Wednesday, December 17, 2014

New Companion- Sis Liljenquist

Sisters Liljenquist & Hudgens

I was a little worried about telling you about the area, but it is not all like that.  We have nice neighborhoods and it is only this one street of apartments that is a little sketchy.  We do take care of ourselves though and we aren't stupid.  We don't feel afraid either.  We know that if we are on the Lord's errand and we are being careful and cautious, He will protect us (the Lord can't protect you if you are being stupid.  He expects you to use your brain).  It is funny that you have a cold right now, I think I am getting one too.   As for Christmas....that's hard.  I am coming home soon so I don't really want too much because I don't want to have to pack.  I would very much consider getting my bike shipped home a Christmas present.  I think the mission office knows how to do that. Puzzles are nice too.  Otherwise it is hard to think of anything.  Sorry, I am not any help at all.

Monday we dropped off Oreo balls at the mission office (we are super close to it) for the APs and President since they survived transfers and Sister Liljenquist is super nice like that.  We also got there as secret combinations (the Christmas conference kind) were going on and we were sworn to secrecy to not tell anyone.  It was fun.  Then we emailed and hung out at the Hafer building with our district.  We had dinner and then we tried to see people and saw a member who is really funny and told us all about how her son is working on being a full fledged mortician and all the stuff that goes along with that.  Very interesting.

On Tuesday I finished the Cinderella puzzle.  We also went to see one of our investigators before coming in to do some much needed weekly planning.  We ended up just doing some serious reorganization and updating which took all the time we had before meeting with our boys in the apartments.  They weren't there at the scheduled time so we went looking for them. It wasn't hard as they gave us their apartment number.  We start for one of them, and before we are even up the stairs a door opens and one of them pops his head out.  He sees us, smiles, and says, "Hey guys, guess you is here".  They all came out one by one.  "How did you find us?" one of them asked.  Sister Liljenquist immediately responded with "The Spirit" while I said, "You gave your address".  I ruined her story, oh well.  We then had them all come to the parking lot to teach the next lesson.  One by one, most of them wandered off, but we were able to teach two of them. It was really good.  We talked about changing our lives and how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help. They just need to let the Atonement help them and make some positive changes in their lives!  We challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and said they weren't allowed to smoke anything funny while they were reading it.  He said he only smoked weed, so we had to clarify that that was not allowed either.  We then went to dinner and set up a time to bake Christmas treats for our investigators.

Wednesday we met with a less active and afterwards we had lunch and then went to a recent converts house to help her with her family history.  We started looking for her grandfather and were having the hardest time.  Then we realized we hadn't prayed.  We did so and we immediately found the information we were looking for.  Miracle!  We then went to work trying to get her membership record number on her account and three different live chats with missionaries from Salt Lake and two hours later, we finally got it all fixed.  She then invited us to stay for dinner and it was delicious.  She used the same taco seasoning that we use at home, so it was like having home cooked tacos.  It was great.  Then we read from the Book of Mormon with another family and went home.

Thursday was a super crazy day.  We had an appointment every hour it seemed like.  We met with an investigator in the morning, then a referral from the Klein Oak elders.  Back when they had sisters, this lady was investigating, but now they have elders and her husband doesn't want them coming over when he isn't there.  So we are teaching her now.  She is awesome and brought out her Book of Mormon that the sisters had given her.  We taught her the Restoration and she believed all of it, it was awesome.  We then went to go visit a less active member with her visiting teacher and she bore great testimony of Christ.  Then it was off to our 3 o'clock appointment.  We pull up and call to get let into her apartment and she cancels.  She feels really bad, but we tell her not to worry.  Because she canceled we got to eat lunch!  We then went to go see a less active and introduced her new home teacher to her.  We then had to rush off to dinner, accidentally leaving our phone behind.  We had to come back and get it after dinner before going home.

On Friday we had district meeting and then we went to return a phone we had found to the Cricket store so they could find the owner.  The guy was really friendly and since he wasn't busy, he talked to us for a while.  He said that the missionaries had really helped him out one time.  He had some customers that were being unruly when the missionaries came by.  They calmed everyone down and left a peaceful feeling there.

Went home to weekly plan.  It was long overdue since we hadn't been able to the whole time I have been here.  We did that until we had dinner with a woman and her less active son.  We had a good discussion about Christ that wandered a little, but was good none the less.  We were then able to stop by a referral the Klein Oak elders had given us.  The elders live in our area and the referral was for one of their neighbors. We went to meet her and had a most amazing experience! We were really able to connect with her. She said that she just felt like there was something missing and was looking for something to fill it. We shared our testimonies of the gospel and the Atonement, cried a little with her, and it was great.  We then coordinated with the elders and got delicious leftovers from a member.

On Saturday we met with some investigators and recent converts.  We went to a baptism that another set of sisters was having.  We went to dinner and watched a video of his glory days as a roller figure skater.  We tried by some less actives and then returned home.  Nothing too exciting.

On Sunday we had ward council. It is interesting to see how the different ward councils work.  They are all quite different.  Church was great.  A few people that hadn't been to church for a while came, so that was good.  We had dinner with a fun family and their kids are all a big bunch of nerds like us, it was fun.  We then were able to talk to this less active lady for a while and had a really good experience with her.

Life is going well and the weather has been absolutely beautiful the last week.  All in the 70s.  I have loved it.  Have a great week and a very Merry Christmas!


Sister Hudgens