Hola, eh?

Monday, August 17, 2015

Mon, Aug 17, 2015 "lovest thou me?" -John 21

Hello,

The story told in John 21 has been on my mind constantly this week. In this chapter Christ asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him. He says "lovest thou me?". Peter in reply says, "Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." Christ's reply each time was "feed my sheep". As I have gone throughout each day this week, many moments through the day, I imagine Christ asking me, "lovest thou me?" I've come to know that the moments I serve my mission because I love Christ, I am happy, I work harder, I am determined to share the gospel with everyone I see, I love my companion more, I pray with more meaning, my faith grows, the Spirit guides the work, I love my friends that I'm teaching. Truly, when we are keeping the first and great commandment, which is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind", the only thing we will want to do is feed His sheep.

We taught Laura with our new member CONNIE. Yay! I love them.

My whole mission, the worry of just "going through the motions" of a mission has been on my mind. That is my biggest fear. I don't want to have to go through the refiner's fire while being on my mission, then when I go home, go back to being the person I was before. I want to be changed, and I want to stay changed. This week, I learned that to really love my mission and really love serving the Lord, I must love. I must have charity. That is how I let my mission go through me instead of me just going through my mission. To see the blessings of the gospel, we must be living the gospel within our families. My family right now is my companion...so the very first thing I needed to change is to have charity towards my companion. Let me tell you, Sister Wright is the most amazing missionary I've met. She gives everything she has and absolutely loves every second of her mission. I have come to know this quote is true, "The companion that I remember the most is the one I served the most. Therefore, they are the one I loved the most." -Elder Snarr (one of senior missionaries). Charity never faileth and I have been so happy and have found so much joy in serving as I focus on loving God and loving my companion! There's no time to be angry or be filled with hate. Leave all that behind and dive into the work.

We went on exchanges this week. So I was able to go to Victoria with Sister Jenson. It was fantastic, it was almost like being back in Surrey. There were so many people to talk to...and they weren't all old! (You know you are contacting in Sidney if every other person has hearing aids or a walker). Haha, and the best part of the exchange was talking to LATINOS. Yes. It was so amazing to speak in Spanish again. The first conversation in Spanish didn't go so well, but I tricked him into saying that he wanted to learn more, and I didn't even mean to! So that was good.Exchanges in Victoria with Sister Jensen!

Good thing I got some Spanish practice in. Right when I got back to Sidney, Sister Wright and I went contacting on Beacon, the only street that has people on it. And guess who we met! We met a lady from Columbia named Margary. Wow. Right when we sat down, she missed her bus. Thank you, Heavenly Father. We were able to teach her about Jospeh Smith and the Book of Mormon and we set up a return appointment with her. Miracle.

Blackberries are everywhere! We may eat them as we are out tracting . . . don't worry. we've only been caught once.

Now, I'll tell you about the biggest miracle we had this week. Her name is Tabitha. We were out tracting on Pauquachin, one of the reserves. I felt like we should go down this random street, but Sister Wright said that she had already done that street just before I got there. We decided to do it anyways and good thing we did. We walked up to one of the houses, and a crazy, mean dog started barking at us. Then Tabitha runs out of her house to save us. We strike up conversation and Tabitha tells us her life story. She has had it rough her whole life. At the end of her life story, she was just silent. Sister Wright asked, "can I give you a hug?" And immediately Tabitha started crying. She just needs somebody to love her. She needs the gospel. After our conversation, we ran around everywhere looking for jumper cables so we could start her truck. No one on the reserve had them. We invited her to church...not realizing she would have a ride, and left. We texted her the next morning, reminding her of church. She texted us back and said she would come, but church was half way over. We found a ride and brought her to church. She loved it. She felt the Spirit so strong. We gave her a tour of the church after and right when we entered the sacrament room, the Spirit just flooded our hearts. She just balled. She has never felt God's love before, and now she knows He's real and His love is real. Incredible. We will be seeing her tonight! Oh, and we set a baptismal date with her for next month!:)

Sister Evans...she has been having missionaries eat with her every week for over 50 years. love her...she is quite the english character.

a lady let us in her house . . . look what she had. she is from Germany.

#hahahaha #embarrassedtree #wedied

Ya . . . chocolate strawberries . . . mm hmm

Sweet miracle that I found out today.Esperanza, one of the ladies I was teaching in Surrey, just got baptized! My heart is so happy. And Sister Wilson, my MTC companion, was able to teach her too. The work is amazing!

From the mission newsletter:

Baptisms

Francisca “Esperanza” Obregon Caicedo, Surrey Spanish,

Sister Wilson Sister Kartchner Sister Hoth

I love Sister Boswell . . . she made us scones. winner

Few side notes:

1. We were walking up to this house to knock on the door. All of the sudden, a man runs out and yells "NOOOOOOO" and is shaking his hands like an umpire yelling "safe!". Needless to say, we weren't able to share the gospel with him.

2. Sister Evans, a lady in our ward, told us that "flattery will get you everywhere."

3. I have been sharing my dad's amazing story about a family he taught in Taiwan with everyone! Dad, you should post that on my blog so everyone can read it! Share the gospel with everyone, you never know what will come from it!:)

4. We took Connie, our new member!, to a lesson with Laura. It was amazing to hear Connie bear her testimony on her baptism. It was great to teach 2 amazing ladies that I have come to love so much.

Well, I will leave my testimony with you. I know that God is real. I know that His love for us real. I love my mission and I love the people I get to work with. Before, my mission, I was so excited to change people's lives. Well I've realized, that they are the one's changing my life. I am so grateful for your support and love! Keep being so good. Have a great week! Love, Hermana Hoth

Monday, August 10, 2015

Mon, Aug 10, 2015 A New View at the Gospel of Happiness

Dear everyone,

Imagine yourselves climbing the same hike every single day. Every day, you adventure up the side of the same mountain. Tripping over the same logs and the same rocks. The switchbacks never get easier and steepness of the mountain is almost unbearable. Then you reach the top and look out across the valley. The first time you did the hike, this view was spectacular. Possibly, the most stunning view you have ever experienced. But after a while...after many more hikes up this mountain, you don't seem to find the same joy and sense of wonder that you did the first hike. The hike seems to be more of a chore than a pleasure. And worst of all, there is no joy in the view. This week, I have been studying repentance. Sister Johnson pointed out in her last letter that in PMG it says, "Repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves, and the world." I have realized that this view is something I want everyday. I do not want to do the same hike (thoughts, action, and words) everyday because I now realize that by the end of the day I am still seeing the same view. And if we are seeing the same view, we are not progressing. As we repent, change our natures, and submit or will to God's, we change our course or our hike. At the end of each day, when I'm saying my prayers, I love recognizing the deeper understanding and appreciation I have gained for God, for others, and for myself. I pray that I may continue to see things clearer as I continue to become the person God needs me to become.

Wow, this week has been absolutely filled with miracles. Haha...I don't know if I would call this a miracle or not, but I am officially Canadian. I was telling Sister Wright a story one day and asked her a question at the end. Guess what word I used at the end of my question...that's right..."eh". Haha, I stopped mid sentence and asked Sister Wright, "Did you hear that???" Oh man, I never had the chance of becoming a true Canadian when I was in Spanish work, but there was no stopping me in English work. Haha, when I said that, Sister Wright almost kicked me out of the car. We were shocked.

Morning Exercise

We haven't been able to see Christine very much as of recent, but we stay in contact her. She is doing so well. And every time we talk with her, she tells us of more miracles that she has seen. She has truly come to know that God is there for her. She always calls herself a "sponge" because she loves just absorbing everything she learns. Haha, at church she said, "I'm trying to be like a sponge. Sponge Bob Square Skirt." Haha, she is hilarious.

So we had a real treat this week. JOHN BYTHEWAY came to speak to the missionaries serving on the island. Good thing I stayed on the island this transfer. Haha President Burt started off the meeting by saying, "Laughing and Learning in the same sentence is a wonderful thing." Haha, and that is the perfect way to sum up this missionary fireside. He talked all about how the parable of the 4 different types of seeds in Matthew 13 is actually the parable of the 4 different kinds of hearts. He told us that the seed referred to in Alma 32 isn't faith. The seed is Jesus Christ, our Savior, and we nourish that seed with our faith. I loved this quote that he shared by Heber C. Kimball, “I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit”. Wow, isn't that so true. That was kind of a wake up call for me. I think sometimes that I am working so hard that I forget to find the joy in the gospel. Haha, then I end up asking myself, "If I'm living the gospel, why am I not happy?" I really wanted to find an answer to this question so I dove into studying it.

I learned that "commandments are instructions from a loving Heavenly Father to help us have HAPPY LIVES." Obedience to the commandments brings happiness, and disobedience brings sorrow. I came to the realization that absolutely everything that Heavenly Father does for us is to bring us happiness. Not just temporary, wordly happiness, but a joy that will sustain us in this life and fill us in the next. Ha, I also learned that just as we should not procrastinate the day of our repentance, we should also not procrastinate the day of our happiness. The gospel is there to offer us happiness now. Sometimes I think that it doesn't matter if I'm happy in this life because when I'm living with God and with my family I'll be happy. That is definitely not part of the Plan of HAPPINESS. "Men are that they might have joy." (2 Ne 2:25) In True to the Faith, I learned that the gospel is the only source of real happiness and that enduring joy comes from spiritual growth, service, and hard work. Perfect...so I can still work hard and be oh so happy!:) I am so grateful for my mission. It has really opened my eyes to the joy of the gospel. The joy that comes from knowing who my Heavenly Father is, who Jesus Christ is, and who I am as a daughter of God. Please understand that this type of joy is available for all of those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and live by its teachings! If you have this joy, great! Now go and share it.

Fun times at lunch in Sidney

Wow, one of the miracles that I have seen this week was a lesson with Laura. She had some questions about the premortal life. She really just wasn't grasping any of it and we had no idea what we were going to say to help her understand. The lesson actually turned out really well because of the incredible Spirit that was there. I wish you could have seen the light and understanding that entered into her eyes as she grasped the knowledge of her divine identity. It was truly remarkable. Sidenote: Haha, Laura cracks Sister Wright and me up. She is so sarcastic and loves to make fun of us all the time. Laura always calls me "Miss Analogy" because of all the analogies I tell her to help her understand.

Crazy quick story. Sister Wright and I got offered a beer this week. Wow, who would have thought that the first time I would be offered a beer would be on my mission. Of course we said no, and of course we shared our beliefs with him. Maybe he will realize there are better things to do with his time!;)

There have been so many hard days this week. It's been hard going from teaching lessons everyday to finding all day long! I have come to realize the importance of not only seeing the miracles, but seeing everything as a miracle. Truly, God is so good. His work is the greatest thing I could be doing with my time. I love each of you and the support that you are giving me. Know that I pray for you! I pray that you will all find the joy of the gospel!

Love Hermana Hoth