I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK!!

Hey!!

Well! This week has been a week full of celebrating!! On Tuesday, Sister Baum and I both hit our 9 Months (till we go home) mark! I can't even believe that... oh my goodness. It blows my mind!! To celebrate we had Zone Conference! Wooo!!! Haha. Jus kiddin.. we took some funny pictures! 

We also had a ton of fun on Saturday for my Birthday! I can't believe I'm 20.... I feel old... mission wise and age wise! I was telling Sister Baum that and she was like you really aren't though because we are eternal beings so we are forever young!! I though that was super cool! She has some deep thoughts! Man... Anywho! Lemme tell y'all about my birthday! So! First thing we studied and then I opened all my packages! (thank you so much for those btw!) Then while we were getting ready, Baum burnt the heck outta her finger while she was curling her hair. So the first part of the day we were just worrying about her wounds! Poor Baumski...We didn't have Aloe Vera so we called our ZL's (Dean and Clarke) and the first thing they did was sing to me over the phone.  it was beautiful.. lemme tell ya!!  they're so funny! They brought us some aloe and some utter ointment stuff that Elder Dean swears by!  soo gross... Then Baum and I went to visit some people who were not home...  Before we knew it, it was time to go to Red Robin to put our name on the list because that's where we wanted to go because we wanted some good 'Merican food!  We invited the Zone too. 6 of them should up so it was pretty fun! They sang at me because Elder Jones MADE SURE they knew it was my birthday..  but hey! I got free ice cream out of it so it's fine! Then Baum announced that I still had to do my birthday dance to send home to you guys because I told her it's tradition! So I did the birthday dance in the parking lot!  So that was an adventure! Then we came home to plan our lesson for YSA gospel principles and the next thing we know the ZL's are calling and wanted to bring over a "birthday present" and they said they were be there in like 2 minutes. So our door has a window we have covered with paper. As Clarke was walking up to the door, we shut off all the lights and smashed our faces to the window and it scared the crap outta him!  we were dying! It was super funny! And it turns out that the "birthday present" was lasagna that their bishop gave them that they didn't want... jee thanks Elders..  They thought they were pretty funny! But yeah! That was my birthday! It was an awesome day! 

HUGE SHOUT OUT to the RS Sisters for the AWESOME birthday card ~ Many thanks to you all!!!  It's nice to be remembered from those at home ~ I FEEL LOVED!!

We also had Zone Conference on Tuesday!! That was awesome! It was the first one I didn't speak at! Haha. So nice...  it was awesome though. We just talked a lot about the Teaching repentance and Baptizing converts! Who knew! Haha... its always good though! I love Zone Conference. I also got sung at there too.  

Work-wise, it was a little rough. Haha. Here's our lessons for the week:

Becky: 

So first you must know that we hadn't been able to get a hold of her since she got back from Seattle... and it is apparent that things didn't go well... we don't know exactly what happened yet but she is really struggling. We finally got to see her on Wednesday and she was completely broken and not at all herself. 

We asked about how things and were. She is going thru some hard times that she didn't want to talk about. So we just let her know that the Savior is aware of her and knows what she is feeling. Shared Alma 37:36-37 and prayer and Proverbs 3:5-6 about leaning on the Lord. She didn't have much to say so we just invited her read and pray, left her with a prayer. 

She came to church! She's coming around again. 

Jessica: (the girl who just walked into church): 

We talked to her about how she liked church and everything. She said she really liked it. And she wants to go again. We invited her to the YSA. She said she will probably be there. We shared the Restoration. Invited her to be baptized. She said she wanted to still figure out the truth. She felt like God changes and so we tried to explain that He is the same. She said she felt like He changes with the world... We invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She really wants to follow Jesus Christ. We promised her that this is His plan for her. And that she would have a desire to be baptized because she will know that that is how she can be close to the Savior. It was really good. The spirit was there. 

This was an interesting lesson.... she was very open with us about her life experiences and her previous lifestyle. She is really wanting to learn and follow the Savior so we will keep meeting with her!  

She did come to church, just to a different ward.. haha. It is seeming like she likes to float around and do her own thing... so this will get interesting. Haha  

Gabby:

We asked if she had time to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. She said she didn't because her week was too crazy. We read it with her. She thought it was really interesting. The witnesses really caught her attention. She read through the 3 witness one and commented how it was super interesting. She said she would read the other one and the intro to really digest it. It was good though. The spirit was definitely working in her!  

Maria: 

This was in Spanish and I'm still not fluent so I only understand a little bit. Haha. So as far as I know, we just talked with her about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She still doesn't know and she was kinda being a little defensive and brought up that scripture in Revelations about how anyone who adds to the book will have the wrath of God upon them or something. That is something that all Jehovah's Witnesses bring.. But that's not even a valid argument because we know that revelations was the first book written in the Bible... so if that was the case the whole Bible would be void.. when John wrote that he meant added to the Book of Revelations.. this is just "my Doctrine" I can back this up, just by the way! I'll add a quote in from Elder Holland. But we asked if she was kneeling as she was praying and she said no. So that's part of problem.. we also don't know if there is more to the story. She may not even be willing to act on the answer yet. So we will just keep working with her. 

Here's that quote from Elder Holland:

"One of the arguments often used in any defense of a closed canon is the New Testament passage recorded in Revelation 22:18: ‘For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of … this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.’ However, there is now overwhelming consensus among virtually all biblical scholars that this verse applies only to the book of Revelation, not the whole Bible. Those scholars of our day acknowledge a number of New Testament ‘books’ that were almost certainly written after John’s revelation on the Isle of Patmos was received. Included in this category are at least the books of Jude, the three Epistles of John, and probably the entire Gospel of John itself. Perhaps there are even more than these.

“But there is a simpler answer as to why that passage in the final book of the current New Testament cannot apply to the whole Bible. That is because the whole Bible as we know it--one collection of texts bound in a single volume--did not exist when that verse was written. For centuries after John produced his writing, the individual books of the New Testament were in circulation singly or perhaps in combinations with a few other texts but almost never as a complete collection. Of the entire corpus of 5,366 known Greek New Testament manuscripts, only 35 contain the whole New Testament as we now know it, and 34 of those were compiled after A.D. 1000” (“My Words … Never Cease,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2008, 91–92).

So that's just an interesting little detail there.  it only matters a little... haha. 

Blanca Andrade:

This is a different Blanca, by the way. This is a less active that a member referred us to. We talked with her about Heavenly Father and church. Again, it was in Spanish so I must just smiled and nodded.. hahah! I know Hermana Perez is a HUGE life saver... let me tell ya. For both Maria and Blanca. She is going to pick up some of Blancas family so they can make it to church this week. That's why they didn't show up last week. So that's good to know..  Her son hasn't been baptized yet so Blanca wanted us to start working with him and her aunt is not a member either but would be taught ONLY if it's out of the Bible...  Little do people know there's more of Gods word a take in.. so that's good! We will work on that! They were 2 of our 3 new 'gators for the week!  

She, her aunt and her kids came to church!! They were 2 of our 5 'gators at church! 

Samantha Rincón: (our 3rd new 'gator!) 

Stopped by to see Isabel but Samantha answered. She is super cute and kind of shy. Asked if she wanted to see a video about Christ. She said yes. We shared Hallelujah. She said she liked how it talked about living forever. We talked about how we can live forever in families with Heavenly Father. We invited her to meet with us next week. 

That's was our week! Pretty good! Just trying to work with people and answer their questions. It's always interesting especially when it's in Spanish.  I love the Latin culture though! They're so kind and so generous! They are so Christlike! In our culture, it's not as common as it is in there's.  

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! It helped make my birthday awesome!  I'm so grateful for the gospel! It blows me away everyday how loving and merciful our Heavenly Father has been. Especially to allow us to be born into or to have grown up in the Gospel. I also appreciate the Utah bubble more and more. Haha. I know the Gospel is the only way to return to our Heavenly Father and be perfected through our Big Brother, Jesus Christ. I love Him and my Heavenly Father more than anything. I know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that is helps us conquer temptation. We can withstand Satan's fiery darts when we armor up by reading the Book of Mormon daily. There's is SUCH power in that book. I know that it is the word of God. I know Heavenly Father loves each of you. You are His child. He is always going to be there like a perfect father would be. I know that when we pray to Him we will always be able to feel His love and know He is there as we open our heart and mind to the spirit.  There is no doubt in my mind that God has a plan for each of us, as individuals and as His eternal family.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I invite all of you to come to know Him deeper by reading about His life trying to be like Him. I know it will not be a waste of your time to get to know Him intimately. He lives and He loves you! 

I love you guys! Have an amazing week! Thanks again for an awesome birthday!  

Love, 

Sister Hood

 Let Him shine through you!

WE MADE IT TO OUR 9 MONTH MARK!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER BAUM

9 MONTHS IN THE MISSION ~ IT'S BEEN AMAZING!!
SISTER HOOD

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY TO ME!!
MY ZONE

OH YUM!! MY FREE BIRTHDAY SURPRISE!!
SISTER HOOD

WE KILLED OUR GOALS!!

Hey guys!!

This week has been a really good week!! We have been super diligent and working hard! Ah! So great. We killed our goals and it was awesome!! We went tracting in Roseville when it was super rainy! And of course, we took a selfie!  

We also had some great fun! Here's some funny stories for the week! So while we were tracting in the rain, I was walking on the sidewalk with an umbrella, there was a tree branch in the way. So naturally, I used my umbrella to push it out of the way and let it go behind me! Well! Hahah!! I turned around to see where Baum was and I looked back to see her get smacked in the face with a soaked branch!  Luckily, it was just a fluffy branch so it didn't hurt her. Haha. She was just a little damp!  Then! We went to Rio Linda to see Julisa and there were these HUGE puddles! It was super flooded! So I told Baum to go jump in one because she had her nice rain boots! So she did!  best thing ever! I will probably send a couple videos! Haha. That's all I can think of for now that are worth sharing! There's lots of funny things, they are just had to be there moments. Haha. 

 

Here's a few of our lessons for the week! 

Robert (A NEW ONE!) 

He was such a nice guy!! Very talkative! He said he has an employee that is LDS and some customers so he has had a pretty good experience over all. He was telling us about his past struggles with his dad and how he committed suicide because he was confined in a wheelchair. He was the one to find his dad afterwards. He said it was so hard for him. We talked about how the Savior knows exactly what he felt and what his dad felt. We told him that his dad would one day have a perfect body again.. We bore testimony that Heavenly Father and Jesus love him so much and that he is a son of God. We also showed him Hallelujah. He liked it. But we mostly just talked about his life and about his employee, Brandon and his problems. Robert mentioned that he was atheist but he was raised Catholic but he rejected it because it was slammed down his throat. He was really open though and said we could come back at the beginning of next month because he will be out of town for awhile. 

Julisa and Blanca:

Finally got to see them again! Asked how everything is going. She said she still says her prayers. We invited her to soccer on Wednesday and she said she doesn't like people so she probably won't go.. Blanca said they were just going to start reading the BOOK OF MORMON all the way through today. We asked Julisa about how she felt when she prayed and read. She said she felt "good". So we asked her to elaborate. We shared Galatians 5:4 with her. She said she felt peace. Talked about the role of the spirit. We talked about enduring to the end also. We shared Hope of Gods Light. They really liked it. We talked about how we need to act on our faith. Talked about the Light of Christ. Julisa asked what she would do if it's too hard to find the light, talked about how no matter how far we have gotten from God, it only takes 1 step to get back to Him. We told her praying, reading and coming to church are ways she can find the light. She seems to want it but we don't know if she is going to act... 

She didn't come to church.........  but Blanca and her other daughter did so that was good at least.. haha. 

Maria:

We showed her "the hope of Gods light" video, she seemed to really like it and said that she hasn't really been feeling the spirit a lot in her life recently and she wants to feel it more. She said she felt the spirit a little bit at church, but she didn't seem to really like the testimonies. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and she has some questions and wants to know where it talks about the plates in the Bible also where it talks about Nephi and his family in the Bible. We told her we would research it and get back to her. She didn't get down on her knees and pray about the Book of Mormon like Hermana Perez asked her to. So we invited her to do that again. We invited her to pray before she reads and after she reads and pay attention to what she feels. She said she would. Right now she really just needs to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon because she thinks it is just a book and that it doesn't compare to the Bible. She doesn't believe yet that it is the word of God. 

She also came to church with her little girl, Kimberly!! They both really liked it!!  YAAAYYYY!!!!

Isabel (A NEW ONE!):

Met her trying to contact a less-active. She was really nice. We talked to her about the Book Of Mormon. She said she had heard of it and had one. She believes it testifies of Jesus Christ. She said she had to go pick up her son from school. Asked if we could come back. She asked for our number. We will just stop by next week. 

Beatrice and Daisy:

Walked up to them in their garage and asked if we could share a message. They were super kind and welcomed it. We shared Because of Him. Talked about how everything we have is because of Him. Daisy just described knowing a God exists by saying "He is like oxygen. Just because you can't see Him doesn't mean you don't need Him." We talked all about faith and the Atonement. Invited them to meet with us but they live in San Francisco. But they said the people they are staying with might be interested. Gave them a card and invited them to go to LDS.org. 

Blanca Andrade:

A member in our ward let us know that she just recently moved here from somewhere else in Cali but is originally from Mexico. We got to know her a little bit. Shared about the Book Of Mormon and church. Invited her to come. She said she would but didn't come... Her aunt and her sister were there too! They seemed interested, especially her aunt. So we will go try to hunt them down this week!! ️

Jessica (MIRACLE OF THE WEEK!!):

She asked us what we do as missionaries. We talked about how we just invite people to come closer to Christ and add to the truth they already know. She was there through Gospel Principles and really enjoyed it. Asked if we could visit her. She gave us her information and we set an appointment with her! 

She literally just walked into the Spanish ward... haha. I had been praying for new 'gators! Especially for the YSA because that's rare! I didn't expect them to just walk into church... haha!  Heavenly Father is so merciful!! 

So those are some highlights of the week!! We also went to a stake MCM meeting because our Stake President wanted to have us there too. ️ so that was good! We got to see President! YAAAYY!!! We love President!  I also taught at Zone Meeting so that was interesting... haha. I was kinda all over the place but it's fine, I'm fine. Haha. ️ 

Well peeps! It's been real! Life is great! God is good! Have an amazing week! 

Love, 

Sister Hood

Ps... here's just a few gems! ️