7.25.16 The only constant in life...

Hi y'all! This week was awesome and very busy! We are exhausted but happy as ever. I don't have a lot of time but here is a highlight for each day...

Monday night we had an amazing lesson with Myra. She was someone we met last week while we were tracting. We were able to see her again tonight and teach her the Restoration. The spirit was so strong and she loved it. As I quoted the first vision her eyes got big and after she said she got chills. At the end of the lesson when we asked her to pray to know if it was true she said no because she already knew that it was true. She was so excited to read the BoM. It was so awesome!

Tuesday we had a great District meeting. We role played and talked about The Saviors Peace and Blessing. It is a new finding tool that works miracles! When you meet new people you ask if you can come in and give a blessing on their home and family as representatives of Jesus Christ. We were able to use it that day in a lesson and we got two new investigators out of it! We were busy all day with a lot of lessons but they were great! I feel so blessed to be in such a wonderful area. That night we had a really cool lesson with Kieren and Marcus. We decided to reenact the tree of life story in her back yard. They loved it and it really helped them both understand the scriptures and apply it to their own lives. Kieren is still doing great and going strong! We are so proud of her. When we got home we got a call that we were pregnant. We were going to be training and so excited! Sister Merritt would go back to Loganville and train and then Sister Stauffer and I would trio train in Monroe.

Wednesday we had a fantastic lesson with our new investigator Julie. Julie is homeless and lives in her car in a park in downtown Monroe. She is so solid though, absolutely ready for the gospel in her life. We taught about the restoration and as we were sharing Joseph Smith's first vision, tears welled up in her eyes. She thought it was amazing and true. Something that she was wanting to hear for a long time. We love her and we are so excited to continue to teach her more about the restored gospel. Friday we all had to get up super early to go to the training meeting. There were 5 sisters there and 30 elders, so we felt a little out of place but it was so fun to see everyone. We learned a lot from President Bennion. He is such a wise man filled with so much love. I truly feel so grateful to have such an amazing mission President! Right after the training meeting we drove an hour and a half to UGA. Our poor Sister Training Leader has been trying to go on exchange with us all transfer long and we have been rescheduling every single week because we have been so busy, or something has always come up where we needed to be in our area. So our STL got President's permission to have all three of us come up to campus and help out with a booth. Weeelllll we got there super late because of the meeting, but were there to help take down the booth and make the long 2 mile trek back to the institute building. As we were walking up the hill, the big, heavy whiteboard that we were rolling back decided to completely fall apart. So there we were, the hottest day of the week, 100% humidity, walking up a hill, carrying heavy boxes, sweat dripping from our faces and now we have a broken whiteboard that we can no longer roll, but must carry. It took us 10x longer to get to the institute building and the best part is the whiteboard had "Mormon.org" in big letters plastered across it... so we were portraying ourselves well to people driving by and seeing us struggle. It was definitely an adventure though, we had fun and just laughed the whole time.

Saturday we had a baptism for a nine year old boy, Jeremiah. I absolutely love this kid. We have been working with him ever since I got to the area. His mother is a member and very very sick. He pretty much takes care of his dying mother who loves him so much. They have the most precious relationship I've ever seen. Jeremiah has wanted to be baptized for so long, but was waiting for his mother to get better. Last week Jeremiah's mom sat him down and told him that she isn't going to be getting better and he needed the strength and comfort that comes through being a member of the church and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was so excited. Everything went so smoothly and the Spirit was so very strong. We love him so very much!

Sis Stauffer, Hosman & Merritt

The Trio with Sister Bennion (Mission President's wife)

Jocelyn came to visit Sister Hosman!

Rachael and Lucas have been good friends since "Joy School" when they were 3, now serving together!

Jeremiah's Baptism 

7.18.16 Sweat & Tears!

Hey y'all!
Wowzer, it was a crazy week! Sweat and tears describes it in a nut
shell! One of the if not the busiest of my mission! But also one of
the funnest and most rewarding! It has been amazing and I just
absolutely love being a missionary! The trio has been a blast and we
are loving it.

Tuesday morning we had an amazing lesson with a guy named Tabaris. He
was a friend of Kierens that we were briefly introduced to a while
ago. We saw him again at Glenda's  house and got talking to him. It
was last week and we set up a time to meet with him on Tuesday. So we
went over and he was home! We taught him the Restoration and he loved
it. He already has such a strong Faith and was excited to learn more.
The spirit was so strong and it was an amazing lesson! I'm really
excited to continue teaching him. We spent the afternoon setting up
and getting everything ready for the wedding. It was so much fun and
looked so good. Then we had a great lesson with Kenny. He is doing so
good and I'm so proud of him. We taught him about the sabbath day and
he loved it. We visited some less actives and then got Kieren ready
for the wedding. I got to do her hair and makeup, it was easy and so fun! She
looked beautiful and was so happy! The spirit was so strong at the
wedding and it was amazing. That night we saw the Tapia family and put
the kids on date for August 6th. They are so sweet and have such a
strong desire to be baptized. Then we went to see Tommy and taught him
about service. We showed him the "Lift" video and he loved it.  He was
so excited for his baptism and said it wasn't coming fast enough. He
is incredible!

Wednesday we had zone conference which was fantastic! I know I always
say that but I really loved zone conference! This one we really
focused on repentance and I learned so much. As missionaries we are
called not only to teach repentance but to live it. Daily repentance
is so important! Progression is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all
about. The atonement is real. It covers everything, for everyone. If
you're stuck on sin in the past move on. Pray to forget it and keep
moving forward it. He has forgotten it because he has that power. It's
never too late! Each and every day is a blessing and can be a fresh
start. All we have to do is try our best and it's enough. Our best
might not be the same as someone else's but that's okay. He
understands and he loves you for you. After zone conference we went to
teach Hazel and her daughter named Jasmine. We have been wanting to
teach Hazels sisters for quite some time now but it's never worked
out. But we got to meet her and teach the plan of salvation. She loved
it y'all and was so excited! At first she was hesitant to listen
because her head hurt and she was tired from work. But when we got
done she said " I feel different, my head don't hurt anymore!" It was
amazing and the spirit was so strong. Testifying to her they what we
said was true. That night we had dinner with the Polston family which
was delicious. They told us they might not be moving anymore and I was
so happy! We taught them the 10 commandments with the hand signs, they
were so into it! The kids loved it and it was a much fun! I have come
to love that family so much. Then one of our investigators named
Austin really wanted to make us dinner. He is so sweet, bless his
heart! He made us the most interesting spaghetti I've ever eaten in my
life! Lol Before we headed home we stopped by Tommys and went over the
interview questions with him. He aced it, of course! It was a
wonderful day!


Thursday we went to Roswell for a doctors appointment which took up
the morning and most of the afternoon. But I got to see Gremmy!! We
went to lunch with her and it was so fun! She is doing so well and it
was so good to see her! I've missed her so much. On the way back we
were stuck in traffic so it took us forever! When we got back we
stopped by Glenda because we haven't seen her in a while. She has been
going through some hard times so we talked about having faith through
our trials. She was supposed to be baptized on Saturday but her
husband wont let her. It was so sad but she has been so strong. She
has been reading and praying everyday. I know everything happens for a
reason, we are praying her husbands heart will be softened. That night
we went to visit Adam and Andrea, a less active couple in Loganville.
They are so funny and I love them! Adam is so stubborn and he knows
exactly what he should be doing. We talked about the atonement and it
went pretty well! They promised to be at church on Sunday and made it!
Wahoo!


Friday was mostly taking up by FISH but we had load of fun of course!
We saw some great people that afternoon. We had a really good lesson
with Jeremiah. He is 9 years old and in a part member family. He is so
cute and preparing to be baptized on Saturday!

Saturday morning we got to the church and realized we didn't have a
jump suit! We were driving and calling but couldn't find one anywhere!
Finally we got one and the baptism was so wonderful! Kieren sang
amazing Grace and it was absolutely incredible. She has the most
amazing voice! Tommy Raybon was officially baptized on his birthday!
His lessons were always my favorite and filled with the spirit. He was
so prepared for this gospel and it's been incredible to watch his
change. I will never forget his face when he came out of the water,
just pure joy! He is so ready to receive the priesthood and continue
to progress. Sister Swancey took us out to lunch at Butt Hutt in
Athens! It was delicious! She then kidnapped us and wouldn't take us
to the stake center. Haha It was so funny and we were laughing so
hard. We were late of course but had the opportunity to sing for youth
conference. It was so cool! We did some weekly planning that afternoon
and then Joce came to we me! Oh my goodness. It was so good to see her
again! I have missed her so much! It felt like old times and we had so
much fun. We went to dinner at Chilis and then taught some lessons.
Her boyfriend Braden came too and it was great! We had a lesson with
Maw- Maw and Charles. They are both doing better and I just love them!
Charles is praying about a day to be baptized and told us he knows
it's what he needs to do. Then we went to see Kieren and this story
carries into Sunday! Kieren is wanting to stop smoking too. Nothing
has been helping her to stop so she came up with a plan that we needed
to find something that she loved more than smoking and we would take
that every day she smoked. We thought of everything but nothing was
working. Then it came to this... Her makeup. Every day she smoked a
cigarette we would take all of her makeup and she would have to go
without it. When she went a day without smoking, we would give it
back. It was a good plan, except she was having an anxiety attack
while we were driving away with all of her makeup and she paced up and
down the hallway for two hours after we left. The next day we looked at
our phone and saw that we had 5 missed calls and 20 texts from her
(more than we ever get in a week from her) telling us that she
absolutely NEEDS her makeup back. Right. Now. So we call her back and
she swore at telling us to give her make up back!!! "Well Kieren, did
you smoke today?" "Yes! Four cigarettes" ..... This is ridiculous. So
we go to her house that night, we were all scared out of our mind
because we don't know to what extremes she will go to to get her
makeup back. We go inside, she sits down and has another anxiety
attack. To make a long story short, we gave in and gave her makeup
back after we had role played all the situations she may be in to
where she would want a cigarette and what she could say. We also made
her chain smoke 3 cigarettes that had been soaked in curdled milk
(celestial soup) which obviously tastes disgusting. Watching her smoke
those made everyone cry though. After her last cigarette she throws up
and tells us she is never smoking again, the tears in our eyes were
enough to make her stop. It was an emotional night, but if I learned
anything from this I learned to never EVER take away her makeup..

Tommy was confirmed on Sunday and it was amazing! He brought a
notebook for us to write about it in and was so excited. He is just
the greatest!

This morning was a little crazy with cleaning checks, having two
apartments. We were in a hurry and were driving down the road when we
saw a car pulled off to the side of the road. Immediately the spirit
told me to stop and at first I second guessed thinking all we had to
do. The spirit promoted me again and so I pulled the car over to the
side of the road. We walked down the road to her car and she had run
out of gas. We went to the gas station to buy a gas tank and get her
some gas. We came back and she was filled with gratitude. We starting
talking with her and her name sounded so familiar to me. We began
teaching her about the BoM and a smile came over her face. She had to
get going to work but we got her information and set a time to go back
tomorrow. When we got in the car and looked at area book she was a
former investigator. A bible referral but hadn't been taught or
anything. It was so amazing! I know the lord is ALWAYS preparing
people and placing them in our paths. This is his work and I'm so glad
I get to be a part of it. Nothing makes me happier! The church is true
and the book is blue!

Thank y'all for you're love and support! I love each and every one of
you so much! Have a wonderful week! Xoxo

Love,
Sister Hosman❤️🍑

 Rachael was so happy to see Sister Holmgren!

This picture came from Riley's email - she said, "It's always a joy to see this ray of sunshine!"

7.12.16 The terrific trio!

Hello y'all! It has been a crazy week with lots of changes! We are officially in a trio as of Thursday and loving it! We are in different apartments each night with an air mattress and our suit cases with us at all times. It has been an adventure, but so fun and we have already seen so many incredible miracles. There are power in numbers!

Tuesday night we had another incredible lesson with Tommy. We were a bit nervous to teach him the WoW because of his past but said a prayer and went forward with faith. As we started to teach him the spirit was so strong and he recognized the truth of it so fast! He began to tell us that when he was reading from the BoM he felt like he really needed to treat his body better so he stopped drinking! It had been several weeks and he is doing so good! We were amazed and my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon grew. Heavenly Father is always teaching these people and preparing us for the next step in the gospel. At the end of the lesson Tommy reached in his back pocket and handed us his can of chewing tobacco right then and there! He had been chewing since he was 8 years old but was so willingly to give it up and do what's right. It was so incredible to me and once again of the best lessons of my mission. I feel so blessed to be a small part of helping Tommy in this journey and seeing the change in him. Then we went to see Kieren and Marcus, they are doing great! We showed them a video and Kieren asked for a blessing to help her with her WoW problems. It was a great night!

Wednesday morning we drove to Roswell because Sister Stauffer had a doctors appointment down there. That is where we spent the morning and most of the day! 3 hours to get home with all the traffic and rain storm! It was crazy but it gave us a chance to talk and get to know each other. That night we had dinner with the Polston family! They are so cute and I just love them more and more every time. We talked about the sacrament and really helped Finley understand it, it was great! Then we had correlation and a lesson with Tommy. Brother Warren and Brother Jordan came with us and they gave Tommy a priesthood blessing to help him with his word of wisdom problem. The spirit was so strong and Tommy can't wait to receive the priesthood some day.

Thursday we went back down to the mission office to pick up Sister Merritt. It was the beginning of the terrific trio! That night we had some extra time before our next appointment with Tommy and decided to do some inspired tracting. We met a super cute lady named Mira and taught her most of the restoration. She loved it and we are going back this next week! When we got to Tommy's house he said he had questions about God's laws or the 10 commandments. It was so cool because that is exactly what we were planning on teaching him! We helped him understand them and the lesson went really well. After that we went to Kierens and she received a priesthood blessing. She loved it and said she knew it was from God.

Friday morning we went and volunteered at FISH. We got to drive a route and had a lot of fun! That afternoon we visited some less actives and learned how to make chocolate pecan pies! They are SO delicious! That night we went to visit the Noyes. She is a less active due to health issues and her 9 year old son is an investigator. He is so cute and loves the missionaries! We had a great lesson with him and put him on date for the end of this month! Then we went to visit the Tapia family, they are so great! The mom is also a less active but two of her kids are investigating! They are so smart and love the gospel! We went over what it means to keep the sabbath day holy and they were so excited to come to church. I have taught them on exchange once and just fell in love with the kids. I'm so excited to start working with them and help them progress!

Saturday's highlight was our lesson in the morning with Jarree but the miracle goes into Sunday. Jarree is one of our wonderful investigators we have been working with in Loganville. She is a wife of a inactive member and she has great faith in Jesus Christ. When we first started working with her she wasn't reading scriptures, praying or going to church despite her strong testimony of the Savior. But she had that desire to come closer to him. Saturday we had a lesson with her.. She told us she has been reading the scriptures and praying a lot now. Her faith in Jesus Christ has increased and she wanted that for her family too, especially her inactive husband. The spirit was so strong as we talked about the importance of baptism by proper priesthood authority and gave her the calendar to pick a date to be baptized. She chose August 13th and at the end of the lesson we had asked her to pray about the date she had chosen. When she asked Heavenly Father if it was right, the room was silent for a while and then we could hear sniffles. She started crying as the spirit testified to her that it was the right thing to do. Sunday morning her AND her inactive husband came to church, participated, met a lot of people and could feel the spirit. At the end of the three hours Jarree's husband excitedly tells us "I've had the best day! I'm ready for a calling! Where's my home teaching list? I need to be more involved!" He then became a little more serious and said "I wanted to thank you Sisters, if it weren't for you, we both wouldn't be here today." Jarree, too, was so happy and told us they would definitely be back the next week! The Spirit has definitely pricked both of their hearts and gave them a taste of something they had both been missing for a long time. It was incredible! Sunday was a delight! We had 9 investigators at church and it was incredible. We felt so blessed and the Ward was so great to introduce themselves to everyone. After church we had a great lesson with Kenny. We haven't been able to see him lately with him being out of town but he has been reading almost everyday! We had a great lesson on prayer and scripture study with him and talked about the importance of it. Then we put him on date for August 6th and we are so excited! He has grown so much and I'm so proud of him! We went and had a delicious lunch and read with the Kalanuis. We dropped by Hazel's house to say we missed her at church and met her 22 year old daughter named Jasmine. She was being taught awhile ago but had kind of lost interest. At first it was super awkward but by the end she was opening up to us a little bit and said we could come back next week! It was an awesome tender mercy to end the day before we had to head home to weekly plan!

It has been such an awesome week and I've learned so much. I've really been studying the atonement and grace. The more I do the more I want to share it with everyone I see just like the promise says in Preach My Gospel! He has payed the price for each and everyone of us. We don't have to feel that guilt and sadness because of him. It's because of his grace all things are possible. It's never too late. You've never gone too far. His arm are out reached to us always. Everyday he is walking right by our side, when he isn't it's because he is carrying you. I'm so grateful for this time I have to be his representative and share his gospel. I know it to be true. It can bring more happiness than you can ever imagine. I love y'all! Have a wonderful week and never forget you're never alone!

Xoxo Love,
Sister Hosman

7.5.16 Happy 4th of July and bye to Gremmy❤️

Hi y'all! It has been a crazy week and an even crazier weekend! I don't have much time today at all but will give you a few of the highlights!

Monday night we had an incredible lesson with Tommy!! At first the spirit wasn't quite as strong and I wasn't sure why. As I said a quick silent prayer Brother Warren announced that we were going to sing Tommy "I'm a child of God!" The spirit was so strong as soon as we finished singing and he was continuing to finish our sentences. He is so prepared! We invited him to be baptized on the 23rd of July and his response was "what about the 16th? So I can be reborn on my birthday!" He is incredible and of course we said yes!

Tuesday we had a great zone meeting and oh my goodness I learned so much! Then there was a crazy southern summer rain storm! That afternoon we had several cancellations. We didn't know what to do and decided to be real bold. We dropped by a former investigator named Angela Bailey and she was so happy to see us. We were able to share a message with her and it was great! We were able to see a couple more people and then decided to be bold again that night. We went in social circle and decided to go check on Glenda and Ed! Not sure if you remember them but he is a long lost member and she was investigating. They were so great and some of our favorites. They dropped us though and we were so nervous to go back. As soon as Ed saw us he got so excited and invited us right in! It was so good to see them again and such a tender mercy!

Wednesday morning we got to go to FISH and drive a route around! It was so much fun and always so humbling to see those sweet kids! We had some good lessons that afternoon and then saw Kieren that night. We were driving home in the scariest rain storm and I really felt God's protection. I know He protects his missionaries!

Thursday was a super busy day full of lessons! In the morning we saw some awesome less actives. That night we had great lessons with Glenda, Tommy and Kieren! They are all doing great and I'm so proud of them! Friday was mostly taken up by FISH and weekly planning!

Saturday night we got to finally see the Polston family again! We had dinner with them and they are great as ever! Finley was so excited to tell us that he received his answer to prayer, that what we were teaching was true! He is so sweet. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well! They told us they will be moving next month and we are so sad! We will be sending the missionaries over to help them move and be praying for them!(: Sunday we had the most incredible testimony meeting. There was a theme of patriotism and it was wonderful. I am so proud to be an American and live in this beautiful country! We had a great lesson in Sunday school on the sacrament. We talked about how we can make the sacrament more personal and I loved this acronym. As we take the sacrament we...
Take his name upon you
Always remember him
Keep his commandments
Endure to the end
When the doors are open its a chapel but when they are closed it becomes an ordinance room. What a cool and Incredible thought! After church we had some great lessons! That night we decided to drop by someone named Tavis who we haven't seen since we first got here and it was great! She was so happy to see us and we were finally able to really teach her the restoration. She loved it and is excited to read the BoM! It was so great! That night we got a call from president with some super sad news... There were some changes in the mission and Sister Holmgren was being emergency transferred! This morning she left for Roswell and I will miss her so much! We had become best friends and I feel so blessed to have served with her. I learned so much from her and admire her in so many ways! I know the Lord has a plan and that everything happens for a reason! She will be so great in her new area and I'm so proud of her! My new companion is Sister Stauffer from Juneau Alaska! She is super sweet and as I'm typing this we just got a call that we will be in a trio starting Thursday evening! Woah y'all! It will be a crazy week! Please keep me in your prayers.

Monday was a wonderful holiday and we had a lot of fun doing a free cookie/lemonade stand with the other sisters! We had a lot of fun and met some wonderful people! The rest of the day was going around saying goodbyes from Gremmy!

I have really been reflecting this week how blessed I am to be here in America. I'm so grateful to live in a free country where the gospel could be restored. And now this wonderful opportunity I have to share it with the peachy people of Georgia! I absolutely love it here and feel so blessed! I miss and love y'all so much! I hope you had a wonderful holiday! I know God has a plan for everything and everyone! The church is true and the book is blue! Love, Sister Hosman❤️🍑

Loved seeing Sister Christensen at Zone Meeting

Oh how I'm going to miss these hugs!