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!)