Monday, March 21, 2016

Mon, Mar 21, 2016 4:07 pm Rejoicing in the Lord

                                                                       Dear family and friends,





What a beautiful week it has been! The sun finally came out for a few days, Sister Cendreda and I are diligently finding all the Latinos in Surrey, and we are loving every second!! I have never had a companion like Sister Cendreda before. She is ALWAYS smiling, making jokes, and making me laugh so hard. Haha everyone in Mexico calls her "fresa" which means she is a barbie or sassy. Who knew that I would have so many sassy companions?!? But really, I'm so grateful that we are working so hard together and that I can be with her before she "dies" in the mission. Every time we see a plane flying over, which is all the time because we're so close to the airport in Richmond, I remind her that she has only 5 weeks left. At first she didn't like it, but now she is the one who says it first! We're just preparing her so it's not so much of a shock when she goes home!

Yonk, Lewis, Cendreda, Hoth ~ St. Pats Day Planning







So this week...we worked so hard every single day. We found so many Latinos...who weren't exactly interested! But we're still finding them! We just have so much fun and have good attitudes about it all. We have made an extra effort to always be grateful for what God blesses us with. He really is so good! So before we start our nightly planning session every night, we tell each other what we are grateful for. Without a doubt, every time I start with "I am grateful for...." She always yells "ME!!!!". Haha, she loves me! 





We love working in the garden with our favorite Hermana Torres!



Hermana Hoth, Julia, Cortez, Kenia, Emily, Lotina, Cendreda


Hermana EMILY Hoth, and Emily


Despite all of our hard work, we had a lot of people cancel on us...more than a lot...all of them. We had basically all 0's in our results when it got to Saturday. We looked at our results and were like WHAT? How is that even possible...we've been working hard every day! But we just kept pushing forward and working! Just like God wants us to do! And God blessed us, as He always does. As He always promises. 















Our miracle this week happened yesterday. Yesterday was such a beautiful Sunday. I started my day off with incredible studies about the keeping the sabbath day holy and fasting. I decided that I would fast for the day. Sister Cendreda and I have been praying so hard to see one miracle baptism before she leaves and so this is what I decided to fast for. I felt the Spirit fill me as I went throughout the day. The Spirit was so strong as we partook of the sacrament and I gained so much revelation from that and my studies. Think of it...every week we can partake of the sacrament. The bread and the water...they represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ...His sacrifice...His Atonement. His sacrifice, body, and life are being offered to us every single sunday and the thing we need to do is get there and be at the church and partake of it. But that is just so hard for some of our investigators to see the importance of coming to church every week. So I just imagined for a moment...me not going to church one Sunday. I think the whole day I would be thinking about the sacrament that is being passed around to all those that are there. Christ's life is being offered to everyone there and even me...but I'm not there to partake of it. Either because I feel like it's not important or what I'm doing is more important. I hope all of you can think of that. When you're not at church..the only one you're hurting is you. The sacrament is there being passed to everyone..it is being offered to you. What you need to do is be there and be willing to reach out and take it. Anyways, after sacrament meeting we had the most powerful Sunday school ever! Rita came to church and she stayed all 3 hours! I was so happy she was there for this powerful lesson. The Spirit was so overwhelming as we learned about who we are as God's children and our potential. Rita was so touched and when the teacher asked her to say the closing prayer she said "I'm just a little flustered." But she said it anyways. It was a beautiful, powerful prayer. She thanked God for helping her with Lenin and thanked Him for the ward and the missionaries. She cried and said she just wanted to be baptized!!! After the prayer she gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the forehead. Then during relief society...that powerful spirit stayed with us. There have not been many times where I have felt the Spirit that strong before! I felt the Spirit telling me to ask her to be baptized in April. By the end, when we were saying the closing prayer, my Spirit felt way too big for my body. I just couldn't contain it. After the prayer was done, I turned to Rita and said, "Never forget the Spirit we have felt today. God wants me to tell you that you can be baptized. You can be baptized in April." She set a date for April 16...this is such a miracle for me! I know God answers prayers and fasting is so powerful. Fasting is rejoicing! I am rejoicing so much in the goodness of God. God is so good...I pray that you will all turn to Him more!



Love,
Hermana Hoth


Last p-day, we danced with the Hermanas! It was such a good workout! Holy cow! We danced to EFY music and MOTAB. So that was super fun!