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| Chon with Sisters Heaps & Hudgens at Houston Temple |
It sounds like you had a very busy and eventful week!
I am glad that mutual went well. One of my previous companion has my bike
right now, but she is going home this transfer so it is going back to the
barn. Someone also put a basket on it, so that is cool. Also, you
should probably fix the countdown on my blog to reflect my actual going home
date of February 25th. Grandma is getting a little too happy about the
fact that according to it I only have 99 days left.
Monday was great. We had dinner with a recent convert
and made plans to help her print out family names to go to the temple with.
On Tuesday we had a special zone conference with Elder
Corbridge of the Seventy. It was really neat. We got to shake his
hand. I don't know what I was expecting from a general authority visiting
our mission, but he felt like a normal guy. We learned a lot though about
focusing on our purpose, which is to teach people the most important thing:
through Christ we can be cleansed from sin and have eternal life. It
really is the most important thing to know!!!! We can change! We
are not stuck in the same old sins we have committed, we can move on!
After zone conference we went on exchanges with the Montgomery sisters, Sister
Sylvester coming with me to The Woodlands and Sister Heaps going with Sister
Harrison to their area. We tried by a referral, and when they weren't
there, we went tracting. We accidentally knocked on a member's door
because I forgot they lived there, but it turned out really great. We then
went tracting some more and then off to dinner. They member we had dinner
with gave us two grocery bags full of fruits, vegetables, and some chicken. It
was so nice of them! We then went to mutual and we taught the Restoration
to the Laurels, with two parents acting as investigators. It was a neat,
spiritual experience.
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| Sisters Sylvester & Hudgens with Baskin Robins |
Tuesday night it poured, so on Wednesday we were not able to
go to the horse ranch for service. So we went out tracting in the morning
to utilize all the daylight hours since it gets dark so early. We went
out for almost 2 hours and not one door opened. I noticed it first when
it had been about an hour and I suddenly turned to Sister Sylvester and said,
"No one has opened the door yet, have they?" We decided to leave that
place and go some where else, with the same experience. We decided that
that wasn't working, so we broke for lunch. At the bench where we had our
lunch there was a Baskin Robins so we decided to get some ice cream. Grandma
would be proud. It then began to pour, and we decided based on our
previous tracting experience we didn't want to do that, so we tried by some
members, only finding one home, but it was just him home so we stood in the
doorway and talked to him for a bit before going.
We had an appointment
though!! It was with our Korean investigator (I think out of the 5 people we
are really teaching, only two are originally from the US) and we read from the
scriptures and it was a great experience. The member we took with us kept
stopping as we read to say, "I love that! isn't that
amazing!?!" She was just so excited and astonished from the words on the
page that she had to express it. It was wonderful. Then we switched
back and Sister Heaps and I went tracting before going to a recent convert's
house and helping her print out names for the temple on Saturday. We had
some dinner and then we went out and tried by some potential investigators.
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| Cold weekly planning at the park |
On Thursday we went to Interfaith and helped out at the food
bank. They were behind so they asked if we could come back tomorrow and
bring the elders with us. We said we would be back the following day with the
elders. We then went to go meet with our new Relief Society president to
talk about some of the sisters in the ward we were concerned about or had
questions, and to offer our help to her. It was a really good experience
and we were able to learn a lot. We then went to a park to do our weekly
planning. Luckily, we happened to have some blankets in the car, because
it was cold outside!!
We were able to stay pretty warm while we planned and
then we went to another member's house because she said she had somethings for
us. She had some more fruits and veggies for us, along with toilet paper,
paper towels, and this thing called a Danish Kringle form Trader Joes.
She is so nice!!!! With all this food members have given us this week, we
don't have to go grocery shopping this week! We then went to dinner at a
members house and we had potato soup. Reminded me of you Mom, and your
potato soup. I actually don't get a lot of potatoes out here, so it was
nice. We then went to go visit some members we didn't know and a former
investigator which we were able to set up a return appointment with. It
was great!
Friday morning we saw a less active member we have been
working with for a while and we got down to the heart of his concerns: the Book
of Mormon. Your testimony of this church and the restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ rest on reading and praying about the truthfulness and divinity of the
Book of Mormon and whether or not Joesph Smith was a true prophet of God.
If you don't have those things as the foundation of your testimony, it is shaky
and uncertain, and it will fall with the first gust of wind that the Adversary
will blow. I know that the Book of Mormon is true because I have read it,
prayed about it, and read and prayed again and again. The Book of Mormon
has cemented and confirmed the testimony of Christ that I have gained from
reading the New Testament. The Book of Mormon bears powerful witness of
the divinity, mission, and power of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I know
that anyone can receive the same witness if you read and pray about the Book of
Mormon with a sincere heart, truly wanting to know if it is true, with faith
centered on Jesus Christ, believing you will receive an answer, and with real
intent, intending to act upon the witness you receive (Moroni 10:3-5). If
you haven't done this lately, I challenge you to do so. Even if you have
received an answer before, you can receive an answer again and again, because you
are promised one if you ask in faith.
Anyways...it was a good appointment and we even made it to
district meeting only 5 minutes late as opposed to the 10 that we usually are
when we meet with him before hand. We had a great district meeting on the
power of the Holy Ghost and then we went to our family history class with
Sister Prince. We indexed obituaries, it was fun. We then went to
Interfaith with two sets of elders and we filled bags of food for
seniors. I made the mistake of showing leadership skills by telling them
all what to do in front of the zone leaders. I hope they don't tell
President because I really don't want to be a Sister Training Leader; it seems
like a lot of work.
Afterwards we went to a members house to create a chart for
member missionary work and then it was off to an appointment with our
investigator who is supposed to be getting baptized next month. We have a
lot to cover still and he has a short attention span, so hopefully we can get
it done. We then went to dinner at the home of an investigator/less
active family. They started cooking when we got there, so we knew we were
in for a long night. It was good though because we were able to talk to
them, get to know them, and we shared a brief, powerful lesson on the
importance of the Book of Mormon. They texted us yesterday and said they
have committed to read the Book of Mormon everyday as a family.
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| Chon with the Sister Missionaries at the Houston Temple |
On Saturday we went to the temple with Chon. It was
her first time doing baptisms for the dead, and she was able to take with her 5
names. Almost all the missionaries that taught her were there too and it was a really great experience. The Spirit was so strong!! We got
some lunch afterwards and then we went out again. We were able to run into an
investigator and teach her a little and tract some too. We had a great
dinner and lesson with a member and a friend they invited to hear the
lessons. She is from mainland China and only recently started to believe
in God. We talked about Him, and His nature and it was a really great
discussion. We are so excited for her!
Sunday was crazy!! We got to church early and the
elders from the ward that meets right before us motioned us over to where they
were talking to someone. They said, "Meet this wonderful new family
that just moved into your ward and their friend who wants to be baptized!"
Sister Heaps and I were shocked. We have always heard of this
happening, but you never think it is going to happen to you! She lives in
the Glen Loch ward though, so we will have to see what will happen. After
church, two of our appointments canceled, but miracles happened again! We
went tracting before dinner and we knocked on a door and a guy named Venky
answered. He works at an ice cream shop in our area and remembered us from when
we stopped by a few weeks ago and got some ice cream. He said he wants to ask
us lots of questions and we set up a return appointment! It was
awesome! We have just had such a great week and we are so excited to keep
it going!
Have a super special awesome amazing week!
Sister Hudgens
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| A necklace made from
a quarter run over by a train in Parkway stamped with the phrase "All is well' |
