SUCH A HOOT!!

Aw my family and friends!

I am sorry that this will be a short one... not much really happened this week. We drove literally from one end of the mission to the other! Last Monday we went down to the mission office (about 2 hours away) to get TIWI fixed! We also got to see some faves! Ah! A couple of them are dying here in a few days and it makes me sad. 😫 I've grown super close to them... but we took pictures and 15 minutes in Gridley for me like 30 mosquito bites!! 😠 lovely.... but it was worth it! 😁 we kinda mapped out where we went this week! So that was funny. Lots of adventures!


Welp, the coolest thing that happened is Thelma is helping us teach her roomy, Vivian. They are SUCH a hoot! It was really cool though because Thelma had some amazing insights on the things we were talking about. At the end, she said she felt the spirit super strong and learned a lot. It was awesome! Then the best thing happened! Vivian prayed for us and you must know that she is originally baptist. So she
was super passionate in her prayer, which is fantastic. But in the prayer, she called us "mission mormonaries". 😂 so that is now our title! 😂 funny prayer of my life! Along with a super great lesson!

Other than that, Zone Conference was amazing! Everyone is still adjusting to President and Sister Ward and their way of doing things, so that's always interesting. I feel that they are called here for a reason, so it's just getting used to it!

So yeah! That's life! Here's some pictures! 😁 love you guys! Sorry this is lame sauce! But it's better than nothin! 😂 have a great week!

Love ya!

Sister Hood

LOVELY SNAP SHOTS FOR YOU!!

MY AWESOME CHICO ZONE!!

I GUESS THE LESSON WAS NOT ALL THAT EXCITING!!

LOVE THIS GIRL - SHE IS AWESOME!!
SISTER HOOD & CODY

WHISKEY TOWN LAKE IS SO BEAUTIFUL BUT NOT AS BEAUTIFUL AS SOME OF MY FAVORITE SISTA'S!!

SOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!! Jesus made a masterpiece!!

YEAH!! LOVE MY MISSION PEEPS!!

Look Who I Found!!  SISTER DE LEON!!
I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

SISTER SINGLETON IS IN THE HOUSE!!!
I HAVE MISSED HER SO MUCH!!

FAMILY PORTRAIT
I'M THE MOM - ELDER IS HIS DADDY - HE'S OUR CHILD HA!! GOTTA LOVE THE MISSION FAMILY TREE!!

LONG DRIVE ACROSS THE MISSION ~ JAZZING IT UP!!
SISTER WHITESELL & SISTER HOOD

GOT DUNKED!!

Well Hello!!!!

Oh my goodness. It has been a little bit of a weird week again. But, ya know, it was still great! It is weird when Heavenly Father is teaching you something new, like maybe a different way to feel the spirit or maybe even sometimes you might get distracted and not be as close to it. Either way, it takes a lot of work to figure out life and get to where Heavenly Father wants you to be! So I'm sorry, this weekly is probably going to not be as excited as some in the past. But I will tell you that incredible things happened, miracles! ️ still so very blessed, even though life is weird sometimes! Haha. 

Well.... let us just start with Pam since she stole the show this week!  She is the purest person I have ever met... EVER. As I may have mentioned before, she has a disability which makes her processing a little slower than normal, but she is still all there and definitely accountable! We had her interview this week! She did amazing and you could feel the spirit so strongly. Our District Leader, who interviewed her, was prompted to ask the baptismal questions in a way that she was able to understand to show her accountability and readiness to be baptized! We had the rare privilege of sitting in on that interview because she asked us to to make her feel more comfortable. The spirit was so strong and I felt SO much love for her, it was ridiculous! Then everything went relatively smooth with getting everything together. There were points when the members would ask questions that seemed like they didn't feel like she was ready... quite honestly, that burnt my butt... I got super bugged by that. But, they saw at her baptism that she was clearly ready and able to make this decision on her own. That was a tender mercy from the Lord to me. I just really wish all of them could of been in all of her lessons because I have never taught someone so pure and prepared! But all is well. The members are still amazing and I understand where they were coming from! 

Her baptism was incredible... oh man. One of my favorite baptisms. The spirit was so strong.. As Sister Ward spoke on baptism, Pam started to cry and that's when everyone else lost it too. Haha! Typical RS thing.  It was powerful though. Then Sister Whitesell and I walked Pam into to the font. She was crying and you could tell the spirit was within her. We watched her be baptized and the spirit was so strong. Even the noisy little baby stopped to watch this sacred ordinance take place. Afterwards, we taught the restoration and once again, as I recited the first vision, there came a special peace into the room and into our hearts. That same little baby just stopped and listened. That always blows me away how the spirit commands the room at times like these. After a beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost by Sister Scott, Bishop Hawkley closed the meeting. What he said was so powerful... He said that we were hand picked to knock on Pam's door and to teach her. I felt at that time that Pam was one of those I promised I would find. I also knew Sister Whitesell had made that same promise to her. I believe 100% that we all knew each other in the premortal realm. I have had that inclination for quite awhile. It was just powerful to have someone else verbalize it. I felt very blessed to have the spirit tell me that. It was such a beautiful baptism.. ️ 

On Sunday Pam was confirmed and if was the most beautiful blessing EVER! The spirit was so strong! It was amazing because Bro. Bidia said in her blessing that we were guided to her and this time in her life so that Heavenly Father could help her and be with her more.. isn't that AMAZING! That's like 3 witnesses that we were clearly lead to her! GAH! It's just so amazing..  she said she felt good but different. She's just so pure.. ️ 

Another miracle we had this week! Saturday we were out and we had been on a roll with receive very direct and specific promptings as to where to go. Well, I felt prompted to stop at this one house we have driven past a million times on our way to Durham. I have wanted to tract it for a long time, so the spirit let me know that it was a perfect time! So we walked up and saw a guy working on his El Camino. His name is Ed and he has SUCH a powerful testimony of the Savior and what the life is for and how to live it. Basically a dry Mormon... haha.  we talked with him for a long time and he agreed to meet with us. So that was great! Such a miracle! 

Something else, Vivian, Thelma's roommate agreed to meet with us for real and she and Thelma also came to the baptism! Chelsea also came!! GAHH!!! She's so golden! ️ lots of great things! 

The rest of the week was good! We went on exchanges so that was good. I went to a different ward in Chico for the day with Sister Crowther. She's so cute! I'll send a selfie! There's also lots of pictures for this week so that will be exciting cuz everybody loves pictures, no?  YES! 

I love you guys so much!! I hope you enjoy your week! The Lord loves each of you! ️ 

Love,

 Sister Hood

P.S.... there's this story I want to share with y'all because it really touched my heart! It's kinda long so I just bare with it. It's worth it I promise! Here ya go! Enjoy!

The Room

By, Joshua Harris

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the mysterious array of black filing cabinets. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read “Girls I Have Liked.” I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one.

And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn’t match.

A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching. A file named “Friends” was next to one marked “Friends I Have Betrayed.”

The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. “Books I Have Read,” “Lies I Have Told,” “Comfort I Have Given,” “Jokes I Have Laughed At.” Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: “Things I’ve Yelled at My Brothers.” Others I couldn’t laugh at: “Things I Have Done in My Anger,” “Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents.” I never ceased to be surprised by the contents. Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived. Could it be possible that I had the time in my 20 years to write each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.

When I pulled out the file marked “Songs I Have Listened To,” I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn’t found the end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of music, but more by the vast amount of time I knew that file represented.

When I came to a file marked “Lust,” I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded.

An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind: “No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!” In an insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn’t matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it

Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it. The title bore “People I Have Shared the Gospel With.” The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.

And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key.

But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him. No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus.

I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn’t bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one?

Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn’t anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn’t say a word. He just cried with me.

Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card.

“No!” I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was “No, no,” as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn’t be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood.

He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, “It is finished.”

I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.

 Let Him shine through you!

PHOTOS FOR YOUR PLEASURE & ENJOYMENT!

BEAUTIFUL PAM GOT DUNKED!!
PAM ~ SISTER WHITESELL ~ SISTER HOOD

PAM'S BAPTISM ~ SHE IS SO GOLDEN!!
SISTER WHITESELL ~ PAM ~ SISTER HOOD ~ BRO. ?

SO GREEN AND GORGEOUS!!
SISTER HOOD

SUPER ROUGH WEEK ~ SAD NEWS FROM HOME ~ GOT MY COMFORT FOOD & COMFORTING WORDS TO HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH ~ SO THANKFUL FOR WHAT I KNOW ~ HE LIVES!!
SISTER HOOD

WHERE'S SISTER HOOD?

WEIRDEST WEEK OF MY MISSION!!

Hello my friends and fam! 

Quite honestly, this has been one of the weirdest weeks of my mission! We haven't felt productive but all of our time was filled with productive things. Our schedule was just weird partially because we had District Meeting & interviews with President Ward on Friday instead of Wednesday. It has also FLOWN by. Super weird. 

Lemme share a SUPER funny story.  so! Here we are Tuesday morning. Linda texts us and lets us know that she will be late for service. But she wanted us to get started on getting rid of the "suckers" on the apricot tree. well. We didn't know what suckers were... so we got there and decided maybe she meant to prune dead branches off of the peach tree.. haha. Well, Linda showed up after awhile. She was like "what are doing? That's the peach tree not the apricot tree.. this is the apricot tree!"  She takes us over to the other tree and tells us again to get rid of the suckers but she is gone again before we could ask what suckers were. As she went to change, we just decided that the dead branches needed to be cut off. Because the tree was way taller than my little arms could reach, Sister Whitesell grabbed the clippers and started jumping up, grabbing branches and cutting them off as she came back down to the ground. It worked pretty well the first couple times. Then, you see, there was a branch that was a little thicker than the others. But oh no, that did not stop her! She jumped up, caught the branch and hung there just long enough for her feet to swing out from under her as the branch broke off. Suddenly before she knew it, she was on her back looking up at the apricot tree.  oh man, I wish I could've gotten that on video. I was only laughing because I knew she wasn't hurt. I was DYING! Hahah!! She was kinda butt hurt (no pun intended! ), but we always laugh at each other. That was a gem!

We have had some cool experiences with some people this week! 

Reed:

It was super cool! Erica was sleeping with the baby so it was just Reed. He said he didn't have time to read from the Book of Mormon or the pamphlet and he was super bummed about it. We felt prompted to share Reclaimed. The first thing he said when we asked him what he thought was that he needed to hear that. He told us about his past and how he had done things that he was not proud of. He feels real guilt. Things have happened to him and people have told him that he deserves it because of his past. We read the story of Alma the Younger and talked about how it all relates to him. We talked about how Christ already suffered for all of those things and if he sincerely repents and forgives himself, he can feel forgiven by himself and by God. He really wanted that. We started talking about baptism a little bit and invited him to a baptism next weekend. Before we could finished the sentence to invite him, he already said yes. He said we would love to come. He has such a sincere heart and wants to Forgive himself, so we invited him to pray and ask for forgiveness and for help to forgive himself. It was a super cool lesson. He said he was super glad we came today and that he told us about his past. It was awesome! 


Sorry I'm super lame. But I just don't feel like it! We do have Pam's baptism! Please pray for her.... okay?  love you guys! Have a good week! 

Love,

Sister Hood

PHOTOS FOR YOUR PLEASURE & ENJOYMENT!!

OH YA KNOW...JUST THE SMOLDER!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER BAUM

THE HEAT OF THE GAMES!!
MY AWESOME CHICO ZONE

SERVICE PROJECT 
CLEANING THE WINDOWS
SPAR-KLY!!
SISTER HOOD

BOOK OF MORMON STUDY!!
SISTER HOOD & SISTER WHITESELL

SO PROUD OF MY MIJA!!

Oh Hello! 

It has been another week!! I'm only down to like 16 left according to Sister Baum...  it's crazy because you can feel that it's coming closer to the end. I really don't dig that. But, all good things must come to an end.. GOOD THING IT'S NOT OVER YET! 

It has been a really good week! Sister Whitesell is blossoming and continuing to get better! So in training, week 11 is when they basically take everything. Well, it's only week 8 and we have decided to do that! That's how amazing she is!!! She's doing a great job. ️ so proud of my Mija! She has been working on recognizing and acting on promptings! Huge improvements there too! One funny experience with that! So we were going to contact Rebecca since we haven't been able to get a hold of her for ages.. we called her and Stressly's phone but no one answered... so! We decided to do the missionary thing and drop by! Well.... no one came to the door... I remember Sister Whitesell making a comment about opening the door.. haha. I just kinda laughed because... you just don't do that.. especially is certain situations... like this one.  As we were walking down the stairs the spirit poked me and reminded me that we are trying to get her to act on her promptings. I felt terrible. So I turned around and asked if that was a prompting. She said she thought so. So we marched back up those stairs and she turned that door knob and slowly opened the door... it was the most eerie thing of my life.. the room was poorly lit and the door did that squeaky thing just like it does in scary movies... it kept opening and we saw no one for what felt like an eternity.. we were both worried we were going to walk in on a murder scene or something like that. That was the feeling that was there.... wrong. Bad ju ju. Anyway, finally we saw a person!  Yaaay! It was Rebecca sitting at the table... she was like oh hey! Sorry I was in the bathroom and I just got out. I'm in the middle of transactions, can you come back later? We said we would. It was a very weird thing... she seemed to be hiding something and the spirit was not in her home..... I felt very off there. No bueno. We were going to have a little throw down and talk about life with her, but when we went back with the Elders, there was no answer... and no we didn't open the door this time.  

Samantha: 

Here's how we found her! It was super cool. So! We were going to visit Elizabeth. She told us it wasn't a good time. Whitesell was prompted to ask if she could think of anyone around we could visit. She sent us to her backdoor neighbor. Welp, he was just packing up to leave so he turned us away. We just continued to tract not having much success. As we were just walking down the street trying to feel the "poke" of the spirit. As I was feeling, the thought came that there was someone we needed to see. We didn't know it was on this street or somewhere else. But we felt prompted to walk back to the car. So as we were about to get in the key doesn't work... that's not supposed to be able to happen. But we decided to take it as Heavenly Father telling us something! One house caught my eye so we just walked over to it. It was actually super sketchy... but as we were just standing there on the porch waiting for an answer, I felt that we were actually where we were supposed to be. I haven't had it that distinct before. So that was that! 

She sleeps during the day and works at night time. She works as a CNA. She has 5 girls and her husband works in Monterey right now. They are a little bit religious. The girls go to a Christian church every Sunday because a bus picks them up. She goes when she can since she works crazy shifts. She has 4 days of work then 2 days off. We shared Prince of Peace. She really liked it. She asked what made us different from Christian churches. We talked about how we are Christian thru and thru, as in we worship Jesus Christ and strive to become like Him, but we are different because we believe in other things too like Joseph Smith. She hadn't heard of him but was interested in hearing that story! We told her we would love to come back. She said she would like that! Set a time for Tuesday. She said evenings are best because it gives her time to sleep during the day! She's awesome! Super open and kind! ️

Chelsea!

Oh my goodness! This lesson was amazing! She is so solid. We found out she was at church on Sunday but we didn't even see her!! But she said she was super impressed how kind everyone was. She really felt like it was a big family. We asked how much she really know about it all, she said she doesn't know much except for that which her friend told her. Her friend sent her some awesome scriptures from D&C that were super powerful to her! She shared one of them with us. Started the resto. She nailed every question. She said she just feels like everything we believe is common sense. She totally believes that the first vision happened. She was amazed that Christ came to the Americas too. We invited her to be baptized. She said she totally would. So we asked if we could set a date. She picked Aug. 26th!! So amazing! She asked how we baptize. Talked about that and what baptism represents. She also explained to us what it meant to be forgiven so she basically explained the whole repentance Process to us, she said she had felt it work in her life. We talked about prayer. She lives the simplicity of how we pray. She said she will pray about the Book of Mormon and about what we taught. She asked where the best place to start reading in the Book of Mormon is. We told her the beginning is the best place. Talked about the witnesses and maybe reading the intro again. She was really excited! She will be at church in 2 sundays because she is going camping this weekend! Set up a time for next Tuesday! ️

Pam:

Well. We talked about the sabbath day. Pam understood and she said she would live it. She will have to give up her shopping on sundays. She also expressed her concern that she sometimes needs to get out of the house. We told her walks are okay, just not shopping. We talked about Tithing... that was where she had a really hard time... she was really worried about. She didn't understand why she couldn't just give a few dollars her and there.. we explained that it's what the Lord has established. We invited her to just try it and see if He will bless her. We also invited her to pray about it... it was a little tough.

Nick: 

He's a cool guy, we tracted into him with Hood's warmer colder spirit guideance. But he said he doesn't usually open the door for people like us but he did for some reason today. He like to learn about religions and picks what he likes from each. Doesn't affiliate with any one church though. Talked about his basic beliefs in Christ, He led by example. Wanting to gain Christlike attributes is a goal, everyone has trials in life and not everyones are the same. He doesn't know what exactly to call God but believes in a higher being. He's a way cool guy and very chill, fun conversation too. Oh and almost everything he was saying was in line with what we believe. So it was super cool! 

Welp! That's about it for the week!! I love you guys! Have a great week!  

Love

Sister Hood!