WEEK 13- Mission Tour and Horses

Okay first off. J AND H BOTH CAME TO CHURCH!!!! Holy cow

holy cow. I can't tell you how excited sister Adair and I were when

they walked in Oh my goodness that is huge for them!! They are

incredible and are really developing the desire to come to Christ. I

can just testify that PRAYER WORKS and FAITH IS NEEDED. God loves His

children and wants us all to be learning and loving and becoming.

 And coming to church is SO important in that

conversion process. Gosh, I am SO grateful for parents who showed, by

example, how important going to church is. It really is a place of

worship, remembrance and a place to get answers.

This week we had mission tour and elder Martino of the seventy came

and spoke to us...we had to get up at 4:30 IN THE MORNING in order to

get to the stake center, meet up with the rest of the zone and drive

to Helena....we had a mission choir that we had to practice for at

7:23 in the morning! It was awesome though and the Spirit was so

strong!  fun fact for family, a few weeks ago elder McGrath, one of

the assistants called and asked if I could accompany one of the elders

singing in mission tour! So he gave me the elders number and I called

him. He told me he wanted to do a medley so he gave me 3 hymns and

told me what parts he wanted where...so I had a few weeks to put

together a medley...then we had 10 minutes before the tour started to

run in the other room and run through it twice and then we performed

in front of a 70!! Haha scary!!! But shout out to Coralie Harless for

being an amazing piano teacher and teaching me how to put medleys

together and pretend like I know what I'm doing... but we learned so

much!

I just want to testify about the power of prayer and receiving

answers. We had an appointment this week with the C family and

also one with Penny. They

both had similar experiences, they were saying that they prayed for an

answer or for strength but they weren't getting it. They said they're

still just sitting, waiting for their answer. I was thinking to myself

"gosh I feel like I do that"...then it kinda hit me that that's our

problem! Everyone says the Lord gives us our answers when we're

ready...so we wait till we're ready right? But what are we waiting

for?? Why am I not doing everything I can to prepare myself and making

myself ready to receive the Lords answers?! We talked a LOT about

preparing ourselves for answers and committed both of them to pick

just ONE thing...one thing to work on this week and change in order to

be actively working to get an answer from the Lord rather than just

waiting. I committed myself to do that too so I've been reading talks

and scriptures and really studying even more about prayer. And just

the little miracles we've seen and little answers we've gotten have

been so apparent. I KNOW that it's by continually progressing and

doing our best to WORK and bring ourselves closer to the Lord that we

are more prepared to receive answers from the Lord. Gosh I love

missions. I love the Lord and I love His work!!

Pday today Brother Bailey let us play with his Horses.  He loves his horses and is very knowledgeable about them

It was a GREAT day.

 

It was cold the past few days!! Brother Bailey knows we're always cold

so he bought us a light weight jackets....he really does bless and

spoil the missionaries....mommy and daddy, he says to tell you guys he

takes good care of us for you so not to worry....he really does...we

owe this man a lot....

This week is going to be a busy week! B is getting baptized this

Saturday and so are Be and S. They are all so excited and we

are so excited for them! Holy cow. The love that both sister Adair and

I feel for them is incredible. And if we love them this much I can't

even imagine how much our Heavenly Father loves them.

 Sorry it's soscattered today

Missions really are truly the

hardest, yet best thing ever. President Wadsworth says that missions

aren't always the best 2 years of our lives, but they are the best 2

years FOR our lives. And it's so true! Some times are just crazy hard!

And you get people yelling at you and trying to curse you with satanic

words and slamming doors in your face, and other times, the Spirit is

so strong and you just see the Spirit testifying to people of the

truth of the gospel. Nothing better.

I love you all so much!!

W/<3

Sister Hodgson

WEEK 12- hospitals, heartbreak and home alone

Okay tanners wedding pics are BEAUTIFUL!!!

Crazy week this week!! Okay but first off, last week was SOO fun at Ryan's dam! Brother Bailey made Dutch oven "horse apples" -aka amazing amazing appley, doughy, cinnamony, yummy creation. We played pod ball and frisbee out on this beautiful field thing, got attacked by bees,saw the dam and the falls and it was just a blast!!

Also, the Whitneys were out of town at a family reunion all week so we had the entire house(mansion) to ourselves! Haha it was pretty crazy.  But we're glad they're back and they had a great time!!

So this week, we started a new exercise thing! Every other day, our district meets at the church and does an exercise program together!  Sister Moyer wants to be a physical trainer so she has a bunch of programs she's lined up so we do those. It's great! We're all a little

sore but loving it!!  And the days we don't have that, sister Adair and I drive to the hills by the house and I get to run there twice a week.  It's been an amazing week!! Gosh, exercise really does the body and the spirit good. As we used to always say in the MTC "exercise time is sacred time." But honestly, with a bunch of missionaries, you have to expect atleast ONE person to get hurt...we were doing jumps (the stage here is only like 2 or 3 feet high so we were jumping and sister Adair slipped and missed the stage and wrecked it pretty bad....we took her home and cleaned it up..it was pretty bloody and exciting! Haha it's pretty banged up and swollen...she said she has a kankle now...hahah but if it gets more bruised and swollen we'll have to take her in...

Also Barbara who is supposed to get baptized next week? She got grounded from church....so sad…  Gosh my heart is just breaking for B...she's been SO excited, inviting all her friends, etc. She has such a strong testimony and really knows this gospel is true. She wants it so bad!  And god knows that. Things will work out the way He needs them to work

out.

Then B…. OH MY GOODNESS HE IS THE BEST!! We had a few appointments with him this week and a few hours before one of them, his friend M calls. He told us he got our number from B and was telling us that B  just got out of emergency surgery and is in the hospital and would love a call from us. We got brother Ba, brother B and K to come to the hospital with us to give B a blessing. Kirby has been coming to the lessons with us!!!  And wow.  Wow wow wow. The spirit in that room was so incredibly strong. Like wow. I can't even like.  Gahhh.  We read some scriptures and talked with B more about what the priesthood is and what blessings are and about faith.  B was exhausted from surgery but was able to bear us the sweetest testimony of how the gospel makes him feel better and how he just feels good strength in a way he never has before he started meeting with us.  B is SUCH an example of complete unfailing faith.  The kind of faith I want to have.

This was an amazing miracle week of finding! We found 9 new Investigators this week!!  The work is really hastening and I feel so incredibly blessed to be just a tiny tiny part of the work here in Great Falls Montana. We have an amazing Ward and the members are incredible!! I

love this area so much. I love you so much!!!

W/<3

Sister Hodgson

Week 11- Fast and Fun

Hi hi hi!!!! Sorry not much time to email today we're heading out to Ryan's dam with part of the zone and brother Bailey, Kirby and Matthew(just got baptized)!! We're supper excited and if we get back in time I'll send a few pic:)

A little business...I LOVE the pictures of Tanner’s wedding you sent –so fun to see everyone!!  I love you!! And I loved the little note card  with people signing it. Made my day!   Here is the picture from our FREE CAR WASH last week...we had fun and met lots of Great people!!

So this week was awesome!! The biggest hi-light was Wednesday night when Matthew got baptized. Wow…..it was just amazing to see someone you care about so much enter that covenant with the Lord. He is so stalwart and ready to hear the gospel and LIVE it. Wow I can't even describe

Mom asked , because it seems very prevalent in Missionary moms if she had honestly been homesick?

I definitely miss you guys!! SOOO much! I've only had one little breakdown...sister Adair was asleep...it was late at night, I felt sick, lonely, yucky, useless,etc. …. I just wanted a mommy and daddy snug. So I had a little pity party in the bathroom, prayed and went to sleep. Got up in the morning and WORKED. it's all good:) but honestly, I think it's the support that helps me keep going.  Many missionaries struggle with this…missionary work is hard some days…so we have to fill our cup spiritually , mentally and physically for the hard times.

Weather and food?

Yes mom they feed us well….we got LOT of meat and potato dishes at first....Burgers, steaks, and casseroles  SO YUM...but now we've been getting a few Chinese food nights too which we LOVE!!

Weather has been BEAUTIFUL!! It's been in the 80s and 90s!! No clouds!! LOVELY!! I actually got a bit sunburnt the other day. Best day ever. Haha;)   \

Gotta run , sorry so short off to explore…love you!!

Be good and stand strong, sister hodgson

Just a few shots from today:  LOVE YOU!