So, crazy as this might seem, I have come to accept that
fact that I am going home. I think I did all of my freaking out last
transfer, and so now I am at peace with it. Even excited about the new
adventures to have when I return. I love being a missionary and I have
grown so much!!! My testimony has been strengthened and so I can
understand how the Lucas family can withstand such a blow. They have the
Plan of Salvation! Do you understand what an amazing truth that is?
Do you know how many people don't have this? They wander around without
hope for their loved ones and fearing death. But with this knowledge, we
know that there is hope. Life continues after death. Those that
died without knowledge of the gospel or Jesus Christ have an opportunity to
learn. How merciful is the plan of our God!!!
On Monday we did the P-day stuff. Then we had our
second appointment with the Jehovah's Witness. We brought a recent
convert with us. It started off well, but it ended with it coming out
that he had read the Book of Mormon to prove it wrong and him saying that we
pray to a different God. Not great. But we don't have to go back,
yay! Then we saw a less active family and watched them play with Google
Earth and saw an investigator family.
 |
| Brazilian Feast |
On Tuesday, Sister Liljenquist came down with a mysterious
illness that caused to sleep all day, often with a bucket by her side. I
was able to go out on splits with a girl in our ward and we saw an investigator
(who dropped us) and another who told us all the things wrong with her life and
then said she was so glad we came, we should come back, and she has a friend
who wants to meet us. That totally made up for the stuffy, oppressive,
smelly, heat of her house. Then we went to dinner. We had a
Brazilian feast. We had potato, kale, and sausage soup (not great),
squash (pretty good), rice (awesome), and chicken hearts (I could only eat half
of it). Dessert was good though!! This are reasons I was called stateside. Then we did some finding, got our 15 itls and went home.
On Wednesday it was much the same. We watched church
movies and got a blessing and I caught up on my journal. We had a great
dinner with one of our favorite families and went out to find our 15 and went
home. We met a few people that would only talk to us through the door, but then
there was this nice Muslim man who talked to us. He insisted we come in
because it was rude to stand at the door and talk. He said "If I am
not kind, I'm not human." He was the kindest person I have ever
met. We left filled the Spirit and renewed faith in people.
 |
| Moroni & State of Texas Cookies |
Thursday Sister Liljenquist really wanted to get out, so we
went to the Arboretum for service. We moved pots and weeded, but she only
made it an hour before we had to go home. We went to the doctor and he
prescribed medicine that was making her symptoms worse, so the mission
nurse told us to get something else. We had dinner and helped a member
with family history before going out to tract. A few doors in and we meet
this lady named Jessica. She let us right in because she saw our name
tags and knew that we could talk about God with her. We had a great
conversation with her and she asked how she could get a Book of Mormon. I
said, "You say 'Hey Sister Hudgens,l can I have one?' And I say Of
course and pull one out of my bag of wonders!" It was awesome!
Can't wait to go back.
On Friday we tried going to district meeting, but again,
only lasted an hour before we had to go home. We had dinner, tracted, and
then we went to see a less active. Afterwards we went to the Young Women's
sleep over, and they only had two girls, it was sad. We had a little fun
with them, and then took home some food and left.
Miracle!! On Saturday Sister Liljenquist was able to
go out!!! It was awesome! We were able to do family history with a
less active. While Sister Liljenquist worked with the mom, I played with
the children. We played for an hour and a half and I was starting to run
out of games! It was fun. I was tired afterwards though, I haven't
played with kids like that in a long time! We then were able to have some
lunch, visit Betty, and see some of our investigators that we have been
neglecting. We had some dinner, tracted and had a great night.
Sunday was good. Things are really moving.
Sacrament was so well attended, we almost had to open the overflow!!
There were less actives and investigators and people who hadn't been in a
while. It was great. Gospel Principles was standing room only, all
the chairs were filled and there was almost no room in the back. After
church we did some finding and got two new investigators from being white girls
in a predominantly black apartment complex. The lady was like, "I saw two
white girls and so I said hello because I wanted to know why you were
here." Turns out she is the mom of one of our potentials, and he and
his brother both have Sundays off now. Miracle!! The Lord is preparing
them!!! Then we had dinner and went finding and it was great :)
I love being a missionary!!!!!!
Sister Hudgens
