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| Fun being missionaries with Sis Heaps |
It sounds like you had a really fun week!!! I loved
the pictures of Heidi and the other young women at the beach. They were
really funny. I also got your letter. It was really well timed.
I had been feeling a little down that day, not to bad, but down. I was
just wondering why I was even out here if no one wants to listen to what I had to say, but then I got your letter saying you were glad I was on a
mission and that brought me right up. I truly love being a
missionary! It is really hard sometimes, but when you look back on it
all, only the good things stand out and the good always overshadows the bad.
In an effort to be more bold, we have decided to take a
different apostle every day leading up to general conference and try to be more
like them. It has been really fun and I have really enjoyed studying the
different apostles.
Monday was nice, very low key. I managed to knock out
4 letters in an hour, just enough time before having to go out for the
day. We did a lot of tracting and were able to meet a less active family,
so it was good.
On Tuesday we met with one of our new investigators that we
had tracted into the week before. She is from Korea and attends a Korean
baptist church. I didn't know those existed, and I am not quite sure what they
believe, but the lesson went well. In response to the story of Joseph
Smith she said, "I have never heard that before". She seemed
very interested in it, and we are working on getting her a Korean Book of
Mormon. Only problem, her mom came in from Korea this week and is staying
for a month so we won't be able to teach her again until after she is
gone. We then did a lot of tracting and member visits before having a delicious
dinner of a quesadilla.
I am pretty sure that the majority of my diet
right now consists of peanut butter and jelly, quesadillas, and oatmeal.
So again, any other suggestions for on the go lunch is appreciated. After
dinner we were going to have a family home evening with one of our
investigators, but she forgot. It is really hard with her because she is
14 and often has her phone taken away, so we have a very hard time getting a
hold of her. But we had FHE with Sister Guzman after, so that was good.
We had another appointment after, but she had to cancel too. However, we
did get in to see a less active we have been trying to see for a few weeks now,
and it went really well. Her husband is super nice and friendly, her 5
year old daughter was cute, but she was a little stand offish. Understandable. People get nervous around the missionaries.
Wednesday was a rainy day. Luckily it waited to start
until after we had finished cleaning all the paddocks. We were getting
ready to leave the horse ranch when the rain started. Sister Goodrich
and I decided to skip in the rain back to our cars. I am pretty sure our
companions and the elders thought we were a little crazy, but hay (get the
horse joke?), we have to have a little fun too! We then had lunch and
companion study with Sister Goodrich and Sister Tofa. Sister Heaps is the
Sister Training Leader so we get to do all sorts of stuff like do companionship
study and go on exchanges with other sisters. We then went out tracting.
I discovered that unless I want to have wet feet all day, I can no longer wear
my favorite pair of shoes in the rain. They have holes in the bottom that
let the water in and it is not a pleasant experience. Don't worry though,
I do have other shoes. I just have to be careful which ones I wear in the
rain. We also had a dinner mix up on Wednesday. We were supposed to
meet a member at a restaurant, but we each went to different ones! Felt
bad about that, but it worked out.
Thursday was a lot of weekly planning. We were running
out the door at 4:45 to make it to dinner on time. We had a great dinner
with a Mexican (like straight from Mexico) family. Those were good
enchiladas. Then we tried to meet some less active members and went
tracting in the rain. I have come to the decision that I like tracting in
the rain better than the heat. Either way you are wet, but at least when
it is rain it is refreshing and not sticky and gross.
On Friday we had district meeting and it was really
good. We have been focusing a lot of family history this month and the
Spirit was really strong as we were talking about it. Family History is
so important!!! We need to save ourselves and our dead, for we cannot be
saved without them. After district meeting we ate lunch with an
investigator and her friend. They are both strong in the Methodist faith
and though they may not be ready right this moment to accept the gospel, they
are eager to learn. We taught the Plan of Salvation and at the end we invited
the friend to read the Book of Mormon. We discovered that she already had one,
a friend had given it to her in high school. Sensing that I knew who had given
it to her, I asked, it was a member of the Rascon family. I have met many
people who have come in contact with the church through this wonderful family
who have since left the Woodlands. I am grateful that the Rascons have left
such a positive impact on the people here in The Woodlands. The friend
said this might be a sign that she should finally take the time to read it. I
pray she will!
We then went out to tract and meet some of the members of
our ward that we don't really know (there are still lots). We had a
lakeside dinner of PB & J, then we went home to await our ride to go to
Conroe for exchanges. I got to switch companions for the next 24 hours
with Sister Andersen.
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| Sis Anderson with me |
Saturday was great. I learned a lot about Sister
Andersen that I didn't know before. She is usually very quiet, but I
learned that her family owns a hunting guide business in Idaho and that she led
the bear hunts. I asked her if she had shot a bear before and she said
yes, and they made it into a rug and it is hanging in her room at home. I
found it pretty impressive! Throughout the day we went tracting, met
great new strangers, visited a member and shared a special message that is just
what she needed, and had a great dinner appointment. They served us salmon,
and because I am a missionary I ate it. They had a mango pineapple salsa
to go with it, so it actually tasted good. I am not a fan of the texture
though, so no salmon when I return home.
We then had an appointment with
two people we met tracting last week. We had to cancel the second one
though because the member we had lined up canceled and since he is male, we
wouldn't be able to go in. It ended up being alright though. The
member coming with us to our first appointment was late so we would of had to
push back everything anyways. The appointment went great though!
She really seemed to understand what we were saying, and what the Spirit was
saying. When the member we brought with us bore her testimony on the Book
of Mormon, in Spanish, even though I didn't know what she was saying, our
investigator did (she also speaks Spanish). Tears just welled up in her
eyes and I knew that she was touched. I have such great hopes for
her! We then raced home to exchange back.
Sunday was great. We found out that the stake is
splitting and we are now going to be in The Woodlands Stake. It is going to be
interesting how it all plays out, but no ward boundaries are being changed, so
I don't think it is going to make a huge difference. Missionary wise, the zone
will change and the districts will probably be rearranged, but it wont be too
big a difference. Relief Society was great. One of the counselors in the
presidency taught and I have been looking forward to hearing her teach ever
since I got here. She is hilarious!! She is from England, a
convert, and she served a mission. Just the way way she talks, the words
she uses, and the way she is so expressive with her whole body as she teaches
makes for a very interesting, spiritual, and entertaining lesson.
After
church we just had time to eat a quick dinner before we drove to Cypress for a
special mission president fireside that the mission is putting on in a
different location every month. It involves a missionary choir, special
musical numbers, recent convert testimonies, and the mission president and his
wife speak. We went early so we could be in the choir. It was such
a great experience!!!! The Spirit was just so strong. I felt it as
we sang the different songs and listened to the musical numbers. I want
to preform in one, but I don't have anything to play! Could you look for
something I could play? Something centered on the Savior and that I could
learn in a reasonable time. Please? I would really appreciate it!
It was a great time and I hope we will be able to go to another
one in our area soon.
Being a missionary is the best!
Have a blessed week!
Sister Hudgens
