Cats bring joy! (and Jesus does too:)

Connor’s on date!

My companion loves oranges!😂

 This week has had the most miracle filled stress filled week eva! But it's okay to have hard times cause we grow from it! But I love hearing from everyone and I'm grateful for everyone here and everyone back home! 💛 

September 24th: Today we had ups and downs. We took a bizzilion hours of planning to plan out our week and me and Sister Nelson are staying in Rome!  We found this guy named Trevor and then got kicked out of this apartment complex place cause this old lady I talked to tattled on us...so that was kinda funny. Then we had YW that night and we had a blast ding dong ditching cookies for members in the ward! 

September 25th: Today Sister Nelson has been a missionary for a year sooo we celebrated with Sushi for lunch! And now I have to drive cause Sister Nelson got a yellow transfer which means she got too many check your speeds so yeah.. I'm kinda scared to drive but hopefully it'll make me a better driver. We had a long lesson with Tracie and when I say long I mean like almost 2 hours!! Cause she loves talk! Then we met Florance! She is a sweet Jehovahs Witness lady and she was curious to learn more about our church! 

September 26th- So driving was just really stressful today and I was stressed teaching Connor everything soooo it was kinda a tough day but it was my Dad's birthday so I got to say happy birthday!! 

September 27th- Today was one of the best days on the mission! I'm not even joking! Okay so this morning was tough because I was just nit feeling it but it got better when we started doing service at the rescuce center...well sorta we had to clean the basement and the stuff there has been sitting there for over 30 years so it was dduuusstttaaayy. And then we saw a brown recluse spider ( idk if that's how you spell it but it's a very dangerous spider) this lady that works at the resuce center came over and killed it though so that was good. Then we go finding and find Pami and Emily and they are really sweet people we are excited to teach! But best of all we had a lesson with Andy and Gail!! And then we got Andy on date for Baptism! The lesson was so spiritual about baptism and the Holy Ghost! Andy has been meeting with missionaries for months so we are really excited he has made the decision to get baptized:)

September 28th- Holy Cow today's been cracra! We had a lesson w/ Connor this morning about the Word of Wisdom and he straight up was like "I'm never gonna have caffeine again!!" Then we had to remind him that it's okay to have soda still haha! But he's a stud! Then we cooked for Barb Libby cause she always cooks for us so we thought it was about time to return the favor. And her back has been killing her so pls pray for Barb Libby! Then we went on exchanges and made some more friends and met some awesome people! 

September 29th- okay I'm not lieing today has been the most spiritual day on the mission so far! So this day might take up like a lotta room cause a lot happened! And cause Sundays are seriously the best! So we go to church and there are 70 people there! Everyone wanted to come to church including some people Sister Nelson and Sister Folwer met YESTERDAY!! That might not sound that exciting to some of yall but it's a big deal for missionaries! And also are church usually only has 35 people max sooo to have 70 was kinda bonkers. And a cute old lady named Maureen bore her testimony about how she was grateful for her cats! But it doesn't stop there! After church we made a baptism calender with Connor!! Yay!! After church we helped a random lady we called on the phone the day before! We helped her move her stuff from her old house to her new house! So we drove the stuff to there new house and they walked 40 minutes to there new house cause they didn't have a car. After helping g her we had a really spiritual decision and pit her on date for baptism! Then we had dinner with the Hams and it was delicious! We had another lesson with Connor outside on his porch and some friendly misquotes bit me a couple times but it was so worth it cause the lesson was really good. Then after Connor we met Karrie! Karrie needs the gospel in her life so bad! Pls pray for Karrie Tucker!! She talked to us about baptism and she wanted to get baptized so we also put her on date for baptism! So that's not normal! So it was a spiritual miracle filled day!! 

Today:) okay so now it's p day and we've just been chillen, we went shopping said good bye to the AP sisters and then we are gonna go to Rilees to have dinna 

Spiritual thought: EVERYONE has a beautiful story and everyone has a divine purpose in Heavenly Father's plan of happiness! Go out and find people! This week I've have an urge to talk to everyone and get to know there story because everyone deserves the happiness the gospel gives! 

- ♡ Sister Hodges/ Madiii 

Boonville

What's up everyone! I miss you all so much!! So I noticed in my last email I spelled like every other word wrong 😬 So this week's gonna be better! Promise! If I spell anything wrong just call me out on it! Anyways let's get to the week! 

September 17th- TODAY WAS GREAT!! Sooo we had to bring our car into the dealership cause the rear lights weren't working...turns out the car was on the wrong setting or something..so me and Sister Nelson felt kinda dumb about that one but that's what happens when you give two girls who know nothing about cars a 2024 Rav Toyota :). Anyways we had a lesson with Conner that day and it was soo spiritual! We talked about the priesthood and the Book of Mormon. And we just talked about a lot of things that make our church different than others! Hes still excited to get baptized so we are really trying to teach him everything quickly but also not overwhellm him cause he leaves for the military soon. Then that night we went to Stuart's and made 3 friends in 10 minutes so that was so awesome! Not that the numbers matter but I was still a miracle. 

September 18th- Okay so today kinda punched me in the face...it was good but it was sad cause it was our last district counsel:( and then I pulled a muscle in my neck so that was really painful but thankfully the next day it was completely better! So I definitely count that as a miracle..and attitude really is everything. If you have a good attitude, you have a good day. Even if you find no friends or you feel like your not a good enough missionary all that matters is if you put the effort in and let the spirit take over. As I look over the transfer it's really easy to feel discourages about friends not coming to activities and stuff but something I love that my companion says is: "Thankfully this is God's work not ours." And she's totally right. If we do everything in our power to get people to church it's still ultimately up to them to listen to the spirit or not. Anyway..I kinda went off into a rabbit hole of thought there. back to the day! After district counsel we went on a goose chase to find Dave for the umpteenth time. And we finally found where he lives! Unfortunately he wasn't home but that's okay! I'm just glad we found his trailer park home :). Then after Dave we found this cool guy named Ryan and talked to him for 45 minutes outside about the Plan of Salvation and he had a lot of questions so we are going to meet with him again next week! Then we met JASON! Jason is awesome but he talks like 90 percent of the lesson so sometimes I feel like he's the missionary lol. But he loves the Book of Mormon so far and he gets excited when we read to him the "juicy stuff" as he calls it. He calls Laban LA BAM and it's sooo funny to me. I try not to laugh so hard. Then we ended off the day making some grape juice we have to wait four months to drink! Yummy! Haha

September 19th- I studied repentance for my personal study today and it turns out it's the perfect subject cause later that night the Hams have a lesson about repentance so that was kinda cool! I get a string feeling from the Holy Ghost we need to knock this one door later at a trailer park. Turns out the guy we knocked has talked to missionaries before and wants to talk again! Go Glen! We had dinner w/bishop that night and then the Book of Mormon class we talk about repentance! 

September 20th- So many people are putting up Halloween decorations here! Like really gory ones! Sister Hams not a huge fan of them but I think some of them are kinda cool but yeah some are a bit much.. sorry I get distracted so easily! Today we went to do service at the resuce mission! We mashes up eggs and made the most disgusting looking sandwiches ever. But maybe they tasted better than they looked...idk but I hope so! Then we did the dishes for them and there dish washer is just like the one at Culver's! And my comp didn't know how to use it so thanks to my 2 years of fast food working g I was able to figure it out! After that we had another lesson with our buddy Jason! Jason said us coming over was the highlight of our day so that made us feel pretty good:) Then we visited Sister Santoes! After her we went to Lindsay's for a lesson! Lindsay is a refurals neighbor who turns out to be awesome! She told us herself she wanted a lesson so we taught a lesson while helping her put up decorations for her sons birthday the next day! 

September 21st- Today was BONKERS! Alright so we did so much finding! We probably found around 30 people and no one was interested until the very last guy we saw..and we went all the way to Boonville!! Yes it's actually called Boonville..it's in the middle of no where.

September 22nd! Ahh I love SUNDAYS! Sooo turns out a random friend who we have never met shows up to church! And get this..she lives in our apartment complex! So we drive all the way to Boonville when we had a secret friend we didn't even know about right around the corner! Literally! Her name is Lori and she is a queen! She comes up to us and says she wants to start having lessons again and that she will be at church every week! God works in mysterious ways! Our efforts are not going down the drain! 

September today:))) So today was distirct p day and it was a lotta fun! We went on this awesome hike at pixy falls then hung out with the district at taco bell for like an hour just chatting and having fun! Imma miss the district so much! 

Also shout out to all my family supporting me! I love you all sooo much! Thank you so much for the package Aunt Celeste!! It means soo much to me:) 

Spiritual thought: Repentance is such a gift that should be used everyday! Enos 1: 5-8

-love Sister Hodges :) 

 

Conners on Date!!

 Okay sooo this week was going down the  drain jk jk you gotta go through rough times to get to the fun times. (spiritual times:) As soon as Saturday hit tho it's been going crazyyy!! So Miracles are so real and God works in mysterious ways!! 

September 10th- WHAT it's already september?! That's bonkers. We didn't find any friends today which is a bummer but it was still sick cause we gotta go funding a loottttt. The first house w we visited smelled like thick cat poop. The lady owned 7 cats and they all just chilled around in one apartment soo.. I'm rethinking getting indoor cats in the future. One of her cats gave me the weirdest look..looked like he was ready to murder me but thankfully we only stayed for 5 minutes cause the lady was super sweet but not interested. After her we knocked on a bunch of doors and no one was interested until we found this group of kids and all the kids wanted a Jesus sticker and card. One of the kids wanted the Jesus picture taped on the front of his bike so he's definitely the coolest kid in town now and I bet his bike costs twice as much too...his mom was sorta interested so ayyyye I call that a win. Not a friend but I'll count her as a cool aquentence. ( hope I didn't slaughter that word) 

September 11th- We found no friends today...but we did have district counsel so that was really fun! Love my district! They are so goofy. Then we had a lesson with Maureen and Jason about the premortal world and Jesus earthly ministry and atonement! 

September 12th- Ngl today wasn't that great but it wasn't bad either it was just kinda meh and my nail polish is started to come off so waahhhh! Jk I could care less honestly :) So today was rough cause we made no friends again. I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me patients (Idk if I spelled that right but I hope I did). We found this random guy on the street named Ricky though and he wanted to meet up with us at some point though so that was cool.

September 13th- Today was pretty fire! We didn't make any friends again buy that's A-okay. we went to the resuce center and did some service there by serving the homeless people and that's always kinda fun and makes me miss Culver's! Then we had an apt inspection and turns out our air conditioner is super dirty sooo that explains the "allergies" I've had lol. Hey and we got our toaster fixed! Then we had a lesson with Tracie about the Book of Mormon! Then we had a lesson with Gail and Andy June and Gail is probably one of the funniest ladies I've ever met and Andy is sooo quiet. So ig opposites really do attract. We taught them about the Holy Ghost with the Hams! 

September 14th- Yay! We got a friend! We started off the day going to a cute antique shop with Elder Hoffman and Elder Anderson and the Hams ( a senior missionary couple in our mission) and then the Hams took us to Apple bees yummy! Then we went finding at a park and no one was there...so that was dumb but attest we gotta do comp study with the geese outside. Then we listened to byu vocal point and pretended it was our district singing and we both were laughing so hard idk why it was so funny to imagine! But I promise we did a lot of missionary stuff today too! We had a lesson with Katie!! She was the nee friend we made and we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and just helped her with some things she's been going through.Then we had a lesson with Lindsay about the Plan of Salvation too! So the plan of happiness has become one of my favorite things to teach fs. Then we had spud Saturday and spud Saturday we just watch an inspirational video, eat potatoes and play trivia games! And I dominated in cover your assets! 

September 15th- I LOVE the sabbath! Sundays are the best with our cute little Rome NY ward! But this Sunday tops them all cause we got someone on date! So we have like 15 friends that won't come to church but then we find this random guy and he is the Nephew of the Danielsons in our ward! He comes up to us on a silver platter and says he wants to get baptized! So pray for Conner and the date is October 15th!! But that's not all we made two more friends Sunday! Kaay! He was a gray dot that we found in Canastoda and now he's in the reaching pool again! And them we met Chris at walmart! I'd explain all the details but it's easier to script this one: 

Me: "Hey totally random but do you want to come to church?"

Chris: "I have a church." 

Me: "okay...so not interested." ( He backs away...then we go park somewhere to let all the people we asked to church ( everyone) leave the parking lot so we can ask the next bunch coming out) 

Chris drives over to us parked and rolls down his windows.

Chris: "So yall serious about the church thing."

Me: " Heck yah! I know we look like we are 14 but we are legit!"

Sister Nelson: ( Shows her name tag)" Yes!!" 

Then we have a great discussion with him about God's love for him! And we are giving him a tour of the church this Tuesday! 

Spiritual thought: In life you have ups and downs but you really don't appreciate the ups unless you have downs! So learning to appreciate everything as a missionary has blessed us so much! I know that this church is the trus church and that going out and funding that one person who needs love and comfort is so important! Even if it's one person! It's so important to leave the 99 to find the one. 

Today: ZONE PDAY! VOLLEYBALL! SUNBURNS and Elder Hoffmans birthday and also some birthdays coming up aka my FATHER!! 

Random Rome pictures