Hello!

This week has been a great one filled with a few lessons and lots of learning! I really feel like I will never stop learning.  We were able to teach three families this week and one single mom.  The lessons went well, and Sister Newell and I are getting practice teaching the lessons.  And guess what??? One of the people we invited to church actually came!! This is exciting :) Haha. We are so happy.  She is really sweet, and she loves that she can have the manuals, hymns, and scriptures on her phone.  We were able to show her all of this.  Two of the people we taught this week said they will prepare for baptism...another super exciting thing!!!! (I'll send a picture of our happy faces)  It's like you are just going along being a missionary and then something happens that just makes you SO HAPPY.  Like even this stuffed animal bear that the elders brought by yesterday because they didn't want it.  Sister Newell and I were pretty excited. 

Yesterday was a really cool day.  We went to church, and Dell (we taught her this week) was there! She enjoyed church and is coming to our ward activity with her husband on Wednesday.  We were driving home from church with Sister Park and she was talking about the hardships that some members of our ward are going through, and I was thinking about the strength of the members here.  Some people are going through really hard things and you don't ever know because they are just so strong and push through it all.  We know that trials and afflictions are for our gain, even when we don't understand why they happen.  I know that God is with us and that we don't have to understand everything, but we can understand more by reading the scriptures and keeping the commandments.  I am excited to understand everything one day. 

I want you to know that you are all great inspirations to me.  Your letters remind me how blessed I am to have my friends and family in my life.  That is one thing we teach- that God has placed us in families for a reason, to help us come closer to Christ.  Thank you for all your prayers.  I had a moment yesterday where I was reminded of all the prayers being said for me...every week in church someone says over the pulpit how blessed they feel to have us in their ward.  We are all missionaries! We can all share the gospel through our actions, love, and words.  There is someone in your life who will change because they know you, and we do have to do our part to be the best missionaries we can be! :)

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Mia, Courtney, and Star for the letters. 

Love always,

Sister Hixson