August 25, 2014

Hey, sorry for my horrendous email last week. It's seriously getting harder and harder to email on p days. I don't really know why, it just gets old I guess. Especially when nothing exciting or interesting happens during the week. But this week, I'm repenting.

So H is doing well. This week we saw a great change in him. He is understanding the gospel more and he is more interested in reading and going to church. He has even been doing the assignments we give him! He didn't come to the branch yesterday, but apparently he went to the Canton ward with his uncle. Which, I mean, he's at church, but he doesn't understand any of it, so I don't know. Anywho, he's doing well still. We've starting planning his baptism, like who's speaking and what time it's going to be at. We're really excited and hoping that all will go well in the next couple weeks. We still have a lot to do!

O is also doing well. Due to some dumb circumstances, we weren't able to meet with him 2 weeks in a row. BUT we met with him Saturday and Sunday. He asked us what else he needs to do to prepare for baptism since he's been reading and praying a ton. We told him, "Go to church!" He keeps telling us that he's going to go to church and then....he doesn't. But he said this Sunday he will definitely come. No word yet on the marriage, but we want to meet with R sometime and talk about it with her, just us girls. Maybe we can help her get past some of her worries about getting married.

J....well, we haven't met with J recently. He dropped of the radar, but we're going to call him.

Do you remember me telling you about M? She's an amazing woman from Brazil who was already reading the Book of Mormon when we met with her. Unfortunately we have only been able to meet with her once. She started working late and it was difficult to find a time to meet with her, even though she really wanted to learn more. Her family has been going through a lot of difficulties recently. We found out this week (thanks to a great member who's been good about keeping in contact with her) that they were going to be moving to Florida. Her daughter was really sick though and wanted a blessing. Well, it just so happened that an Elder from Brazil had just been transferred into our zone, Elder P. So we called them up and they willingly came to give her a blessing (because they're appointment just "happened" to cancel on them) It was an amazing experience! He was able to speak Portuguese with them, without any language barrier and give her daughter a blessing. M said she's going to join the church when she gets to Florida. We're all hoping and praying that there is someone in the town they're moving to that will be able to help her. We also found out that her daughter, G, also wants to get baptized! So I'm sure, with time, the whole family will get baptized and get sealed in the temple :)

And H. He is still waiting for his mission call.  There were a couple problems with his papers before so they didn't get sent until last week. We're hoping that this Friday his call will come! We have dinner with them that night so it would be very convenient if it came so we can find out where he's going!

Yesterday President Packard came to our stake and did a fireside about "What the World knows because of Joseph Smith" It was an amazing fireside! And we saw the coolest miracle! There is a less active in our branch who was offended and doesn't have very good feelings towards the church. She's a "do not contact". Well, last night, guess who was at the fireside? Yep, the offended less active! And dang, that was an amazing fireside! It got rave reviews! Of all the church events she could choose to come to, she came to the right one! Hopefully she'll come to church this week! 

Another cool thing, on Thursday, we found ourselves driving behind a Bing street view car. It had this tall pole on it with a 360 degree camera. Sooooo we're going to be on Bing street view. It's not a cool as google street view, but I'll take what we can get.  

This week we have interviews with President Packard on Thursday and Wednesday my 100 day countdown will begin! Can you believe it!? 100 days. That's not very many days. (Especially compared to the greenie in our district--he has 700 days left) Also, BYU is playing UConn in football and the BYU president is coming to give a fireside which the missionaries are invited to! We're also doing exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. I'm going to their area and one of them is coming to Hartford. No, they don't speak spanish. No, I have no idea how our exchanges work, but they do.

Next Monday, we're going to the temple. We don't really know yet if we're going to stay in Boston or not. But in the event that we do, I don't know when emailing will happen. Just so you're aware. But don't worry, I'll send an email next week.

The end of August is shaping up to be a good one! I hope you all enjoy your extra 2 weeks of summer! In Hartford, school is starting this tomorrow. Summer went by fast! Don't blink, or it'll be Christmas ;) 

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Hutchinson

August 18, 2014

This was an interesting week. We decided to just stop by H's without setting up an appointment. It ended up being a great appointment! He has been struggling a bit with the Word of Wisdom, mostly because he just doesn't understand why he has to keep it. When he goes out and drinks, he only drinks a little so he thinks it's okay. We were able to help him understand why Heavenly Father wants us to avoid alcohol completely. We also taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gave him an example of working out (which he loves to do...it's like N all over again haha) We told him that enduring to the end was like working out. When achieve a goal that you set for yourself, you don't just stop working out, or you'll become weak again, but you continue to work out. Like enduring to the end. He really liked that example.The next day, he came to church!! We were excited about that because he's been saying he'll come to church for weeks and he finally came! We were kind of worried about his baptismal date, but he's been progressing a lot the last few days so hopefully everything will work out. We're really excited for him.

We also might have a couple new investigators soon! Last night we were talking to a 15 year old who was asking us a lot of questions about our missions. She thought it was crazy that we were willing to give up movies and music and friends and texting for 18 months.

Okay, I'm sorry this is a short email. I'm getting kicked off. 

Have a great week!

Hermana Hutchinson

August 11, 2014

This was a good week! We have a new zone leader and he's really been pumping up our zone to do a lot of work. We had a zone meeting on Friday that was really good. It was a really spiritual meeting and we learned a lot. Our district is getting along really well this transfer, which I'm grateful for. It's nice to be in a district where everyone is close and we all get along.

 

Last p day the elders in my district were awesome and bought me a watermelon for my birthday! I cut it up and enjoyed watermelon all week. I finished it on Saturday and on Sunday, the M family, the family who let us skype at our house for mother's day, gave me another watermelon! So I got TWO watermelons for my birthday. Best birthday ever!

We're really excited because we have a baptismal date! We invited H to be baptized and he accepted! He's baptismal date is set for September 6th. We're honestly kind of stressed about it because he lives kinda far away in Bristol, about a half hour away and it's hard to keep in contact with him. Plus it's hard for him to get to the branch building in Hartford, but we trust Heavenly Father that he will provide a way for him and for us so that he'll be able to get baptized on Sept 6th.

O and R are also doing well. R is a member of the church, but she's less active. We didn't get to meet with them yesterday though because R was at her mom's house and Oscar was home alone. We set up another appointment for next week though.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Hermana Hutchinson

August 4,2014

Hey, I'm 21!

So I had the craziest, and I mean craziest 21st birthday. 

We left Hartford at about 8:30 to go to the temple for P and J's sealing. It was fun because I got to see a bunch of missionaries, including Sister H and several people from the branch. And then the sealing was AMAZING. It was such a spiritual experience. Plus, their son's D and L were there. During the sealing, the 2-year-old Lenny was trying to climb on the altar. It was adorable. And it was cool to go to my first sealing. During the sealing, L and H were down doing baptisms, which was really special too.

Then we left and ran into a disgusting amount of traffic on the freeway. It took us 3 hours to get home, instead of 1 1/2. When we got back to Hartford, we went to P's reception to help finish setting up. We justified staying at the reception because there were a lot of non-members there and they talked about the temple and eternal families, so it was totally a missionary related activity. There was also food. We actually had a dinner appointment so we didn't really eat anything.....but we left pamphlets and temple cards for people to take. 

 

Afterwards, we went out to dinner with O, one of our investigators. They took us out for pizza, which was really good. It was a great dinner. O is progressing SO MUCH! Especially after our appointment with him last night. He basically invited himself to be baptized...the only problem is that he and R, his girlfriend, need to get married because they're living together. So we need to work that out, but he has a really strong desire to become a member of the church and follow Christ. It was almost an abrupt change from how he was last week. I think the biggest difference is that he has been reading the book of mormon everyday. The gospel changes people, I've seen it.

 

And on top of everything that happened. I was SICK! I've had a cold for most of the week that still wasn't gone on my birthday. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever been sick on my birthday. But compared to everything that happened, being sick was nothing. And I'm feeling a lot better today! 

So that was my birthday! 

The rest of our week was also interesting. Our district has changed quite a bit. There's another greenie that our district leader is training and we have a new zone leader. We've also been working hard meeting with some members and investigators. It's a new month so we have a fresh set of goals! We're excited for August!

There's a lot of good things happening in Hartford!

Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Hutchinson

July 28, 2014

Another week! We went on exchanges again with our sister training leaders. This time Sister H came to Hartford with me. We're both the older companions in our companionships so it was fun to share mission stories with each other. She's about to start her last transfer so she had a lot of fun stories to tell. 

We also had transfer texts on Friday! I was really nervous for t texts. I REALLY wanted to stay in Hartford, but I was nervous that I would get transferred. Well the good news is...I didn't get transferred! Sister B and I will be companions for 6 more weeks! I'm so happy. There are too many things going on this transfer that I didn't want to miss. For example, my birthday, L's birthday, my "99" (There's a restaurant here called 99 and it's tradition that missionaries go there when they have 99 days left), P's sealing, H getting his mission call, a member, N, coming back from a trip to Peru, a Joseph Smith fireside Pres. P is giving in Harford, and finishing Sister B's training, among other things. This is going to be a fun transfer and I was going to be really bummed if I left.

More good news! J came to church yesterday! We were so excited. It was even better because H sat next to him and explained everything, like the sacrament and the speakers. It was GREAT! I love it when the members help us because, as much as I want to be able to do everything, we just can't. And, believe it or not, the members are better missionaries than we are. So we were happy to have J there. We introduced him to President M and other members of the branch. Then we had a lesson with him in the afternoon. It went really well, even though he declined the invitation to be baptized. I feel like he opened up to us a lot more, and even though he says he's not ready to be baptized, he still wants to keep learning about the gospel. He said he feels really good at church and whenever we come to his house. But when he's out with his friends, it's hard to keep that good feeling so sometimes he falls into temptation. The poor guy is so hard on himself. We haven't even taught him about the commandments yet. He's great though. I think my favorite part is how determined H is to baptize him. He's definitely gotten bit by the missionary bug.

We also met with a less active family on Saturday night. The M's. They are a great family that loves to feed us. I've always felt this unwillingness to come back to church or even listen to a message from us. Every time we've gone over they have a bunch of other people over to make is difficult for us to share a message. Saturday night was different though. We got there and Sister M told us she had invited somebody from work who is pregnant and was wondering if we would be able to say a prayer for her that the pregnancy would be okay. We agreed of course. A few minutes later another family from the branch showed up--the G family. They were just as surprised as we were to get an invitation to have dinner at the M's. But they enthusiastically came and we had a great dinner together. Brother G brought up the Priesthood and Brother M admitted that he didn't really know what the Priesthood was and that he didn't have it (according to our records he actually has the aaronic priesthood, but he obviously doesn't really know what that means) So we explained what the Priesthood was and had a great discussion about the blessings of the Priesthood. It was hands down, the best appointment with the M's that I'd ever had. I don't know if they're ready to come back to church yet, but it's a step in the right direction.

We're really excited for this week because our Relief Society president, P and her husband J are getting sealed in the Boston Temple! They have been married for 10 years and have 2 sons, but a few years ago they were baptized and have been preparing to go to the temple and get sealed. Sister H and I went to the temple with them a couple months ago when they got endowed, but this Saturday they'll be getting sealed (yes, on Aug 2. Best birthday present ever!!) The only problem at this point is that J has been in the hospital since Saturday with a fever. Apparently, they'll be finding out today what's wrong with him, but the whole branch has been praying that he will get better before Saturday. 

Well, I'm excited for another 6 weeks in Hartford! This is going to be a great transfer! I can't believe it's my 3rd to last! I'm still working hard, trying to enjoy every single moment. I know the next 4 months are going to go by way too fast. Don't blink! 

Have a fantastic week!

Hermana Hutchinson