I'M GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK!!

Hey Fam! 

Seriously. These weeks need to slow down or I'm gonna have a heart attack... it's been an interesting week. Amazing things have happened. Heavenly Father has been so good to us, as always. The weather here has chilled out so it's not so stinkin' hot. It was actually a little chilly the other morning! Haha. It was like 64 degrees... pathetic I know. I'm gonna freeze when I get off that plane! 

We had a lot going on this week! We had exchanges, Mission Leadership Council, Facebook coming out, Women's Conference!!! Ahhh!!! It was such a good one. 

We will start with Mission Leadership Council and Face Book. Normally, MLC is the first Thursday of each month. But President thought it necessary to have a special MLC to "council together" (as he always says) about Face Book. It was actually a really cool meeting. We went through a lot of the "safeguards for using technology" booklet thing we have as missionaries. They just talk about how to use our devices while focusing on our purpose and not using your device when you are feeling vulnerable to certain emotions and stuff. President referred to them as our "net" to ensure a safe landing. "When you've been out as long as I have..." you see those safeguards all the time. I never really appreciated them until now. President let us all log in and he told us to just scroll for a second and see how our lives have changed.. My blood pressure shot through the roof. I realized a lot of things.. The world is completely different, everyone's lives are completely different, I'm completely different, and the way I want to use my time is completely different. AH!! So much has changed. It seriously freaks me out. I also realized how easy it would be to slip back into old habits. I think that was the scariest realization... I'm not the same person as before, but slipping back into those habits would kind of undo everything that the Savior has done for me out here. He has made some HUGE improvements and who would I be to undo it all! Ah! No thanks.. anyway, FB is going to be incredible because we will be able to touch people's lives even at home. We can reach so many more people now! I will also be able to keep in touch with more wardies and the people here!! It's awesome!! I'm sure you were a little confused when suddenly things changed on my profile. Haha! That hadn't been touched in over a year and I was more than happy to tweak some things. Now it's very missionary-ish. Haha. I love it!! I can still be in my little bubble! So that's all the fun about FB. 

Exchanges!!! Oh my goodness! It was one of the best exchanges of my mission!!! I got to go "home"!  good ol' Corning. Oh man. Haha. I got to see Brother Pepper. He was a less active who had just gotten clean and sober before we met him. He had a CRAZY divine intervention and then Heavenly Father sent us to him. It was amazing. It was so tender.. the Sisters say he always talked about me and stuff, but I didn't really believe them. It was so cute. He was telling me that he missed me and stuff and he started to cry. He told us about experiences that he had and how grateful he was that Sister Fitz and I knocked on his door. GAHH!! I had no idea we had made that huge of an impact on him... man.. it was amazing. I also got to see the Reid's! Gah!! They're my favorite family in Corning! They are such incredible people. I love them so much.. Sister Reid knew I was coming and insisted on seeing me. The girls didn't know though. So when we knocked on the door and Courtnee saw me, she flipped. Haha. I wasn't expecting that... huge hugs all around!! Ah! I was so happy! They're so amazing. I also got to see another girl I got pretty tight with. Good o'l Lulu! Hahah! We had some good times! I found out her and Courtnee are moving to Provo!!! Woooo!!!! All of my friends will be so close!!! Haha. Saw Sister Knowles! She's kind of a Spunky lady. I love her to pieces! She got a new chihuahua!  And then we got to visit Sister Bingham!! Ah!! She was my favorite! She didn't know I was coming so it was cute to see her excited to see me... man, it was just a day of tender mercies. I knew those people had made a huge impact on me. I count them as my family. It was cool to see that they felt the same, or even more so that way. I didn't realize the kind of impact I made on them.. It was amazing. Then Sister Culley and I got super tight in a like 24 hrs!! Obviously we have known each other for much longer than we remember. Haha. It's totally a thing - best day ever.. 

Women's conference was JUST what I needed. Oh man!! It was so funny, we were sitting in the chapel waiting for it to start, all excited and counting the minutes. Hah! It felt like we were in the theater waiting for some big premiere to start. BUT! This was way better because it's for Heavenly Father!! GAHH!!!! I loved all of the talks. They were so powerful! I love Conference so much!!! It's such s blessing to be able to receive guidance and counsel from our Father in these crazy times.. I have heard a little bit of what is going on in the world and I want to stay under my rock... don't wanna hear it. But it's comforting to know that we are guided by the Lord and the things of the world will have no power of us when we abide in Him and in His love. I find such comfort in that. Man! So much gratitude! 

Something pretty awesome! The spirit taught me something super cool in my studies for District Meeting. I felt prompted to read the "Pray Often" section of the commandments. And in the last 2 paragraphs, it gives us a recipe on how to receive the blessings it lists below! I'll show you what I did in my PMG.. "As we pray with faith, sincerity, and real intent (ingredients), we WILL see God’s influence in our lives. He WILL guide us in our daily lives and help us make good decisions. He WILL bless us with feelings of comfort and peace. He WILL warn us of danger and strengthen us to resist temptation. He WILL forgive our sins. We WILL feel closer to Him. We must learn to recognize His influence in our lives. We must learn to listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit.

We can recognize when the Holy Ghost is teaching us the truth. Our minds WILL be filled with inspiring and uplifting thoughts. We WILL be enlightened, or given new knowledge. Our hearts WILL have feelings of peace, joy, and love. We WILL want to do good and be helpful to others. These feelings are hard to describe but can be recognized as we experience them."

DO YOU SEE ALL THESE BLESSINGS?!?!? Gahhh! They are amazing blessings that our loving Heavenly Father has promised us when we say meaningful, heartfelt, faith filled prayers to Him. He just wants us to be close to Him. He's basically beckoning us so He can bless us. Will we not accept His gift? What greater gift is anyone offering than that of our Father?  So take advantage of it!! It just thought that was amazing. Prayer is such an incredible thing! As I have been working on my prayers and actually have conversations with Him, my relationship with Him has grown so much! I'm so grateful for Him and His love for me, and for each of us.  

I'm sorry if there is weird gap anywhere in here! I left a space to add something else, then I forgot... so I'm sorry. Haha. I love you all though!  have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Hood