Week 17 - we are still Alive!

Hello my lovely family!

First I would like to squash any rumors of being chased by a cougar….we were too fast and were down by the cars but a few of the elders had a energizing experience.  Ours was caving with great friends and having a blast! And we are still alive!

 

 

This week I learned, the importance of listening to the spirit and

communicating with your companion. These two things are both soooo

essential in the work of the Lord. One thing that I LOVE about being

companions with sister Crosland is how we established from day one the

expectation of communication. We strive to be 100% open with each

other. And let me tell you it saves lives! Sometimes literally. Haha

Well lately the mission has been really focused on member missionary

work and the importance of members coming to lessons with us.

 It can't be easy to make a life change like this, so good, fellow shipping members are SO IMPORTANT!  We also went on exchanges with the sister Training leaders...they are awesome!

This week we had a little miracle happen! We felt like we should go visit L , who will be baptized in October. She's 19 and super sweet!(her grandmother does not like us as much haha - see  last week’s letter)

We were going to her house, then for some reason, sister Crosland and

I felt like we needed to go to see her at work--Open communication people!! So key.

--Haha well we got there and she had gone home early????

We were kinda bummed and confused why we felt like we needed to

go here...but then the guy standing next to us asks us "hey what

church are you from!?" We introduced ourselves and he's like "I have

been looking for you EVERYWHERE!" Um, what?  Turns out he is a member of our church and has not been to church in 20 years.

 His wife is awesome …we love her!!  We setup a time to meet with them and now she plans to be baptized by her husband in October.

They all came to church on Sunday and so did L.  They said they loved it  It was so good to have them there!  Funny thing about Sunday.  Our Ward mission leader, Brother Hodson( funny she has not mentioned THAT yet???), his wife is the Ward music coordinator and the choir canceled on singing this week so she called us 4 missionaries and asked if we could put together a musical number.

She asked me to play and the other sisters to sing. We agreed. And

they 2 days later bishop called and said that the high council members

who were supposed to speak in our Ward had to canceled. Then he asked if us

missionaries could speak in church too. Haha missionary overload! And

then the bishopric 1st counselor asked if sister Crosland and I could

say the opening and closing prayers. Haha WHAT?! We said we could but

explained the rest of the program and he was like "okay yea, we'll get

someone else..." Haha so poor Overlook Ward is probably sick of the

missionaries now...haha but we're still alive so it's all good.

We had zone conference on Thursday this last week and

the zone leaders called and asked on Monday if I could play piano for

a musical number that elder Hendricks was doing. They were singing

"Come Unto Christ" one of my favorite songs! But I'd never played it

before and WHEN as a missionary do we have time to practice for

musical numbers!? Normally I'd say during lunch but we haven't gotten

more than 20 minutes for lunch all week because of appointments and

how long it takes to bike to each one! Haha so I played through it I

think 2 times.

..and can I just say that the gift of tongues is real? But

with music too? Haha no clue how, but it turned out okay…but we are still alive.

Anyway, last story! So the open communication and listening to the

spirit part? Yea, that's SO real!

We went to a street a couple blocks down from our last appointment

and started tracting. It was a baaaaad night for it. Not only was

everyone VERY not interested, but probably some of the more rude

people we've encountered so far...we had one lady who used some pretty

strong language …. Haha we kinda had an

off feeling ever since we started ...then this lady, after

yelling at us, calmed down  and said "really though. You girls

need to get out of here, you shouldn't be here after dark. Bad things

happen around here."  For some reason it

was really sticking with me but I kept brushing it off ---but sister C and I talked .... the

feeling was super strong and I was like "okay, yea we need to get our

bikes and leave." We ran and got our bikes and headed home. As soon as

we left that street we started feeling better...it was the weirdest

thing. --As we were biking, I remembered that  just a few days earlier

there had been a homicide there. A few minutes later we heard sirens in the

same area. To be honest, who knows what happened or what could have

happened but it was just good to know that, God watches

out for His children. I'm so extremely glad to have a companion who is

open and how we can be honest with each other. And so extremely

grateful to have the Spirit leading and guiding us and protecting us.

And we're still alive!

Well well well. I love you all! So much! And I love the Lord and I

love doing His work! I am so blessed to be here in Great Falls. I love

you! Until next week!

W/<3

Sister Hodgson

 CAVING!!

 In Mormon 9:22 it says that we have been asked to go "into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature"...

 

 

Also-- P.S. Funny story--kinda. We were coming home from an
appointment and it's like pitch black once you get out toward the
Whitneys. We were riding bikes and we were on the last corner till
home and as we rounded the corner I got hit by the neighbors dog. Haha
We call him Heath Ledger because he looks like the joker. True story.
Totally fell off my bike and scraped up my leg a bit but we're all
still alive!
Okay--love you!!!!