 |
| Zone Conference |
So this week went by in a big blur. I can't believe
all that is packed into just 7 days!!! I feel like we are always running
from appointment to appointment (not always true, but when we are, we are
running!)
 |
| Me with Sis Monterith |
On Monday we drove to the Spring sisters' apartment so
Sister Monterith and I could practice for Friday. They have a little
electric keyboard in their apartment. We then went and taught a lesson to
our 10 year old. it was the best lesson we ever had with him. It was a
short 20 minute appointment (just like we wanted) and we answered our questions
well and remembered things that we had previously taught. Then we went to
dinner at the Vance's. I always love going to their house because their
family is similar to mine. The sibling banter and all around humor is
very home like :) We went tracting for a bit and then we were able to
stop by the home of a family we don't usually get in with and share a message,
it was great.
Tuesday was a little crazy. We stopped by to see some
former investigators and potentials most of the day and then the evening is
when it got busy. We went to the home of our Russian investigator with
two men from the ward so they could give her a blessing. She is going to
New York for two weeks and she was in a lot of pain from her back. She
also wanted her home blessed (which does not require the priesthood by the way,
learned this on my mission). It was a good experience and then after we
were able to teach her a little bit. It was actually more like seeing
where she is at, because she has already read all of the pamphlets and the Book
of Mormon a couple times. So we set a date for her baptism and told her
what she needed to do to prepare. She said she would go to church in New
York and tell us all about it.
We then rushed to an appointment with
someone we met tracting. A member met us there and when the appointment
fell through we brought her to see a couple that stopped investigating when I
got here. They let us right in and talked with us. They shared a
lot and Doug said that he had been reading lots of church books. He seems so
interested in this gospel, but his wife is content where she is at and that is
holding him back from pursuing this further. It was a wonderful
experience though and the Spirit was there. The member that came with us
loved it. She a wonderful experience and even wrote them a thank you note
for letting us come visit. She is awesome.
On Wednesday we went to work at the Ranch in the morning and
then went on exchanges in the afternoon. I went to Spring with Sister
Monterith and Sister Heaps stayed in our area with Sister Larsen. After
switching, we went to the family history center with a less active member to do
some work on her line. Since they had it taken care of, I worked on my
stuff. I found a lot of names to take to the temple when we go on
Saturday. There is lots of work to be done on our line family!!!
Lots!! Y'all should do it and start taking names to the temple!!!
GO!!!
Anyways....afterwards we went to teach their investigator who is
getting baptized on Saturday. Satan was hitting him hard all week so they
go over everyday to help him stay strong. Things that weren't even a temptation
before were tempting him. He said, "Man, I was so tempted to get
coffee today" Sister Monterith, "You don't even like
coffee!" Just stay strong and hold on!!! We then had dinner
and it was delicious and we were able to share a great message with a less
active family whose daughter is preparing for a mission. It was a good
day.
Thursday morning was Peter's interview, so we went to the
church. Sister Monterith and I were able to practice on a real piano for
tomorrow. I just kept praying that I would do well on the actual day, I
was so nervous!! The interview went really long, a hour and a half.
Usually they are no more than a hour, and that is considered long. But he
had some concerns that the district leader was able to take care of. We
then went to help this lady clean her house, and she was kind enough to take us
to lunch afterwards. We then switched back and Sister Heaps and I went
home to do weekly planning.
We were able to go to a less active/part
member family's house for dinner and it was awesome. I had never met them
before, and she was really nice. He isn't a member, but is
hilarious. We got along really well and I got a fist bump from him.
The family is really great and the son was asking us lots of questions about
missions. We will get him on one soon enough! After dinner we went
with a member to try by a few people that we had seen before. There is a
principle in missionary work that is true without exception if the missionaries
are properly prepared with sufficient and good back up plans. The
principle is this: there are miracles when you bring members with you.
This evening was no exception. We tried by one person and they weren't
home, so we tried by another in the same neighborhood, just a lady that said we
could come back. She opened the door and was very shocked that we came
back. Said we were very persistent. She then said she wasn't
interested. She mentioned she had just moved-in in May, and with a new
baby didn't know anyone. The member asked where she was from and found
out that they had lived in the same area. They instantly bonded and she
invited her to a baby work out class she goes to and said she would be willing
to walk around the neighborhood with her. They exchanged information and
became instant friends. It was a wonderful experience and made us just so
happy to see it happen.
On Friday we had zone conference. We had it at the
building I went to when I was in Parkway. Made me very nostalgic.
It was a good conference and we received awesome training on the Plan of
Salvation. Our mission president likes to go over the lessons telling us
a lot of detail that you don't actually share with people, but makes you
understand/appreciate it a whole lot more. It ran a hour late though and
that pushed all of our appointments back, we had a lot that night! They
were all back to back and we were rushing around all night.
We took a
Laurel out with us to two appointments. She was awesome, already such a
great missionary and teacher. She was so excited to go out with us
too. It was great. We were able to teach our Korean investigator
and also our little boy. When we told him he has to go to church he
pushed back a little though. He has to come on a regular basis before he
can be baptized, so we are kind of worried. He didn't come this week, so
we have to move his date. We are having family Home Evening with him tonight,
so we will figure something out.
 |
| Sis Liu sent me home with dumplings! |
We then dropped off our Laurel and went
to go teach our Chinese investigator at the home of the Chinese family in our
ward. I am glad that they were still eating and had lots of food, because
we hadn't had an opportunity to eat yet. Sister Liu made Chinese
dumplings. Those are my favorite and she is a great cook. My tummy
was very happy. We had a lesson afterwards and it went great. The
Lius are also from China and grew up atheist as well, so it was very helpful to
have them there to share how they gained their testimonies. It was a
wonderful evening.
On Saturday we drove to the temple because one of Sister
Heaps' recent converts was going to do baptisms for the first time. When
we pulled up, we saw another of Sister Heaps' converts that she didn't know was
going to be there. She was so happy. I was able to bring the names
I had found earlier in the week, but then someone told me that as missionaries,
we couldn't preform the baptism. I was devastated!!!! I so badly wanted
to do the work for them myself, and was so sad when I wasn't able to. I was
able to give them to someone else to do, but I was still sad I couldn't do it
myself. I know that who does it doesn't matter, that what is important is
that they get done. Still a bit sad though.
Anyways, we then came
home and had some lunch before going out to visit some people. We decided
to walk because we had driven way too much this week. We were able to
teach some one before going out again, and then it started to rain.
We were kind of wet by the time we got into our car, but that's alright. We
then went with one of our investigators to a baptismal service. I think
she really liked it. We were able to have good conversation with her and
I think she is starting to feel the Spirit work on her. Just will have to
keep inviting her to make changes and she will eventually realize she wants to
change and be on the path that will ultimately bring her closer to our Father
in Heaven. We then came home and had dinner and finished our weekly
planning since we didn't have the opportunity to on Thursday.
On Sunday we finally got our new ward mission leader. He
is going to be awesome and we look forward to working with him. We
decided to send our dinner calendar around Primary and in the doorway was Ru,
getting her son to Primary. It was a little tender mercy because we
didn't even know she was there. She had come late and sat in the
foyer. We were able to take her to gospel principles and it was
amazing. We had a lesson on the Atonement, and then had another lesson on
the Atonement from Elder Bednar's talk "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease".
It was perfect! Just what she needed. She even felt comfortable
enough to ask questions and share experiences. It was amazing. We then
had dinner, visited an awesome family, tracted, and went home very happy
missionaries.
I am so happy to be a missionary!!! It is the best
thing ever!!! And I know as you grow in love and understanding of the
gospel, that you will naturally want to share it too (1 Nephi 8:12).
Have a blessed week and a very happy Thanksgiving!
Sister Hudgens
