REAL PERSONAL SACRIFICE

Ello E'rybody!  

Happy Monday to you all! You probably don't think so because some of you are in the real world! Hah!  

This week has gone by SO incredibly fast... I thought Saturday was like Wednesday or something.. good heavens. But we have been having amazing things happen! We got 3 referrals this week! That's a lot, if ya didn't know. Haha. We haven't been able to meet with any of them yet, but we have an appointment on Tuesday for 2 of them. ️ that will be awesome! The other referral we don't have valid contact info for yet.. so. That's a work in progress... as for our finding, we found 6 new 'gators this week! So it has been a good week! Super blessed. They literally just come to us... it's crazy! 

Lots of good lessons! Here's our highlights! 

Chelsea:

Quick background, she is an investigators roommate who we haven't been able to see since I have been here. So we stopped by and Chelsea was sitting in the porch! She's is SO golden!  it almost like.. "okay. Who paid you to be this interested....?" BUT SHE WAS FOR REALZ!  #MiraclesForDays!  

Stopped by to see Jennifer, but Chelsea was out on the porch and let us know that Jen wasn't home. We had met her before and she was super nice. We asked if we could share a message with her. She was super open to it and excited. She said that the Mormon church has always resonated with her for some reason so she really wanted to learn more! Shared Prince of Peace. She said she really liked it. We talked about our purpose as missionaries and that the message we have brings so much peace. Touched super fast in the Restoration. She had mentioned before that she was super interested in coming to church. Said this weekend she was super busy. But next weekend she should be able to come. She brought up the Book of Mormon and said she would also love to read it. Gave her one and invited her to read the intro. She is SO solid! We also gave her a plan of Salvation Pamphlet because we asked her to pray so we taught her how and let her know what the Plan is and that it answers all the questions of the soul. She was super excited about that. Invited her to read that too. It went SO well!! 

Diane:

Quick background again. She is kind of an "eterna-gator". She has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. She is SO logical! Too intellectual for her own good.... so it's interesting because she picks everything apart but completely misses the point. This was the first time I met her. Sister Singleton said it went SO well! So that's cool!  it was awesome because I was able to bare powerful testimony to her.. it was really cool. It definitely strengthened me! Haha. I have missed that. 

Went back to the basics with Diane. We talked about the restoration with her and she couldn't remember too much of it. We focused on Joseph Smith and shared the new video called Ask of God. She liked this video and said it was easier to understand what he went through. She explained to us all that she knew about him. We related her to him and how she's searching for truth like he was. She liked that he had an open mind to a new religion. We invited her to pray about Joseph Smith on her knees. She still struggles to understand why we should kneel. She says she'll come on Sunday. She wants to read from Book of Mormon with us still. She doesn't get the priesthood. She feels the priests in other church have the same authority as men in our church. She didn't understand the difference. We bore powerful testimony to her about the truthfulness of the gospel. The spirit was SO strong. She felt it, you could tell. But she told us again how she's not ready to take the leap of faith to be baptized. It's not something she feels is necessary for her yet. She just wants to keep learning. She does enjoy us coming and doesn't want us to stop coming. 

We met with a lot of other people this week. Most of them, especially less Actives, we are reading in the Book of Mormon with them. It's so cool to see how it makes a difference and that the spirit brings questions to their minds. They really begin to think about everything. It's really cool! 

A miracle we saw this week. So we had a lesson in Durham but we didn't want to drive back to Chico just yet. So Sister Singleton felt prompted to stop by this members home, Sister Daarude. Her husband and a couple kids had all past away within the last couple years, all on separate occasions. So we were just going to see her and hopefully uplift her in some way. Once we got there, she let us in and we just sat down and it was SO awkward. We were all like uh... okay. Welp. And we were wondering why we were there. Then she suddenly calls out to Richard in the kitchen and invited him to come in. We had no idea who Richard was.. eventually we came to find out that Richard is her non member boyfriend! Well!!! You can imagine how stoked we were to have stumbled across him! Haha. We shared the Prince of Peace and he was super open to it. More the religious aspect though. Not necessarily our church... BUT! Sister Daarude did say they had a great conversation afterwards.  nothing has come from it yet, BUT! One day he will join the church, I can feel it!  so that was just something really cool! 

As for Robbie... yeah that didn't happen.. ☹️ he was too busy to meet with us so we couldn't even plan it. It's sad because he is kind of putting his baptism on the back burner for now... so yeah. That was a bummer.. 

Super funny story!!  so! Sister Singleton and I both sleep talk! So the other night I remember I heard her say something to me and then I got my iPad and I was like "do you want it now?" And I just went looking for an address or something on my iPad. Suddenly I realized what was happening... I slowly put my iPad back and was glad no one saw that. Haha!!! Yes, we did indeed sleep talk to each other!! We always joked about that but who knew it would actually happen! I also was sleep talking super loud the other night and she was making fun of me. I was like "Nooormaaa!! What! That's not her name!..... what's my name...?"  what the heck was I dreaming about! Good times!  

Something I have been doing is reading the Book of Mormon with the institute manual and writing down quotes and sticking them in my Book of Mormon. It is amazing to see that the word of God continues. Words from the prophets of literally all ages are building up in the Book of Mormon! It's so cool! One quote that really stuck out to me from doing this is this quite by Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

It says:

"Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal in the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed." This has really hit me. I have seen that it is SO hard to give up that "animal" or the "natural man" within us. And it is absolutely a sacrifice. But the rewards and blessings for sacrificing our inner animal are monumental. That's what this life is all about. Sacrificing our inner animal. It is also an ongoing process. There's another quote by C.S Lewis that talks about this same idea. I'll take a picture of it and attach it. It's from the 4th missionary by Lawrence E. Corbridge. Overcoming the natural man is the hardest challenge that I have had to face as I have been out. But there is nothing more rewarding. I have been able to see myself being transformed into a more Christlike person. That is only possible through the grace of the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so very grateful for Him and the relationship I have with Him.  He is my everything. I know He lives. 

Thanks for all you guys do! I love all of you! I hope you have an awesome week! 

Love ya! 

Sister Hood

Pictures For Your Pleasure & Enjoyment!!

P-DAY FUN IN THE SUN!!
THE BEST DISTRICT 

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!~ YES MOTHER IT'S LEMONADE AND MY FAVORITE BEANS I LOVE THEM BEANS!!

SUPER EXHAUSTED..BUT WE NAILED IT!!
Sister Hood & Sister Singleton

MISSIONARY SERVICE DAY!!!MY FANTASTIC DISTRICT

P-DAY - HIKE TO A WATERFALL WITH SOME AWESOME PEOPLE!!

 

CHECK OUT THE ORANGE TREE ~ THE FIRST TIME I'VE PICKED AN ORANGE ~ I WANT ONE TO PLANT AT HOME!!

MEET THESE PRETTY SPECIAL LADIES ~  LOVE THEM ALL!!
SISTER SINGLETON ~ BETH ~ BARBARA ~ SISTER HOOD

LOVELY LUNCH
WITH SOME LOVELY LADIES!!
SISTER HOOD ~ LINDA ~ SISTER SINGLETON

ENJOYING NATURE ~ SO REFRESHING!!
SISTER SINGLETON & SISTER HOOD

SO BEAUTIFUL!!

CATCHING SOME RAYS!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER SINGLETON

I LOVE HORSES!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER SINGLETON

I'M OFTEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT ~
I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING...
OH! WHAT A NEWB!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER SINGLETON

OH .... LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!
SISTER HOOD

BEADIE IS HUNGRY!!!
SISTER HOOD

NOW THAT WAS WELL WORTH THE HIKE!!  AND JUST THINK ~
OUR SAVIOR CREATED IT JUST FOR US!!

SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED THIS WEEK!!

My dear friends and fam! 

Welp! It has been the busiest week of my life but I can't, for the life of me remember what happened! It's normal though so don't think I'm getting dementia or something. The mission veil is even real on the mission!! Haha... funny how that works. 

Well! Let me tell you! We have been SO incredibly blessed this week! I have learned a great deal about humility... so. I will tell you my story. SO! At district meeting, we wrote our numbers up on the board and they were all blown away... haha. It was kinda funny. Well, they said we couldn't get at least 5 new 'gators 2 weeks in a row... well, we took that as a challenge and got "puffed up" as the scripture say, and said "WANNA BET?!?" Needless to say, of course they did! Haha. So we set a goal of 11 for our district this week and we had to get 5 and if we did they would buy us ice cream. But if we didn't, whoever got the most got their ice cream paid for. So yeah. We went on our way cocky and relying on our own strength. And guess how many we had up until Thursday morning... a BIG FAT ZERRROOO!!! ☹️ then Thursday we basically jumped on a girl that walked outside to take the garbage out... she was our only one until Saturday.. well, by then we basically gave up on our goal of 5 and free ice cream, along with the highly coveted bragging rights.  that right there was our problem. We had our eye single on the ice cream and the glory of men. Not single to the glory of God... though we had repented after district meeting, Heavenly Father still needed to teach us what it was like to be humble again. He has quite a way with things like that.. but Saturday was FULL of miracles!!! 

We found 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS IN ONE DAY!! That's insane!! Man, miracle after miracle. Given, some of them were in the same home, but it's still incredible that we found that many. All together this week we had 8. So that was awesome. It amazes me that even after I am the most prideful person, Heavenly Father still wants us to succeed and bring people to the Savior. It just blows my mind. He didn't have to bless us with those miracles. Ah!! I just love Him! 

Welp! This week we also had a child of record baptism. They asked us to be part of the program so that was cool. But the one mistake was leaving it to us to fill the font.... neither of us had ever done that before. We thought everything was going smoothly but we didn't realize it was kinda like a bath tub.. haha. If you leave the hot water one, it's gonna cook your goose. Soo!! We almost boiled a child instead of baptizing her. Luckily they were able to cool it down quick enough, haha!! Oopsies!  

We are supposed to have a baptism this weekend for our investigator named Robbie. He is a cool guy. I have only talked to him twice because he has kinda dropped off the face of the earth! He has bailed/forgot about our past 3 lessons we were supposed to have. He also didn't come to church this week... so that's really scary.  please keep him in your prayers. His situation is not exactly ideal either... meddling people in your life never make it easy, especially when you're trying to do Gods will..  

We also have baptisms on the 20th for young boys! Their names are Mobein (15) and Rameen (12). There have been some serious bumps in the road but, we are working through that and everything seems to be working out! Just keep them in your prayers too! 

We saw Stressly and Rebecca this week! Here's what went down with them! 

It was so great to see them! We read the title page and the intro of the Book of Mormon with them. We talked about what the Book of Mormon. Asked what their thoughts were. Rebecca asked some questions, which were awesome. Stressly understood the invitation of the Book of Mormon. We asked what he thought. He said he was just thinking about things.. asked how he liked church. He said it was good and people were nice. We told him what missionaries do. Asked if he would be interested in learning more, he said he would be comfortable with reading the Book of Mormon when we come over. But he didn't specifically say he wanted to learn more. He told us that he believes in a Creator but he grew up with the Native American beliefs. We let him know that we aren't there to slam things down his throat by any means and that we will still be coming over to see them both whether it is for him or Rebecca. It was really good though. They said they will both be to church. Buut! They weren't because Rebecca got sick.. ☹️ 

A super cool miracle this week was with Jayla (9), Tiana (15), and Vanessa (17). They are 3 of the new investigators we found this week. They were super cool with us! I may not seem like any spectacular missionary experience, which it really wasn't. But at the same time it was. They were so open and they said that they really needed Jesus in their lives. So it was awesome.  Here's the thingy: 

We stopped by and they let us in. We shared the Prince of Peace video. They said they really liked it. We told them what missionaries do and that this will bless their family and make it possible for them to be an eternal family. They asked us about if we were born into the church, if it helps us get through things. They said they wonder about why we're here and what happens after. Gave them the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet to read. They were excited about that. Invited them to church. They said they would be there!! It was awesome! They said they all need Jesus in their lives. ️

Another amazing thing this week. So our first new investigator Amanda. We went back to our return appointment, talked to her mom and she just basically told us that they weren't interested. So we were like dang... so we get in the car and look through the area book for a second and then the neighbor pulls up. We had been trying to catch Sister Mosby for weeks now!! And there she was, pulling up in the driveway right in front of us! No coincidence!!  super cool! She has THEE fattest cat I have ever seen! Her name is Rotunda!  if that's not a fat cat name, I dunno what is. Haha! I took a picture and made it a meme because I think I'm funny sometimes.. haha. 

So for the "people of Chico" this week! I will send a couple videos!  man I love these people! Don't know what I have done without these experiences up till this point of my life! You can always count on the peeps here to make you laugh! ️ 

That was basically this week!! We're going on a hike to mine shafts this week!! WOOP WOOP!! So stay tuned for the pictures/videos!!  

I love you guys! Thanks for all you do! You're always in my prayers! 

Love,

Sister Hood

 Let Him shine through you!

IT REALLY TOUCHED MY HEART!!

Hey Fam & Friend's! 

I'm in Chico! There has already been quite the memories made here! Haha! I'm sure you'll all get quite the kick out of these next few months of emails if it keeps going this same direction!  here's the exciting things for this week! 

Sister Singleton is the bomb!! She's from South Jordan and she's been out 3 months! She is KILLIN' it taking over though! Man! It's impressive! ️ she's a great missionary! I have loved being her comp already because she is just so chill! Haha. We're both super chill so things are just easy. Haha. We also have the same appreciation for a squeaky clean apartment! Haha. So that's always awesome!  

Well! the first night, Sister Singleton and I were just talking while we were in bed. Then we just went quiet and started to fall asleep. My bed is right up against the the wall with the window and we started to hear a flappy noise. Well I started to freak out because Whatever it was, it sounded HUGE! I knew it was probably a moth and I HATE moths so I was freak'in out. So we got up and turned the lights on and I smacked the blinds to make it come out. And it did..... it was a GINORMOUS moth..  Singleton smacked it with a dust pan. She had to smack it like 5 times to kill it... and since it was almost 11 we just left it on the floor and went to bed... well. You see, when we woke up in the morning, the moth was gone...... Singleton came out of the bathroom and she was like oh, thanks for cleaning that up. And I was like.. uh. I didn't. Haha. So that's cool.... moth zombie somewhere in our house... 

The people here are nuts! Hahah!! So many good stories and it hasn't even been a week!  lemme tell ya! So!! Let's first start with our "the people of Chico" moments! 

First we will start off with a dude named Tyler! So we were on our way to visit this LA lady who wasn't home. But then we saw Tyler over there by this picnic table just pacing... haha. Odd. I thought he was homeless.... but apparently looks can be deceiving...   So we go over and say hi to him and share the Prince of Peace. We asked him what stuck out to him. He mentioned the part where it talks about how Christ turned water into wine. And he was like "Christ turned water into wine.. why doesn't he turn the ocean into wine so we can all have a good time!?"  *crickets*... good questions Tyler... hahah!  then he said we could come back and share more with him. We suggested a time and he was like "oh.. no. I'm usually skinny dipping at that time.." 🤣 ohh!!!! Alrighty then! 

Aw yes. Next on our list is Thelma and Vivian. You see, Thelma is a LA who has the mental capacity of probably a 10 yr old or something like that. Vivian ('gator) is probs a little more with it, but still not quite up to speed, if ya know what I'm sayin.  so Thelma is working on personal progress so we're just helping her along with that. Vivian is just moving in with her right now so she just happened to be there. So during our lesson, we decided we wanted to sing "Where Can I Turn For Peace". Hahaha!! Well, usually the hymns really bring the spirit, it was seriously like how we sing happy birthday on the phone... but they were really trying.. haha. It was quite the interesting experience! BUT! It was awesome because they said they felt a lot of Peace after that!  

Oh! Now my personal favorite for this week is Rebecca!  oh man! She is AMAZING! So as we were going to visit Thelma, Rebecca saw us in the parking lot of the apartments and was like "Sisters! Sisters!!" This never happens so it was kinda scary.. especially in Chico. Haha. So she comes running over to us and introduces herself. She said she was a member that just put in a referral for sisters to come by because she moved her from Alaska about a year ago and was inactive and wanted to get back into it. So! She was telling us how huge of a miracle it was that we were there!! (It actually was a HUGE miracle which I will explain later..). So you must know... we are standing on the sidewalk. She was standing close the edge of it where there was a little ledge and then a bush right behind her. Well! As she was explaining all this too us, suddenly she just starts flapping her arms like she's falling backwards and she's like "whoaaa whooaaa!" And basically falls into the bush behind her!  now I know I'm a terrible person for laughing so hard at this because she does have a brain injury. But it was just the perfect set up and hahahah!! Oh man! It was just hilarious! Seriously.. she and her boyfriend are my favorites so far!  

And then there's Linda and Colby! Linda is a member that we help a lot because she flips houses and stuff. So we do service for her often! And her son, Colby has been investigating for awhile now. He is one of those logical people who are just too smart for their own good... so that's interesting! But! We have come to the conclusion that he knows baptism is a HUGE commitment and he doesn't want to not live up to that commitment. But that makes me think he doesn't really understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ because none of us live up to that commitment fully without His help... so yeah. Super awesome though! We eat with them every Tuesday and see her thru out the week!  

As off the MANY miracles this week.. well. First I'm just gonna tell you our numbers because this is through back to Corning here! W/ baptism date: 3, Sacrament attendance: 5, New 'gators: 6. This hasn't happened for MONTHS! Man!! I get SO pumped to just baptize this whole town! Haha. So that alone was so huge! We are INCREDIBLY blessed here in Chico! There's tons of work! 

First we will start off again with Rebecca! That was just perfect how everything happened! After that whole incident, we set a time to come back. When we did, it was AMAZING! So her boyfriend, Stressly (yes.. that's his name...), had questions for us and stuff that he had told her about. So she invited him to come and sit in! Best ever! So we just talked with her for awhile because he was in the shower and it seemed like he was avoiding it. But eventually he did come out and sit with us! He is SO nice! Super cool guy! We had a lot of fun with them both! ️ what was crazy though! The member we brought with us, Janet, she offered to pick Rebecca up for church. And so Stressly had just come in the room and Janet was like Stressly! Why don't you come too! And he has like sure, why not!  haha. Rebecca's jaw DROPPED!  she couldn't believe it. Apparently it was pretty huge! Then we shared the Prince of Peace video! Singleton and I BOTH saw tears in that mans eyes! We don't care what nobody else says! They were there and he felt it! Haha. So! We are jump'in on this, man! Unfortunately, as we were talking about the video, before we could get it him, he got a phone call he had to take.... BUT! They both made it to church and they really liked it! Oh man! It was amazing! I'm so excited about them!  so much love! 

The next SUPER cool miracle was with a LA named Sue! She's an older lady who we don't really know a whole lot about. But what Sister Singleton does know is that she transferred her records to a different Ward because of things that had happened in our ward.. but we still reach out to her to let her know we love her and everything. So the other night, our lesson fell through so she apparently just popped into Sister Singleton's mind so we stopped by. It was crazy. We went in and talked with her, shared the Prince of Peace and suddenly she just unloads all this stress and these burdens that she is carrying around with medical issues, feeling kind of alone and forgotten. Man... she really just cracked. She expressed how she didn't want to go to church because she's so emotionally sensitive right now and she doesn't know anyone in her new ward so that has been hard for her. She said it blows her away that we showed up because she has been kinda conflicted about going to church Sunday. And we said to her it was a sign that she really needed to be there. So that was a really cool miracle! Super cool that we were exactly where we needed to be! 

We also met a couple other cool investigators we are going to start teaching this week! Man! It's been crazy. We are so stinkin busy! But yeah! Those are just a few awesome things that happened! 

One more cool thing that is more personal than anything is this. So at the beginning of the week, I was struggling because I was homesick for c-heights. I was feeling like it just got ripped out from under me and I was just kinda struggling to adjust. But when we were with Rebecca and Stressly, sharing the video with them and really feeling such love for them. I was thinking about being here and the spirit spoke to my heart and mind and said something like "I told you you would love it." It really touched my heart because I felt like even though I was being a bum Heavenly Father still was trying to tell me that He placed me here for a reason and that He hand picked these people I am working with to bless my life and hopefully bless theirs too. It was such a powerful experience. Since then, I have just loved it and I know that this is where I need to be right now. As bad as my heart my ache to be in c-heights with all my homies again, I remember that this is what missionary work is all about. Loving people as the Savior would and bringing them closer to Him. Super cool. ️ 

Welp! That's about it for this week! Lots more to come next week, I'm sure!! Love you all! Have an awesome week!  

Love,

Sister Hood!