WEEK 44- Easter Baptisms and Miracles

What a week!! This week zoomed by like no other, it was crazy...first off....Exchanges,

RAY AND TY GOT BAPTIZED!!  and Easter!! 

I hope you all had a great Easter. Yay!!! We went over to the Hoskinsons in the Ward! And guess what they

had...lamb! Haha so it felt like home;) also I LOVED the video you sent !!!  tell Nana THANK YOU! It was great to see family!!  Monday we had a zone Easter Egg hunt -  actually balloons full of treats…but we had to pop them…now that was funny!

 

Shout out to the JAY family -'

PS …The Jays are so sweet and sent a huge Easter package!!! So these are

 the chick and bunny squishy things. We love them! Their names are

Ralph(the green chick) and Waldo (the pink bunny) like Ralph Waldo

Emerson. Haha just for fun:)

 This week was full of exchanges. We started Monday night after preparation day and were on

exchanges straight until Friday morning. But it was so good. Such a

week of miracles! The first exchange was great, I was able to go with

sister Nielson and its her first transfer. She's awesome!! She's being

trained by sister Cox!! ( my MTC companion) Wooho. Awesome exchanges with them, then we

had an exchange with the YSA sisters!! Sister Adair(my trainer) and

Sister Harris(sister Freeman's trainer). It was fun to be with our

trainers again and to be able to work! And let me tell ya, we WORKED.

we traded off days with a car  and walked all over Missoula.  We were

tired as all get out but it was a good tired.

Sister Adair,me, Harris and Freeman

Cool miracle with the Zmoleks! Sister Adair and I went by to  say Hi ..and remember R??

The new  step father of the boys?

:) We showed them the bible video of Christ being baptized and talked all about what baptism and

the Holy Ghost are. The spirit was super strong! And Randy opened up

and started asking questions.....long story short, the spirit taught,

we were able to answer his questions with scriptures and Randy asked

if he could get baptized in a river. What?? So cool. It's amazing to

see what the Spirit does when He teaches. And also-miracle--R

somehow got work off and was able to come to church this Sunday for

the first time!! He was able to see the boys be confirmed in sacrament

meeting and stayed ALL 3 hours!! Wow miracles.

And Saturday was Wonderful...a day of wonderful..the baptism!!!!! Holy cow. It's been along road for these boys!

  We did have a little snafu with the programs so there was a little stress there...but we made it with the help of our Elders.

 Long story short…

they haven't seen their father for awhile… The day of the baptism, they met

their father for the first time in over 5 1/2 years. And their father

baptized them. They gained an AMAZING step-mom Jen, an older step

sister, a younger half brother, and 2 sets of amazing grandparents. And with Michelle and her new

wonderful husband R…it was a room full of love and family!

Miracles truly happened this weekend and the hand of the Lord was all

throughout these last few weeks. I feel so incredibly blessed to have

been even just a tiny part of the first few steps of the boys journey.

They're amazing!! Gosh this work is incredible. I love the Lord. I

love this work and I love being on a mission! ❤️❤️

I hope you all can treasure family and love  and the love of our Savior.  It’s a good week J

W/<3                                                                                                         PILLOW FIGHTS WITH SISTER FREEMAN

Sister Hodgson

 

 Michelle was baptized in Helena on Saturday too!
HEIDI RUN !  We all miss sweet Heidi ...she inspires us to try harder and be stronger!

Week 43- Stand and Struggle

Heyy what a week! Haha crazy days over here in the Zoo.

So things are always super crazy, but it doesn't always come off that

crazy in email form...but it was.  So, Monday was a pretty good

preparation day, pretty normal! But that evening got a little crazy.

One of our sisters was getting mid transferred to Wyoming to take the

place of a sick sister who went home, so we drove her half way to

Helena. We made the pass off at a sketchy little shop in the middle of

Garrison Montana(no one knows what that even is) haha. On the way back

we were cruising along in the middle of the mountainous nowhere and

the gas light came on...joy. There was nothing for miles. We

started praying right away and somehow coasted into a little gas

station. Miracles. Find them! Oh and also the Sister's bike couldn't go with

her yet because the other sisters didn't have a bike rack.

The uh oh happened when the sisters who put the bike back on didn't put in on all theway...so on our way back to Missoula, we look through the rear view and and see half the bike hanging off the rack, about to fall off.

Haha so we pulled over real fast and put it back on. And there's not

even a scratch so were good;

Haha Tuesday was fun! We did some festivising in the morning ( it was sister Hodgson’s20TH Birthday !!) It was free cone day at Dairy Queen so we all went there for lunch). It was great. Also thank you all so much for the birthday wishes, cards, boxes and things! It

made my day. You're all the greatest:)

then we went on exchanges…always fun and always eventful.

ALSO-just to add to the craziness we went to go see sister

Z....and guess what, she eloped! It took about 20 minutes then they went to taco johns. Crazy Huh??!!  But we continue to work with R her new husband

haha so good things are gona happen there!

Anyway. We had zone conference on Thursday and that was SO GOOD! I

love seeing President and Sister Wadsworth. We talked a lot about

listening and letting the spirit guide. It was perfect for the things

that we've been working through with the sisters. Gosh missions are

the best. Anyway. Friday was super stressful and things just went

crazy ( sometimes sister stress happens and we are supposed to be helpful J   )and it seemed like one of those beautiful days where everything that could go wrong, did...but in mission speak, that's code for "this stinks right

now, but good things are about to happen!" Haha and Saturday was

manifestation of that.

This picture shows Montana weather...Rain and sunburn in the same day...and picture!!

 So at stake conference last week, this woman gave a talk and told a

story about this really tough time she was having. She got a blessing,

and the in the blessing, the words were said "I command you to stand

and struggle." Wow that hit hard. So on Saturday we were stressing a

little from the day before. ( Haha lots of stress) We said a

companionship prayer and the thing that came to us was to stand and

struggle. So we decided the best thing to do was to get out  and GET To

We also found out that our car registration expired a few months ago...we didn't havethe car then, so who knows what happened hahah but we didn't want to drive an expired thing a ton so we decided to be on foot all day. That was actually SOOO nice to get out and get some sunshine and exercise and get to talk to some people. Little tender mercy. We walked ALLLL OVER and talked to some awesome people. We ended up being able to visit with like everyone we've been trying to visit with! So many

miracles.. And our little miracle for the day...we had in the area book a guy named D.  I had gone by on exchanges but the house was being remodeled and it looked like no one lived there.

So we ment to move him off our list…but I thought she did and she thought I did….hhmmm

So sister Freeman and I were in the area on foot and decided to drop by one last time. Turns out he does live there and

He even texted us  confirming our return appointment. It was way awesome. We're excited to meet with him.

 I just loved the message of "stand and struggle". Life isn't going to

be easy...but the thing that makes it so amazing is that through the

atonement we can stand and struggle. We can keep pushing forward and

learning and growing. I love this gospel, I love my Savior and I love

being a missionary!! Love you lots.

Have a wonderful Easter!

https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

W/<3

Sister Hodgson

Birthday Festivities                                                   Thanks for the fun box mom!

WEEK 42- Staying Sane

 

Staying sane when Pigs fly.................

What a beautiful week my friends. The sun was SHINING! I even got a little sunburnt, it was the best ever. Haha but now it's back to pouring rain and snowing so you know. #montanaweather.

But there are signs of Spring!!

 

Haha well last Monday was great! We all hiked the Missoula "M" and when

we all got to the top we had a little picnic. It was awesome! It was

only part of the zone, but it was great. It was a killer hike (or

actually were all just really out of shape) haha. When we got to the

top we all shared our testimonies and conversion stories. It was

really great. I think sometimes as missionaries we forget each other

are missionaries. We see each other on preparation day and district

meeting and stuff but for some reason I don't feel like we always get

to hear each other's stories and testimonies. It was super

strengthening and it was great bonding time.

 

Anyway, the rest of the week was pretty normal!! Wooho! We've been meeting with K more and she's doing awesome!

She's the sweetest and is doing so good! She lives with her dad during the week and her mom on weekends so she makes sure to bring her Book of Mormon back and forth with her so she can read:)  She's the cutest!  So Sister Z (recently reactivated mother of Raymond and Tyler who are getting baptized the 26th) is now dating her best friends dad....., he's been asking some questions about the gospel! We got to meet him at the boys' birthday party when I first got here too.  He is awesome.

R has been through a lot but he said that he believes that 2016 is a year of good change for him. He's ready to start turning his life around. We were able to teach him

about the restoration and he loved it. He said he felt lots of peace

and comfort as we were talking.

I guess he told sister Z that he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon yet...but she saw his Book of Mormon

in his car a few days later and he's already half way through 1st Nephi...haha wow that's just a testimony to me of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! If we are seeking for guidance and truth, we will find it in the Book of Mormon. No doubt.

Anyway, it's been an amazing week! We've seen so many miracles this week. Another one of those miracles being how much food our tummies can hold. Because of the way things worked out with e-transfers, lessons, meals, etc, we had 8 MEALS on Saturday.  8.  I can honestly say I've never been so full.  Ever.  It was a struggle. But I'm not gonna lie, prayer works ...you know how I said the rest of the week was pretty normal? Psych! We got a call Saturday too about yet ANOTHER mid transfer. Haha oh the joys. ;-)

 Also one more thing, my favorite thing happened on Sunday!

The bishopric forgot to call speakers. So.....that morning in the

middle of ward council, about 30 minutes before sacrament meeting

started, they asked Sister Freeman and I to speak. Haha we love being

missionaries! Haha but thank goodness for the Spirit.

Anyway, it was a great week! We're workin hard and staying

sane(barely;)) but I love every second of it. Missions really are the

best. I love you! Have the best week:)

W/<3

Sister Hodgson

 

 People wonder why I fear /avoid cats???

Sister Freeman and I making it FUN

Ouch!!!