10 minutes we spent getting to know each other. The Lord told me exactly what to say and how I can bring the spirit as we taught. After all, this is the Lord's work and I'm just here to be an instrument in His hands. 

So things kind of took a turn for the worse when I got here. I must be bad luck or something. They had an investigator who was so close to baptism...but my 2nd day here we got a call from the lady who lived with her. She said that our investigator has run away and has no idea where she went or if she is ever coming back. Goodness!!! I come to town and our investigator runs away! Argahhah! But, we have a few others we are working with. I haven't met them yet...things have been so crazy. But, two of them are kind of "on hold" right now as my companion puts it. And, then our other investigator will not be able to be baptized for about a year and a half due to legal issues. So very different than parker. But, I am excited for the work here! I am ready to put in my all and do everything I can to bring the gospel to all these people here in Canon City! 

I wish I had more time to tell you all about my adventures here, but just know that they are real and they are exciting. I have really learned to rely on the Lord as I said. It's amazing how much He will strengthen us and when we forget ourselves, we have eyes to see what the Lord wants for these people. Next week should be better as I am more adjusted to the area and familiar with whats going on! I Love you all and appreciate the love and support. 

xoxo

Sister Hoer

Getting pedicures with Sis Ford

Saying good-bye to the Fords

Driving to transfers with Erkie. I miss her!

Frozen hot cocoa with my new comp. Sis. Stone

I am being transferred!

What a week! I am leaving this area and being transferred down to Colorado Springs tomorrow! I am really excited. It's going to be an awesome experience. It will be very different than things here in Parker, but I am ready for change! So we kind of knew this would be my last week here in Canterbury, so I decided to make it the best! And boy, it was a good week.

I probably only have time for the highlights but everyday was so awesome. 

We did a lot of service this week for a couple non members and some members in the ward who needed help. One lady we did service for is not a member but she is friends with a sister in our ward. After we did service with her and shared a message, we heard that she had been posting on facebook about Heavenly Father which she hasn't done before. That was really cool to hear. It's nice to know that our message sunk in and she took something away from it.

We also had a lesson with the S family! They are the family with an unbaptized child who we've been trying to teach for almost 3 months now! They had us over for dinner and then we taught the first lesson. They have never even let us in the home and I've only seen the mother once before. But they were all there and they were welcoming and so excited to have us there. We taught the little boy and he was so receptive and excited to have the lesson. We asked at the end how he felt and he said he felt very warm. He smiled literally through the whole lesson. He's so excited to be baptized! And the whole family came to church yesterday. That hasn't happened in the 6 months that I've been here! And probably longer than that! It was great to see them there. We set a date for his baptism and unfortunately I won't be there since I'm being transferred. But, I can hopefully get permission to come back for the baptism!

We also had a lesson with M this week! It had been a long time since we have seen her. She has been very busy and out of town a lot, but she had still been reading and praying! We recapped what we talked about last time and then taught her all about receiving revelation and how to recognize answers to prayers. I could tell she really needed to hear that because she has been really trying to find her answer to her prayers about baptism. It was so great to see her and teach her one last time before I left! I feel so much love for these people that we teach. I  can feel Christ's love for them as we sit there and I try my hardest to let them feel of the same love I feel. It's amazing how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us all.  I have gotten a glimpse of that as I teach His children.

We had a few lessons with some less active members who we've been working with as well. Recently they have vocalized how much our visits help even if they do not outwardly show it. They still have their struggles and we help in all the ways we can, but I can tell that the spirit they feel when we meet with them is the biggest help. After all, we don't do anything. It's the spirit that teaches and converts the people.

It's been funny this week because there are a million RM's running around parker trying to sell pest control. Almost every street we go down, there's a pest control guy! They always run up to us all excited because they were missionaries once too. It's fun because we ask them where the nice people live then we go try and teach them the gospel. One guy this week got really really excited to see us. Then his mother in law called and he answered and goes "Anne! Guess what!!! I just ran into the sisters! So cool!!" it's hilarious.

So much more has happened this week, but I am just happy to be doing the Lord's will. No matter where I go, there will be people who are prepared to hear the gospel and if I am obedient, I will be led to them. It's not that easy on the mission, but it's so worth it. I was reading in Alma 24 this morning about how the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's buried their weapons of war as a representation of their testimony. It got me thinking about my life and I asked myself the question: What would I bury to show my testimony and love for Christ? Many things came to mind of what I have already buried, and then my  mind was flooded with things I have yet to bury to show my testimony and dedicate myself to the Lord. There is always room for improvement and things to learn. I love the person the Lord is showing me that I can become. And, by burying these things, I can get one step closer to becoming that person.

I'm excited for my new adventure in Colorado Springs and the things ahead! I love you all and I love the Lord.

xoxo

Sister Hoer

Celebrating sister missionary training leaders's Bday

Cutest lemonade stand ever!

Sis. Moss & I enjoying our lemonade

Making cakes for the high priest group social

Saying goodbye to YW that taught many lessons with us.

Goodbyes to ward mission leader & his family~He made us milkshakes!

PS~~ oh, I forgot to tell you some funny stories.

Being a missionary is so great. The littlest things can sometimes be the biggest successes. This week, we had a lot of good appointments set up! But unfortunately, life happens and most of them cancelled on us. That was a bummer but sometimes it was a blessing in disguise! Because as we adjusted our plans to make up for the cancelled appointments, we were led to be in the right places at the right times. 

One day, we were walking down to visit a less active lady. We had just enough time to get there and back before our dinner appointment. But on our way to their house, we ended up talking to a man who was searching for the truth. Our neighborhood is growing and a lot of houses are being built. We walk past the construction workers every time we leave our house and we are very friendly to them. They say "hi" to us and we ask how they're doing. So this day, we were walking past and one of them came to us and was like "are you testifiers? Are you of the Jehovah’s Witness?" We got a good laugh out of that. But, he said he has seen us walking a lot and his buddy told him we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We then were able to explain to him who we were and all about our church. We pretty much taught him the first lesson...all about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the restoration. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he committed to reading it and praying every single night. He told us that he knows God exists but he is searching to find the truth. It was so awesome to have that opportunity to teach him and lead him to what he is looking for! It was also a testimony to me that if we go out and work, the Lord will make sure we are in the right places. Even though we had planned to go see this less active family, we really needed to be walking that way to meet this man. Since he is a worker, he doesn't live in our boundaries, but we gave him our phone number so if he desires, we can find the missionaries in his area.

We have been focusing a lot on a few less actives in our ward. We meet with a few of them weekly and it's interesting because this past week, two of them mentioned to us that our visits really fill them with light and with the spirit. They are still a little apprehensive about coming to church and making the commitment to change, but they definitely feel the spirit when we visit with her. One lady we meet with every Thursday night has to work this week. And in the past, we would just not meet that week. But she told us she needs the visit because her week goes a lot better when she has our message to think about when she gets down. So we are meeting with her a different night instead! We decided we need to let her know that our visits are great, but she can get that same spirit at church and the messages at church will help her even more throughout her week. Hopefully she will realize the truth of this and have the desire to make church a priority! It's interesting to work with these less actives because they know what they need to do...they just have a problem making those changes. But thank goodness for the atonement because it allows us to change! We can have heavenly help and assistance to change and become better through the atonement.

Our investigator, M, has been so busy! She's been out of town and then this week she has another camp. So unfortunately another week has gone by that we haven't seen her! But, we set up an appointment for this weekend, so that will be great. These people here are so busy! There are some families in our ward that my companion hasn't even met yet because they've been out of town so much! And it's week 6 of the transfer.

Speaking of transfers, they are coming up! We won't know until next week what will happen, but I have a feeling my time here in Parker is about up. So I am determined to make this week the best week ever because it very well may be my last week in this area. I am going to work as hard as I can and give it my all. My mom always said to leave things better than you found them...so I need to finish strong and leave this area better than I found it!  And when we work hard and are obedient, we are so blessed. I have seen this to be so true in my mission so far. The Lord loves his missionaries! And He will do all he can to help them accomplish His work.

Keep on keepin on everybody.

Love you!

xoxo

Sister Hoer

PS~~ oh, I forgot to tell you some funny stories. So the kids we live with...I always tell them goofy things to do and sometimes their parents don't love it!

One day they were playing with twigs they found and pretending like they were Harry Potter wands. I told the youngest boy, Cannon, he should put a zig zag on his forehead then he'd have real powers like Harry Potter. Lo and behold he runs inside and draws a lightning bolt on his forehead and runs back out yelling new spells on me. Hilarious. Then his dad was like "oh Cannon", then wiped off the marker. Oops!

And then last night, they were all playing pool and I told the kids that the blue chalk for the pool sticks is perfect for your nose. So, they all stuck the blue chalk on their noses and ran around with smurf noses. I'm sure their parents weren't too fond of that either. Maybe it's a good thing we're moving out...I keep getting these kids in trouble! LOL

Cool Tunnel

I got a new bike! LOL  jk

Where we have been living!

Me and mah boiz!

Sunflower Love  <3

The wild flowers are absolutely gorgeous!

The wild flowers have come out to let us know that summer is here! They are absolutely gorgeous. I love looking at the yellow flowers as we walk around. I even picked one to bring to a member in our ward who recently had surgery! You sure don't see stuff like this in Vegas haha!

It's been a really good week. We've been super busy and worked super hard this week. Sometimes I get impatient because we don't see immediate results for all the hard work that we do...and sometimes we put forth a lot of effort and don't see the results we wish to see. But the most important thing is that we are here and we give everyday our best efforts. Our new mission president is consistently reminding us that baptisms or "stats" do not determine if we are successful as a missionary. Just the fact that we are here sacrificing our time and money is a huge way to show our efforts. And every day that we get out and do our best to fulfill our purpose...we are successful. Our new mission president is so great. He is very encouraging and motivating!

One day this week, we were at the community food bank doing service. The lady asked my companion and I to keep an eye on her kids so she could fill out the paperwork. While we were sitting there, a nice man and his wife starting asking us lots of questions about being missionaries. He said they lived in the same apartment as some elders (in the other mission) and they used to talk to them all the time! He told us that he really respected us for what we do and he has a great appreciation for the LDS people. The conversation was going great and my companion and I were able to teach him many gospel truths as we talked. His wife then started to tell us about their daughter. She began to cry and told us that her daughter has a special relationship with the Lord and she is "lost" in her life right now. We told her that the gospel can really help those who are feeling lost and how her relationship with the Lord will bless her life. Then the husband says "You need to teach my daughter the word....The Lord just told me that." Woah. I had to take a second to comprehend what he was saying! This couple was so receptive to the spirit and they acted on the promptings they received. Even though there was so much going on around us, we were able to have a sweet spirit there in the food bank. The couple asked if we could meet up again, but next time they wanted to bring their daughter so we could meet her and share "the word" with her. That was an awesome experience. We have arranged to meet tomorrow and hopefully things go as we have planned! This experience let me know that we were in exactly the right place at the right time, and these people were put in our path by the Lord. We were able to tell the couple that this was not a coincidence that we met and they completely agreed.

Another cool, but small, experience this week. We were walking around trying to visit less active members in our ward and talking to everyone we saw. One girl was walking her dog and we stopped to talk to her. We started just asking her about her adorable dog, and then she goes "I believe in God! My heart was pounding and I was very happy the first time I learned about God...and I know He is real!" She is a cute girl from Ukraine who has been adopted by an American family here in Parker. But the neat thing was that she recognized us as representatives of Jesus Christ and began to share her belief in God before we even said anything about religion at all! She said she is grounded so we couldn't get her phone number, but she said she'd call us soon if her dad is okay with her learning more! People really are put in our path. And maybe they won't get baptized immediately, but we still teach them and share the gospel with them.

Our investigator, M, has been so busy that we haven't been able to see her! And she goes out of town again this week. But, she is still reading the Book of Mormon and praying! Summer will be over soon and then we will be able to meet with her regularly again. But we have kept in touch with her and shared some inspired scriptures with her via technology. Thank goodness they give us cell phones!

And the S family who has an unbaptized child reached out to us this week and said they would like to start the lessons next week! Finally!!!! I am so excited to start working with their son.  He is so so excited to be baptized. Things are moving along here in Parker! I've almost been here 6 months which is crazy. Hopefully, I can see some of these miracles through the end.

So yes. Mission life is great. And great things are happening here. The work really is hastening! And it's all about the members in areas like this. They are our main resource for finding people to teach! The Lord really has blessed us this week. He blesses us every single day! I have come to know the Holy Ghost on a more personal level this week as I have sought after inspiration and prayed more than I have before! I am just continually amazed at how the spirit will comfort and inspire us to make his work move forward. I am so happy to be here and love sharing the gospel! It's exciting to see the Lord work through us as missionaries and to see the spirit work on those who we teach. Life is so wonderful! yayayay.

xoxoxo

Sister Hoer

A member gave us these Capri Suns

Wild Flowers

I love wild flowers

Seriously...Love these flowers!

Summer Storms

Allie & I still have the same clothes~ twining across the US of A

Happy Birthday America!!! I love the 4th of July so much! It was a great week. I wore red white and blue everyday to prepare for Independence day. It was wonderful! We had an awesome ward BBQ with delicious food and fun people to talk to. Then we spent the evening with some families in our ward eating and enjoying the blessings of living in the promised land! We are so blessed and fortunate to live in a land where we can enjoy freedom and peace. Especially freedom of religion- the restoration literally would not have been possible if we did not have freedom of religion in America! It was all part of the divine plan.

So yes, the fourth of July was wonderful. We live in such a patriotic community so there were flags and BBQs and block parties and everyone was just so happy to be an American! In other news, we got to meet our new mission president this week! He is a special man. At the end of our meeting with him, he gave his closing remarks and the spirit witnessed to me very strongly that this man is called of God to be our mission president at this time. He is quite different than our last mission president, but I think he is exactly what our mission needs at this time. At least he is what I need right now! He is a very genuine man who is really focused on helping us grow and become better missionaries by relying on the spirit. I am so excited to see how things will change in our mission and also how I will change as a missionary! It's really exciting.

We have continued trying our hardest to talk to as many people as we possibly can! We teach everyone we see and testify to them of the restored gospel. We talked to a man yesterday who thought he knew a lot about our church, but as we talked to him, we revealed things that he had misunderstood. It was funny because we taught him about the restoration, the priesthood and the Book of Mormon and then we offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon! But then he says "woah. I've learned so much already in our short conversation, I think I need to soak all this in before I take your book!" It made me chuckle. But we left him with our phone number for when he's ready to accept the book. I love talking to people! It's so interesting and I learn a lot about people. The people in our area are so friendly and very nice to us. We've been offered a lot of water and even though it's really hot, it's a blessing because people have sympathy on us! They are just polite, friendly people and I love them all!

We've also been focusing a lot on family history lately. We've been trying to talk to people more about their families and if they have done any of their genealogy. It's interesting how people are much more willing to talk to us about their family history. And we have invited many of them to come to our family history center to learn more! My companion and I were doing family history one day and turns out we are related! She was doing some research on some Utley's in her family line and I glanced over at her screen and saw the name! We went back and we have some of the same ancestors many generations ago. What a crazy connection! But I have had a lot of fun learning about my family history and my ancestors. I think this family history push is really a great way to get people introduced to the church and interested in the gospel.

Well, of course I am just loving it here. The people are great, the missionaries are great, our ward is great, and of course the gospel is WONDERFUL. It is the true church! And I could not be happier because of my knowledge of the truth. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

xoxo

Sister Hoer

Our Mom's sent us packages with CANDY!

Playing with the kids we live with!

Ward BBQ on the 4th of JULY

Artsy Anna pictures

Me and my comp on a wooded trail

Me and my comp. ~ Sunset

Sunset in Parker,  Colorado