Dr Who Mystery Solved

Sis Hudgens & Sis Davis

It is going to be weird going home to a new bathroom.  Hopefully dad won't make it so high tech I won't know how to use the shower!!  It has been a long week, or at least it has felt that way.  I suppose it is just as long as any other week!

Monday was really chill and we didn't really do anything.  I did get to catch up on my journal and letter writing though, so that was good I suppose.

On Tuesday we had zone conference.  It was really nice.  President Pingree gave really good training on pleasing God more than man.  It is so important to put God first and to not worry about if your decision will be popular, only about if it will be right in the sight of God.  It was just a really nice day :)  We then went to dinner at a members house.  While I was eating I looked at my hand and saw a mysterious purple dot.  I had no idea where it came from and I had Doctor Who flashbacks.  A short time later I reach for my water and there is another dot!!!  I am a little concerned by now and Sister Davis has noticed the multiplying dots on my hand, and the member notices us exchanging frantic looks.  She asks what the matter is and if there is something on the chair.  There was!!  There was some marker on the chair and when I would put my hand on it, it would rub off on my palm.  Doctor Who crisis averted.

On Wednesday we met with this 70+ year old lady named Grace.  She was a referral from a member in the Katy Mills ward.  She lives in that ward, but wanted sisters to teach her, so guess who the elders called?  Their favorite sisters of course!  This is a great woman.  She is mostly homebound with a lot of health issues, but when we taught her the Plan of Salvation, she said this is what she had been looking for all her life!  It was amazing!  We are meeting with her again this week and are going to ask her to be baptized. Only thing is, she is moving with her kids to the Czech Republic next month.  No idea why, the aren't even Czech, but it just means we will have to move fast and hook her up with the missionaries there. Hopefully they speak English...

Thursday was a long day.  We visited one of the beehives in the ward at the hospital.  She had to have surgery for an infected cat bite.  Apparently her cat got stuck and then when she tried to help it, it accidently bit her.  It didn't get better when they thought it should and when they took her to the doctor they said she needed surgery to get all the infection out.  Kind of intense for a cat bite, but that's the truth.  So we visited her in the morning since we thought she would probably be lonely.  We had a nice visit and we were able to give her some of the goodies that people keep giving us.  We think of it as giving it to someone who could use it more than us, not getting rid of all the junk food people give us.  We then went to the food bank to volunteer as usual, but they were having a yard sale fundraiser so we went outside and helped.  We mostly just made sure people didn't steal things.

Friday we walked a lot and saw some members.  We had dinner with the Cooks, one of my favorite families in the ward.  While we waited for the piaa to arrive I had a light-saber battle with their 8 year old son.  Pretty sure I won.  It was fun though :)   We then 

Mini Mission for Camille-- let's be clear, she CHOSE to sleep
 under our desk.  We offered her the couch.

  picked up one of the YSA in our ward, Camille for the 
 start of her mini mission.  So from Friday night to tonight, she is a missionary, one of us.  She has been going to appointments with us for the last few days and helping us teach.  It is weird to be in a trio.  Not quite sure how I feel about it.

On Saturday, guess what, we walked a lot again!!  We were low on miles since we had to go to zone conference.  We tried to conserve them as much as 

Mormon.org

 possible.  So we visited members, packed a lunch and ate it at the park, then we did some more chalk signs in the bayou.  We did it on one closer to the road this time and wrote "did u think 2 pray" and "mormon.org" It turned out really good this time and you can totally see it from the road.  Hopefully people actually see it and look at mormon.org.   Only thing is, usually when we do this chalk thing, we do it at like seven at night. This time we did it at one in 

Did U Think 2 Pray

the  afternoon.  Not our best idea.  Sister Davis burned her hand and Camille burned her feet, all from the cement. I was fine.  Felt bad for them though.  So we went to a members house and got some burn cream for them.  They are much better now.  We also had an appointment with Madilyn and we picked out the songs for her baptism and finished the lessons.  Things are going really well with her and she is a lot more outgoing now, it is great!!

Sunday, we had a few appointments, and we had two at the same time so we split up.  I went to teach one of the active families in the ward with Sister Cook and Sister Davis went with Camille to a fireside for all of the young women thinking about going on missions.  I had a good time with Sister Cook and she said that it came at a time when she really needed it, that studying for this lesson helped cushion some bad news she got this week.  So that was really cool!

Hope y'all are having a good week and that you enjoy the holiday!!  

Love Sister Hudgens

DogNapping Elders and Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the sidewalk ends

This week was kind of big and crazy!!  

On Monday I got my hair cut and Sister Davis got hers cut and colored.  An awesome lady in the ward did it for us.  We also got to hang out at her house with her cute kids and watch 17 Miracles while she was doing our hair, pretty fun.  Then we just went to the church and played volleyball.  We then went to a part member family's house for dinner and to start teaching their 9 year old son the lessons so he can be baptized.  The mom is a member and the dad is Catholic and they just do everything in both churches.  

On Tuesday Sister Davis got a package that included a few little toy cars, the kind that you pull the thing and they zoom off.  I was bored so I asked her if I could play with one and she said yes. I was playing with it on the counter while she was in the other room and it kept falling off and Sister Davis would yell at me to not break it.  So I had the great idea to just get on the floor in the kitchen and play with it so it couldn't fall. First time I pull the thing it zooms off.....and goes underneath the stove -__-  I made a sound indicating something was wrong and Sister Davis yells from the other room, "what did you do?"  I ignored her and promptly got the broom to try and get it out, but only succeeded in getting it more stuck.  Sister Davis finally had to come out, move the stove and then get it out.  I am not allowed to play with them anymore.

Wednesday was hump day.  I have officially been out for nine months!!!!!  That is really crazy to think that I am halfway through my mission.  I don't feel like I have been out that long.  I feel like I just left Parkway, but I have been here for just over three months and will probably be here for another three.  Crazy!!!!  I felt kind of weird the whole day, like I was about to burst into tears, weird right?  Our dinner appointment never got back to us, which I was secretly glad about. I didn't want to spend such a momentous occasion with a family that I wasn't especially close with or just made me feel awkward. 

She likes to chase our car when we leave her house

So we called up our ward mission leader's wife and asked if we could have dinner with them and they said yes.  That family just makes me happy :)  They are hilarious and were just what I needed.  Their kids were awesome, there were lots of funny stories told as well.  My ward mission leader was so exhausted from work and a month of traveling around that he was totally loopy, laughing at a play on words he made over and over.  His son in the other room kept yelling, "It's not funny dad!" It was great.  We then had an appointment with another family that was hilarious and afterward we visited with a member whose kids kept us laughing the whole time with story after story. It was great.

On Thursday we did weekly planning and volunteered at the food bank with our district.  We also delivered 9 copies of the Book of Mormon to some members. One family had asked for 2 to hand out, then one of the seminary teachers needed 5.  He said that Friday was "invite a friend to seminary" day and he needed 5 more copies in addition to the 2 we had delivered the day before, saying he had grossly underestimated the power of his seminary class.  He decided to give him a few extras, just in case.  Seminary is pretty awesome. That is how we got one of our investigators, his friend invited him to seminary.  Never underestimate the power of seminary and institute!!!  

We also had an amazing lesson with a part member family.  We are going through the whole ward and teaching them the missionary lessons as part of what is called the 5x5 program.  So the Magdirila family was next on the list.  Only one of the children, Sister Magdirila, and her non-member husband were able to come, but it was amazing.  The Spirit was so strong!!!!!  Throughout the lesson Mr. Magdirila was listening, and though he didn't want to show us, he was paying attention.  At the end of the lesson I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it will bring us closer to Christ than any other book will and that I know it is true.  At the end of the lesson we asked if everybody would read the Book of Mormon everyday, and even he nodded.  It was amazing.  I just left their home so happy.

On Friday we had district meeting and it was our turn to be in charge of lunch.  We had decided to make pancakes, eggs, and bacon.  We were a little low on miles and since we gave the elders a ride last week (they are in a trio so we can carpool since it is an uneven amount of elders and sisters), we got a ride from them this week.  We get to the church building where we normally have our meetings and discover the parking lot filled with cars and a hearse.  We didn't really feel like crashing a funeral so we made an emergency change of plans and relocated our meeting the Katy Mills elder's apartment office.  

We had our meeting in a theater room and then we had to figure out how to cook in the apartment lobby's stove.  We kept having to send the elders to their apartment to grab different things like plates, utensils, and pans. Then the gas wasn't turned on so we had to find someone to turn it on.  Then the elders didn't have enough plates for 9 people so we had to share. It was a crazy time, but it all worked out in the end. Felt kind of bad though because we stuck them with a bunch of dishes since there was no soap or sponge in the lobby, and they had to take us home.  Hopefully it wasn't too hard on them.  At least we were able to enjoy the car ride.  Elder Petersen, Sister Davis, and I sang pretty loud in the backseat, it was a lot of fun. Elder Nielson and Elder Thomas in the front seats did not join our sing along, but they were laughing pretty hard,so they must have enjoyed it.  

We spent the rest of our day visiting with members, and one of them found out we didn't have a dinner so she insisted that we go out to dinner with her and her mother-in-law (whom they share the house with). She is too nice.  So we went to dinner at around 7 and since it was a Friday night it was packed.  We waited an hour to be seated.  Was not a total waste of time though.  Three non-members and two members came up and talked to us.  That is more non-members than we usually talk to in a week!!  So it was pretty awesome. Oh, and the food was really great too :)

On Saturday we volunteered at the Stake Fun Run. Got there at 7 to help with registration and then we helped with taking down times.  We would tear off this little slip from the number pinned to their front and write the time on the back.  It was only awkward when the person was super sweaty, not wearing a shirt, or had it pinned to their leg, or sometimes all three!  It was fun though and they had a little carnival afterward.  I think I ate way too much popcorn.  In between the fun run and the baptism of one of the kids we are teaching we just studied at the church.  

The baptism was nice, though we were all a little worried because the kid had had food poisoning all night and they weren't sure if he was going to last the whole time without an incident, but it turned out fine. 

We had dinner at home and then I started practicing my flute for the piece we are playing for choir. I had been practicing beforehand, but I had finally gotten a CD of what it was supposed to sound like.  I thought that I had it down, I didn't.  So we spent the rest of the night at a member's house practicing.  I am getting better.

Sunday was busy busy!!  We had a lot going on in the evening so we had a lunch appointment instead of dinner. It was pretty nice.  Then we went to the choir pianist's house so I could practice with her before we went to choir practice.  I have a lot of work I need to do!  But as I played during choir practice, I was really able to see the difference and I was able to improve. Or at least pick up playing after a mistake.  We then had an appointment with Madilyn, only it was kind of awkward because when we got there, the elders were already there. They had an appointment with them right before us and were still there.  Only a little weird. Elder Thomas was able to keep the dog quiet though, so we were trying to get them to kidnap the dog so it wouldn't bark through our lesson like it normally does. They didn't.  Said they already kidnapped a dog today. They didn't give details.  We had a good lesson though and the dog wasn't too distracting.  

So, I had a pretty awesome week :)  And it is only going to get better from here!!

Sister Hudgens

Holly's Birthday is June 19th

Sister Hudgens

Hi Everyone,

This is Tracy, Holly's mom.  Our darling missionary's birthday is coming up in June on the 19th.  We would really love if everyone could send her a birthday card so her mailbox is stuffed!  

Empty Mailbox

If you want to send a little gift, the things Sister Hudgens need are:


pens,
postage stamps,
small hand sanitizers,
small photo albums that you slide pictures into--- and you can even put some pictures of you in them!

NEW ITEMS:

I thought of some more things for my birthday if it is not too late.  Games (like card games) and those little hidden "socks" for dress shoes

Thank you to everyone who reads her blog and supports her on her mission.

Tracy


Holly's  address:
2425 Katy-Flewellen Rd #1005
Katy, TX  77494

Getting Utah accent in Texas??!!

Tall Trees in Texas!

I am not being transferred!!!  Really exciting.    

Lots of funny things happened this week.  Remind me to tell you the story of teaching the First Vision and a turtle.  It is one of those things that is better in person.  

On Monday we went to Olive Garden because a member had given us a gift card. Decided that since it was P-day we could do something special.  As I was walking to our table after using the restroom I heard a "Hello Sister!"  Of course I had to turn around, a little surprised.  There was a member from the Katy 1st ward and she recognized the name tag.  She said hello and that she wanted to buy us dessert.  So nice right?  It gets better though.  We are waiting to pay our bill and our server comes over and says, "She didn't want you to know, but I don't want you two to just sit here waiting and wondering.  The lady over there paid your whole bill."  So nice!!!!  She didn't have to, but she didn't know we weren't paying anyway.  It was just a really nice thing to do and it opened up some conversation with the waitress about who we are and what we do.  We then went with our district to this bowling alley.  I was terrible, but it was still fun.

On Tuesday our ward had a ward picnic too. Everyone brought their own food.  Most people had KFC or a Little Ceaser's pizza.  Our dinner appointment made us turkey wraps and brought them and they were pretty good.  It was kind of crazy to see most of our ward in one place.  They took over the park!!!  It was a pretty big park, but our ward filled it.  We have lots of young families with lots of kids.  The oldest person in our ward is 59, and that is not old at all!  Our ward is also the fastest growing ward in Katy.  We have at least one new family read in every week and that will pick up during the summer.  There are a lot of people in the ward employed by the oil and gas companies and they are from all over.  Most of the ward is from Utah with about a dozen native Texans scattered throughout.  To my dismay, Sister Davis informed me that I am developing a Utah accent.  I am in Texas and I am getting a Utah accent, what is this world coming to!!!!

On Wednesday we didn't do much.  We also went to dinner at a new family's house.  Funny thing is, the moment we walked in, I knew what we were having: Lasagna.  There you have it.  We eat it so much that I can recognize it by its scent.  So no, no lasagna for me when I go home!  They are a really nice family though.  We had some time before our next appointment, so when their 4 year old son asked if we could play Uno with him, we happily accepted.  It was fun and it made the kid really happy.

Zone Meeting

On Friday we had zone meeting.  It was a bittersweet experience because this is the last one before transfers and we all knew that one of our zone leaders was being transferred.  He is a really awesome missionary and we are all going to miss him!  The training was good though.  We talked about Agency and Love, the Atonement and our Book of Mormon reading challenge that our President gave us, and a few missionaries shared their rough journey to serving a mission.  One was an elder from Riverside.  It is weird to know that we lived so close and never knew each other.

On Saturday we were low on miles, so we decided to conserve them by walking.  There was also a community garage sale going on, so it was a perfect opportunity.  We walked around, stopping at the different sales.  We talked to a lady named Carol for a while and she gave us cold Diet Coke to drink while we talked.  I don't care for soda, nor do I particularly like Diet Coke, but I did drink it to be kind.  It may or may not have been dumped by a fire hydrant the next street over.  We then walked some more, crossing a bayou/retention pond and taking a shortcut through a member's backyard.  The sprinklers were on so we got a little wet.  The member whose house it was was in the driveway, so we stopped to tell them we weren't being creeps, we just took a shortcut. She laughed and said anytime.  We then walked some more, none of the members we were trying to see being home!!!  We stopped by at least 6 different houses and none of them were home/the wife wasn't available.  It was a hot day and I got a little burned. It was fun though.  We were going to walk to the gas 

Christ Cares chalk drawing

station to get a drink and a snack, but then we decided it was too hot and too far and drove.  Later that night we stopped at a members house to pick up some chalk to write "Christ cares" and "mormon.org" on this cement thing in the middle of the bayou.  Their 13 year old daughter asked to go with us and so we had some company.  Hopefully we don't get accused of corrupting the youth by encouraging vandalism.  It is just chalk, it will wash away with the next rain storm.  knowing Texas it will be this week.

Also on Saturday a miracle happened!!!  We were able to set a baptism date with one of our investigators, a youth named Madeline.  It is set for June 7th and since I am not being transferred I am totally going to be there!!!  I am so happy!!!!  It is amazing to see someone I am teaching progressing and developing a testimony.  We had such a great lesson on some of the commandments and the Spirit was strong.  It won't count as ours on paper since she lives in the Katy Mills ward and goes to church there, but it is alright.  We are working with those elders to make sure she is all prepared.  They are finding fellowshippers and we are teaching.

Sunday was great and we actually got to go to ward council for the first time in over month.  Got to tell them the good news about Madeline.  Testimony meeting was really great as well and so was the Relief Society lesson.  The whole day was just nice.  I like Sundays :)

I hope all is well at home and that y'all have a blessed week!!

Sister Hudgens

Our sad, empty mailbox (hint! hint!)