AMAZING THINGS!!!

Yo!

Welp, here we are again.. it never ceases to blow my mind how fast weeks go.. I really don't like it because on the 14th I hit my 16 month mark - it made me have a small mental breakdown.. it's fine I'm fine.  

Anywho! I hope all of you are doing well! I heard about the fires.. please no one die. I want to see all of you again!! 

Okay! Lets try this again! Hi, my week was weird. It was one of the most "off" weeks of my mission. I felt like some of  our major events like weekly planning were not on normal days. So. That did a number on me, I think. Haha. I dunno it was just weird. But it was still good and felt somewhat productive.. 

Here's an update on life! 

As for Norman, GAH!! Sometimes I really want to take away peoples agency because we know what's good for them! But... then I have to remember that that's the plan of the Devil.. darn. But we had our lesson with him on Tuesday.  it's hard because we both feel that he has clearly gotten an answer that it's all true, but he's still perched up on that fence too scared to commit.. we were kinda bold as we're talking about committing. He said he's just feeling hesitant. The spirit kinda took hold of my tongue and I was like, "Norman, will you ever not be hesitant?" Haha.. he was a little taken back. He was like "wow.. that was very straight forward..." so it really made him think about it. But it was frustrating though because we never got a real solid answer out of him... his tangents just distract him so much. It was so sad tho because he was telling us about his commitment issues from the past. He had this girlfriend and she wanted him to marry her but he wouldn't commit. So she kicked him to the curb and found a different guy and got married. She's happy now and he is kicking himself because he knows he should've married her.. gah! That broke my heart! He's denying himself his own happiness!! How do we help him see that? I don't know!! We had to take him off date.  We had a lesson with him and it was really good. Heavenly Father smacked me in the face with a good one and He also got Norm! Haha. We asked him what he wanted to do with his date and he thought for a bit and didn't know. So we suggested we pray about it right there. It was super cool. His prayer was so sincere. You can tell he knows who he is talking to. The spirit was really strong because he told Him that he would do whatever He wanted him to do. During the prayer, he actually received revelation! He felt that he needed to go to this little tiny church and thank a lady for a gift she gave him and feel it out there. The spirit told me that's what needs to happen. So I trust Him a million percent. Just pray that Norm recognizes his answer and commits. That's the scary part... He's just a dang dry Mormon for heavens sake! I just love Norm and I want him to have ALL of the happiness he deserves and all the blessings Heavenly Father is dying to give him! It's all just dependent upon him.. so please keep him in your prayers. 

Welp, on a more positive note, we met with Katie this week! It has been a little bit because she is going through really hard times... poor thing.. first, her boyfriends son was in the hospital for a long time with some serious issues, then her really good friend was put into a hospital for something terrible. Then a week or so later, her best friend died in a car accident. Man! My heart goes out to her. Last week she didn't feel up to meeting with us. But she was happy to this week. It was cool because we went in planning to talk about something then when we get there the spirit just takes it and goes. It was super cool. She was telling us how she was feeling and the spirit poked me to offer her a Priesthood blessing. We explained it a little and she was totally open. So we called Elder Clarke and Elder Lloyd to drop by and give her a blessing. It was super powerful because while they were on their way over, we showed her the video called Mountains to Climb and it hit the feels! The spirit was so strong! We testified that the Savior knew her and the He suffered in Gethsemane FOR HER at that very moment when she thought it was too much to handle...  Ah! I just love testifying of that because there's nothing that brings more of the spirit than testifying of the Atonement. So the Elders showed up and gave her a beautiful blessing. We talked about it a little after they left and asked her how she felt. She said she just felt so much peace and relief and she knew exactly where it came from! Super cool! It seemed like she felt a ton better. So that was a miracle! I can't even express how deep my gratitude goes for the priesthood and especially for those who are worthy and willing to exercises that authority. There are very few things that have touched my life more than the power of the priesthood. 

We also met with Gabe! He's so cool! Haha. We talked with him a lot about temptations and stuff that he is dealing with. It was very eye opening for me because some of the things he was struggling with are because of the choices others make. In turn it makes it hard for him to resist and avoid temptation. Did that make sense.. it made me more aware of my actions and stuff because I never wanna be a cause for someone to be tempted because of what I'm doing.. ya know? Man! Very enlightening. But he is so solid! He prays ALL the time! He's always looking for ways to grow and learn. He's just a little sponge! There's a lot of things that I can learn from him haha. I'm so proud of him. 


Amazing things!!! So good old finding time! We went out Saturday morning heading to hit up this new move-in a wardie gave us. Well, turns out that she didn't live there. But we talked to Dominic who just moved in like 2 weeks ago! GAHH!!!! It was so amazing! He was SO open to it. We asked him about his background. He talked about really wanting to be closer to God. He feels like he needs that in his life. He also said he had been looking for a church to get involved in! It was super tender. So basically just laid out the Restoration there on the side of the road! Man! It's crazy that the spirit can be so strong even testifying in the most random, typical places! Ya know what I mean? Oh man. It was so cool. He was super excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn more. SO BLESSED!!! I can't even handle it. Heavenly Father is way to good to us! 

So ya know how we're doing the 30 fast thing in our ward? Well.. we are. Haha. Miracles are starting to come from that! So at our ward party on Saturday, Katlyn (she's like 14) came up to us about this crazy experience she had! So this girl that she want even super close with just started talking to her about life. She expressed some mistakes that she has made and really wants to fix it. Katlyn told her all about the Atonement and that the Savior loves her. It was amazing because Kathy could feel the adversary right there as they were talking! But the girl told her that she is super interested in the church and really wants to learn more.. GAHHHH!!!!! Fasting is such a real thing.. oh my goodness! The only problem we might run into is this girls parents are religious and may not be stoked about her looking into the church. BUT! I have complete faith that Heavenly Father has it all worked out! If she's ready, it will all just work out! But yeah! That was super cool!!! 

This week we did a lot of prep for zone conference! Woo woo!! I love zone Conference! I'm always so edified there! I have always come away with something a deepened testimony and deeper commitment to be more diligent and obedient! I love it!! Like I mentioned last week, the topic for this month is obedience. So as Elder Lloyd, Elder Clarke and I talked about our zone and what they need, we came to the confusion that there's things we all need to sacrifice for the mission. Of course, we all have coming out here. But some have picked those things back up. I know I have done that so many times throughout the mission. It's hard to put things aside sometimes. But it was clearly all inspiration because everything came together perfectly. During Missionary Leader Council, we were talking about this and a little thing that Sister Seely and I did way back when I was training came to mind. (Shout out! Love ya "mom") As we were reading the talk called the Fourth Missionary, it talks about putting all of your desires, wishes, hopes and dreams in a box and leaving it home. Well, we decided to do something kind of similar. We got little mason jars and wrote all of those things down. My jar is very full.. haha. I have added to it over my mission because my desires and my dreams have changed. But they are still considered after mission stuff! Anyway, we decided this would be PERFECT for what we wanted to express to our zone. As I was pondering on all of it one day during studies, I have this adorable picture that was sent to me by my favoritest sister ever! (Shout out!) I'll attach it because it's perfect! It's just illustrating the blessings Heavenly Father has for us if we are willing to sacrifice when He asks us to. So we printed out these cute little pictures and went all crafty on it and made our elders these cute jars. Then in our break out session in Zone Conference, we talked about the Savior and His sacrifice for each of us. We posed the question: "Since He literally sacrificed literally everything for you, what are you willing to sacrifice for Him?" Then we had then do their little thing and write things they want to give up. It was super cool. It all went to well! #Blessed! 

I'll tell ya something SUPER powerful that happened at Zone Conference! So they call missionaries up to speak. One sister was called up. She's adorable, I love her. But she talked about how she felt like this is what Heavenly Father inspired her to talk about. And that was praying often. Dude, this talk was written for me... since I left Chico my prayers have been lacking in comparison to how they were there. I was SO close to Him, I could feel it ALL the time. But since I got here, it has all kinda gone down hill. I still pray often and everything. I just haven't been updating Him and telling Him how I'm feeling for reals personally. So as Sister Cully was speaking, the spirit literally spoke words to my mind letting me know Heavenly Father has missed our heart-to-hearts and our one-on-one time. I literally left that. It was sooo powerful. It actually made me cry because I realized I had distanced myself from Him unintentionally... so my dear family, always remember that Heavenly Father looks forward to hearing from you. He longs to be a part of our lives. He wants to hear what we are really feeling and struggling with. But especially our successes!! I have felt Him rejoice with me as something huge happens or He blesses us with miracles, but as we know, He also cries with us.. something I really liked that Sister Cully said was that it's okay to get a little heated in your prayers sometimes. If He can't take it, who can! He wants us to be real with Him. After all, He knows if we are being real or not. And when we aren't, that's when we distance ourselves from Him! So yeah.. that's something I will be working on. It was quite the spirit slap. I really needed it though. I'm so grateful for those! 

I got to see Sister Whitesell!!!! GAH! I love her a lot! Man, I can't believe it's only been 3 weeks since I have seen her last... it literally felt like 4 months.. haha. I'm so proud of her! She told me about some experiences she has had where she had her own little "radar moments", as we call them. While we were together, I would just get these spirit pokes to go down a random street to a random house and somehow that's exactly where we needed to be! Ah!! I thrived off of those! But she was worried when she kicked me out that she wasn't going to be able to be lead by the spirit like that. BUT SHE IS!! GAHH!! Such a proud mama! She's had several of those experiences and found a bunch of new people, not to mention she is throwing down (with the spirit) on Diane and other people that we have been working on for months. Ah! So awesome! 

Here's a funny for ya! During our Planning session with the Zone Leader's for Zone Conference, we decided we would grab some lunch and continue our planning session. We get to In n Out and we are all stoked to eat! Something you should know though is Sister Dee has a rough time with parking. Haha! It's really funny. So she parked and took up ALL of the spots and so I got out, doing my best to be obedient (which clearly backfired..), to back her so she could fix it. Well, obviously In n Out is always busy because it's delicious. So I was standing out  here behind the car (mistake #1), waiting for this truck to pass. Next thing I know, I feel a strong nudge upon my body! The little alarm in my brain went off! I automatically started to squawk and smack the car, hoping before I became engulfed by our silver beast, that she would wonder what the racket was all about and stop the car! It was only after a good few seconds that she realized that she almost maimed her companion.. Yes, I can officially say I got hit by a car on my mission!.. by my companion.. the best part about the whole thing is the Zone Leaders were watching this whole thing play out less than 10 ft away! ALL THEY DID WAS LAUGH... thank you, dear leaders for your concern for Sister Hood's safety.. we might as well always have the classic circus music playing in the background. Luckily though, no missionaries were harmed in the making of this memory. Sister Dee really is a good driver. These things just happen sometimes. Haha! The lesson learned from this experience is stay at least 10 ft from the vehicle at all times.. 

So that's life these days! A thousand apologies for the ridiculous amount of words.... I guess I'm just always long- winded.. thank for all you guys do. I miss all of you a lot! I look forward to the day I get to catch up with y'all! BUT! Until then, I will continue to thrust in my sickle! Can't stop, won't stop! Love y'all! You're in my prayers! 

Love,
Sister Hood

Ps.. sorry mom. Couldn't help the subject. Gotta give ya a heart attack even now! Love ya!

PPS... last funny story.. so today we were hiking up to a waterfall but we were walking along a stream getting up to it. So I was just taking pictures and stuff. Then there was this big rock that I thought I could billy goat onto to get back up to the trail instead of going around! Well, you see, I should really learn that these things are not smart for someone as clumsy as I am...Hahah! So I started climbing up and my shoes started slipping out from under me! So I just started screaming and sliding down the rock on my belly. It was exactly like in Lion King when Mufasa is like "SCAR! Brother! Help me!" Thank goodness they didn't let me fall into the river.. Elder Ellsworth pulled me up! But it  as just hilarious! It was like a PERFECT Lion King moment. The best part was at that right as Elder Ellsworth pulled me up again, my foot hit a ledge and I was able to stand up... those awkward, dramatic moments, though.