GROWING PAINS WILL BE A REAL THING!!

Hey howdy hey!!!

Welp. The time has come when the baby bird must fly. Hopefully not straight into the ground..... Hah! Jokes.. I hope. But no!! Anticipation is terrible!! We found out that Sister Seely is getting the boot. She is headed all the way down to Antelope. So by the mission office. She is probably going to be biking so that will be great for her. She is stoked but super sad. I am too. She has been an amazing companion and a great trainer! Not to mention we have a blast all day every day!! I learned tons from her. As for me and good Ol' Corning, we are getting an amazing sister!! Her name is Sister Fitzgerald. She was living in the same apartment as Sister Cowden so when I went on exchanges up to Redding I talked to her a little bit and stuff. Sister Seely also went on exchanges with her and said she was amazing and so obedient. I'm super excited! But I will probably only be with her for a transfer. I will let ya know more about her next week! So, please pray for me... I need all the help I can get. Haha. Taking over is so stressful. Especially when "mom" isn't gonna be there!! Haha. Growing pains will be a real thing, but I'm excited to stretch and reach outside of myself more. 

Things are going great!! I watched a guy walk into the lady's restroom and watched him walk right back out with a look of complete awkwardness!! It made my whole day!!  we had 3 funerals in a week!! Dropping like flies... It's terrible!! A lot of people here aren't LDS so an LDS funeral still isn't as LDS as it is in Utah... It's different because the people don't understand or don't know what happens after we die so it's just a terrible experience for them. It makes me sad. But the talk about the Plan of Salvation really touched Margurites heart. She said it is amazing to think that our Heavenly Father has had it all planned out. So! That was awesome!! We also met a few people there. One funeral was a house full of J-dubs... Quite awkward lemme tell ya... Haha. It was good though. They're nice people but it's just awkward when you try to make conversation and they just kind of stare at you.... Gotta love 'em..  our ward is great! They do have some parties sometimes. Mostly linger longers every other month.  I wish they had more but there are some Relief Society activities that come up once in awhile. But they are awesome at fellow shipping and making everyone feel welcome!! They're like a family. 

This week has been a little rough, work wise. But ya know, ups and downs are what missionary work is. Sister Seely was sick so we just hung out at home and weekly planned. We kinda may have passed out for 2 hours. (Not literally mom. Just sleeping.. ) then I got a major headache and so that was great.. It was kind of nice to not do something for a day. But it is better to be busy, trunkiness will set in otherwise. Haha. It was super weird! The day before, in studies I went to put my iPad down on my desk and something tweeked in my arm and then all day, if I moved my hard wrong it would hurt SO BAD!!! Then it started to spread down into my thigh and calf... So that was kind of scary, but don't worry!! All is well now!  I love the power of prayer!! 

But let's talk 'gators! Tianna. We don't really think she is accountable... We can tell she has some kind of disability. But she is still wanting to come to church and ya know, maybe it will help her mom to get more into the church! Who knows! But yeah, we are probably just going to feel it out because at this point we aren't super sure. 

Michelle! Yes momma, she is still planning on moving... So unfortunate, BUT! Hearts change! It has also been hard with her because she has epilepsy which makes it hard for her to remember things. So we have taught the restoration like 3 times and she still doesn't really remember... That's a toughy too. But I'll have to tell ya about Brother Wallace!!! But first! Austin... He is struggling... He didn't come to church because he went out of town with his dad. Which shocked us a little because his dad beat the heck out of him.. But we also found out that he might be moving an hour and a half away to get away from everything here to LIVE WITH HIS DAD!! AHHHH!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!  so... Please pray for him.... 

But today was a great sacrament meeting!! We had a pretty good turn out! We had Margurate and Cam show up and they stayed for 2nd hour then bailed. Then a new investigator Kodi and her niece and nephew with her. Then... This made the whole day!!! So.. We were just sitting here next to Margurate, I happened to look over at the door and guess who is standing there!!!! RON!!! WHAAAT!!! I didn't believe my eyes! We hadn't seen him for like a month!! So he went by and sat on a row on the side. We talked to him after and he came to school then he left. He said he had stuff he had to do... But man... I missed his weirdness. Haha. He is a funny guy.  so that was great!! I took some great selfies for Sister Seely. And yeah, it was just good! We left Ward Council early to see if we could roust the Burrells out of bed... We didn't see them this week because it wasn't going anywhere so we decided to try a different approach. Unfortunately, they still wouldn't come... So that was a bummer.. But ya know. They have to want it. If they don't, we just have to let them go their way and be there when they decide they want it. So... We will be waiting!  

So I will tell you about Brother Wallace, then Kodi. So! We were teaching Michelle and were about to head out and Brother Wallace just had gotten home. We talked with him about his mom because she is trying to get back to church. He said she is working towards the temple. We felt inspired to ask him if he wanted to work towards the temple too. He said that he knows there was something more to life than what he was doing now in life. But for now, he just wanted to start with church. Ahhhh!!! So excited about that! They just need a little push and some love comin their way and they would be back into it. Terrible of me for doubting! Ah!! Terrible person.. Anyway! So! We are going to try to set up a time to meet with the family and Michelle alone during the week. But not this week because he is going to be hunting. So! That was exciting!! 

Now for Kodi! Well, a member, Sister Trapane had us for dinner and she invited her assistant, Kodi to join us. She is super spunky and pretty funny. So we enjoyed her company. We got to know her and apparently she felt comfortable because she wanted to come with us to the Relief Society activity that was right after dinner! So of course, she came and according to Sister Trapane, she couldn't stop talking about it! And she came to church this Sunday, so that was awesome!! They are super nice people. Very simple people. I love them!! 

Here's my thought for this week!! I found this scripture and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! It's Romans 8:16-17-"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." It's just so amazing... But I was thinking about how we actually get to be heirs of God. It is born into our spirits but we have to work for it still. It's not just by good works alone that we receive everything God has though. It is by making and keeping covenants. Sister Seely and I were talking to Emily and Lulu about this yesterday. Covenants are like checkpoints. They are what perfect us and help us make our way back to Him and by keeping them, we are learning to live in a higher way,literally set apart from the world. I find that fascinating... What a merciful Heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He gives us checkpoints, or baby steps as I always say, to help us become and live more and more like He lives, over a lifetime and even beyond that of course. I'm just so grateful for my covenants that I have made and that parents made covenants and the rest of my family too. That's what it going to tie us together throughout the eternities. 

So! Going into more hard core missionary mode here, I want to invite each of you to pray about one way that you can more fully keep your end of the covenants you have made. Whether it be the baptismal covenant or those that we make in the temple, you pray about it, be ready for the answer and work on it. Make it a priority. I promise you that when you do that, each of you will become stronger and you will become, more fully, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. You will be able to more fully reach your potential as a literal child of the Almighty God.  

Well!! That's about it for this week!! Thanks for much for all you do. Especially for the prayers. Y'alls are great! Also, I'm sending home my notes and thoughts and quotes from the whole time I've been here. It's really long... But I just don't want to lose them. But you are welcome to read it if you feel so inclined. It's just some stuff from studies, zone meetings and conferences. But yeah! Pretty cool. But thanks so much!!  love you guys tons! 

Love, 

Sister Hood