WEEK 10- ups and downs, and HOLY COW people have faith!!

Hello familia!!

Family Questions:

I got your package thank you so much! Coconut syrup was YUM!

Yes we have pets here! The dog is Mister and the cat is Nora. Mister is a princess and SO spoiled haha. Nora is "the devils cat" but we love her anyway haha she eats your feet and snuggles up to you then attacks. I have scars on my hands and knees from her! Haha then they have an outside dog named Gus. He is the cutest dog ever.

 

 The Montana state fair was this weekend in Great Falls so we got

permission to go!   We went with Sister

Tonya  and her husband Rashad. She's a member and we have been teaching him and the children ...they're the sweetest! These are 2 of

their 5 children.

 Another crazy week! I feel like every week I'm like "this week was full of ups and downs!" And to be honest, it's sad it's taken me so long to realize this, but THATS EXACTLY HOW LIFE IS. Especially missionary work! There are always gonna be things we wish we did different, situations we pictured going different in our heads, people we wish kept their commitments, etc. all these ups and downs but that's what makes life…. LIFE!

So this week there were a few downs. N is struggling, It's going

to be a long process for her.  People here are rallying around her and supporting her.

We got her a food order and she got a better job though a Ward member ,so slowly.

 We're just focusing on Gods love for her

But we know things will work out. God has a

plan for each of us. We don't always understand but I know things work

out if we put it in His hands.

But as always there were tons of miracles and blessings!

The first one is with B. We met him one day while tracting. We were almost done

and I saw him sitting in his lawn chair and was just like "We need to

go talk to him." So we did! We've been teaching him ever since! He is

THE BEST. This last week we did the word of wisdom. We were a little

worried because he ALWAYS drinks coffee when we teach him. He never

smoked, he doesn't even take his pain meds cause he hates drugs so

much and didn't really drink. But he lovesssss his coffee. We

pulled out the word of wisdom pamphlets.  We mentioned the it told us the

things that God wants us to do to stay healthy and the things that he

asks us to stay away from, right away he goes "wait, coffee is in this

isn't it." Hahah so we had an AWESOME discussion about the word of

wisdom. How we can control what we put into our bodies.

Finally we just asked him "Beau, do

you believe this church is true? Do you believe Joseph Smith  is a

true prophet of God?" He thought for a minute then reached over and

grabbed his cup of coffee and said "this is my last cup of coffee

ever" then poured it out!!!! WOW talk about FAITH!!! Holy cow. It's

moments like this where you can feel the Spirit and SEE the Spirit

testifying to people of the truth of this gospel. Wow!...We all put different things on the alter, we are

so proud of him and his faith .

This is B and sister U . Both of these young women were raised in a home where the parents are members but did not attend church.  The older sister  went to college and attended institute and has come home to teach her sister with us.  What a blessing! She will enter the waters of Baptism the end of this month. It’s a joy to watch lives change.

Another miracle!!  M has been attending church , studying and  He LOVES the gospel but hasn't

committed to baptism.  This week he did!  He So prepared and so ready!! So we're working with him every day this week. He is amazing. Wow. Faith is

incredible. This gospel is incredible. God is incredible.

As always, there are ups and downs but all are needed. And holy cow do

people have faith. Everyone we're meeting with...they're all so

incredible!! Such examples to me of putting trust in the Lord and just

committing and DOING something. Gahh I love missions!!

ahh I love you all. Embrace the ups and downs, have faith, and commit to DO

something and put your heart into it.

With love , Sister Hodgson

week 9- Family!!!

Hey family:)

This week was another amazing week here in the Beautiful MBM ( for those who do not speak BECCA,  Montana Billings mission )!

My testimony was really strengthened of one of most simple but important principles this week:

the gospel blesses families.

We have seen so many miracles in finding and we're currently teaching

lots of amazing individuals but FAMILIES are the "central unit in

society" right? So we LOVE to teach the whole family~!!

We've been working with a sweet woman named J. Her husband

is a member of the church that is not attending. They have 2 kids together and she has been

Meeting with missionaries for a long time, she likes it but….

We meet with her every week but her husband never meets with us.  We had been praying for him to join us and

then  we invited them to have family prayer each

night before bed.

The next  time when we invited her husband to

stay for the lesson he was like "yea actually I will!!" He ran and

grabbed his scriptures and came to sit with us. We had been praying

and praying to know what to teach that  and though it is not popular we came to the conclusion that the Word of Wisdom was the one.

So H  ( J’s husband) says~ "so I decided to quit smoking" WHAT?! WOOHO!

They both have been working hard to quit and their windows are open the room is lighter, the house is cleaner,  They are happier , the music has changed in the home and they are healthier and it all started with kneeling in family prayer.     It was incredible to see!.

H shared how the gospel blessed his family growing up

and how the things that they did as a family strengthened them and how

they can help us all.  Its beautiful to see him REMEMBER.  I LOVE working with this family!!

 

Mommy and Daddy I just have to say how much I really love and

appreciate you both. I have been blessed to grow up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; Reading scriptures, praying, family time, late night talks

on the bed (when you could have been sleeping but instead, took the

time to help, laugh, teach et. all these

things and so much more have blessed and strengthened our family so

much. With everything going on right now it sometimes feels like the

emphasis and importance of family gets tossed out the window. But

FAMILY IS IMPORTANT! And I love you guys.

Also, on Saturday we did a zone "out of the box" finding activity. We did a free car wash! It was super fun. We waved signs and got to talk

to the people whose cars we washed. We handed out proclamations to the

family and talked about how families are ordained of God and a

blessing. We were able to bear our testimonies of the influence of the gospel on our families.

We had dinner at with the W family…The girls built a playhouse from Scratch they are so darling!

 

 Sorry it's scattered today! We spent preparation day at bro baileys

with Kirby making rings!  SO COOL!

 Love you!!! Sister Hodgson

 

week 8 - looking for those "God - slapped- us- in-the-face" moments

 Great Falls take 2

 Transfer calls last night!! Sister Adair and I are staying here in

Great Falls!! We're super happy cause the work is picking up even more

and we just LOVE the people were working with! Our district is the BEST!!

This is Sister Hickman from the Overlook Ward….all the missionaries take pictures with Freddie the Fox….its “Tradition”!!

Cool miracle this week! K (from 4th of July) just got baptized last month. He was meeting with the missionaries for 7 MONTHS before he finally decided he could take that step. He thinks things thru. So K comes to church every week but has never in his life stayed for priesthood. He is nervous about getting the priesthood so he doesn't want to go. We had a lesson with him about the priesthood and the spirit was Incredible. We really talked about what the priesthood is and how it's used to bless others. We talked about how we don't have to be PERFECT.. To be honest I don't even remember everything that was said, but I remember the Spirit that was there. And I think that's how we know that the spirit was the one doing the teaching.

We invited him to commit to staying the full 3 hours for priesthood. Then later in the week he texted and said he had a "God-slapped-me-in-the-face-story" to tell us.  He had decided the challenge was too hard. Then he was walking home from work and there were these 2 cars racing down the street. Right before they got to him a ball bounced from the day care he was walking past into the street and a little girl ran after it. He grabbed her right before

the cars flew past then he went out to get the ball. He looked at the

ball and saw what name was written on it and looked up and said to God

"Really?! Fine I'll go to priesthood!”

Kirby told me that the name on the ball was "Hodgson" and as soon as he saw that, he knew God was telling him the priesthood was important and something he needed to work toward. Something so simple but it really spoke to Kirby and that is exactly what he needed. Its incredible to see how God guides us. I think we've all had "God-slapped-us-in-the-face-stories" and it's just Incredible to know how much God knows each of us personally. He knows

us by name. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our fears, our hopes, what we need help with and when we need a kick to get us moving and becoming the person He needs us to be.

We had exchanges this week with the sister training leaders. I got to go to Helena with Sister Rasmussen for Friday and  spend the night. It was the best!! I've been feeling a little off because I KNOW we could be bearing testimony more! I learned so much about just putting EVERYTHING out there. We were able ask questions, talk with those we met and really testify of how the message of this gospel is unique!  When sister Adair and I were back together we went tracting. And man oh man it was the best ever!! Holy cow I love tracting.

Speaking of COWS…there are quite a lot of them here in MONTANA!

Some amazing blessings this week:

 We met with Sister U from Overlook Ward. Her 15 year old sister has been coming to church to so we will get to help her learn more about what we believe.

We got a phone call from an older man named S. He called and left

a message and said "Ahh it's the missionaries. IM SO EXCITED TO

FINALLY FIND YOUR NUMBER! Please call me back as soon as you get this and we can talk! I've read the Book of Mormon over and over and know it's

true! I need this in my life." He's amazing. R and DL are coming to church with their children now and Loving it!!

Wow. God is incredible

He puts us all where we need to be! My companion and I have had some GREAT talks and we both really are appreciating what we learning from each other. Our strengths and weaknesses complement each other.  Companions are a whole other blessing from the mission.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! I miss you like crazy but I pray for you every morning and night.  Even through the crazy times we learn, stretch and grow! We take those times and do our best to become better missionaries, better people and better children of God. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. It's so Incredible how much they trust us. Watch for those times where God "slaps you in the face" and learn from those. And watch for the miracles in life because I can promise you they are everywhere.

LOVE YOU!!

W/<3

Sister Hodgson