Mon, May 11, 2015 Our trio's down to two.

(It was so much fun to Skype with Emily on Mother's Day! She looks and sounds great! So fun to see her hilarious facial expressions and to hear her awesome laugh!! She taught us some of a lesson in Spanish and then we had a prayer together at the end of the call and she prayed in Spanish! She sounds so great speaking Spanish! We sure do miss her, but couldn't be more proud of her! She is growing and learning things she couldn't learn anywhere else! We Love this girl sooo much!!!)

Hola mis amigos,

..out tracting   Hermana Cobb, Hermana Johnson, Herman Hoth

One of my favorite parts about this week was the opportunity to study our Mission President's weekly news letter! This week was all about charity. He took it and analyzed so many different aspects of charity. My favorite was how he explained charity as being part of "self-mastery". I absolutely love that! The whole point of a mission, and life, is to be able to master yourself. Master the natural man. While we are here on earth, or on our missions, we are learning heaven. We are learning how to become more like God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I love that when we are turning outward and focusing more on others, we are learning "self-mastery". The natural man automatically turns inward and focuses on yourself, but those who turn outward are those who learn who they are and who they can become at a faster pace. I'm not someone who loves change, but I love the opportunity to be on this mission so I can change everyday. I love how much the mission changes you. Change is usually a scary thing, but embracing the change is the exact thing that allows us to become like our Savior. To become the person He wants us to be and needs us to be!

Our theme song for the past few days has been the Lion king song, "our trios down to 2". Haha, I can't believe it. We got our transfer calls on Saturday. Hermana Johnson and I will be staying in Surrey, and Hermana Cobb is being transferred to Vancouver speaking english. I really am so grateful for the opportunity I had to have 2 trainers! As crazy and hard as it was, I'm glad I'm coming away from it being a better person than when I started this transfer.

So this week we had so so many lessons planned and we had members from the ward coming to every single one. Everything seemed like it would be a really fantastic week, but sadly, all but 2 lessons fell through! Good thing too, or else we wouldn't have met so many amazing people. One of my favorite experiences from this week was when we met Mat. 

On Saturday, we were just walking back to the car after contacting at Surrey Central. Hermana Cobb walks up to this man who doesn't look homeless, but is laying down on the cement. She asked how his day was and he got so emotional and said how hard it was for him right now! He really didn't want to listen to us at all, but I asked if we could at least say a prayer with him before we left. So I said the prayer and after he said, "Okay, I feel better now." He told us how badly he wants to change and how he doesn't like where he is in life. He said he felt trapped, and I know that he feels trapped because he has been choosing Satan's way over the Lord's way. He talked about how drugs are literally taking control of his life; it really is so sad. I absolutely know that choosing the Lord's way and keeping the commandments makes us free like it says in Mosiah 5:8. We told him that he truly can change through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was incredible, during our conversation, his girlfriend texted him and told him that he can move back in. He took it as a sign/miracle from God. It was incredible. He asked us to text him every now and again with uplifting thoughts! I know he is so prepared for the gospel and for the change that can only come through Jesus Christ. I pray that he will take this opportunity to change!  

I got to go on exchanges this week...again...4th week in a row.:) It was so great to be with Hermana Williamson and Hermana Lewis in Vancouver! Haha they are so great and hilarious...oh and they have ice cream. So that was a pleasant change from all the veggies!;) My favorite thing about those two Hermanas is how they look at their mission with such a positive attitude all the time. Almost every other minute they we're saying, "what a blessing." Haha I loved it. If everyone just looked for the blessings in life, everyone would be happier!

Yesterday for mother's day, the hermanos handed out roses to all of the madres at church. Us three each got a rose, but we decided that after skyping our families we would go hand them out to our investigators. We were able to take one to Carla. She is always so busy with her five kids so she can never meet with us, but she was home! We were able to share a quick message with her. She told us that she "feels bad that she hasn't been able to meet with us or come to church. Not because she feels obligated to, but because she feels like something is missing." I thought it was so incredible that she recognized how big of an impact the gospel has had on her just after going to church once!

Well everyone I hope you're doing great! Thanks for all the love and support! Remember how amazing God is and I challenge you all to look for ways to change. Look for ways to become better and more like our Savior!

Love, Hermana Hoth

...on exchanges crossing over a beautiful bridge in Vancouver

& Dad's version of the picture, (MISSIONARIES IN MIRROR ARE MIGHTIER THAN THEY APPEAR)  :)