the sisters on Maui

the sisters on Maui

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

WEEK 29 - two great baptisms and "get off my porch!"



Well this week was all kinds of stressful and exciting! for starters, last Monday, we went on a hike! Right from the start, we could see that a particular elder was lagging behind the group. He seemed to be having a difficult time navigating the rugged terrain. As we hiked on, he started to seem a bit tired and out of breath as well. Some of the group kept marching on at the normal pace but some of us slowed down to walk with him. so the group kind of split into two parties. Eventually, everyone had gone on ahead except for one other sister and me. We were walking with this sweet elder, and he was exhausted! As our party of three kept pressing forward, the trail became steeper. Finally, regretful complaints began to slip out of this elder's mouth. He vowed in complete exhaustion "I will never go hiking again! I hate hiking!". He was on the verge of tears. His steps became shaky, and as he stepped across some old stumps his body finally gave in. His legs buckled and he collapsed, slipping partially off the edge of the stump. He began to cry. I rushed up in front of him, and The other sister came up behind him. We helped him to sit back up on the stump, and unwedge his leg from the ditch. It came up scratched and dirty. We did our best to comfort him and distract him from the pain. Pretty soon after, some other hikers came up the trail. we asked them if they would be willing to let the people at the top know that we had an injury. they said they would, and a few minutes later the elders came running down the hill. they gave him a blessing- we didn't have oil but they just proceeded without it. he was fine and was able to finish to the end of the hike, and make the hike back. What a blessing.

okay so we also had out zone conference this week! President and sister warner and the assistant to the president flew in Friday morning. it was so good to see them all again! that's one thing I miss about living in oahu. We learned so much in the conference and it went really well.


 Then we had to quickly set up for Lahi's baptism right afterwards. She was so ready to be baptized. it was wonderful to see her receive that ordinance. After she came out of the water she was crying and we went back behind the font and she gave me a big wet hug. I was so happy for her. Then, the next morning we came back and refilled the font for Christian's baptism! He was so happy and a lot of his friends gave the talks and prayers.

On Sunday Lahi and Christian were confirmed. then bishop had them stand and everyone welcomed the two of them into the ward. then he asked just Christian to stand. Bishop said that he had interviewed him and found him worthy to recieve the Aaronic priesthood!!!! and the whole ward sustained him in that. It was so amazing to see him be ordained to the office of priest, and he was so smiley afterwards! he is such a great kid and we are so proud of him.

 







 






So last night we had quite the surprise. I woke up to hear my companion talking in the other room......and then I heard a man's voice! I looked at the clock and saw that it was 1:40 am! I was thinking "what is going on?". SO I went out to the front room and she introduced me to a very drunk man. He asked me (just like he had asked her) to bear my testimony. so there I am in my pajamas- half asleep- bearing my testimony to some drunk guy. and he insulted like everything that I said! then he told us all about how our church focuses on money and not Jesus......ummm that's strange...then why is it called the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints?.... Then he opened up his beer and flicked beer on my companion. He proceeded to ask us what our favorite hymns were and graced us with an awful rendition of "I stand all amazed", commanding us to join in with him. So, it's like 1:50 in the morning and a drunk man on our porch is commanding us to sing for him......and i was just thinking "get off our porch!". I was also kind of afraid of him because he was NOT mentally stable.   Then he saw a car and started freaking out on us asking if we had called the police. He also asked for keys to the church. Sis p lied and was like "we don't have any"......totally the kind of lie that is acceptable!!!! He shared his "testimony" with us and then we thanked him and said "see you later!" and he was like "I'm not done yet!" and i was just thinking "Dude! get off our porch!!!!" SO, he went on to insult the way we and our house smelled. and he looked at me and was like "I'm sorry you're so short!" and I was like "I'm not"............subtext: get off our porch........... then he GRABBED my companion by the wrist and yanked her hand towards him and was like "oh....I thought you had blue nail polish." by this time I was just shaking. I prayed in my head "please get this man off our porch!" and finally, after a few more minutes, we were able to wind it up and he left! sister p and I went back to our room. Apparently I was more scared than I even thought because by now I was violently shaking. I was just so shocked by the whole thing and it was so early! It didn't even seem real. We stayed awake for another half hour or so to let the adrenalin work through our bodies. We decided that if he came back, we wouldn't answer the door- we would just call the elders. Then sister p got her knife and I got my pepper spray and we went to bed. He never came back but it was still just so weird. I later found out that the reason sister p had opened the door in the first place, was she heard the knocking and she heard the guy shout "hey" and he sounded like one of the elders........yikes.

Okay, one more story. Today we went on a hike to waipio valley. We hiked for an hour and a half in. It was a very intense hike! We had to climb across a lot of jagged boulders and across a lot of streams. We had called and gotten the hike approved by president. They told him the water would be chest high, and he just said to be careful. well, my question is "chest high on who!!!" because there was totally a part where I couldn't touch the bottom at all!!!! but i've heard from some that I am a little shorter than the average person, so that might explain things a bit. Well, when we got to the end we enjoyed looking up at the beautiful walls of the valley and all the waterfalls pouring down from outrageous heights! Then not even 5 minutes into our trek back, a loud scream broke out from behind me! I turned around to find the same elder who had struggled on last week's hike. He had fallen again but this time was much worse! One of the elders unwedged his leg from the rock it was stuck behind only to find that he had dislocated his knee. his knee cap was on the side of his leg and he was just screaming! I was trying my best to keep him calm and reassure him that everything would be okay. The elders annointed his head with oil and gave him a blessing. then Sister P came and said that we had to pop his knee back in. So the elders gave him a stick to bite on and sister p popped his knee back in place. It helped to relieve the pain, but he still wasn't able to walk very well. We started off our long journey back with him piggy backing on another elder. that didn't last too long. Then they switched to having him walk, propped up by two elders. so he limped along hour after hour, crawling down steep hills, over sharp rocks and across slippery river beds. It was a team effort! everyone helped him! we developed a lot of zone unity! it was quite the struggle, but the strong elders surrounded him and lifted him up and supported him every step of the way. A miraculous 4 hours later, we reached the truck and drove him up and out of the valley. If he couldn't have walked, we would have had to call a helicopter to get him out. We are so grateful for prayers and the power of the priesthood.

The elder can't move much now, so he'll probably be staying the night here at the church on the couch. hopefully he gets to feeling better soon.

love you all!
-Sister Hodgson





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