Hola, eh?: Mon, Feb 22, 2016 1:32 pm Learning to Trust God

Dear family and friends,

I am so grateful for my mission. I love God and I love this amazing work. I can't believe that I have been on my mission for a whole year. It seems so unreal. But God has blessed all of us so much this year, don't you think? He has truly guided us through the storms to the promised blessings. Isn't He so good?

One of the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission is to trust God. To trust His plan and find the joy in the journey. It has been amazing to me as I have allowed God to lead me through my mission and through life that He always tells me that He wants me to be happy. God's plan is not only the best thing for us, but it is the plan that will bring us the most happiness. I know that this is the gospel of happiness. I learned this week that those times in my life that I'm not truly happy are the times that I am not truly living the gospel. I'm not truly having faith in Christ, repenting or changing, staying faithful to my covenants, and instead of enduring and enjoying to the end, I'm just going through the motions. To find the true joy of the gospel we must give God our whole hearts and follow Him. I have learned what it means to have faith. Someone with faith trusts the Atonement of Jesus Christ to take care of the past and trusts God's plan to take care of the future.

So we haven't heard much from Rita and Lenin...I know that he is recovering slowly but surely. Rita is still a bit shaken up by all of it.

We have had some great lessons with Rosa and Raul this week. It has been so fun to watch them prepare for the little Emily to come. Sister Cendreda and I have been praying that when Emily comes they will realize the need and their desire to live the gospel and have an eternal family. Who wouldn't want that?

We didn't have any lessons with Colombia this week, but we finally got a hold of her yesterday and she said that she has been sick all week! So this week we should be able to see her!!:):)

So yesterday, Obsipo (Bishop) Riquelme was released. It was so sad for me because he has been the Bishop for so long, the whole time I have been here. It was amazing to me to watch him change from when I was here first to now. He is happier and more energetic about sharing the gospel. I learned so much from his selfless service. As he was being released, I realized that all of the callings we receive within the church are really just opportunities for us to serve. Opportunities for us to be the Lord's hands. (Moiah 18:8-10) I have loved my calling as a missionary. Sister Cendreda and I were talking about this the other day. We realized that some of the members forget the missionaries that have passed through their wards..even though they are just one person, just one name. But us as missionaries, we remember their names, their faces, their families, their stories. Why? Because we have truly learned to love them. We pray for them and think about them constantly. This is what a disciple of Jesus Christ does. This is true charity.

We have been working so hard with our recent converts Jacqueline and Jerermy. We realized that our lessons weren't reaching her and weren't sticking with her. So this week, we took a step back and made a gameplan. We had a lesson with her on Thursday and brought a member with us that had just moved from Mexico. Her name is Jessica and she is seriously such a good missionary. She has a goal every year to finish the Book of Mormon..how perfect! We had her testify of the Book of Mormon. We taught Jacky the Restoration again and her face just lit up. She remembered the joy of her conversion and realized that she had a testimony of the things we taught her! It was was such a powerful experience, and I realize now the importance of remembering our conversion and testimonies. We must be seeking the Spirit every single day!

Yesterday, I remembered a girl that Sister Johnson, Sister Cobb, and I had met like 10 months ago. Her name is Kayla and she is like 20 years old. When we met her, she was so friendly and so open. It was really neat because she told us that she has 2 friends that are serving missions right now! They must have been great missionaries before their missions because she really respects them and the church. We were able to see her and visit with her yesterday! Right now she is busy with midterms, but soon we will be able to see her again!!

I pray that all of you are doing so well and seeing so many things to be grateful for. I know Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you!

Love, Hermana Hoth