Hey Fam!
Welp, there went the last week of the transfer... can't believe it. It was a pretty good week. As you could tell by my subject, I was dying. My allergies came out of nowhere! I don't think I have ever had them this bad! I woke up the other morning and thought I was going to die! Ain't nobody got time for that! So I just drugged myself and carried on! Hah! Not the most productive day, we did did have lessons so that was good! Everything else has been pretty good.
It is transfer week! It's crazy to think that if I didn't break my foot, I would hopping on that plane tomorrow! But! I'M NOT DEAD YET! I have tons of life left in me. 6 weeks of if! I'm pumped to see all of the incredible mercies Heavenly Father is about to bless us with! He has blessed us so much, but I have a feeling He's just gonna dump it all out. Sister Dee is gonna be killin' me off! We're going to see so many miracles here! I'm excited!
We did have miracles this week! As usual! He never ceases to amaze me with His handy work! It's so awesome! Gah! I love Him! Anyway.. our miracles were awesome. We were sent on a spiritual scavenger hunt the other day! Those are my favorite! Haha! This is how it went down.. we decided to see Max and Jack, the 2 teenage boys that tracted into and gave them a Book of Mormon. Max was there but Jack wasn't. We talked to him and he went in to get his mom. So she comes out and she's super cool. Turns out that she had met with missionaries a couple years ago. She liked what we taught, but for some reason didn't follow through with it. She told us that she goes to her own little church that she loves. She doesn't drag her kids though, because she wants them to choose for themselves! (Answered prayer right there, everyone! We have to have permission to teach minors) So we shared Prince of Peace with her and she loved it, so did Max! She has a super strong testimony of the Savior, which is amazing! Set a time to come back. Then we were headed to see Kenny, another 'gator we found a couple weeks ago. But it didn't feel right. So we just started driving and the spirit poked me to see Dominic, who we met a couple weeks ago but our appointment with him fell through.. as we were walking up to his door, the spirit poked me super hard to hit their neighbor after. So knocked on Dominic's door and met his buddy Jose! He was super cool but Catholic through and through! Not interested though. So! We went over to the neighbors. It was the coolest thing ever.. This lady answers the door. She was SO NICE! People are never this nice.. haha. We let her know we would like to share a message with her about Jesus Christ. She was super excited about, the only problem was is that it was their dinner time. But she invited us back and IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! Haha... yes, it's surprising sometimes! But it was one of THE most powerful lessons I have ever had on my mission. I can't even express to you how strong the spirit was and how much love I felt for this lady. It was unreal! But here's kinda what went down. Sorry it won't do it justice, because words never could. It was still pretty cool though.
Julie:
Before we went in, we went to grab restoration pamphlets, since that's what we had planned. But the spirit poked me to grab a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and a Family Proclamation. So we rolled with it. It was probably the best Plan of Salvation lesson ever! She invited us in and we got to know her. She was baptized in another church and grew up that way, but she said it was way too hard to understand so she just fell away from it. She believes in Christ and a life after death. Her son was murdered a few months ago so she has been going thru a lot. We talked about us having a message of hope and peace that can only be found here. She understood it all very well. She thought it was interesting that there's a spirit world and the kingdoms of glory. It sounded like she believed it was true. We talked about the Atonement and testified of its reality. Promised that He could heal her and has felt EVERY pain she has felt. It was SUCH a powerful moment! The spirit was SO strong! She felt it and started to cry. We talked about temples and family history which was interesting to her. She didn't get a chance to read the intro, but we read with her. Talked about the promise and bore testimony. Again, it was SUPER powerful! Invited her to pray about the Book of Mormon and the Plan. Invited her to read 2 Nephi 29, in prep for the restoration. She is so amazing! It was awesome!
Norman:
We talked about a ton with Norm. we talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Shared Testimony of the Book of Mormon. He thought it was very powerful. He believes that Joseph was sincere and that that the first vision could've happened. He said it was very likely. The things he has concerns about are more deep doctrine. We told him that he just needs to focus on the basics. That's what really matters. He asked a lot of questions about the Spirit. We explained that we feel it differently, but some ways are the same. Followed up about loving God. He said that has been consuming him lately. We asked him if he loves God. He was a little taken back because of the directness of that question. He said he thinks he does. We talked about how that shows true love for God, when we follow Him. Talked about sacrificing things. He expressed some fears: his family's acceptance, his concerns being resolved, giving his time to the church, etc. we told him that those concerns can be resolved as he makes the step of baptism. He asked why he needs to be baptized. We explained the importance of covenants. He understood better. He said he loves the ward and everything. He just wants to pray about Gods will for him. He said he will come with an answer if it's for him or not next time. Also told him we would remind him to read 3 Nephi and pray everyday. It was a good lesson! He's coming along,slowly but surely.
Family, I'm sorry. This is about all for this week! My iPad is going to die and so is my motivation.. haha! I love y'all though, so I will just finish up with a spiritual thought! For my spiritual thought of the week, I decided to pick one of the things that stuck out to me during Conference. Surprise, surprise. It was so amazing that we get to hear the voice of the Lord through His chosen men and women. Ah! I love it! One of the things that stuck out to me was from Elder Bednar's talk! He said something like this: "Sometimes we try to run so fast, we forget where we're going and why we are running!" That really struck me... The spirit smacked me and told me to stop doing that! Haha. He's right though! What's the point of running if you're completely missing your main purpose! DUH!! *face palm* I need to remember why I'm running. Not JUST to get to the end, but to help people get to THEIR end and be an instrument for Heavenly Father So check yourselves!! Are you running for His purpose or your own? Interesting stuff to think about, huh. That was just one of my many spiritual slaps from Conference! Hopefully it made sense to you because it made sense in my head!
Thank you for the prayers! I have been feeling it big time. Have great week!
Love,
Sister Hood!
California Roseville Mission
Sister Jazzie Hood
Monday, October 2, 2017
CONFERENCE PHOTOS
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| Sista's Cruz'in To Conference Sister Hood & Sister Dee |
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| CONFERENCE BUDDIES ~ LOV'EM ALL SO MUCH!! |
Monday, September 25, 2017
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
PHOTOS FOR YOUR PLEASURE & ENJOYMENT!!
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| MY MTC FAMILY!! |
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| One of My Favorite Ladies!! Sister Hood & Sister Bingham |
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| Meet Bro.Pep ~ He's AWESOME!! Sister Hood & Bro. Pep |
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| Love them SO MUCH!! Lulu ~ Sister Culley & Sister Hood |
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| Home Away From HOME!! Sister Reid & Sister Hood |
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| LOVE THESE GIRLS!! Courtnee ~ Sister Hood ~ Emily |
Monday, September 18, 2017
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.
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.
PHOTOS FOR YOUR PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT!!
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| MEET MR. RICE PAD ~ HE'S A BEAVER ~ KEEPS US WARM AND SOOTHES OUR PAIN!! SISTER DEE & SISTER HOOD |
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| PDAY WITH THE ZONE!! ELDER'S WITH SISTER DEE & SISTER HOOD |
Monday, September 11, 2017
District finding time=ALL OF THE MIRACLES!!
Well hello there! 🤗
It has been an interesting week! It has been kind of a weird one! A lot of people have bailed on us or just fallen off the face of the earth.. haha. Typical missionary work! But we did see some awesome things happen! Aw! My heart was so full this week! 💖 I'm so stoked to tell y'all about it! 😃
We had an awesome Book of Mormon class! Gabe came! He was baptized in December. He is awesome! We had a super cool conversation about Mosiah 2! We talked about how we are forever indebted to our Savior for His sacrifice. In that chapter, King Benjamin is talking about being indebted forever because when we keep a commandment trying to repay Him He just blesses us, and there we are back to square one! Haha. It's kinda funny to me.. 🙃 I believe He just laughs as we try to repay Him because we are like "DANG IT! How am I going to pay this one back?". I have found myself doing that all the time! Sometimes the blessings are just too great and you don't know how to accept them! I know, especially on my mission, that I have felt that! Man! Way too much joy and gratitude to fit into one little me! Haha. I love Him so much!!
Tuesday we had District Meeting! It was so cool. So we studied chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It talks about our purpose as missionaries and how we can be successful in fulfilling that purpose. So my awesome District Leader, Elder Smyth invited us all to share what OUR purpose was individually when we came out. I don't remember a lot of what I said, which is good because it was lead by the spirit. It's funny when you learn things about your own feelings.. haha! But I remembered talking about how much I loved being a missionary and how I have seen that I was sent to Northern California for a reason. Correction: ALL OF THE REASONS! There's so many things I have been able to do to help people come unto Christ. And in the process, my testimony has grown exponentially and I could never ever turn away from anything in the gospel. I simply know too much. Ah! I can't even experience to you how I feel about missionary work...I couldn't at District Meeting either. It has become who I am. I feel like this is one of my sole purposes in coming to this earth: to be a missionary. It was just such a powerful realization of why I'm here and what all these experiences and hardships and miracles have added up to. I have pondering on that a lot this week. I can feel that the mission has passed thru me, instead of me passing through it. It's really incredible. I'm so grateful for the spirit and how it guides me to understand my own feelings and thoughts. Haha.
Well! I got to go to Mission Leadership Council again! Aw, I missed it! I got to see so many homies!! Gah! I love them all so much! It was great to be able to be counseled by President and Sister Ward and the AP's. I look up to them so much! This month we are really focusing on obedience! It's kinda funny to see the other missionary's reaction. Haha. We were all like "ohhh boy! He's gonna throw down!" But he only chastised us a little. It's always good to get a smack on the wrist, if you will. It was just very uplifting and made me realize that I'm falling short in a lot of areas! Ah! So stressful! But thank goodness for my Big Brother! Man, do I need Him. Something else that was super cool. President talked about missionaries who are going home. He said that we need to go through the last stretch of our mission like nobody knows.He talked about how at the end of a race, you don't slow up through the finish line. You SPRINT through that line.
On Friday, we left weekly Planning to contact Shalimar. She is one of the new 'gators we picked up my first week here. We have run into her a couple times, but none of those times were good to actually have a lesson with her. So we wanted to try again. We get there, she doesn't answer. So we tried a couple other people but nothing. So we decided to head back to the church to finish planning. As we tried to start the car, the key wouldn't even turn in the ignition... it was super weird. So we messed with it and nothing.. so the next thing sisters always do in a time of confusion and distress (especially when the situation involves cars) is call the Elders. Hah! We let them know what was happening so they came to rescue s. What would we do without our awesome Zone Leader's! 😁 Well, in the meantime, I saw this as a PRIME opportunity to tract and work the area a little bit since we haven't really done too much this week. So! I jumped on it. I was not going to waste this time.. The first 3 doors we knocked, nothing. Then I felt prompted to knock the second floor of the complex next to Shalimar's.
We had knocked most of this one before except for those 4 doors! So that's where we went! The first door we knocked on, we met Sarah! She opened the door and said "hi! I'm a member but I'm going to work right now!" Well, haha. We were a little taken back because it's always interesting when you tract into members you didn't know existed, let alone lived there. Haha. we talked for a second. She said she would love to meet with us and get back into it. She has been going through some stuff and could really use the gospel at this point. Her husband is not a member but he's huge but super nice. haha. So that was awesome!!!! We set a time for Wednesday to see her again. She was kind of a little sporadic.. it made me wonder about her mental state, but hey! It is Redding! What can you expect! No, but they were way cool! Then! We hit the last couple doors but nothing. Then we saw that the Elders were there waiting by our car. Elder Clarke got in with the key and started it right up.... typical. Turns out that it has a steering wheel thing that locks or something.. I dunno. I was still amazed at the miracle that just happened! CLEARLY we were supposed to be there right then! It was so cool too because in my morning prayers I had asked Heavenly Father to help us be in the right place at the right time that day. And BOOM! Miracle of the week.. 😁 This kinda thing is nothing new either! It has happened time and time again. For some reason, we can't leave a street or something. Obviously, it's never the right time to leave! So I have learned to go tract because there is someone Heavenly Father needs us to find. It's amazing. We were very blessed!
Gah!! District finding time=ALL OF THE MIRACLES!! It was amazing! So we went to see this potential named Kenny. That was awesome. He is super spiritual already and said we could come back. Then! The spirit poked me super hard to go visit this one former. So ended up on her street. As we for out of the car, she was a house I felt prompted to knock on. So we hit it up. The lady wasn't interested. So we started walking down the street to our original destination! As we walked past the next house, as I walked halfway past it, I just like stopped and looked into the yard.. it was super intimidating. All these cigarette butts everywhere and all this garbage everywhere.. BUT, if there's one thing I have learned about following the spirit and tracting, it's those are generally the best places to hit! So, I told Sister Dee to come back because she had walked ahead. She wasn't super thrilled because she wasn't feeling well... so I felt bad that's why I hesitated. But we knocked on it anyway. And we met these 2 teenage guys and they were so cool! We bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong on their porch! Ah!! My heart was so full!! I can't even explain it to you! 😁 It seemed like a normal missionary moment, but it was so amazing.Heavenly Father hears prayers and makes it possible to make our goal! I'm so grateful that we were able to be instruments in His hands! Ah! It was great!
Fun times! Aye aye aye.. so there's this lady.. she came to church a few weeks ago before I was here... she went nuts. She had a MAJOR melt down and the leaders asked us not to invite her into RS.. she had to be taken in another room to get calmed down and then they talked about her gazillion questions. So! That's that fun. But Sunday, guess who showed up again! Oh yes! It was her again! The whole ward saw her and cringed.. luckily though, we had a very pleasant, but random visit with her! All of her questions came during Sunday School. So we just took her to the foyer and had a chat. It went super well! Haha. It was funny because some of the brothers in the ward kept coming out to check on us. I'm grateful she didn't have a complete melt down.
It was cool though because the spirit brought to my remembrance something from my seminary class like 4 years ago while we were preparing for Book of Mormon class. My seminary teacher made the point that something is valuable because of the price willing to be paid for it, right? Well, how amazing, unfathomable and incomprehensible is it that the One being who never slipped up nor speak ill, who descended from His Father's presence to save each of us, lowly sinners who, on a daily basis willfully rebel against His Father and our Father.. His price was beyond priceless. Because of His unspeakable sacrifice, our value is priceless. He sees in each of us godly qualities. After all, that is how He knows each of us. We spent all of that time with Him before this life. He knows our potential. That's hy He made that sacrifice. So we could meet our full potential through Him. He made it possible for us to make it all the way. What a blessing it is that He can see through our sins. He sees us separate from them. All He sees is our divine nature. That's what He and our Father are trying to magnify in us by giving us commandments and the gospel. That's how we magnify the gods and goddesses within ourselves, through the gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
We went to Weed and McCloud falls! Gah! It was gorgeous!!!! I'll send pictures too! So kinda funny.. I basically fell in the river trying to get to the other side. So that was awesome...I didn't mean to go swimming. I'm generally good at avoiding apostate behavior buuut, not today I guess ...just kidding.. it was only up to my waist. Haha! It was gorgeous though! So much fun!
I love you guys! Have a great week! Please none of you die from those fires!!
Love,
Sister Hood
It has been an interesting week! It has been kind of a weird one! A lot of people have bailed on us or just fallen off the face of the earth.. haha. Typical missionary work! But we did see some awesome things happen! Aw! My heart was so full this week! 💖 I'm so stoked to tell y'all about it! 😃
We had an awesome Book of Mormon class! Gabe came! He was baptized in December. He is awesome! We had a super cool conversation about Mosiah 2! We talked about how we are forever indebted to our Savior for His sacrifice. In that chapter, King Benjamin is talking about being indebted forever because when we keep a commandment trying to repay Him He just blesses us, and there we are back to square one! Haha. It's kinda funny to me.. 🙃 I believe He just laughs as we try to repay Him because we are like "DANG IT! How am I going to pay this one back?". I have found myself doing that all the time! Sometimes the blessings are just too great and you don't know how to accept them! I know, especially on my mission, that I have felt that! Man! Way too much joy and gratitude to fit into one little me! Haha. I love Him so much!!
Tuesday we had District Meeting! It was so cool. So we studied chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It talks about our purpose as missionaries and how we can be successful in fulfilling that purpose. So my awesome District Leader, Elder Smyth invited us all to share what OUR purpose was individually when we came out. I don't remember a lot of what I said, which is good because it was lead by the spirit. It's funny when you learn things about your own feelings.. haha! But I remembered talking about how much I loved being a missionary and how I have seen that I was sent to Northern California for a reason. Correction: ALL OF THE REASONS! There's so many things I have been able to do to help people come unto Christ. And in the process, my testimony has grown exponentially and I could never ever turn away from anything in the gospel. I simply know too much. Ah! I can't even experience to you how I feel about missionary work...I couldn't at District Meeting either. It has become who I am. I feel like this is one of my sole purposes in coming to this earth: to be a missionary. It was just such a powerful realization of why I'm here and what all these experiences and hardships and miracles have added up to. I have pondering on that a lot this week. I can feel that the mission has passed thru me, instead of me passing through it. It's really incredible. I'm so grateful for the spirit and how it guides me to understand my own feelings and thoughts. Haha.
Well! I got to go to Mission Leadership Council again! Aw, I missed it! I got to see so many homies!! Gah! I love them all so much! It was great to be able to be counseled by President and Sister Ward and the AP's. I look up to them so much! This month we are really focusing on obedience! It's kinda funny to see the other missionary's reaction. Haha. We were all like "ohhh boy! He's gonna throw down!" But he only chastised us a little. It's always good to get a smack on the wrist, if you will. It was just very uplifting and made me realize that I'm falling short in a lot of areas! Ah! So stressful! But thank goodness for my Big Brother! Man, do I need Him. Something else that was super cool. President talked about missionaries who are going home. He said that we need to go through the last stretch of our mission like nobody knows.He talked about how at the end of a race, you don't slow up through the finish line. You SPRINT through that line.
On Friday, we left weekly Planning to contact Shalimar. She is one of the new 'gators we picked up my first week here. We have run into her a couple times, but none of those times were good to actually have a lesson with her. So we wanted to try again. We get there, she doesn't answer. So we tried a couple other people but nothing. So we decided to head back to the church to finish planning. As we tried to start the car, the key wouldn't even turn in the ignition... it was super weird. So we messed with it and nothing.. so the next thing sisters always do in a time of confusion and distress (especially when the situation involves cars) is call the Elders. Hah! We let them know what was happening so they came to rescue s. What would we do without our awesome Zone Leader's! 😁 Well, in the meantime, I saw this as a PRIME opportunity to tract and work the area a little bit since we haven't really done too much this week. So! I jumped on it. I was not going to waste this time.. The first 3 doors we knocked, nothing. Then I felt prompted to knock the second floor of the complex next to Shalimar's.
We had knocked most of this one before except for those 4 doors! So that's where we went! The first door we knocked on, we met Sarah! She opened the door and said "hi! I'm a member but I'm going to work right now!" Well, haha. We were a little taken back because it's always interesting when you tract into members you didn't know existed, let alone lived there. Haha. we talked for a second. She said she would love to meet with us and get back into it. She has been going through some stuff and could really use the gospel at this point. Her husband is not a member but he's huge but super nice. haha. So that was awesome!!!! We set a time for Wednesday to see her again. She was kind of a little sporadic.. it made me wonder about her mental state, but hey! It is Redding! What can you expect! No, but they were way cool! Then! We hit the last couple doors but nothing. Then we saw that the Elders were there waiting by our car. Elder Clarke got in with the key and started it right up.... typical. Turns out that it has a steering wheel thing that locks or something.. I dunno. I was still amazed at the miracle that just happened! CLEARLY we were supposed to be there right then! It was so cool too because in my morning prayers I had asked Heavenly Father to help us be in the right place at the right time that day. And BOOM! Miracle of the week.. 😁 This kinda thing is nothing new either! It has happened time and time again. For some reason, we can't leave a street or something. Obviously, it's never the right time to leave! So I have learned to go tract because there is someone Heavenly Father needs us to find. It's amazing. We were very blessed!
Gah!! District finding time=ALL OF THE MIRACLES!! It was amazing! So we went to see this potential named Kenny. That was awesome. He is super spiritual already and said we could come back. Then! The spirit poked me super hard to go visit this one former. So ended up on her street. As we for out of the car, she was a house I felt prompted to knock on. So we hit it up. The lady wasn't interested. So we started walking down the street to our original destination! As we walked past the next house, as I walked halfway past it, I just like stopped and looked into the yard.. it was super intimidating. All these cigarette butts everywhere and all this garbage everywhere.. BUT, if there's one thing I have learned about following the spirit and tracting, it's those are generally the best places to hit! So, I told Sister Dee to come back because she had walked ahead. She wasn't super thrilled because she wasn't feeling well... so I felt bad that's why I hesitated. But we knocked on it anyway. And we met these 2 teenage guys and they were so cool! We bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong on their porch! Ah!! My heart was so full!! I can't even explain it to you! 😁 It seemed like a normal missionary moment, but it was so amazing.Heavenly Father hears prayers and makes it possible to make our goal! I'm so grateful that we were able to be instruments in His hands! Ah! It was great!
Fun times! Aye aye aye.. so there's this lady.. she came to church a few weeks ago before I was here... she went nuts. She had a MAJOR melt down and the leaders asked us not to invite her into RS.. she had to be taken in another room to get calmed down and then they talked about her gazillion questions. So! That's that fun. But Sunday, guess who showed up again! Oh yes! It was her again! The whole ward saw her and cringed.. luckily though, we had a very pleasant, but random visit with her! All of her questions came during Sunday School. So we just took her to the foyer and had a chat. It went super well! Haha. It was funny because some of the brothers in the ward kept coming out to check on us. I'm grateful she didn't have a complete melt down.
It was cool though because the spirit brought to my remembrance something from my seminary class like 4 years ago while we were preparing for Book of Mormon class. My seminary teacher made the point that something is valuable because of the price willing to be paid for it, right? Well, how amazing, unfathomable and incomprehensible is it that the One being who never slipped up nor speak ill, who descended from His Father's presence to save each of us, lowly sinners who, on a daily basis willfully rebel against His Father and our Father.. His price was beyond priceless. Because of His unspeakable sacrifice, our value is priceless. He sees in each of us godly qualities. After all, that is how He knows each of us. We spent all of that time with Him before this life. He knows our potential. That's hy He made that sacrifice. So we could meet our full potential through Him. He made it possible for us to make it all the way. What a blessing it is that He can see through our sins. He sees us separate from them. All He sees is our divine nature. That's what He and our Father are trying to magnify in us by giving us commandments and the gospel. That's how we magnify the gods and goddesses within ourselves, through the gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
We went to Weed and McCloud falls! Gah! It was gorgeous!!!! I'll send pictures too! So kinda funny.. I basically fell in the river trying to get to the other side. So that was awesome...I didn't mean to go swimming. I'm generally good at avoiding apostate behavior buuut, not today I guess ...just kidding.. it was only up to my waist. Haha! It was gorgeous though! So much fun!
I love you guys! Have a great week! Please none of you die from those fires!!
Love,
Sister Hood
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