Peach My Gospel: 12.13.16 Just like that, Winter is here!

Hello y'all!

We had a cold week this week and really had to bundle up. Winter is officially here and it is cold, especially on a bike! Haha It was a good week though and I'm loving it more and more here everyday!

Monday night we had a great lesson with Sam! We taught him about the restoration and it went really well. The spirit was really strong and he asked great questions. We brought an awesome member with us named Tasha. The week before I left Level Creek (my first area) Tasha got home from her mission. She is now married and living with her husband in the Laurel Springs Ward. It was so great to teach with her again. Sam is so great and was so excited to read from the BoM. He was not raised in a religious home but says he has seen throughout his life how important faith is. He has a desire to learn more and come closer to his savior Jesus Christ. You can tell his soul is hungry for it and it is truly amazing.

Another one of our awesome investigators is named Audra. She is a mom of 3 awesome kids and is so sweet. She has been taught for awhile now and is so close to entering the gate of baptism. We had a great lesson with her this week and we're able to answer her questions. She is very curious and likes to study everything out which is good. Audra is so close to the spirit and has so much faith. It is incredible and the second I met her I had so much love for her. It is so amazing to be able to see and feel just a small piece of the way good sees and feels for his children. Audra is praying about being baptized next month so please keep her in your prayers. I know she is ready to take this step and that her family will follow close behind her.

Tuesday we had a great zone meeting and then went to lunch with all the sisters. Some members own a pizza place so we went there and it was really good. They were the nicest people and so happy to see us. After that I headed to Sugar Hill on exchanges with Sister Duffin. We had a lot of fun and she is such a wonderful missionary. I was able to learn so much from her. When we got to the area we got a call from the mission office. Sister Duffin was in a car accident back in March and the city asked her to come be a witnesses in court. Super crazy but tomorrow I am taking her to Court, so that should be a fun adventure. (Not something I would have ever guessed I would do on a mission! Haha) We met a lot of cool people though and even had a lesson with Tasha. She was being taught when I was in my first area and now she is baptized. It was so great to finally meet her. We had a great lesson with her and she asked us to help give up smoking again which is awesome!

This week I was studying in Matthew about the parable of the laborers.

In this parable the householder went into the marketplace at about 6:00 a.m. and hired laborers to work for a “penny." He returned to the marketplace at 9:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. (the eleventh hour), found other unemployed men who were willing to work, and hired them, promising to pay them “whatsoever is right”

The "penny" represents eternal life which is the reward for all people who make and keep sacred covenants with the Lord. His concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there. I love these two quotes..

"However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."

- Elder Holland

“So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time” -Elder Holland

It made me think of Gloria who was baptized when she was 75 or the many less actives I have seen come back to the fold. It is never too late for anyone. I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and this beautiful time of year we have to celebrate his birth. It is on and through my mission that I have come to gain a personal relationship with him and for that I will be eternally grateful. However dark you feel your life is or how far you feel you have turned from God I promise you it is is not too late. He is waiting for you with open arms. Life is hard but we are here to have joy so turn your hardships and burdens to him, he will give you rest. The atonement is real, it is an incredible gift and the best way we can thank him is to use the gift in our lives.

Thanks for all you do! Love and miss y'all so much. Have a blessed week and stay warm!

Love,

Sister Hosman