2017... are you ready y'all?! (1.3.17)

Hi y'all! 

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is 2017!! Hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year. It was a great week and we were super busy. Here is an update on a couple of the Lords wonderful children we are blessed to teach.. 

Sam is doing great and we had some awesome lessons with him this last week. We taught him about the plan of salvation and it went so well. He said it just all made sense. Jenn (inactive gf) also participated the whole time which was huge. The spirit was so strong and he asked some great questions. He is reading the BoM but we talked about the importance of praying about it. Prayer is so essential in all that we do. 

Missionary leadership council (MLC) was on Friday and it was incredible. How I wish I could have just been a fly on the wall in those meetings. They have a special spirit. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful and humble leaders. It is amazing to see President Bennion humble himself to take advice and Council with us. We discussed that just has important as what we do as missionaries is who we are. The Christlike attributes are to help us to become more like Jesus Christ. We can do it, that is what we are here to do. We also discuss agency, the only true gift that we can give God. We are a very obedient mission but President pointed out that that may not be the best thing. We need to govern ourselves so that we may learn and grow. That is what we are all on earth for. The hope and prayer is that we make good decisions and give out heart/will to god. It was a big eye opener for me. 

Andy is a wonderful father of a girl who joined the church just a few years ago and now has a mission call to California. He has been coming to church these last couple of months but never really accepted being taught. This last week we had our first lesson with Andy and we're able to to teach him about the Restoration. He was a minister so he has a lot of tough questions. But he has agreed to read and pray about the BoM. I know he will feel of the truthfulness of it. The BoM is so powerful and truly changes lives. I'm excited to see what happens with Andy in the future. I know he will be blessed by Monica (his daughter) serving a mission. God truly protects and blesses the families of his missionaries. I saw it as my brother Zach was serving and now while I am serving.

The Ruiz family is a terrific family we are working with that has been less active for awhile. We have had some powerful lessons with them and they have a desire to come back. This last week we talked about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and invited them to come to church. We were very bold and reminded them that actions speak louder than words. What we do on the sabbath truly is a sign to our Heavenly Father. We were sad when the first hour of church was almost over and we hadn't seen them come in. However, it turned around and he pointed right at me with a big grin on his face. My face hurt from smiling so hard y'all! My heart filled with warmth and love. God is good!! They were so happy to be there and I know Heavenly Father was even happier. Feeling a piece of the love he has for his precious children is so incredible and I'm so grateful for this outstanding opportunity! 

I love y'all so much! Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. Have a blessed week! 

Love,

Sister Hosman 

*I did not receive any pictures this week, but if you are scrolling down looking for the good stuff, here it is...

Rachael will be home on Feb. 22 @ 4:40 p.m.

She will be speaking in church on Feb. 26th @ 11:00a.m.