IT IS SO COMFORTING...

Hey Everybody!! 
It has been a great week!! We have been very busy! We have been finding Less Actives like crazy trying to get to know them and bring them back to the fold. As well as finding those who didn't know they are part of the Good Shepard's fold! Always an adventure! Sister De Leon and I have fun! Haha.

We also went on exchanges! GUESS WHO I GOT TO BE WITH!!!!!! "Hello, its Sister Fitzhood!" Hahah! Throw back to the glory days of Corning! Sister Fitz is incredible! It was awesome to catch up and baptize/reactivate nations again! (For a day..) haha. It was awesome! ️ 

Not too much happened this week that is worth going into great detail about! But something cool is that we had interviews with President Marston again! Oh how I love interviews!!! We just talked about so many cool things! We talked a lot about peace since that is what the Easter Initiative is all about!! The Prince of Peace! In preparation for our interviews, he had us pick a scripture about peace. The one that really stuck out to me was John 17:33, which is the Savior speaking. He says:
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

So many tribulations and trials, especially on a mission. But it is so comforting to know that I can turn to Him in prayer and in the scriptures and find such peace there. Knowing that He has overcome all things, especially the world, gives me such great strength. It means "I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me.", as we all can! He made it possible for all of us to overcome all things!! 

Women's Conference was AMAZING!! Ah! I was just soaking it all in! Then it ended and my soul still hungered! Haha. It was amazing! Can't wait for this weekend!! WOOP WOOP!!!! 🏾🏾

Here's the best lessons of the week! 

Jessica:We visited Jessica and asked how she's  doing and what she thinks about church last Sunday. She said it was good but she just wants to investigate the church for a year and know it for sure. She said baptism isn't something she'd like to do soon but she likes to learn more about the gospel.  We read Alma 32 and talked about Faith. We shared that it requires actions just like what Joseph Smith did. We taught the importance of the Restoration and priesthood authority with her. We asked her what she thinks about it and she said it could be true. But she doesn't want to be pressured into anything. We bore our testimony and invited her to pray about it. She said she will. We weren't able to get a hold of her to invite her to women's Conference or church... apparently she didn't go because none of the Elders saw her either... ☹️ BUT! We will call her this week and set up something and we will be sure she is at Conference because it's always an amazing experience for investigators! There's so much to be learned! 

Zeiahne:We read 2Nephi 31 with Zeiahne and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost & Enduring to the End.) we also talked about the Priesthood authority and why it is important to be baptize. She is such a wonderful Inv. She tells us what she understood and she asked about infant baptism. When we explained about age of accountability is 8 and infants are innocent, she understood and  got it. We explain about the priesthood too and how the gospel has been restored through prophet Joseph Smith.  We invited her to be baptized and she said yes!!! April 22. She also was able to go to church! The ward was so welcoming and the YW leaders invited her to go to a devotional at the temple this week!! Ah!! Love members like that! 

Zeiahne is such a tender mercy for us! She is our light amidst darkness, I guess you could say. Haha. It's hard to find people who are like her and have a desire to learn like she does. Especially when it comes to baptism!! Our other investigators either want to wait a year or more or they just want to do their own thing. She really is proof that Heavenly Father acknowledges our hard work and has prepared someone for us to focus so much of our attention on. I imagine this is kinda what it's like raising a child! Hahaha!!  so much love, care, stress and worry go into our efforts with her! ️

So for my spiritual thought today!! Sister De Leon and I were talking last night about peace and some scriptures that she found that link together and I thought it was awesome!!! The first scripture was the same as before, John 16:33 which says, once again: 

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
And the second one is Job 22:21

"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."
I love how the first one talks about how we can have peace through our Savior, Jesus Christ because He has overcome everything. But the second one fits perfectly with it because it tells HOW we obtain peace through Him. We ACQUAINT ourselves with Him. We come to know Him and "spend time with Him" or with things that are of Him. We build a relationship with Him. We are promised when we do these things that there will be good things to come; we will be blessed. I have never found greater peace than when I have acquainted myself with my Savior. When I study the Book of Mormon or pray, that is where I find the greatest peace and comfort in my tribulations. I'm an SO grateful for a loving Father who sent His only Son to this world of sinners to suffer and die that we might live. 

The 31 day study of the Atonement we are doing as a mission has really opened my eyes to the magnitude of the suffering that He bore for each being on this earth and for the earth itself. Not only for this earth, but for the infinite worlds created by Him. We cannot even fathom how greatly He must have suffered. All because He loves us and wants us to have peace here in this life and eternal joy in the world to come. O how great the goodness of our God! ️ 


Thanks for all you guys do! I love each of you! Have an awesome week! Love,Sister Hood

PHOTOS FOR YOU!!

AWESOME ZONE!!

Should I ~ Shouldn't I?
Sister Hood

Love my COMP ~ She is AWESOME!!
Sister Hood & Sister De' Leon

A MIRACLE THIS WEEK!!

Hello peeps!! 

It has been another eventful week here in C-Heights!! Life is great! We see miracles, endure hard things and bring people closer to Christ! And of course, we have way too much fun!  

Something super cool that happened this week! So at District meeting, we usually share a miracle that happened in the past week! So a couple Elders in our district shared how they were tracting and walked up on this car that had its lights on. So they went and knocked on the door and an old lady answered and so she said she would get her grandson out there to fix it. So they continued to tell the story and they explained that he had investigated the church before and his dad was a recent convert and stuff. We asked his name and it was O'Ryan Gibson! I FREAKED OUT!! Missionaries have been looking for this kid for MONTHS!! He had a date and everything then suddenly he just dropped off the face of the earth! He told the elders the only reason he wasn't baptized was cuz he didn't quite smoking!!!! So they set up an appointment with him and invited us, since he is ours. hah! But he never showed up unfortunately.. BUT!! We are still looking for him! It was just a huge miracle! I seriously COULD NOT believe it.... 

We had a lot of interesting things happen this week! We met an old guy who told us the best weed was from Auburn!  aw man... so many people smoke weed here it's ridiculous.  funny people. 

We had an awesome dinner! Members invited us over and we had a nerf war/capture the flag! It was a RIOT!! 

Here's the highlight of the week! ️ 

Jessica:

Followed up with her reading and praying. She said she has been trying to do both. She really enjoys the BOM. When she prayed about the BOM she didn't really feel like she got an answer. She feels like this is all good so she wants to continue learning and stuff. We shared Gal. 5 and talked about how it might feel. She asked about Heavenly Mother. We told her we believe in Her but we don't know a lot. Sang O My Father because it talks about Her. The spirit was strong. She loves to sing and would like to be involved in the ward choir. Brinlee invited her institute and the YSA because she was saying she wants to find some good people to hang out with.  Talked A little bit about agency and our purpose here on earth. Talked about prayer. She understands it really well. Invited her to pray vocally on her knees. She liked the idea of a gratitude prayer. She tried that at the end. ️

She also came to the YSA!!! Whoop whoop!!! She really liked it and everybody was super kind to her! Appreciate that SO much! ️

Lyzel & Zeiahne (zee-Ann):

They were referred to us by the tempo park elders because they speak the Filipino language and they're both girls. We stopped by their place so the elders could introduce them to us. We got to know them a little bit and what they believe in. We showed the Because of Him of video and shared our purpose as missionaries. We asked what stood out to them in the video and Zeiahne, who seems more interested, answered that through Jesus Christ anything is possible. We shared that we have a living a prophet who as authorized by God to oversee His Church and testify of Him. We asked them if they would be interested in learning more and they said yes. 

Later this week we went back and taught just Zeiahne and it was awesome!! 

Round 2!!:

we talked to her about how we, as missionaries, help people prepare to make covenants with Heavenly Father. We asked her if that's something she was interested in and she said yes! So we continued to teach her the restoration. When we got to the first vision, I was the one who was able to recite it to her. It was SO powerful.. probably to most powerful restoration lesson I've ever been in. The spirit was so strong! And she totally felt it. She said she felt so much peace! And then when we taught her about the BOM, we asked what she thought and she said she feels like there is truth in the book and she needs to read it! Then we taught her how to pray. She said she normally prays with the sign of the cross because she's catholic. But when she prayed the way we taught her, she said she felt so much more peace and so much better!!! AHHHHH!!!!!! I coulda died. As Sister De Leon was teaching her, I was trying to catch her body language and what she was thinking and you could see the spirit enlightening her. It was so cool!! 

Becky:

She invited us over for dinner on Sunday because we didn't have any dinner plans. And it was awesome to just chat with her and stuff. But when we tried to share a thought or something, she wouldn't let us... then we asked her about her date. She said she doesn't wanna set one for right now. She said she needs to figure somethings out... so. All we can do now it just be there for her and not push. What we are planning on, is taking it from the top and going thru everything again. So! Please keep her in your prayers... 

So for the spiritual thought this week, I thought I would share an awesome quote President Marston emailed us. In preparation for Easter, he sends us talks and scriptures to study about the Atonement and it has been amazing to study about the Atonement each day in my personal study. Here's one of the quotes he sent out: 

“The Atonement of Christ is nothing less than the answer to the great and terrible question that life inevitably poses: “Is this all there is?”

If you are a saint, you know that this is a wicked world; if you are the most cynical and worldly unbeliever, you still know by experience that it is a vicious one. 

It seems that everything we want here is either destructive or trivial …

But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

That is just the point. 

The Atonement makes available the only kind of lasting life worth having.”

                                                                        --Hugh W. Nibley

It really comforts me to know that this isn't all there is. Hugh Nibley hit the nail right on the head. It's a terrifying thought to think of our world, here as we know it, being it for the rest of forever. Nothing here can bring us true joy and true fulfillment except it be the the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank goodness for the Atonement because we know that we will live again and we have the potential to have complete joy in our Fathers presence with our Savior and our families FOREVER. I will forever be grateful for the blessing He has given me to have that opportunity to reach far beyond my own abilities and take hold of something greater than I deserve! He is so merciful and so loving. He is just looking for opportunities to bless us. 

Such is life these days, my friends!! It's never a dull moment on the mish! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve my Savior. It's never easy but always worth it! Have an amazing week! Love you all! 

Love,

Sister Hood!

SPRING PHOTOS FOR YOUR PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT

SPRING IS IN THE AIR IN CALIFORNIA!!

AWESOME PEOPLE IN MY LIFE!!

BEAUTIFUL PURPLE BLOSSOMS - SMELL AMAZING!!

SILLY SISTA'S!!
SISTER DE LEON & SISTER HOOD

NERF WAR!!

AWESOME CRANZ FAMILY
SISTER HOOD ~ ELDER CLARKE ~ ELDER DEAN ~ SISTER DE LEON

TRANSFERS!!!

Howdy howdy howdy!! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! I know my week was crazy busy but a super good week! 

Transfers went down and Baum is now off to Lincoln! It was so sad to see her to because we had gotten really close! I will definitely miss her! But the good news is that she will be living in Utah after so! We won't be too far away. ️ Tuesday morning we had our last little hoorah! Haha. We went to Chik-Fil-a for lunch and then to get a rootbeer freeze from A&W! Haha. Then Sister De Leon showed up! We got her settled a little then had a lesson with Jessica and then waited literally all day for Baum's comp to get down here.... they took like 10 stops.. we went to the mission office to wait for them and President asked us what we were doing and stuff. Then finally at like 5:30ish we were able to meet up with them. It was sad goodbye but ya know. That's all part of the mission life! 

It was such an awesome week though! Sister De Leon were able to see tons of people and clean up our area book! That took a ton of stress off of me.. haha. I appreciated that! It was awesome. Our dinner situation is interesting though... We texted our bishop's wife and asked if we could visit with them and maybe eat with them... as a missionary you learn how to mooch..  it comes with the calling I guess! Hah! That's what we did for a couple nights the week. It was great meeting with Bishop and Sister Mealey though, because they were able to give us a lot of good information and we were able to ask them questions bring up issues like dinner and things like that! It was SUPER helpful!  

Sunday, we had our stake MCM meeting at the crack of dawn, since it was daylight savings...  it was normally at 7 but because of the time change it was at 6...  but!! It was a great meeting! Haha. We also had Ward Council! The YSA is so funny... haha. It's completely different serving in a family Ward vs. a YSA. Teenagers.. hah!  We also spoke in Sacrament! They had to make it even more crazy.. haha.. just kidding. It was good. I wasn't even nervous. I just planned my talk, went up there and gave it. Haha. I only shook a little bit. It was weird. So that went well! It was just a great week over all! 

Here's our lessons for the week! Lots of work got done! It was awesome!  

Jessica:

She Texted us and asked us to come over. We talked about how she liked the BOM. She said she had been reading in 1 Nephi. She said she didn't really understand when Nephi was commanded to kill Laban so we explained that to her and she understood. She said she really likes what she had been feeling when she reads and comes to church. She "feels God" the most when they sing hymns in church. She really likes the structured way we live. She said she wants more of that in her life. She told us about some of her past experiences and it has been very scary for her. She has been through some terrible things. But she noticed when she has started thinking more about God, the blessings have come flooding in. We shared Alma 7:11-12 with her and talked about the Atonement and how she can become completely clean by repenting. She said she feels disgusting when she does things she knows to be wrong and she feels like it's God tell her that she shouldn't do that. She is solid and very strong. 

She ended up going to another ward.... meh!! It's hard because we want her to go to the YSA because that's where she should be and since we're teaching her and because of other things regarding her situation in life, sisters should be the ones to teach her.. haha. So. I guess the thing that matters most is that she went to church!! ️ 

Becky--the first time... 

She is having a super hard time with everything. She feels like God is just throwing all these things at her and isn't there for her. We talked about how God puts us through trials to help us become stronger. Talked about the Atonement. We also talked about how scripture study and prayer will help her stay close to God. She knows it's  what she should be doing that's why she keeps doing it. Her heart isn't really in it anymore. We shared Like A Broken Vessel with her. Becky shared her concerns about baptism. She said she doesn't want to not live up to what she is getting in to. Courtney bore powerful testimony of how Becky will one day be baptized. It was powerful and it really touched her heart. We offered to get a blessing for her. She was hesitant but agreed to receive one on Friday. She said all we can really do for her is pray for her and be there. 

Becky--the second time!!  

We talked to Becky about the Priesthood and how she feels about it. She had a couple of questions like what are they going to do, she ask if they're like the priest and the difference between the patriarchal blessing and priesthood blessing. Elder Clarke, Elder Dean and Elder Trentman were there to help her understand some things about it. We answered most of her questions and showed her the MM Blessings of the Priesthood. She said it was very welcoming and she liked it. She then got a blessing from the elders. She's shared a part of why she needed it for and she said it felt good, she needed to hear it.

Tyler Martin (new 'gator) and his mom Cindy:

We talked to Cindy, Tyler's mom, at first and she was SUPER nice. She went to get Tyler and then she mentioned that they have both been baptized into another religion. She said Tyler's grandparents who live right next door were very active LDS. We asked if we could share Because of Him. Tyler said sure and Cindy said she wanted to see too because she is always curious. They both liked it. Tyler said he really liked the logistics of the video. Cindy talked about miracles that had happened in her life. Tyler is super sweet! He is such a good kid. He is open to learn more. He is just starting a new job so he didn't know his schedule so he gave us his number to keep in touch.  ️

Dan King--New 'gator--

Stopped by to find Nick King but talked to his dad. He is a super nice and friendly guy! He loves to meet new people and talk about God. He has a lot of similar beliefs. He feels like all religions are all similar and come from the same place but some have just been tweaked by man. He talks A LOT though.  he talked about how God loves us and how we need to have faith and believe. He is a super cool guy, just make sure you have time to talk! He says he is super busy because otherwise he will get himself in trouble. So we offered to fill his free time so he wouldn't! He laughed and agreed to let us come over to visit him. 

That's life these days!! I love you all! Have an awesome week!! 

Love, 

Sister Hood!  

Spring Photos For YOUR Pleasure!!

SWEET!! SO EXCITED TO GET TO KNOW HER BETTER!!
Sister Hood & Sister De Leon

My SWEET new companion is AMAZING!!
Sister Hood & Sister De Leon

OUR LAST SUPPER TOGETHER!!
Sister Hood & Sister Baum

GOOD EATS!!
Sister Hood & Sister Baum

I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND WHAT DID I SEE..
POPCORN POPPING ON THE APRICOT TREE!!  HA!!

SO Many AMAZING People!!

Hey Peeps!! 

Well! It's the week of transfers and things are always crazy! So this is going to be rather short. But yeah! There wasn't too much to share anyway.. haha. Just scrambling to get everything ready to roll! 

So transfers! Well, I am getting a new companion!! Sister De Leon! She is from the Philippines and she's a teeny tiny little person. haha. But I have heard lots of good things about her. ️ It has been a sad couple of days because we had to say goodbye to SO many amazing people... well, I might see peeps from the Spanish ward occasionally but it's still sad.. they actually had a going away party for Elder Pirir (going home) and a kid they call Nacho who is just heading to Bakersfield. So they said goodbye to all of us too and it was so sad...  Elder Pirir translated for me so I actually tell them thank you for everything. We cried a lot last night cuz it was so sad!.. 

Welp! Here's a couple lessons from this week! ️

Shelley:

Shelley is a self referral. She is a super nice lady! She said she really got attached to the sisters awhile ago and then they left then Elders showed up and she felt uncomfortable. She asked what we do so we told her that we just teach about Jesus Christ and share the joy that will bless her and her family. She invited us back tomorrow because she was just heading out. 

Julisa and Blanca 

We asked about her reading. She said she hasn't really been doing it because her mom gets home late from work. We invited them to do it right when Julisa gets home from school. We showed the 20 minute restoration video. Talked about how she felt. She definitely felt the spirit. She said she believes its true. She believes the BOM is true and that prayer works. She said she will be at church this week. 

Here's an awesome quote by James E. Faust. 

“We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement--to become one with Him, to be in His divine presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded in His boundless love. How gloriously sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence! The free gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way we can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face-to-face. The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each and all of us. It is a love which is full of mercy, patience, grace, equity, long-suffering, and, above all, forgiving.

“The evil influence of Satan would destroy any hope we have in overcoming our mistakes. He would have us feel that we are lost and that there is no hope. In contrast, Jesus reaches down to us to lift us up. Through our repentance and the gift of the Atonement, we can prepare to be worthy to stand in His presence” (in Conference Report, Oct. 2001, 22; or Ensign, Nov. 2001, 20).

It was cool this week in Book of Mormon Class. Elder Clarke made a cool comment on a verse that said "extending his arm", "his" meaning Christ. He said He is not just letting it dangle or letting it just be there. The Savior is reaching down. He said often times, Jesus Christ puts in more effort than we do when trying to bring us back. It's so true. He wants us back more anything. Whether we have just stepped one step farther away or we have gone farther, He wants us back. He will never give up and won't stop fighting for our return into His love and presence. I know that to be true! ️

Love ya peeps! I'll send some pictures maybe next week! Meantime, I want to play! Haha. Have a good week! 

Love,

Sister Hood

 Let Him shine through you!