Chicago Letter #3

Hi everyone!

Bike adventures of Hermana Hoer have just taken a turn with the arrival of an unexpected guest: HumidHeat, the arch nemesis of mission bikes.

HumidHeat stalks around, awaiting the departure of unsuspecting missionaries. Of course, he comes in the night - he's too ashamed to make his debut in the light of day. His superpowers are definitely super.

A great battle began this morning as I rode over a bridge (even at 8 am, he's out, fighting against good); I was tempted to ride right off the side - bike, skirt, helmet and all. To convey the severity of this desperation, I must inform you that this bridge was over a small, muggy wanna be river. Dirty? Unquestionably, yes. Full of invitations for diseases? Yup. Likelihood of attracting some sort of fungus by entering? I'd say somewhere close to 99%.

Thank goodness my bike is a SuperBike. I may have been in serious trouble this morning.

The Adventures of SuperBike: to be continued...

Here are some more statistics for you (don't worry, these don't have to do with bacteria and dirty water):

-number of times proposed to in one day: 3

My response to the question: are you married? engaged? divorced? is this: I am anxiously engaged in the Lord's work, thanks for asking.

- percentage of homes that give me soda: 99.99%

(Trent, I did such a good job quitting before I left. Now, I'm going to come back and show you up! Watch out, bro!)

Highlight of the week: TALKING TO MY FAMILY!!!! I was able to speak to every member of my immediate family on Mother's Day! It came at perfect timing, when I needed a little push from home and family. It's hard work; and, in addition to that, I came into a pretty tough situation. I'm facing all sorts of things I never expected would be issues on a mission. Some love from home was just the remedy for my weary motivation.

The day after I talked with my family, with my renewed attitude, we went apartment hunting. We found an awesome apartment. The only downside will be carrying my bike up and down three floors. We ended up there at the same time a man was painting and doing some minor repairs. He is not the manager or owner, but he was the one we happened upon. He showed us around and Hermana Maughan got on the phone with the mission office. As she spoke with them, I talked with Ramon. He's from Colombia and doesn't speak English. He asked some questions about missions and our religion, Church and such. I invited him to our English classes and to Church on Sunday. To which he said he wants to go. We ended up teaching him and setting up a time to return to teach him again. He asked if he could invite his roommate too! As we left, he told us it was not a coincidence that we showed up then.

An apartment and a new investigator all at the same time! That's what you call killing two birds with one stone (except there is no intention to be killing anything, and I'm not literally throwing anything).

I've thought a lot about attitude this week. My two favorite examples are from 1 Nephi: Laman and Lemuel and Nephi. They all did the same things. In the end, each did what was asked of them. However, their attitudes compared to Nephi's are dramatically different. The people they became are dramatically different, even though they experienced nearly all the same events.

The other example is in Alma chapter 58. In a war, these people are short on food and supplies for their battles. I'm sure they are tired and hungry and plain worn out. What do they do??? They pray for help. They receive help - but it doesn't come in the form of supplies, food, weapons, or anything like that. They receive motivation, faith, hope and strength from within.

Sometimes answers to prayers in our time of need are as simple as the encouragement to change our attitude, or an increase of internal motivation and optimism. That's how my week went. That's what I really needed, even though I thought I needed something entirely different. I also received opportunities to put those needed changes into action.

Be thankful that God gives us the opportunity to struggle at times and to experience the things we learn. The growth at the end is a blessing, any day. Prayers are answered in all forms - look for your answers.

I love you all. Thanks for letters. They make every day a good day!

Hermana Hoer