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| Look Mom, No Hands! |
I will answer your questions first and then get to the rest of the
email. Thanksgiving. I am sure I will have my fill of pumpkin pie and the
such. We find out about transfers next week, but if I don't leave the area we
have two Thanksgivings on our calender! I know DearElder has package ideas, and
I am really bad at thinking of stuff. I am
running out of stamps too.
We usually have a pretty full dinner calender here
in Parkway so we rarely cook. If we do have to make dinner for ourselves, I am
usually the one to do it. I did learn something while I was at BYU! Usually we
eat lunch at home (I eat a lot of quesadillas), but on Tuesdays a less active
member feeds us. We get up at 6:30, exercise, eat, shower, do personal and
companion study, some days we do training (on my last week of training!), find a
craft or do a finding activity, then we eat lunch and head out! It is amazing
how much you can get done before noon. On Mondays we go to Sister McQuay's
house to email and she takes us grocery shopping afterwards. The life of a
missionary is so exciting!
It sounds like you are all having a fun week and I am glad the girls are
enjoying water polo. I am also happy to see all of the help in the missionary
effort. I bet the missionaries are well fed every night. Don't feel like you
have to feed them dessert every night or a feast, often times I am overstuffed
full of food. I often yearn for more vegetables at meals. Weird right?
I am so
glad that you are inviting people to things. That is all it takes! Opening our
mouths is where success is, not in their accepting. We can't control how other
people will exercise their agency, but we can control how we exercise
ours!
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| Carrying Bike Over the Train |
This was kind of an exciting week with all sorts of crazy experiences. On
Monday we decided to bike to the church building for P-Day. We were tired of
trying to find a ride and bothering people so we took things into our own hands.
Took us under a half hour. P-Day wasn't too exciting, we played a little
volleyball and sat around and chatted. Reminded me that while we are
missionaries, we are still barely more than teenagers. On the way home there
was a train stopped on the tracks. Dinner was only 20 minutes away so we
decided instantly do lift our bikes over the gap in the train cars. We had no
sooner finished and taken some awesome pictures then the train started to move.
In hindsight, that may not have been the best idea, but we didn't want to be
late.
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| Hidden Knives |
On Tuesday we met a very interesting guy while tracting. He lost his
tongue to tongue cancer (at lest that is what I understood) and he was hard to
understand. He was very concerned for our safety though. So he went into his
garage and Sister Wahlen and I knives. They are these little knives that you
can wear around your necks and he told us to put them on and keep them secret.
So we each got a knife from a guy with no tongue. Weirdest story ever.
We
then walked to another street to tract some more and we met this other guy. He
asked us what we believe and we taught him the Restoration right there in the
street and we exchanged numbers so we could set up another appointment. Later
he texted us and we realized that he was hitting on us. Needless to say we
decided we would probably not be the best missionaries to teach him the second
lesson. We will just have to send the elders to him.
We had a specialized training on conversion this week. President Pingree
talked for three hours on it and it was really good. Our goal as missionaries
isn't to merely get people baptized and give them a testimony, but to help the
to become truly converted to the gospel so that when life is hard they will not
fall away. Just like in Helaman 5:12, we must build our foundation on the rock
of Jesus Christ so that when Satan sends all of his influence and power against
us, we will not fall.
We had some fun member experiences as well. We had dinner with this family
that is vegan, and I was a little concerned at first. I wasn't quite sure what
they were going to feed us. But it was really good and I enjoyed it. They feed
us this chocolate pie that was really good. I asked her what was in it since she
didn't do sugar or milk or anything. She wouldn't tell me until after I
finished eating it....When I was done I asked again and she said it was coco
powder, dates, and...drum roll....avocado! It was delicious and I was
surprised. It didn't taste like avocado. We also visited the Neciosup family.
The father is from Peru and the mother from Russia, and they are an interesting
and fun family. I enjoyed talking with them and asking them how a Peruvian and
a Russian met, got married and moved to Texas! It was pretty cool.
Since there are a lot of Hispanic people here I have been trying to brush
up on my Spanish. I am doing pretty good, I can do a door approach and
understand most of it. I am now trying to teach Sister Wahlen and she is
trying. It is a little rough, but she is getting there.
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| Happy Sisters |
Keep being awesome and I love you all. Don't send any letters until I know
if I am going to be transferred though, I don't want to miss them! Though it
takes about 2-3 days for letters to get here so if you can do math, go for
it.
Sister Hudgens
