Mon, Jul 4, 2016 1:10 pm Proud to be an American Latino Canadian. :)

Dear family and friends,

Sister Moore and I have had such a great week being so happy and truly enjoying each moment. We are seeing so many miracles as we have so much faith in the Lord! We often think of this quote to motivate us! I hope it motivates you too!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. "

So one of my goals right now is to love Kelowna more than any of my other areas and love and serve my companion, Sister Moore, more!!! Haha. It is so great because then I find myself giving it all to the Lord. Working harder than ever. Sacrificing more! Loving more! It is just so good!

Brother Burgess grandkids

Canada Day (Ricks, Gregory, Hoth, Moore)

Finding in the woods in Kelowna

Sister Gregory, Sister Moore, Hermana Hoth, Sister Ricks

So this week, I have been studying the gospel of Jesus Christ. I absolutely love morning studies. Those are such sacred moments where I get to talk to my Heavenly Father and He gives me more knowledge and a stronger testimony. I love that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of HAPPINESS! I learned that if we're not joyful, we're not living the Gospel of Jesus Christ completely. We need to take a step back and evaluate ourselves. Do we truly believe in Jesus Christ and put all of our trust in Him? Do we believe that all can be made right through His Atonement? Maybe we need to change and repent and continue doing the things that are good. Maybe we need to fulfill our covenants better. Or maybe we need to not focus so much on enduring to the end, but truly ENJOYING to the end. I love that. So try it out! Evaluate yourselves. Are you truly joyful? Yes...keep doing what you're doing. No....change!:):)

 

Sad day...went to the Kangaroo farm and it was closed. What? Then I got to hold a squirrrrrel!! Because a member owns it! YES WIN! 

So one night Sister Moore and I were needing to plan for tomorrow really fast because we got in late from a lesson or something and so I was like " Okay, we got to hurry! Let's plan like there's no tomorrow!!" Haha, Sister Moore was like, "Perfect, we're done. Let's pray!" So funny. 

Kelowna District: Elders Reams, Wildes,    , Shelley, Kohl, Winegarth, Sisters Hoth, Moore, Ricks, Gregory

Fun time with Sister Gregory! Love her! 

Our car got towed. 

It has been a great experience for me to teach Patricia! She is the sweetest person I have ever met. This week we wanted to review the Book of Mormon with her. So we asked her what the Book of Mormon is. We were kind of expecting her to not really know or just have a simple answer like "it's the word of God." but she was like "Well...I think it's a tool. If we have questions we can open it up and find the answers." We were blown away. That is absolutely true!! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God, through him God restored the gospel of Jesus and His priesthood authority and established His church. Yes, I know all of this is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is evidence of the Restoration. Each time we teach and testify of these truths, we feel the Spirit confirm it. I love having a fresh and living testimony! I challenge all of you to have the same!

PATRICIA!!! LOVE HER!!! 

Holy Smokes we made fro Patricia 

 

Sister Bonion (in black) and her friend Nora

Carol and her cute grandson! We love them!

Beautiful Kelowna!

I love this scripture! "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." John 14:18 

Well I hope you all are having a great 4th of July! I sure enjoyed sharing the gospel on Canada Day. Also, it was so weird for me to sing "O Canada" in church yesterday. :) 

Also, this is my first time having a Canadian companion so now I am learning how to say "eh". Pretty great!

Well I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Hermana Hoth

Mon, Jun 27, 2016 1:13 pm One of the best ways to be a missionary is to be HAPPY:D

Dear family and friends,

I have learned so many valuable lessons this week. I think the greatest lesson I have learned is that the best way to be a missionary is to be happy. We share the gospel of happiness. We share the plan of happiness. We share the only way to find happiness in this life and joy in the world to come! Why are we not happy? Haha, I think back to so many moments in my life and I wonder how those times would have changed if I allowed myself to be happier! Hmm, well I can't change those things...and I don't want to. But I can change now. So what I have been working on this week is to be happy. President Burt always says, "You can say anything with a smile on your face." It is so true. I have noticed that as I focus on being happy, I actually have more love for God and for my brothers and sisters, I repent quicker, and I have the Spirit with me more!! It is just so good. So that is my invitation to all of you this week...BE HAPPY! Smile even when you really don't want to. Be positive even when you really want to complain. And give someone a compliment especially when you really don't want to!:) It changes everything!

So last week I sent a picture of me and First Nations lady named Teresa. But I forgot to tell the story. So Teresa is an investigator that the elders just passed off to us. Two of her sons were baptized a few years back. One of those sons was in a car accident with her daughter and her husband. All of them were killed. So as you can imagine, this has taken quite a toll on her life. But she loves learning about the gospel because it brings such peace to her heart. She wants to be baptized, but she has already moved to a different part in B.C. but she will have the missionaries over soon. It was incredible to meet Teresa and get to know her story because as I did, I realized that I had just barely met her Sister, 2 nieces, and her son in Surrey. Her sister and 2 nieces just barely got baptized and I was able to teach them on exchanges. It was such a neat connection. I know that Heavenly Father allowed me to be a part of Teresa's story. I am so grateful for that special experience. 

Yesterday in Sunday school, Brother Burgess, our teacher and ward mission leader asked, "Why do we have faith in Jesus Christ?" Well we have faith in Him because He is the Son of God, He died for us, and He atoned for our sins. We have faith in Jesus Christ because He is the only one we can rely on and depend on 100% of the time. Out of all the things God could ask us to put our faith in, He has asked us to have faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Find out why!!! 

So funny story. Kind of. Our car had to be towed this week. Seriously?? Haha...but I smiled the whole time so I could keep my commitment. It's actually pretty funny. We got in our nice new repaired car, and it started making the worst sound I have ever heard in my life. So when Matthew the tow truck guy came to get our car, he taught us a valuable lesson. "We don't have bad experiences, just bad perspectives." So true!!!

Then we got a referral from a visiting member to go visit a nonmember in the hospital so we did. Her name is Maddy and she is a Christian. She loved visiting with us. After our closing prayer, she said "What you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying." I love that!

We got a referral from a member in our ward to teach a cute young family from Thailand. They wanted help learning English...so we tried to teach them English, but Sister Moore and I aren't the greatest teachers when it comes to English so our lessons soon turned into a lesson on Jesus Christ and how to pray. Emily loved learning how to pray because she knows God can help her learn English. So Emily and her husband, Earth, and their daughter Bentley all came to church yesterday!! So many miracles!

Well I know that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ gives His all in this great work and so I am doing the same. Missions are definitely not easy, but I love my mission. It is the greatest experience I have ever had. I know God lives and that He love us all equally. He loves the sinner and the saint, the sad and the happy...He loves us all. :):) I hope you all know that God loves you!:):)

Love, Hermana Hoth

Mon, Jun 20, 2016 4:03 pm God Speaks Spanish.

Dear family and friends,

So this week the elders in our ward had a baptism! Her name is Brenda and she is so incredible. Sister Moore and I were able to go over to their home before her baptism to have dinner and teach them. She is amazing and so prepared! So we were able to go to her baptism on Saturday and sing at it. So fun! And guess what! President Burt came! Haha, I talked to him for a bit and then turned to greet people walking in and there was an investigator there who spoke Spanish so of course I start chatting away! Haha, I hear President Burt behind me say, "It's always about Spanish." Haha...but really. We have been finding so many Spanish people lately. It is such a tender mercy for me because I miss Spanish work at times! But it's not ALWAYS about Spanish, it's always about God! And God has commanded me to learn and speak Spanish so I can talk and teach His children. And I realized, as I continue to learn Spanish, I am becoming more like Heavenly Father....because He speaks Spanish. Isn't that neat?:) Haha, I love President Burt.

Haha so we finally got our car back after a week of not having it. Wow, I have never ever been so grateful to have a car in my entire life. It really hastens the work here in Kelowna!! 

Well we had the most amazing zone conference this week! President and Sister Burt really do so much for us and are so inspired. I love and respect them so much. President told us that we should not become discouraged with ourselves because we are not baptizing every week. He said that there are baptisms happening all over the world every single day because of your diligence and service to God. We received so many commitments during zone conference, and I received even more from the Spirit. God really wants me to give it my all! What I loved from zone conference was a training given by Sister Burt. She based her training off of the talk "Of regrets and resolutions" by President Uchtdorf. So good. In the talk he says that some people were asked at the end of their lives if they regretted anything. The top 3 things that they regretted are 1-not spending time with their family and loved ones. 2- Not reaching their full potential. 3-Not allowing themselves to be happier. Wow, this really opened my eyes. Do I let my family know how much I love them? Am I really becoming the person God needs and wants me to be? And am I happy now? So what have I been doing about it? I have applied it. I allow myself to be happy in every moment and just trust God. It's not an easy thing..try it! I have learned that life is not a destination, but a journey. We don't start life hoping, waiting, longing for the end. We don't start our missions that way either. We start with the hope of enjoying and loving and learning. We can't wish away the precious time that God has blessed us with. We can't say "I will be happy when....." We must say and allow ourselves to "be happy now!" :) President Uchtdorf finishes his talk by saying, "I pray that we will not wait until we are ready to die before we truly learn to live."

Emily, Teresa

Hermana Hoth & her new comp Sister Moore!!

Making new friends in Kelowna ( Erin )

Robinette, Em

Moore, Hoth, Jacob, Jordan

Sister Goreous, Emily

Moore, Rick, Hoth

Recent Convert BBQ 

So we have a new investigator from Honduras! YAY! The Elders found her for us and we were able to meet her yesterday. Wow, Heavenly Father helped me so much. He brought my Spanish back to me. So half of the lesson was in English and half of it was in Spanish, but all of it was by the Spirit. It was incredible that as I would talk to her in Spanish, Sister Moore would know exactly where I was in the lesson and testified so beautifully. 

She is such a good one! Love her! 

Pretty View

Jib

Then the other day we were going to go visit Jenny, one of our recent converts and she wasn't there! So we waited for a little bit, hoping she would come. Then we saw a lady walking towards us. The Spirit was telling me to wait for her so we could talk to her. It was crazy, she looked so much like my friend, Laura, from Sidney. So I HAD to talk to her. It wasn't Laura from Sidney but it was Laura from Mexico. She was incredible! So friendly and said that we can come visit her and just gave us her address. So many miracles. Haha...I have been fasting and praying for a Spanish branch to open here. 

So lets hope that happens!

Oh, and Oscar came to church again! He sure loves it! So cool to have been part of his conversion story!  

With Jenny

I have learned so much about my companion. Haha she is so fun and funny.

1-she doesn't make ramen noodles right. They are so easy to make...how do you mess it up? Haha.

2-Everyone always tells her that she reminds them of someone. Haha, I did that when I first got here. She reminds me of Sister Wright and Katie!:):) Haha.

3-She often has a surprised look on her face. I have never heard so many people ask someone if they are surprised. In fact, I've never heard that before. So funny.

4- She is seriously the most Christlike person I have met. She is so good!

I loved this quote from a little boy's talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. "Get off your phone and computer and be an active participant in your life." 

"It's not really important why you came , what's important is why you stayed." -President Burt

Have a great week! Love you all!

Love, Hermana Hoth