4.25.16 Short and Sweet!

Hey y'all!

It was another crazy week here and Satan was definitely working on those we are teaching. However we were able to pull through and see some miracles!

Tuesday we had a combined zone conference with Sugar Hill and it was awesome! I got to go back to my first church building, so that was cool! It was so good to see everyone and it was an incredible meeting! We sang " The Spirit of God" as the closing song and the spirit was so strong! Oh my goodness. Singing with that many missionaries is one of the coolest feelings in the world! I love being a missionary and am so grateful to be here in Georgia! 

One super cool miracle this week happened on Saturday! We were out trying to see people when suddenly I had to go to the bathroom real bad! None of the less actives were home and I was getting concerned. I told Sister Holmgren that we were gonna tract until we find someone who lets us in so I can use their bathroom!! So we knocked on one door and then another with no luck! Sister Holmgren found some members near by on maps and suggested we go there. I turned around and saw a red door, suddenly I knew that's where we had to go! Thinking they would surely let us in to use their bathroom and praying a woman would answer. I told Sister Holmgren the plan and we headed to the door. We knocked and a young man answered as soon as we introduced ourselves he said "hold on, I gotta show you something" and ran off. He came back holding a BoM and explained that a friend had given it to him but he didn't know much about it!!! We taught him the restoration and invited him to read it! He said he would and we are hoping to meet with him again this week! It was so cool and a great example of how the Lord works in mysterious ways!

Sunday both Charles and Jonathan came to church and loved it! It was so great and the ward just loved them!(: After church we got to meet some less actives we have been trying to see since we got here so that was awesome! We hear about transfers next week but I am hoping we both stay here since we are still trying to figure out what we are doing!
Haha!

I love y'all so much! Have a blessed week!(: The church is true and the book is blue!❤️

Love, Sister Hosman🍑

Southern lunch at Maw-Maws with her neighbors! Biscuits, Slaw, green beans, mashed potatoes, fried chicken and strawberry cobbler! So DELICIOUS!😀

Planting flowers for Maw-Maw(: we had too much fun! 

Betsy and her daughter Isabelle came to see me and it was so great!(: 

Taking a pic and my eyes got big when I saw the creeper in the back. #monroe

Filling gas like a pro! (I thinks she's loving having a car, and being the driver)

4.18.16 - Monroe Miracles

Hey y'all! Wow! It was an incredible week here filled with tender mercies! It is starting to get hotter and summer is almost here!!

Tuesday morning we dropped by several people but not much luck. Everyone was mainly asleep but it's all good! After lunch we went to the nursing home to see Sister Ratz. She is the sweetest lady and was fast asleep when we got there. So we walked around and talked to several people. We met one lady named Imogene and she was very nice. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and told her we would come back next week to read it to her. After that we headed to see Emily Bennett who is 16 and she is so cute! We taught her the plan of salvation to see what she remembered. She was baptized a while ago but hasn't been to church in a long time. While we were teaching her sister Taylor came home and sat in to listen. We invited them both to church and they said they would come! We got closer to Emily and the lesson went really well. Next we went to see Montel and went on a walk as always. We went over the Word of Wisdom and talked about the importance of coming to church. He had some questions and we had a really good conversation! He is a great guy and so funny. After that we went to stop by some people and met a members wife who was very nice. We didn't get to talk to her long but shared the Because of Him video and she really liked it! Then we went to dinner at the Carroll's, they are the funnest family and it was delicious! We talked about prayer and scripture study, it was really great! Then their neighbor Josh (but he goes by Gwetto) came over and had some questions for us. We had a good talk with him and he had met with sisters before. He even had read from the BoM and says he knows it's true. We invited him to come to church and he said he would really try to get work off! It was an awesome day!(:

Wednesday was the most wonderful day! That morning we had a great district meeting that was more like a zone meeting because the assistants and zone leaders were there. There was a big focus on getting our investigators to church. It is especially hard in this area to get people to come to church, even if they know it's true they still wanna go to their church. I gave a training on "How do we teach the sacrament to invite people to repent." After district meeting we were supposed to have a lesson with Kaiden but it got cancelled. We were both bummed, but we decided to go check on some people in the area. Some back story to this miracle is that when we first got to the area we met a long lost less active named Connie Canty. The past week or so I would randomly ask Sister Holmgren about the lady we met but I just couldn't remember her name. It was driving me nuts! The name Connie Canty also kept coming to my mind, even though I didn't remember who that was, and I would mention to Sister Homgren that we should go see her soon. Not knowing that these two recurring thoughts were about the same person. To our surprise Connie was one of the people who lived close by and as soon as we pulled up I realized those two thoughts I had been having were about the same person! We got out and started talking to Connie. We found out that she had been through a really hard time recently. She also started telling us about her daughter who lived with her and was also struggling. When we were about to ask if her daughter was home, she came out on the porch. As we introduced ourselves, the very first thing she said was, "Do you know why you're here? Because I do." As tears began to roll down her face, she began to explain that she knew that God had sent us here, and that we were her answer to prayer. She had told us that she had been searching for a church to join for a while, and just the night before had poured out her heart to Heavenly Father asking to know where to go. Amazed at what was happening, we began to teach her the Restoration and parts of the Plan of Salvation. Loving every minute, she continued to cry and say, "thank you Jesus!" Before we could even ask her to be baptized, she asked us what she needed to do to be baptized! It was an incredible experience that still blows our minds. It was such a testimony to me that those thoughts that come to our minds are from the spirit, and that this is Gods work and he's going to help us get it done. I also learned that there is no need to doubt when things fall through. God always has a plan. And it is always a million times better than our plan. She is now on date for May 7th, and is loving this gospel! After that we went to stop by Courtney who we had actually dropped because we couldn't ever get in with her but felt like we should try! She was home and we were able to teach her the restoration! Another incredible miracle! That night we had correlation and then went on exchanges! I went with Sister Merritt to Boganville and we taught Adam. He is the coolest guy and is so smart! He played the guitar for us and we talked about general conference as well as repentance! It was awesome and he should be at church on Sunday!(:

Thursday I spent with Sister Merritt in Loganville and we had lots of fun! That morning we went tracting and met some really great people. We went back and had some lunch and headed to a lesson with Henry. He is the greatest guy and is a fire fighter survivor in 9/11. We taught him the plan of salvation and it went really well! He loved it and the spirit was so strong. Then we went to check on a less active and she is so sweet! Her husband who is not a member came and we talked about the BoM. It was awesome, hopefully we will get to teach them more. We went to visit some people and stopped by the Muehlheauser's and it was perfect timing. They weren't feeling too well but we were able to share some of Elder Holland's talk with them and they loved it! After that we went to the Monroe apartment and made dinner with the sisters to exchange back. It was delicious and so fun to be in a ward with four sisters!(: I had a great time on exchange with Sister Merritt and learned a lot! She is a wonderful missionary and always smiling! That night we went with Sister Swancey to social circle to see some people! She was backing up out of a driveway and got too far over and we got stuck. Like 3 of her wheels were off the ground! The really awkward part was it was a "do not contact" so we couldn't really knock on the
door and ask for help. Sister Holmgren suddenly remembered a less active we had met last week when we were in the area who said if we ever needed anything to call! So we did and he came to the rescue, the neighbors also saw us struggling and they came to help get us out. It was a tender mercy and a great memory to add to the adventure. We went to visit Edward and Glenda who we had met last week. He was a member but hadn't been in years and she knew a lot from him but never really taken the lessons. We had an awesome lesson with them and they are incredible people. He told us his story and bore the most powerful testimony about the BoM as well as the church. It was such a tender mercy that we found them when we were searching for an unknown one day. She is so elect and we are excited to start teaching them! It was a terrific day and I feel so blessed to be apart of the lords work!(:

Friday morning we went to see a less active named Sister Jones and she is the sweetest lady! We read a conference talk with her and talked about the importance of sacrament. We are really hoping she will come to church on Sunday. After that we went to see some people but didn't have much luck! After lunch we went to see the Smiths who are so funny and always have stories to tell us! We showed the "Will of God" Mormon message and they loved it. It is one of my favorite videos and if you haven't seen it, please go watch it! Heavenly Father is in charge and he will shape us into the amazing person he wants us to be if we will let him. Then we went to see Jonathan and met his mom who was outside with her other son. She was a member and was baptized in Miami but has since removed her records. She is the sweetest lady and is hard of hearing so we got to sign for a little bit! It was a really cool experience! Jonathan and his friend Trey came over and we talked about faith. We talked about the Book of Mormon and they are all planning on coming to church next week!(: The mom was very open to us coming back and teaching Jonathan and her 5 year old boy as well. We have a lesson with all of them next week. It was the coolest thing and such a miracle! Then we went to chick fil a with the wrights for dinner and they are the best! One of the daughters pulled us over to meet one of her friends who was a member but hadn't been to church in years. Her husband was not a member but we got there information and will hopefully see them soon!!We got some other awesome referrals from the Wrights and are so excited to go meet them!(: After dinner we went to meet Kieren who was a former investigator but so excited to us. She is seriously the cutest girl and I love her so much. She already has such a strong testimony and knows the church is true. We are going to finish teaching her the lessons and hopefully she will be baptized soon! It was such a wonderful day filled with miracles! I got a box of delicious cookies from my dad this week and decided to bring them with us. We were able to see a couple people I really don't think we would have without saying that we had cookies for them. It was another fantastic tender mercy, cookies soften hearts!(:

Saturday morning we had a lesson with Steve at McDonald's and it went pretty well. We taught him about the restoration and word of wisdom. After that we went to check up on some people and then home to have lunch. We spent the afternoon weekly planning but it actually went really well! It is getting faster and easier every week, so that is awesome! That night Sister Swancey took us to dinner and it was delicious! After dinner we had a lesson with the Jolly family and it was great. We talked about the importance of feeding our spiritual bodies through daily prayer and scripture study. We showed the Mormon message "Daily Bread" it is one of my favorites. I love when it talks about the children of Israel, how they need manna every day. They couldn't store up manna for weeks but God gave them enough for each day. We can't read 10 chapters and say we are good for a week or say one really long prayer. We have to be feeding our spirits daily, they need the substance just as our physical bodies do. Next we headed to the church to have missionary correlation but our ward mission leader didn't show up. So we talked through everyone with the other sisters and called it good! Haha

Sunday was a delightful day! We finally got a ward mission leader and are super excited! Lisa was able to come to church and absolutely loved it! Sacrament meeting was really good and we had a high councilmen come to speak who gave a fantastic talk. I have loved the focus on the atonement this month and it has really strengthened my testimony. You could tell that the talk really touched Lisa's heart and it was so sweet. He talked about laughter being the best medicine as it says in psalms and I have such a testimony of that. There are some great times on the mission but there are also some not so great times. When doors get slammed or plans fall through the best thing to do is laugh about it. The average child laughs 400 times a day while the average adult laughs 15 times a day. Learning to laugh and dance in the rain is so important. When something doesn't go right find a reason to laugh about it and I know it will make your life so much easier. One of the great secrets of missionary work.... When things go wrong, just laugh about it!(: We sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and on my goodness the spirit was so strong! After church we asked Lisa if she had any questions and she said "no, every one that I had got answered in one of the classes." It is so amazing how the spirit works and is constantly teaching us. We had lunch and then went to meet with the Muehlheauser's and they are so great! We got to know them better and had so much fun! That night we went to dinner with the Ta family and they are fantastic! After we went with Michaela and visited a long lost less active. She was super sweet and very funny! We had fun getting to know her and shared the "Because of Him" video then everyone loves! She said she would love to come to a relief society activity soon so that is awesome! Michaela is the cutest girl and we have a lot of fun with her! It was a great ending to a spectacular week!(:

I hope y'all had a wonderful week as well! I am so grateful for each and every one of you! This gospel is amazing and I know it's true with all my heart. I am so grateful for this time I have to be a missionary! I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. If you want to talk to him pray and if you want him to talk to you read your scriptures. He loves YOU so very much, and has a perfect plan for you! Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith! I love y'all so much! You are in my prayers!! Have a blessed week!(:

Love, Sister Hosman❤️🍑

Sister Hosman with Sister Merritt

When the Ward Mission Leader doesn't show up...

I didn't have to go to Disneyland to meet Mater!

The family that fed us Sunday night had baby chicks!

I'm so glad Rachael wasn't driving!  

Only in Georgia!

4.4.16 Everyday is Magnificent!

Hey Y'all!  Time is flying by and I can't believe it! Spring is ending and summer is coming fast! Hope all is well and that you had a wonderful week.

Tuesday morning we had a fantastic district meeting! The AP's came and gave an awesome training on helping people keep their commitments. Sister Holden also gave a training on revelation through prayers. We did role plays with helping our investigator learn the importance of praying to know of the BoM is true. The spirit was so strong and I learned so much. One thing that really stuck with me was that any excuse  we will ever hear or make as missionaries the real reason is lack of faith! We have to be devastated when they don't read or keep their commitments. If we shrug it off it is showing a lack of our faith! I also realized how precious this time we have is. My 7 month mark is just around the corner and I can't believe it! I am so grateful for these 18 months I have to wear Christ's name and share the gospel. After district meeting we went and had a lesson with Kaiden. She is 14 years old and is awesome! We talked about modern day prophets and general conference. She has a lot of questions but we were able to help clear some things up and it was a great lesson! Then we went and met some people in the area. Next we had a lesson with Montel who is a less active. He is such a great guy! He loves to walk so when we go to have lessons with him we walk a few miles down and teach him as we go! After that we went to dinner and then had a lesson with Sister Wilson. Everyone calls her Maw- Maw and she is the sweetest! We were able to answer some of her questions and read from the BoM with her! I love her so much already! It was a terrific day!

Wednesday was a day full of tender mercies! It started off with the best lesson with Shirley. We taught her the restoration and the spirit was so strong. She told us she already knew that the BoM was true and that if this is what God wanted her to do she would be baptized. She is the most amazing woman and I love her so much! Then we went and did service with Sister Trust. She is the cutest woman from England. We did lots of work in her back yard, picking up pine cones and sticks. When we were done and headed inside to have lunch I noticed that somewhere in her 3 acre back yard the car keys had fallen out of my pocket!! The car keys on a little key ring that are very hard to see. We said a prayer and looked around with no luck. We decided to go have lunch and then to look more afterwards. So we did and the spirit led me straight to them, we found them within the first 5 minutes! It was amazing and I know he answers our prayers in his timing. After that we went to visit some people with not too much luck. We had some time in the car and decided to make some calls. We were prompted to call some people who had been on date years ago but were never baptized. We

talked to one guy who was so happy to hear from us and invited us to meet some time next week! The timing was just right and it was a wonderful tender mercy! Next we went to visit the Smith's who are a less active family. They are going through some hard things right now but it was good to get to know them better and feel the spirit testify that it was all going to be okay. We then had a lesson with Steve! We started to teach him the 4 minute restoration with the little time we had but he went off on several other things. Haha But he loved that we have a prophet here on the earth today and is thrilled to come to general conference! That night we went to a delicious dinner with the sisters and then to teach a less active. His name is Adam and he is such a cool guy! We talked about faith and the importance of scripture study! The lesson went really well and it is a unique experience to be in a "quad." I am learning lots and loving every minute! So many tender mercies and such a testimony that this is truly God's work!

Thursday we had lots of lessons planned but sadly everything fell through. We were running around trying to see lots of people but with not a lot of luck. We did some weekly planning and are getting a little more adjusted to the area! After that we had a lesson with Dedrick on the plan of salvation. He is so great and loved reading from the Book of Mormon. He said it was a book that helps us know what to do so we can be happy. The lesson went really well and he is so smart! 

After that Jocelyn and Justin came up from big shanty and took us to dinner! It was so good to see them it felt like it had been months! They are the greatest and it was so good to catch up! We went to chick-fil-a and it was delicious! That night we went to Sister Wilsons and shared the because of him video with her and her friends. We talked about our love for the savior and it went really well! It was a great day!

Friday was a fantastic day! Oh my goodness, I love being a missionary! That morning we went and had a lesson with Sister Martin who is a less active. She is so sweet and we talked about the BoM. After that we went to teach Angela who is the greatest! She has a son on a mission in California and so she had some questions. We were able to answer them and taught her the plan of salvation! The lesson went so well and she said she already knows that the BoM is true! She is so elect she just doesn't know it yet!(; After that we went back and had lunch! Next we went to see the Carroll's who are a recent convert family! They are the cutest and I love them so much! One of the sons grandma was over and she was so into the lesson! We taught the restoration and it was incredible. As we quoted the first vision the spirit was so strong and everyone could feel it! At the end she agreed to read from the BoM and pray to know for herself if it was true! So many miracles!! It was the best! But it's not even over! Just wait!! We hurried to the other side of Monroe for a lesson with Jonathan! We met him last week and thought he was a less active. We showed him the Easter video and then said we would come back next week! (Which is now Friday) So here we are back and we start talking to him about the BoM. I could tell he was really confused so I asked when he was baptized. He then looked even more confused and said that he had never been baptized!!! What??? He had never heard of the BoM before so we taught him the restoration. He loved it and happily agreed to read it and pray to know for himself! Still not even sure how it all happened but I know that it was God! This is his work and if we work hard he provides the miracles! We were so busy and didn't know how we were gonna get new investigators and then the Lord provided 2 in 2 hours! It was so wonderful! We headed to dinner and then to Sister Wilson's to help her dye Easter eggs! They were having a big family/ neighborhood hunt so we dyed a lot of eggs! It was a perfect ending to a terrific day!!(:

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference and it was amazing! Oh my goodness I just love it so much! We are so blessed to have a living prophet and apostles to help lead and guide us. There were so many incredible talks and the spirit was so strong! They talked so much about family, service and the temple. We are so blessed to have beautiful temples where we can go to find peace and feel closer to him. I felt my testimony strengthened this weekend is so many ways! I loved Gary A. Stevenson and his story of loosing his keys! I could really relate to it because of earlier this week! I am so grateful for the restoration and that we never have to loose those keys again! I just love Elder Holland and loved his quote that"Everyday is going to be magnificent because Heavenly Father wants it to be!" He wants us to be happy and love life! I loved President Uchtdorf's talk, that if men have the ability to create beautiful things out of ashes how much more power does our Heavenly Father have? I know that he knows who are lost, he knows when we are lost and where we are! He will find us and we just have to put our faith in him! And in the words of our sweet Prophet "may we always choose the harder right!" Nothing that is worth it in this life comes easy! So many incredible messages and such a sweet spirit! I also loved the sweet music! Hymns are like scripture to me and they bring the spirit so strong! 

Being in a quad has been so much fun! For our dinner thoughts this last week we have been singing "We thank thee oh god for a prophet." It has been so awesome and I am so thankful for our prophet! General Conference was most of the weekend but we were able to meet some great people as well as have some wonderful lessons!

I hope y'all had a wonderful week and enjoyed General Conference! Thank you for your  all your prayers and support! They mean the world to me! I love y'all so much! Don't forget to read and pray! I know Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each and everyone of us! I know that He hears and answers our prayers! Even when you think He doesn't. Monroe is exactly where I need to be and even though I didn't think it at first, it is the answer to my prayers! I know the savior lives and I am so grateful for this gospel in my life! Have a blessed week!(:

Love, Sister Hosman

Our little Georgia Peach, loving every minute in this beautiful place!

No empty chairs... she's trying to teach everyone that will listen!

Bishop to the rescue on the Sabbath!

Sister Hosman and Sister Holmgren doing a little service in Monroe!

This picture touches me so much - Rachael taught and baptized (you know what I mean) Jocelyn in her last area.  They love each other so much - what a blessing they found each other.  I always think of the song, "I'll find you my friend" when I think about them.  Jocelyn is planning to submit her papers and go on a mission!