I feel like every day sister OH and
I say to each other "this is going to be a crazy day" and then the
next day comes and we are like "this is going to be a crazy day too!"
It is just one busy day after another. We have been blessed with a lot of
appointments each day and we have so many people that we want to visit and we
are still trying to meet new people every day. So I feel like we have just been
running around like little chickens trying to get everything done. We have been
having a lot of "on the go" lunches and sometimes if we don't have a
dinner appointment we're like "we'll just work through dinner" but
then our district leader found out and he was like "SISTERS! You have to
take breaks and eat real food!" ,so we have been trying to find a good
balance between working hard and taking care of our bodies. But we are just
having so much fun!
We had zone conference this week and
our zone provided the musical number. So that meant that the day before
conference we had to get together and practice. Apparently the idea of getting
up early to come and sing wasn't very appealing to the boys .....so naturally
it turned into a giant breakfast feast and they all came. but it was really fun
to see a kitchen full of elders scurrying around cooking eggs, potatoes,
pancakes, French toast, 3 kinds of breakfast meats, a Chinese chicken dish,
etc. WE EAT here is Hawaii and It was all super good! then we sang and got back
to work.
Thursday was zone conference and my
year mark! I cannot believe I have already been out here for a year! I love it
so much! time has just flown by! And it was neat that three elders at the zone
conference were in the MTC with me so it was their year mark too! ( I love how we are all looking at our own cameras haha) Zone
conference is always fantastic! We got to be trained by President and Sister
Warner. They are so sweet! President talked about Zion's camp, and how the
early saints had to travel 900 miles to receive military assistance, and when
they got there the assistance wasn't available, so they had to travel back. He
talked about how hard the circumstances were and how, to many people, it seemed
like a wasted trip. But he talked about how maybe the Lord wasn't really
interested in what they did or didn't accomplish, but rather, He was interested
in their faith. He talked about how our obedience shows our love for the Lord
and our trust in Him. And I love this last bit- he said sometimes as a mom or a
dad, we will feel like we are not accomplishing much (like just going to work
every day, or just cleaning up the toys over and over again) but that is such
an important job. Parents teach their kids by example, and kids can see the
faithful acts of their parents. No effort is wasted. And during all of our hard
times, we can find the strength that we need as we turn to the Lord.
One more story from this week: A
little miracle- we had a little bit of extra time and we felt like we should go
visit D, even though we hadn't planned
to visit him that day. As we were walking to his house we saw a girl and she
was like "I am so happy to see you!" we had met her a week ago, but
she hadn't seemed too interested in our message. She said that she had never
been much of a religious person. But now, she told us that she had lost her
house and her car and had prayed for help and she got a car that morning and
would be moving into a house on Sunday! She said she wants to meet with us and
she wants to start coming to church to show her love and gratitude to the
Lord. I am so glad that we ran into each other that
day! The Lord really will put us in the right place at the right time as we try
our best to do what is right. We had no idea who would be walking on the
sidewalk at that moment on that day on the way to D's house- but Heavenly
Father knew!
love you all!
-Sister Hodgson
