21 Aug 2017

Hey everybody!

This week has been a little slow. Two of our investigators have been in and out of the hospital, one is getting a lot better, the other I think she's improving but she's going through cancer treatments so it’s been tough on her.

We met the Hallenan family again, and they are doing pretty, well. When we stopped by they were all outside, a black widow was sitting in their kitchen up in some spot where they could really squish it and they were trying to devise a plan to kill it. They did its dead now. But we also talked to them about the importance of scripture study and family prayers. It was a good meeting and we showed them the gospel Library app which they were pretty excited about. They a really nice young couple and they have two kids that are about 3 and 2 and they are funny little kids. One likes to act like animals and give you "flowers" (Normally weeds and leaves). But they are a really good family and they are making steps back towards the savior, which is awesome to see.

There’s been a lot of excitement about the eclipse that just took place. We were just out of the Totality range, so it got pretty dark but we didn’t get the full night time effect. You could see the darkness over by IF, if you looked north well we were on top of a mountain to watch it so we could see the darkness move across the Valley. But it was pretty cool. We went and bike/Hiked up Kinport which is the tallest spot in Pocatello if I remember right. And it was a good hike, we walked the bikes most of the way once we started ascending and then we hid the bikes and just cut through the brush so we could more or less just go straight up the mountain. It was pretty cool though. The ride down was pretty fun though.

I'd send pictures but I just realized this computer can’t upload them so I’ll get them to you guys later.

14 Aug 2017

 This week was good,

We had zone conference up in Blackfoot; it’s always good to hear from President Hancock. He did a Q&A session at the end, and it was like write a question, so some one, I think it was someone going home, but someone submitted the question what time is a good time to get married. President’s reply was....... *drum roll*........ After the mission. Then he moved on to the next question, which happened to be "what do I do if imp attracted to a girl in my area"...... These were very deep questions, the answer was you don’t do anything or you get a new area. There were better questions like questions about how to help investigators progress and all that good stuff.

The big thing he wanted us to was to improve our studies. The sentence that stuck out to me in PMG is "while learning from a teacher is good, it is more important to have meaningful spiritual experiences on your own." I reason that it’s because when you have that independent witness, you become a lot firmer in your faith, where as if your faith is based in someone else, what’s going to happen in that person goes through a difficult time.

We also had a really good lesson with Tammy, one of our investigators. I've really been trying to work on explaining things simply. So we read a lot of scriptures with her but throughout the lesson we stopped and made sure she understood, and took a minute just to emphasize the key points.

The tough part about this week we had a family we were trying to meet with that got evicted suddenly, due to a disagreement with the land lord. It was raining and they had nowhere to go and there wasn’t much we could really do for them except just be there. They have found a place to stay temporarily but we aren't sure where they are.

The rain was actually a really good thing though, with all the fires many people were fasting that it would die down. Then it rained the next day, so the fires around Pocatello at least are under control.

We also went mountain biking this morning that was fun.

7 Aug 2017

Hey everybody!

This has been an interesting week weather wise, There have been wildfires like all over the state I think there's like six going on through out the state. But there's a pretty big one outside of Pocatello and we've been getting smoked out from it. Sunday we woke up and there was ash all over the valley. They are really good at controlling it so it doesn't hit Poky though so I'm not to worried.

The rest of the week has been pretty good.  We had a good lesson with Dawn and she attended church this week so we are pretty excited for her. We were suppose to have a lesson the other week but she was admitted to the hospital so that's understandable. But the day she got out she gave us a call to set up the appointment which is pretty exciting.

We got to volunteer at a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, we were scorekeepers. That was pretty fun but some of the teams got a little intense for a fund raiser event. But no one got hurt.

Its been a pretty good week all and all

Love you guys

Elder Hoffman

Below is what a picture of the sky normally looks like and a picture of all the smoke. None of that is clouds just smoke. We also found a mantis outside our apartment.​​​​​

31 Jul 2017

 This week has been pretty great!

We got to talk in sacrament this sunday so that was fun. We also got pushed into performing for a talent show at a ward picnic, and now a different ward wants us to do it. Id rather talk than perform infront of people but owell, were going to do that too in a couple weeks anyways. The thing that really made me ok with doing the performance at the talent show, Is it came to the last act and they were just looking for people to perform because they didnt have enough. Anyways 10 mins before they started one of the young men signed up and didnt say what he was doing. Then he got up there and had the dj put on "i feel like a monster" by skillet or whoever, and sang to it. So i felt like the ward talent show could end on a more uplifting song

We had a lot of appointments fall but a couple kept and they went really well.

Hope you guys have a good week.

17 Jul 2017

We went mountain biking this morning. we me this guy named Dax the other day he was on his way up to the trails, and he passed us and was like when is your p-day. So we ended up meeting him this morning to bike. It was a blast Elder Gatlin's bike wasn't exactly a mountain bike so that made it a bit tough for him but it was good!

 

The week has been pretty good but a lot of cancelled appointments. That was a bummer. But some good things happened. We were walking down the street towards a lady and she started to stumble and as we approached her she asked for a blessing. Her name was Angela and she was a really nice lady, she's had some rough times and just got done with some surgery. So it was an odd setting for a blessing I guess but we moved behind the building for some privacy and afterwards we just talked to her a bit We didn't say much she just had a lot that she wanted to vent about. Afterwards she was visibly better physically and spiritually. I’m glad that we felt to walk that way; we were actually on the wrong road for where we were supposed to be going. But it all worked out!

As I was studying this week I really enjoyed Alma 7:22-24. He talks about how we should live if we want to see the priesthood take effect in our lives and in general if we want to live after the manner of happiness. It’s more so a list of attributes but as we study these attributes and apply them that’s when things happen and when the joy of the gospel enters our lives.

Have a good week everyone!!!

10 Jul 2017

So last week we didn't really get time to e-mail because of the 4th and the FHC was closed.

But our 4th of July was eventful... So we were still suppose to proselyte but that was a little tough cause it was the 4th. But we were walking around not sure were to go and we wandered past the masonic temple. and there was this lady on the grass, panicking. I'll be honest, at first I thought she was just on drugs. But then she called to us for help and we saw that her legs had all sores that were bleeding. So Elder Gatlin handed me the phone and we call the paramedics. So that was a little crazy. But to be honest, when we first saw her I was ready to just pass her by. Then like I thought to myself man I'm about to be a Pharisee. So the story of the good Samaritan popped in my head and the rest is as written. Then later we went to a BBQ.

The week has been a little slow but we have been setting up a lot of appointments for this week so things should pick up. There's a big push in the mission for the use of the Book of Mormon, for good reasons. The Book of Mormon is a testament of Jesus Christ and when people learn that and the Spirit testifies that to them, then everything else gets resolved.

Love you guys and enjoy your week!

19 Jun 2017

This has been a pretty good week, to start off if by some odd chance someone has sent me mail, and I’m going to be transferring down to Pocatello. I'll be back in old town! Not the same area as last year, but just adjacent to it.

This week we had some awesome things and at least one funny thing. But we have been trying to catch the Moseur family for several months. Never could catch them until Thursday! It was probably a blessing too. Its blended family type thing. But they have a daughter who usually lives in North Dakota but she is spending the summer her. It just so happened that she had been taking the lessons in North Dakota. We didn’t know any of this so we had been talking to the Mother for about 40 seconds and then she told us and asked us if we could come back and start teaching. They have another Child that always lives with them and she said it would be good for him to take the lessons as well. So Elder Frizzell and Turner will start teaching them next week!

Then we were going around with a member just trying some visits, and we pulled up to this address we had. There were two houses on the same drive way so we weren't sure which to knock on. But as we got out of the car this kid jumps out of a truck just ahead of us with a gun in his hand, and asked if we were "Mormons" we said yea and figured out it was just a BB gun He goes well were Catholics. We figured that he lived in the one house so we asked if anyone was in the other house and he said it was under construction. So we turned back towards the truck and the kid points at the house we thought was his and says, "well aren't you gonna tell them about the Mormons." We replied "isn't that your house" Then he says "nope, I’m gonna go shoot some snakes" *kid runs off*. We met who actually lived there he was going through the death of his father, so we left him a plan of salvation pamphlet and he said we could come back.

All and all it’s been a good week.

Love you guys