May 26, 2014

Today was CRAAAAAAZY.

Our zone was got to go to the temple today!! We were supposed to be there at 8:00 for the 8:30 session so we planned on being on the road at 5:30. the elders came with us in our car so we were going to meet them at the church at 5:20. So I planned on waking up at 4:20 to get ready. I woke up at 5. I JUMPED out of bed. We quickly got ready and somehow made it to the church not too late to pick up the elders. We were just about to get on the freeway when sister h realized she left her recommend at home. We drove back, grabbed the recommend and hit the road again. It was raining like crazy and I somehow, by the grace of God, drove past two cops going 20 over and didn't get pulled over (one of them was actually driving behind me. He appeared out of NOWHERE! I looked in my mirror and there was suddenly a state trooper driving behind me. I gasped and slowed down a bit. He then passed me going probably 90 and drove away. That's Connecticut.) We finally got to the temple....an hour early haha but we got to go to the 7:30 session instead.

We then ate at Chipotle (Mexican Subway) and met up with some other missionaries in our zone. We went to Cambridge to drop of our cars and did the Freedom Trail in Boston (a must-do for when we go to Boston after my mission!) We did an insane amout of walking! We saw the USS Constitution, the Old North Church (which is where Paul Revere saw the lanterns and warned everyone that "The British are coming! The British are coming!") and the Bunker Hill memorial. The memorial was a giant tower (kind of like the Washington memorial in DC) with 294 stairs inside. We walked up all of them. hahaha we were really tired by the end. My legs were shaking but it was well worth it. We also just got to walk around Boston and enjoy the sights! It was a ton of fun. I LOVE Boston. 

So after our adventure, we made it back to the cars and left for Hartford. THAT was an adventure. Originally we were going to take the 90, but it's a toll road. On the way to Boston it's only $1.75 but after driving for 15 minutes to Hartford, we'd already paid $3 and didn't want to pay more so we got off. The GPS took us on a crazy long route which took an hour longer than it needed to. But we finally made it home! We're here, really tired and ready for bed. But we wanted to write home so as not to freak you guys out. :)

So Elder Holland. Wow. That was amazing. I mean, AMAZING. So just being in the presence of an Apostle of the Lord was cool enough. Sister H and I somehow lucked out and got front row seats so we were right there. We all got the chance to go up and shake his hand, as well as his wife and Elder Hallstrom who's in the presidency of the quorum of the seventy. We listened to a talk by Elder Hallstrom, by Sister Holland and then by Elder Holland. His talk was spectacular. He talked a lot about how our missions should convert us and how we shouldn't fall away when we get home from our missions. He talked a lot about how much of an impact his mission played in his life--he can even tell you, on any given day, how long it's been since he's gotten home from his mission. He said he thinks about his mission every single day. He also talked about how Preach My Gospel came about and used that to explain how Preach My Gospel was written to convert the missionary so the missionary could better convert the investigator. Then came the cool part. He said, "I feel a sermon coming on...." So he came down from the pulpit,  and started walking amoungst the pews (we were in the chapel) He was also using a whiteboad to explain his sermon. So Sister H and I were sitting on the front row. He walked in front of us like 50 times. I was sitting on the very end of the pew and several times he would  stand right in front of me to address everyone. Literally right in front of me. I could check the time on his watch. (I didn't, I was too enthrawled by what he was saying) He was literally right there.

His sermon thing was cool too. Using examples in John 3-4, he explained how we need to "go to" the investigator spiritutally and "bring them" to where they need to be. He showed us how the Savior did it and explained how we could do it ourselves. It was marvelous. He then got back up to the pulpit to finish. He talked to us about "Coming to the edge". He shared a poem about somebody who was beckoned to come to the edge, but didn't want to because he was afraid of falling. He finally headed the voice and went to the edge. The beckoner then pushed him, but instead of falling, he flew. He told us the same is with us. If we have faith, we too will fly.

Finally, he told us that in his entire 25 years of visiting missions, that mission conference was the best one he'd ever been too. He said he felt a strong spirit with us and that we would do great things. He left us all with an Apostolic blessing and sadly, our time with him came to a close.

It was an amazing experience. Even after he left we remained silent. Nobody wanted to move because of how strong the spirit was. We stayed there for about 10-15 minutes, contemplating what we had learned and felt, writing down promptings from the spirit and enjoying the peace that was there. It was powerful.

So that was my week! 

S and L are both doing great! Socorro had her baptismal interview, which she passed with flying colors. I got to translate the interview.

We also changed the baptismal date of L. He was going through some trials so we told him it would be better to confront those trials with the Spirit. With the help of a letter written to him by a past missionary, we convinced him. He's now getting baptized on June 7 and will be going to the temple June 14 to do baptisms! We are so excited but this means that we have a million billion things to do in the next two weeks now that we have back-to-back baptisms! It's going to be a crazy couple weeks, but we're ready for it!

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Keep being awesome! 

Love you all!

Hermana Hutchinson