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| Zone Conference |
Sounds like you had much better week! I am glad
to hear that. I was really worried about you. It is not easy to
feel like that weight of the world is on our shoulders. I felt a little
bad that I couldn't be there to help, so I have been praying to help your
burdens be lighter or your back stronger. I like how you used two talks
from general authorities and I hope that you sited them so others can look them
up later.
There has been such a missionary focus in our ward and stake
lately, it has been amazing!!! We can tell the members are trying find
people and are talking to their neighbors. We see a lot of people that
are so close to committing to hear the lessons. Our members have such a
desire to help us and God is answering their sincere desire and earnest prayers
and giving them the missionary opportunities they are asking for. God does
give them to all who ask, we just have to be able to discern and recognize them
for what they are when they are presented to us. If we ignore them long
enough they will stop coming. If the members are truly trying, the
missionaries can see that and will appreciate it. I don't know if I have
mentioned it before, but the book "The Power of the Everyday
Missionary" by Clayton Christensen is super good and gives lots of ideas
on how we can be missionaries even when we feel like we don't have the time.
My week has been pretty good. I have had lots of opportunities to laugh that is for sure!! I got your package this week and I was so happy. I loved your card and Grace's as well. Those cranberry orange cookies are good! We will have a nice freezer full of cookies for a while as a member also gave us some girl scout cookies.
We had a scary moment this week. We came home for the night and I noticed the porch light was on. I asked Sister Davis if she had turned it on at the same moment she put the key into the lock and realized that it was already unlocked. We both looked at each other and were like, you open the door, not me!!!! We pushed the door open at the same time and stood back. We peered in and I saw this white paper on the counter. We had had our apartment checked and the missionary couple had forgotten to lock the door. They must have turned on the outside light in their attempt to find the inside lights. We did have a momentary freak out though. We are going to call the apartment coordinator to make sure that it doesn't happen again though!
We had a couple of awkward experiences this week too, actually they were all in the same night! We were stopping by some members after dinner. We stopped the house of one of the bishopric members that I still hadn't really met yet. We knocked and waited for a minute or so for someone to answer the door since we saw someone in there and knew they were home. The son answers the door and then goes to tell his dad in the office by the door who is here. We clearly hear him tell his son to tell us to come back another time. He didn't even come to the door to tell us it wasn't a good time! It just felt a little rude to us, but we don't know what was going on his life, so who are we to judge.
We then
went to another house to follow up on a commitment we left with them. We
come to the door and can clearly see in since it is glass. We see their
daughter and 7 year old son, only he is just in his underwear. We are
like, "Oh, that's awkward" , and when we knock it takes them a long
time to come to the door too. We can see you! Eventually the
daughter comes to the door and says that her mom isn't home, just her dad.
We asked if we could talk to him for a moment and we hear from the living
room," I am feeding two babies (they have twins) and I am not dressed, so
yeah" Then we felt really awkward!!! We then turned around and
left and were kind of wondering what was going to happen at the next house. It
was all good though, so we were relieved. We did get to laugh a lot
though!
I met a family this week who has read the Tiger's Curse
books and I was super excited. I haven't met very many people who have
read those books. They also gave us monkey bread, so needless to say I
really like this family. There was also a man in the ward who bore his
testimony on Sunday who used an Indiana Jones analogy. He was talking
about the Last Crusade and the test in the temple of the sun about the penitent
man. It was pretty cool. I liked the analogy.
I am doing great and Sister Davis and I have bonded over
quoting movies and music. It makes for fun conversations. Perceived
near death experiences and awkward moments have also served to bond us.
Learning to laugh is the best way to bond!!
Have a wonderful week and remember to count your many
blessing and give thanks to God :)
Sister Hudgens
