Whoa! By the way, who was the author
behind my sudden bombardment of letters? Elder P. is pretty impressed with
how many letters I'm getting even a year after I left! Right around my year
mark, it started and it just hasn't slowed. I'm getting mail like a greenie!!!
haha Thanks to everyone who wrote! I don't think I have the time or the memory
to name everyone, but just know that I read and loved each of your letters and
I'm grateful for you and for your encouragement. There's a lot of emotions
running through a missionary's mind around a year, and it's fantastic to have
the support that I do. Thank you all!
Ok, so this week, in short, was
fantastic! I'm short on time, so I'm going to just say I'm alive, well, and
happy. I talked to my family Sunday, so they can update further (LOVEd talking
to you all, btw :D ) Since my last few letters I've been short on time, I'll
dedicate next week to be a "questions" letter, so if you have any questions send them to mom . I'll do Q&A format next
week so I can fill you in on what I've been leaving out.
I'd like to dedicate this week’s
letter to our Zone Training last Tuesday, where we taught the zone about what
we talked about in Mission Leadership Council.
As everyone walked in, we had a long
table up front with red solo cups scattered all over and around the table. On
the chalkboard was written: "Arise and Build" We started off by
reading from the book of Nehemiah....
I know, right? That's what I said.
That's where the words arise and build come from though.
Nehemiah works for Artaxerxes the
Persian King as Israel is captive. He receives news that the walls of Jerusalem
are broken down. Right now, our missions walls are broken down. In the month of
April, only 7 people came to learn of the blessings of Christ's gospel. We do not feel as busy as we would hope right
now.
So, Nehemiah goes to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem and in chapters 1-4 and 6, we discussed many wonderful
principles of how to build and dedicate ourselves to the work. Then, in chapter
6, it mentions how long it took them to rebuild the walls of jerusalem: 52
days. So, we made the announcement. We are going to rebuild the Washington D.C.
South mission in 52 days.
In order to rebuild, we looked at
the Calendar. From May 9th to June 30th is 52 days. July 1st the mission splits
and June 30th is the halfway mark of the year 2013. Each stake at the beginning
of the year set a goal for how many converts they wanted to see. We're
desperately behind on those goals. So, in order to rebuild, we're going to
catch up to those! For the Centreville zone, that means 18 converts in the next
52 days. sounds crazy, but Elder P. and
I had each companionship talk, name the people they were working with who they
thought could enter the waters of baptism by June 30th, then, heads down,
everyone held up a number of fingers... We counted 44 fingers up in the air!
And we're ready to see miracles.
For the second half of Zone
Training, we talked about what we needed to do to rebuild the wall. We had
everyone take 6 of the cups and we had them each build a 5 cup section of the
wall as we talked about the things we would be doing to rebuild. The first cup
was a new contacting technique called ARs. The second was a new system of
accountability and reporting we concocted at Leadership Council the week
before. Third was Faith and Fasting, the foundation of any great endeavor. (we
started the 52 days with a fast on the 9th). Next, we had the desire to work
that we all need. Power Hours that we're all committing to do, and that gives
us 3-2 pyramids all over. Then, we had everyone write unity on their cups and
place them on their section of the table. Everyone started putting them on top
to have a 3-2-1 pyramid, but we stopped them and had them place their last "unity"
cup on the side, so we had 3-3 wall sections that the overlapping cups
connected the sections of. Suddenly, instead of many pyramids, we had a wall.
So, everyone has those cups in their apartment now and it's a reminder of what
we all need to do to assist the Lord in this great work. It was easily the most
powerful Zone Training I've ever participated in, and no, not just because I
was leading it this time... It's because President and Sister Riggs received
revelation of how we can reach our full potential. Elder P and I were the
messengers, but the message was from God.
And now, miracles are happening.
-Elder Hodgson
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