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| Don't Stop Believing! |
I hope you are able to do all of the things you have planned
with the Young Women. Doing the Coastal Clean Up and the Mormon Battalion
would be fun! Even better if you go to camp. Also, I might not be
able to email next week since it is Labor Day and the library will be closed.
So feel free to send me a letter :)
This week was awesome. Monday we didn't really do
anything. I am going to try and fix that though. This week is
Sister Wahlen's last full week before she goes home, so we are determined to
make it the best. We had dinner with Chon, a recent convert, that night
and had delicious pizza. We also tried by a few potentials, but they
weren't home, so we will try again.
Tuesday was amazing! We went out to tract and the
first door that opened let us right in. I thought that was a little
strange and as she left to go get us some water, I turned to Sister Wahlen and
said "What are we going to teach?" I am not used to people just
letting us in! Turns out she is an inactive member and all of her brothers
served missions so she was being nice to us. She talked to us for an hour
and she is really nice. I think she still believes a lot of the same
principles that are taught in the church, but just calls them something
different.
The same afternoon we went to see another less active that we
tracted into, Will. We brought a member with us and it was great.
Will is very open and freely asks questions, which is great. We
were able to resolve some of his concerns and discover new ones which was good.
We also invited him to the ice cream social the ward was having on
Saturday and he said he would think about it. It wasn't a no, awesome!
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| Zone Conference: Me, Sis Davis, Elders Elder Petersen, Kuila and Fa'a |
On Wednesday we had Zone Conference. It was really
cool because I was able to see Sister Davis and that was fun. It is
always nice to see your past companions and talk to them. We got really
good training by President. He taught on the Restoration, the super
detailed, mixed with history, version that we will probably never teach to
anyone. I really liked it though because I love history. It was really
neat to see how the great apostasy correlated with history. I think I
will be looking at history with a much more gospel tint now. I got a
little lost on the way home and our dinner canceled, but it was all good.
We had lots of fun together anyway, got a Frosty, and had some fun
tracting.
Thursday was weekly planning as usual, and for once it
didn't take forever. Would of been done sooner if we were better at
focusing. I should rephrase, if I were better at focusing. We got it done
though, that is what matters. We were able to see two investigators.
We were only able to stop by Dolly's long enough to drop off a French
Book of Mormon and chat a little before she had to leave. Then we went to
see Virginia. Unfortunately, she doesn't want anymore visits once Sister
Wahlen leaves because she will be too busy and might be moving. Oh well. Maybe another time.
On Friday we did a lot of walking, but for once it wasn't
super humid. It was just hot. But the work must go on and so we
went tracting! We also tried to stop by a couple of people that had
previously shown interest with one of our ward missionaries, but they weren't
home. Sister Belbin is super awesome though and it was nice just to walk
with her a bit and listen to her stories. We had a fun dinner with
a family and they only gave me slightly a hard time for going to BYU.
They both went to the University of Utah and are very proud of it. For
those similar to I was before my mission, BYU and U of U have a very
large and intense rivalry. We had an appointment to teach one of the new
member lessons with Chon that evening, and it turned into more of a discussion,
which is even better. When the learner does more of the talking (on topic
of course), it is much better than if we are just spouting doctrine. You
learn much better when you are talking and teaching than if someone else is
doing it.
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| Rucker got baptized |
Saturday was the best day ever! Rucker got
baptized!!!!!!! It was a little sketchy for a while because we almost
couldn't found a ride, but we found one. Then we were late because she missed
the turn, we had to turn around, and there was a lot of traffic. But we
made it!!!! I have never seen the Relief Society room so full for a
baptism, it was great!! There were so many of his friends, ward
members, missionaries (at least 6 sets), and even his mother and grandmother.
It was great! His best friend was able to baptize him and it was a
wonderful thing to watch. I was just so happy!! Not because he was
baptized however, though that was part of it. I was full of joy because
he had made the decision to follow the example of the Savior to be baptized and
covenant to follow in His ways. It was great.
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| Rucker, Me, and his best friend Batchlor -I just noticed that Rucker's eyes are closed! :( |
After the service our
ride took us to lunch (so nice of her), and brought us home. We didn't
have a dinner that night, and we weren't too hungry anyway. We wanted to
eat something before the ward ice cream social though, so we had the super
random dinner of a peach and some lemonade for me, and a banana and yogurt for
Sister Wahlen. We went to the ward activity and Will came!! We were
so excited. The Elders Quorum president came up and introduced himself
and then introduced him to some other guys in the ward and they talked all
night, it was great!
We then went to go see another woman in the ward and
it was the neatest experience. I felt the Spirit working through me to
help her. She had a question about something and I thought of a
scripture. I couldn't find it and then another came into my head.
Just what she needed to hear. I then had the thought pop into my
head to ask her if she had dedicated her home. She had never even heard
of dedicating homes. It was just the greatest thing to have words come
out of my mouth that I knew were not from me, but from the Holy Ghost
specifically for her. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day.
Sunday was good as always. It is amazing how the same
lesson topic, from the material, can be so different. Each ward's Relief
Society lesson was from the talk "If Ye Love Me, Keep My
Commandments" from Elder Hales this last conference. They were both
really great though. I feel so blessed to experience two wards! We
went to dinner and discovered another family there from the ward as well. Always
slightly awkward as a missionary who is new to the ward. It was good
though. Afterwards we went to Autumn Leaves for our usual Sunday evening
sing along. Only, our pianist wasn't there. She forgot to tell us
she wouldn't be able to make it today. We were all freaking out a little
because none of us can play any hymns. So we sang a little a capella.
Then the family that had signed up to come walked in and said that the
kids had a few songs they were going to play and sing, I sent a prayer up to
heaven. That is exactly what we needed to save the day! It turned
out alright, but it would have been a lot of awkward, music-less, singing if it
weren't for them!
It was a pretty good week, but this week is only going to be
better!
Sister Hudgens
