Well, this week was crazy busy!
Sorry this is coming on Tuesday, but we had a half-mission conference with
Elder Packer of the Seventy, so our p-day is today! More on that later though.
Last week, we decided it was our
week to WORK because this week, we had the conference yesterday, pday today,
and another misison Christmas Conference on Friday. then it's transfer week! :P
so, this was our week to work! and work we did!... as much as we could...
there's a bug going around... haha
We were very busy, and set a lofty
goal for lessons, and only fell short by 1!!!! We were soooo close!!!! We also
found a new investigator for us, and a new investigator for another mission. Funny
story about the guy for the other mission. We were going through our area book,
and were visiting this brother/sister combo we had as former investigators. No
answer for the first few times we stopped by. Then, one day, we get the
peephole (where someone looks through the eye hole, then walks away), then
Mauricio comes out. We're pretty sure from what we heard going on inside that
he was sent out to "get rid of the mormons." So, he got rid of us, and
went back inside with a Book of Mormon and two pamphlets!!! We've met him a
couple other times and found out he lives out of our mission, so we texted him
one day asking for his address and for permission to send local missionaries to
him, and he texted back. "I already found them. I'm going to church on
Sunday!!!!" It was such a huge blessing to us to see the fruits of a
finding effort we had that we might never have known about. It makes me wonder
how many seeds we've planted that we won't find out about out here. It was
awesome though. Elder M and I now have a reputation for being the Elders in the
middle of the mission who do out-of-mission poaching (we've also given two
referrals to the Richmond mission and one to the Baltimore mission).
This week also took us to new
heights and depths. Heights meaning on top of people's roofs putting up
Christmas lights and depths meaning.... I dont' know, we prayed a lot I guess,
so on our knees is low. Though there is
that one quote: "a man is never standing taller than when he is on his
knees."
Funny story. We were knocking on
doors the other day, and in between doors, we began quoting movies back and
forth and laughing at ourselves. Elder M was throwing out a quote as I knocked
on the door, and the quote included the word "girlfriend." He stopped
midway through as the door opened, and I guess I wasn't ready. The first thing
I said to the guy who answered was: "Hey, how's your girlfriend?"
yeah.... haha. I recovered, and we got inside and taught a lesson, but it was a
weird moment. Moral of the story: don't quote movies while tracting.
We helped another lady set up
Christmas lights. She invited us to help her daughter, who was coming from
Richmond, and we showed up, and she made it very clear that she did not work
with people and didn't want our help. So, we helped her anyway! She told us she
hated us because we ruined her carefully constructed paradigm that there were
no good people on the earth anymore, and invited us to Christmas dinner before
the night was over! haha. It's funny to see what a little love and service can
do for someone.
The big event was yesterday's
conference. Elder Packer (President Packer's son) and his wife came to visit
and tour the mission and gave us our conference yesterday. The other half of
the mission has their conference today. It was great! I wish I could just copy
my notes and memories onto here, but I can't. Elder M , one of our Assistants
spoke first. He talked a lot about becoming the best missionaries we can be.
Two of my favorite quotes: "How can we expect to have progressing
investigators if we are not progressing missionaries?" and "If you
focus on results, you will never change, but if you focus on change, you will
get results." Next, Sister Riggs spoke about charity, how important it is,
and how to obtain it. It was really good, and helped me understand a lot about
charity. Elder W, our other Assistant went next. He's going home this transfer,
so he really wanted to share his favorite pieces of wisdom with us. He shared
how we need something to help us keep our eyes on the bigger picture. He showed
a picture of a Virginia road - beautiful and covered in trees, though looking
exactly like every other road in Virginia. He then showed us a road in Utah -
with a mountain rising high in the background that was visible from anywhere.
He talked about how we need to build a "mountain" of testimony so
that wherever we are in life, we can see the mountain and know where we are and
which direction we're traveling. President Riggs followed and expounded a bit
on how to use Moroni's promise in teaching and we did some practice teaching,
and I really feel like I understand how to testify and let the spirit teach
more about that promise so investigators will understand and exercise that
promise. Next was sister Packer, who talked about the Spirit and the little
things we can do to help keep it with us. She is a very good public speaker and
I learned a lot from her. Elder Packer Finished us off before lunch and took
the after lunch portion too, and just really broke everything down as to what
our purpose is, how we use that purpose, how we teach and testify better, and
just did it all. It was amazing. He answered a lot of questions, too. Both
questions that were asked by missionaries and questions we had in our hearts.
It was great.
Our Sister Missionaries were given a
warning yesterday, too. They were told that EVERY ONE of them needs to be ready
to train by next week, because we're expecting our first "fleet" of
sisters to arrive this transfer (what was that about objectification of women?
haha :P disclaimer: fleet was not my word ).
Five of the Seven Missionaries from
my MTC district were at that conference, so it was fun to see all of them,
along with the other missionary friends I've made since then. Everyone was
giving me double-takes too, since they aren't used to me in glasses. One Elder,
Elder S who reported the same day as me, though not to the same district, has
declared himself my bully, saying it is irresistible to not harass someone with
glasses. haha He's hysterical. Sister E caught up with me too, and the first
thing she said was "you look different. I hardly recognized you!" I
responded with the usual "haha, must be the glasses." And she
immediately shut that idea down. "No," she said, "You just look
older. More mature. It's like you're growing up right before our eyes out
here." That probably made my day. So much as missionaries, we try to
improve the work that we do and the people that we are, but we don't see that
change in ourselves because it happens over time. It was very comforting to
hear from someone I've known since day one in the MTC that I'm growing into the
man I want to be. Slowly... haha I still have a long way to go, for anyone that
knew just how mature I was before I left :P
Cool thought for this week. We were
talking the other day, and Elder M and I noticed something. We may not always
be entitled to receive visions of God the Father, or of Jesus Christ, but there
is something spectacular that we can have. In fact, we are promised it if we
will just live worthily. We can have the constant companionship of one of the
Godhead. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead. So are The Father and The
Son. What a privilege it is to have the companionship of one of the three
members of the governing body of the universe! Think about that for a bit. It
blew my mind when I did. It's incredible.
Well, it seems that every day I wake
up more tired and more grateful to be here. I love my mission!
Love you all! Merry Christmas!
-Elder Hodgosn
