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
