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| Our Indian Experience |
On Monday, we got back to our
apartment and then we got a visit from Sister Liljenquist's Aunt and Uncle who
were down here visiting their daughter who lives in the South mission.
Don't worry, we got permission! They gave us a gift card to go to dinner,
so after emailing we had a delicious dinner. We then did some tracting in
the cold, fun stuff.
On Tuesday we saw a few of our investigators. Well, we
attempted to anyway. A few of our appointments canceled so we ended up
doing a lot of going back and forth and knocking on doors. We had a great
dinner of these fried mashed potato ham patties. They were
delicious! We then went out and tried to find some less actives and
visited some members. We then switched companions for some
exchanges. Sister Davis came with me to Olde Oaks this time.
Wednesday morning we went to see Betty and tried talking to
her about getting her to the temple. She is a sass master, so I think it
went well? We then had some lunch and went to stop by an
investigator. We were able to talk to her briefly, share a scripture, and
set a return appointment. I thought we had an appointment in the same
cul-de-sac, but as we were going to the door, I remembered we didn't. We
needed to be there that day though because we went to see another less active
lady around the corner and she almost cried when she saw us. She had us
put on face masks before entering because she has a lot of health issues and no
immune system. She has gone through a lot and is in serious need of
counseling. We were able to talk to her about the Atonement, LDS family
services counseling, and coming back to church. She really wants to come
back to church, so we are going to do what we can.
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| Sorting clothes with Sis Davis |
We then stopped by an
investigator's home for an appointment, but her whole family was sick.
She doesn't have a phone, so she can't call us, so we will just have to try
again later. We then went to NAM and sorted clothes for a few hours with
the elders. Fun stuff. We had a good New Year's dinner, went out
knocking, and had a good time. There was this one lady whose door we
knocked on let us borrow some scarves because we looked cold. She was so
nice! We brought them back when we were finished and gave her a bag of
candy we had. Then I said good bye to Sister Davis and welcomed Sister
Liljenquist back.
We had weekly planning all New Years day until heading to the
mission office. Sister Liljenquist had to talk to President about
something and that is when I got my super quick ecclesiastical
endorsement. We then tried by some investigators we hadn't heard from in a
while and then went to visit a member we hadn't seen at church for a
while. We get there, knock on the door and....another member that doesn't
live there answered it. Slightly confused we said, "This isn't your house, what is going on?" I guess we crashed their New Year's football
party. Most of the people were upstairs watching the game and he had
happened to be downstairs. Also, there was a member's mother there and
she said that if we came back later, her son and his girlfriend would be there
so we could talk with them, The son is less active and the girlfriend is
potentially interested, so we said we would be back after dinner.
We had
a great dinner with the Ruckers in which we laughed a lot and then had a great
lesson on bearing testimony. The Spirit was strong. We then went back
to the party and found that we had just missed them, but then Sister
Castillo brought out all of her dresses that she had because Sister Liljenquist
was looking at her wedding album and was admiring the Indian wedding she had
had and all of her different dresses. We were then convinced to try some
on, it was fun. Very heavy though.
Friday was zone meeting. As is sometimes the case, I
left there feeling like an awful missionary. They always set goals for
baptisms for the next month and dates we will set. Most of the time, my
investigators aren't progressing/we don't have any, so I end up feeling
overwhelmed and like I can't do anything right. It is very frustrating
when you go out every day looking for people to share the best news ever with,
and no one will listen, or commit, or progress. Then you see everyone
else in the zone with a baptism and you wonder what the heck you are doing
wrong. Sometimes it just all builds up and explodes out of my eyes.
So I had a little breakdown. Sister Liljenquist did her best to help me
see that I was being a good missionary and that it isn't all about numbers or
baptisms.
Then I had to shape up for lunch with a less active woman. She
was super nice and fed us lots of delicious food. Gluten unfortunately.
Sister Liljenquist graciously ate it though. We then went out and tried
to see others, but she wasn't feeling too well so we went home and called the
Cypress Creek sisters to see if we could do another little exchange since we
had a lot of appointments that night. So Sister Davis came with me
again. She wouldn't let me leave the apartment though until she talked to
me. She saw me tearing up at zone meeting and knew something was wrong
since crying is not my thing. She said all these nice things and went
through the successful missionary section of Preach My Gospel and told me I was
great and stuff. A few tissues later and we were out the door.
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| Dinner at Panda Express |
Saturday was crazy. We read scriptures with a less
active who lives in our complex, had lunch, went to find people who no longer
live where we thought they did, had appointments fall though, saw a new born
baby, talked about family history, and had a delicious dinner. So funny
story. The elders were having dinner at the same place we were and we were
running late. They called us as we were going over to ask if dinner was
for sure at 5. We said yes, and then they said they had knocked a couple
of times and called and no one answered. So we get there and Sister
Liljenquist knocks on the door and they answer right away. We just
laughed and then the elders said that they never rang the doorbell
either. Moral of the story, ring the doorbell and knock loud. We then
did some finding and saw a less active lady.
Sunday was good. We have moved to one o'clock church,
but our meetings are still early. So after correlation we met with he
Primary President to talk about some families in the ward, went looking for
someone who said we could come, and then went to church. There was more
people there than I have seen in a long time, and for the first time in forever
(look at me making a Frozen reference, haven't even seen that movie) there were
no grown men needed to pass the sacrament. I think it is because a new family
moved into the ward and brought three young men with them. Church was
good, and then it was dinner. We went to a home that always has good food
and their daughters are hilarious. One of them has bright red hair and
reminds me of Heidi. She is a little weirdo just like her :) We
then rushed to an appointment and she wasn't home. We tried by potentials
and then went home. A member said they were going to bring us by food, so
we waited for them...and waited..and waited...and then at 10:30 they
came. I can't complain though, because they brought us all sorts of
goodies!! All the things we need to make fried rice (which is a staple
for this companionship) and a box of ice cream drumsticks. They remind me
of Granny :)
So today is going to be fun. A member is taking us to
the Museum of Natural History and we are looking forward to it!!!
Have fun on the cruise without me. Love y'all!
Sister Hudgens
