May 30th 2017

Hey y'all!

I survived biking!!!! Glad we got the car back Friday, but I did it!

This week has been crazy! We had lots of lessons and found lots of
people. Never a dull moment here in Kentucky.

I got to go to Churchill Downs this week. Pretty cool. Jessie would
have died. It's official though, I need a derby hat.

We had a lot of growing and spiritual experiences this week. One
started with one of the most powerful testimonies I've given on my
mission. A less active has been going through the ringer with some
crazy trials. I felt very similar to her when I was going through the
many hard things I went through before the mission, and I prayed a
quick simple prayer asking to express what I needed to. And I opened
my mouth and 100% pure spiritual awesomeness came out of my mouth. The
spirit flooded the room and I gave the most heartfelt and powerful
testimony. It was a moment that told me why I was there. I was the
only one at the moment who could have understood and said the words
that Christ needed her to hear. I am so grateful to be here to have
those moments.

The other was a cool thought that came from a member who took us to
lunch. As we were talking about some of our trials in life and how
Christ is our strength through it she said "I am just clay" and I
loved that. #justclay. Clay is dirty. It's not very valuable, smells
kind of bad, and is just nothing special at first. But when in the
hands of a master potter, and with a little bit of fire, it can be
shaped into something of beauty and value. With Christ as our master
potter he has a vision of who we need to become. The shaping and
firing process can be painful and may often be something completely
different than what we see for ourselves. But it will always be what
is best for us to become. And while earthly masters may be imperfect,
our master is not. He does not make mistakes, he has perfect vision.
And he loves our little lives of clay. Trust in that.

I hope you have a wonderful week. Love and miss you all.

Sister Hoyt