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| I thought the flowers
were real....then I stepped on one and realized they weren't |
Sounds like a crazy couple of weeks on all fronts. In
our mission, if there are two sets of missionaries in the ward, they are not
supposed to eat dinner at the same members house at the same time. I have often heard that when
you get a group of missionaries together, they stop being missionaries.
Something I have also learned is that missionaries aren't perfect. They
are just regular 18-23 year old people with a big responsibility and each one
treats it with a different level of seriousness. It is important to
remember that we are all representatives of Christ, no matter if we have a
badge or not. In our baptismal covenant we promise to take His name upon
us and we renew this covenant each week when we partake of the sacrament.
Sometimes we forget we are His representatives, so it is nice to have
that weekly reminder.
Anyways, like I mentioned last week, Tuesday was hard.
I felt bad for Sister Heaps because her first experience as my companion
was to see me as a wreck. As long as we kept moving and doing though, I was
fine. So we went out to work and worked hard! We were able to see
one of our investigators in first ward. It was really good. She
hasn't been taught any of the lessons yet, but we have been sharing different
scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her on forgiveness. She kept
thanking us over and over today for it and telling us about all of the things
that she had been holding in for so many years. She has had a very hard
life and hearing her just express her thanks for helping her feel the relief of
forgiveness was amazing. It is experiences like that that remind me why I
am on a mission. Seeing the gospel affect and change someone's life, it
makes up for all of the long hard days when no one wants to hear what you have
to say and you feel like no one even cares you traveled all the way to Texas
and put your life on hold to bring them the greatest message in the world that
will bring them happiness in this life, and eternal happiness in the life to
come.
Ok, rant over, sorry. Anyway....we didn't have a dinner
appointment so we had a fantastic welcome to The Woodlands dinner at Zoe's
Kitchen, this nice little Mediterranean place. We then quickly went back
to work and at 7:30 we met with the elders that were now serving in the 1st ward to go over what the heck was going to happen. It was good, and
hopefully I didn't overwhelm them, but it is not like I really had much idea
what was going on anyway. Afterwards we went to the 1st ward mission
leader's home. I love that family so much and I was so sad to not be able
to go over there anymore! I really needed a blessing though so I asked
him if he would do it. It was very much needed and helped give me the
peace and direction that I needed.
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| At the ranch, gettin'
dirty |
Wednesday we did service at the horse ranch again. It
was pretty fun. We got to clean horse paddocks and water plants.
What made it fun though is the people we were with. It is nice to
just work outdoors with my fellow missionaries and get some stuff done. Then we came home, had some lunch and went out again. We met with
one of the members of the ward who went out teaching with the elders a lot to
try and get some information on the people they were teaching. It was
good, he also gave us some ideas on where to start in the ward, I think he
could tell I was a little overwhelmed. It was getting better though!
We tried by a lot of less active members, finding them moved or not at
home, and knocked on a lot of doors. We didn't have a dinner again so we
had a great dinner at home and went out again! It was a good day.
Sister Heaps is great, I love her already!
On Thursday we went to help out at a food pantry, just
making bags of food for people to take. Then we did our weekly planning.
It was intense since Sister Heaps is new to the area and we have to
figure out what we are going to do now. It was good though. We were
able to start the long process of separating the records we have, dividing them
between 1st and 2nd ward. We then had dinner with a Chinese family
and they made excellent Chinese food, the real kind (sorry Heidi, no orange
chicken).
We then decided to go to the Relief Society activity because it
was a meet and greet, and that is exactly what we needed. We got there a
little early, so we decided to knock on the doors leading up to the home it was
being held at. We confused a lot of sisters because they thought the activity was
at the house we were knocking at. They would start coming up to the door
as we would leave. It was kind of funny. It was a good activity, we
were able to meet a lot of the women and answer some questions for a girl that
is leaving for the Salt Lake City South mission in a few months.
Friday was district meeting, I always love district meeting.
It leaves me spiritually recharged and able to make it to Sunday.
We studied and discussed Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants on the
spirit world and family history. There is a a lot more emphasis on family
history going on in the mission and it is great! I love family history!
There is a lot of temple work to do in our line, so once you get the baptisms
done, feel free to send me the cards so I can do the endowments! After
our meeting we went out again. We walked around and went to visit people
who had previously expressed interest in missionaries before. We did a
lot of walking. Between Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I was actually
sore! It was fun though, just to walk around and talk to people and my
companion.
We ate dinner at a park and then went tracting at these
apartments we had never been to before. We got really excited for a
moment because there wasn't a gate to the complex. That excitement
quickly turned to disappointment when we realized the individual buildings had
gates. One was open though so that was a miracle. We then
went with a member to try by some people that the previous missionaries were
teaching. It went well and we got a return appointment with one. We
were about to leave when the member thought to ask one of her friends who lived
close by if we could stop by and see her. We weren't able to, but I
thought it was awesome that she had the thought to ask.
We had a jam packed Saturday morning. I got your
package! I was not expecting it. I was pleasantly surprised to find
the note on my door Friday night. Imagine my surprise when the other
sisters in the complex told me that they had received a note that I had a
package waiting for me in the office as well. Dad forgot to put the
apartment number on the box. The apartment office knew that missionaries
lived in both apartments, so they put a note on both doors. I thought it
was hilarious. I thought it was even funnier that Dad but one of his work
sweatshirts in the box. I am not quite sure when he thinks I will use it,
but I don't fear the cold right now. It brought a smile to my face though and
really lifted me up, as did the letters. The cards were so cute!
Thank you so much :)
We tried by a few less active members and
tracted before we met with the Relief Society president to see if she knew
anyone we needed to pay special attention to. It was really good, but
since she likes to talk, we had to book it to our next appointment. It
was awesome though! We are teaching a family that the elders were
previously teaching. She is a less active member and he is not a member.
It was a really good lesson though and they seem very committed to
reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, so we will see what happens
there.
Sunday was amazing. One of the best so far. All
of the testimonies were wonderful and so were the lessons. It was weird
to not go to both wards, and it kind of freaked me out a bit. Didn't know
what to do before church. We actually had time for studies in the morning
and to go out tracting a bit. As we were out walking this kid ran up to
us and asked if we would like a drink, holding out two bottles. It was so
sweet! We thanked him and he ran back to his car and they drove away.
It was only then that we realized he had given us bottles of tea.
The gesture was so sweet though!! I felt awful just throwing it away,
but we had no one to give it to and there was no hesitation in us to obey the
Word of Wisdom. It was the kindest thing though and that little act of
love carried me all day.
After church we tracted a little before going to
dinner. Their daughter was super excited to have someone else that was
gluten intolerant at dinner (Sister Heaps is gluten intolerant), since none of
her family it. It was a delicious dinner, made all the better by the fact
that it was Fast Sunday. We then went to Autumn Leaves and sang with the
residents. A member of the ward came and brought his guitar. He
made up a fun little song on the spot without asking the missionaries. It
was a really fun song. We tracted a little before it got too dark and
then visited a member before returning home. It was a great day. I
am doing so much better now and I am really able to cope with the task that has
been set before me. I am just filled with so much happiness, I have no
room to be sad!
Have a happy happy happy week!
Sister Hudgens
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This cute little girl drew my picture! Guess which one
is me?
(hint, I have curly hair)
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