Pictures from Zone P-Day!

 Dodge Ball and Arm wrestling..loser eats Liver! Eww!

What doesn't Kill you Makes you Stonger - Kelly clarkson

 I didn't know what to name this email but since this week was a lil ruff I felt like Kelly Clarksons song really sets the mood even though my favorite of hers is def since you've been gone haha my sister's know that lol...

November 19th: We did so much missionary work today it's not even funny...okay it's kinda funny cause we didn't make a single friend. Womp womp.but then we went ice blocking with the ward and that was super fun!! Sister Porter and Sister Smity raced each other down the mountain and it was awesome, I only made it half way then my bum slid off haha. Then we had a lesson with Mary and that went wild but then I got to see Sister Nelson cause the Plattsburgh Sisters stayed at our apartment for the night.

November 20th: ZONE CONFERENCE!! I was feeling soooo sick through out the entire thing and I think I'm the only person who fell asleep during zone conference which was really embarrassing but then we got home and I had a fever sooo I didn't just fall asleep for fun I was legit ready to puke my brains out but thankfully I didn't and my companion let me rest.

November 21st: MY FOUR MONTHS MARK!! Woohoo!! Okay so I woke up with a fever still so I slept in 2 hours and woke up and broke my fever! Yay!! Now I'm just coughing like a hag but I'd rather that then a fever! Anyways we had a weird lesson with Josh and he uhh decided to pretend he was on a phone call for half of it.

November 22nd: Today was freaking awesome!! Me and Sister Brown went on exchanges and some hard core rejections but it was worth it cause we found one friend at the end of the day! And me and Sister Brown got to get to know each other better and bond a bit which was great! So we helped this lady clean her house after having a lesson at her place bout the Plan of Salvation then we found out her cats name is Harry Potter too! Except her cat was nice. Then we had a lesson in the library with Chelsy and then we had game night with all of Watertowns friends!! They had like 10 friends there and they were all dudes!! So then we played lightning in the gym and I got second place!

November 23rd; Today was a pretty good day! We woke up and My voice was like gone. But it slowly came back..we went back to Rome and I wrote my talk for Sunday and a bunch of missionary work

November 24th: We had church! It was great cause I gave a talk and then we had linger longer and it was Brother danelisons  birthday then we tried to deliver cookies but we ran outta time cause all our lessons were wayy to long so now there's like 40 cookies chilling in the back of our car! 

-love sista Hodges🫶🏼

Connors Baptized

So this week was absolutely nuts! Little advice for future missionaries: don't stay up til midnight making dumb videos on exchanges lol. Jk the memories will last forever but I'll never gain that sleep back haha anywho...

November 12th: today a lotta stuff happened! A lotta good and a lotta not so good.. but we started off strong! Got a good work out in and a pretty good personal study! We did weekly planning and I did not do so good...it was just sooo much stuff to plan that I was feeling really overwhelmed. Watertown Sisters came for an exchange!! That was really fun! A random guy said we were beautiful so that made me feel good even if he was a little high on something! Me and Sister Brown had two really good lessons with Marian and Carmelo and Barb got to join a lesson so that was awesome! We had Young womens and young mens that night and the activity was to move stuff outta the shed and to clean it out! We moved so fast and it was pretty fun even though it was buttcold out and I got soot all over my pants! Hopefully it washes out! 

November 13th: District Council! Yay!!! We went to Chipotle after district council and that was the best and the AP Elders came to District council so it was fun talking with them! Then we went knocking and found a cool women named Gale! She talked about how she served a mission for a month in some forgein country for her church. We had a lesson with Drew about church organizations. Then for relief society that night we made christmas ornaments! And that was soooo fun! 

November 14th: It was hectic today! We stayed up til midnight so my journal isn't helping me rn because all I wrote is: I'm real tired. But if I rack my brain I remember that we had a lesson with Darla! She was a really cute old lady who had a whole makeup kit and decided to put her makeup on while we talked to her haha! Then we went to see Crystal again and had a great lesson with her! Then that night we taught the Book of Mormon class before the whitesboro Sisters came over for an exchange 

November 15th: So we decided to stay up til 12:30 and make funny videos! At night I thought they were pretty awesome but waking up this morning I realized they were pretty dumb lol. Today was Connors interview though! Man he's just a stud muffin! He did soo good on the interview and I felt like a proud teacher lol. Sister Robert's friend got engaged that night and so if you are one of my high school friends reading this please wait for me to be at the wedding!! 

November 16th Today was Connors big day!! He got dunked twice cause his head was sticking out the first time haha! But the water wasn't like a sauna this time so that was good! Oh and we slaughtered Connors names on the programs! We spelled it Conner instead of Connor so rookie mistake but it is what it is! We had some awesome speakers who both talked for like 30 minutes! After the baptism we went on exchanges again and me and Sister Gubler went to Mary's house and she has 18 cats so it smelled delightful. She is actually the sweetest lady eva tho! 

November 17th: Connor was given the Hoky Ghost and we had the primary program!! Woo hoo!! There was like 5 kids and one of them was screaming for his dad. But they were so cute! We visited the Boxalls and prayed for them! We told Brother Boxall to pick a random page in the Book of Mormon to read and he chose 126 and so we talked about how we need to pluck the weeds out of our lives to make room for the tree: meaning get rid of distractions and make room for more important things like serving others! And reading scriptures to strengthen our faith! After the Boxalls we made cookies for a bunch of families in the ward! We visited a lotta houses and had an awesome phone call lesson with Carmelo about the atonement! Then at the whites house the Lil boy of the house drew me a picture of a stegasaurse head :) 

❤️ sista Hodges :)

Helloooo!

Dang! Quite a lotta stuff happened ! Imma just get straight to it so I can play volleyball haha..

November 5th: Today we woke up planned our week, had an awesome phone call w/ our bestie Rocco and Elder Schorer joined and we taught the restoration in one lesson so that was kinda a lot but cool at the same time. We drove to Jan's in Boonville and Barb made her some soup so that was really nice of her! We had Young womens that night and we painted shirts for each other so now Sista Nelson will always remember me as her one comp that just drew a bunch of cartoons haha. Then we ended the day w/ a lesson w/ Connor! And he is just a stud! We talked about fasting and fast offerings.

November 6th: We had a reflection call that day where we talked about how awesome our trainers were and how they helped us grow. Then we went to the Atwoods and they bought a cake for Sister Nelson and now it's still sitting in the fridge...but it was really really nice of them! Then we had a lesson with Lily and we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and Sister Nelson said bye for the last time. Then we had another lesson with Rocco, Joe and Drew!  Then we called a bunch of people.

November 7th: Transfers!! Eekk!! So I had to say my good byes to Sista Nelson and that was sad but my new comp is pretty awesome too!! Her name is Sister Robert's and we met our friend Crystal that day because her husband Donald sent in a request to meet w/ missionaries. Then we met this cute old lady putting away her garbage named Marian and she was sorta curious to hear what we had to say so yay!! Then we had Come follow me class and that was pretty fun and we watch a video about Mormon and how he gave the plates to Moroni!

November 8th: We did some service at the Rome rescuse center..Just organized food pretty much. Then our phones were being dumb so for like 2 hours we couldn't get in contact with anyone on our phones so we had to use an old man map to get around and that was so weird..but then one of the Elders in our district fixed our phones! Then we visited Sister Santos and talked with her for a bit and read 2 Nephi 31. Then we had Volleyball night at the church with the district and we invited some friends and Rilee! Then i gotta see the Hams one more time!

November 9th We texted and called like a bizzilon people that morning and then tried going to peoples houses and no one was home except one cranky cat. Then we went finding at Walmart and found no one but it's okay cause it was fun talking to peoples! Then we had a Thanksgiving thing at Whitesboro and that was cool! We met this cool lady who talked bout miracles and how she knows this church is true cause she went to like 20 other churches before this one. Then we had three lessons back to back with Husainy, Lissete and Kaylee Robinson and her cute fam.

November 10th: We had church and then Ly came to church, Connor and the Robinsons! After church we saw the Boxalls and then during personal study I fell asleep cause church was exhausting but then we went out finding in the rain for forever but actually the rain is so fun cause we got to stomp in puddles. Then we had dinner at the danlisons and a lesson with Connor! Then we met Carmelo at the gas station 

November 11th: pday yay!! Organizing! Cleaning! And Volleyball! 

This is Harvest Fest!

 

What's up yall! This week is a train load of info so buckle up it's a bumpy ride lol. Jk it was actually a great week...I just didn't know so much stuff could be done in one week! Back home I'd get all this stuff done in a month maybe haha 

October 28th: It was a hectic p-day!! We said good bye to Sister Ham for the last time and I started crying then Sister Ham started crying and then Sister Nelson started crying and we were all a hot mess. Then we zoomed to zone p-day and played volleyball, pickle ball and cover your assets ( I won...at the very last activity..I suck butt at the other two haha) Then after p day stuff we had dinner at Rilee's then a lesson with Connor! Connor is back on date! Yay! Our lesson was about the importance of prayer and how we can always repent! Connors such a trooper and I felt the spirit during our lesson! Than after that we went to Barbs and gave her a hug cause she was sad the Hams left :( We talked to her for a bit and listened to some of her childhood stories growing up! She is the sweetest lady eva. After that we raced outta Barbs and it's like 9:45..then as we are running out this old lady sees us and yells "Your late!" And me and Sister Nelson give each other the look: " huh? How does she know?" ( when you spend 24 7 with someone you begin to be able to read their minds) anyways apparently the lady had met with missionaries in the past and knew that we were supposed to be home at 9:00so counidink? I think not! So we will have to find her again! 

October 29th Today was pretty productive even though it didn't feel like it cause it was a heck load of phone work but phone work is pretty important too especially cause it was about time we organized our teaching pool. So we start off the day..I had a pretty efficient personal study...I don't remember exactly what I studied I just know it was efficient. We had a lesson with Josh and Maggie this morning and Josh talked about how his grandma needed to be carried away on a stretcher?? It was really random..but i hope his grandma is okay. We tried to talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ but baby scarlet kept crying. Then we picked up Sister Atwoods mop at the Hams, the Hams called our parents and told our parents how awesome we are...news flash I didn't feel so awesome when I locked the keys in the car! Ahh! I felt so stupid but then I prayed that things would get resolved and work out! So we called the mission car person and he called a lock Smith to come open the car! The happiest lock Smith of all time frolics over to us and unlocks the car for free and then just frolics away pretty much! And he opened the car in a minute! It was pretty awesome! but now that I think of it the mission probably paid for it...lol oh well it happens. Then we had to go back to Rilees and get our laundry cause we left it there oops..then young women's was canceled and so instead we called a bunch of refurals and then got Bible bashed hard core by this one lady for 40 minutes...but she was nice for the most part. Then we found out one of the guys we teach is actually phyco and worships Hitler...so we quickly stopped teaching him! So it was a really interesting day! 

October 30th: We had district council today and it was really helpful cause we did role plays haha everyone's favorite thing to do! But fr it was actually really helpful cause the scenario was to persuade someone who is really stubborn to meet with missionaries so in one rp I got to be the person being taught and I was pretty stubborn but it was cool to see how the other missionaries were able to get me excited to see what the gospel is about! After district council we had a lesson with Lily and she is the best and the cutest ever! Our lesson was about the restoration! Then after her lesson we helped a women rake her leaves for her! Then we had a lesson with Ephraim and Brother Atwood about the Sacrament and what happens at church! Then we returned Katie Atwoods mop finally and then Katie gave us some soup so we carried an entire ninja pot of soup into the car, then we went to the gagnons and gave Addy some clothes. And we had a lesson with Connor about the ten commandments wowzah!

Halloween!: Harvest Fest! So we do service for these super sweet ladies but they don't celebrate Halloween so instead of singing "this is Halloween" we sang "this is harvest fest" to each other. We did put on fake Halloween nails though and fake tatts. After service we had interviews with the president, then dinner at Barbs with Rilee! Then we had a lesson about tender mercies and how we have felt the lords hand in our life. Barb made us a Thanksgiving meal on Halloween so that was awesome! Then for Halloween we weren't allowed to go out door knocking or contacting in public so we got to play pickle ball at the church with the district.

November 1st: We called like 40 people today and no one was interested and we went contacting in public and no one was interested...but you gotta laugh sometimes and realize it's okay to have bad days.

November 2nd MAN!! Today was crazy! We went refural finding and found no one..apparently no one was home! We went to this one place and rang 7 doorbells all at once and everyone pocked there heads out the doors and it was really funny cause we didn't think anyone would actually come outta there apartments...but we tried talking to them but they all just went back into there apartments. Then we went finding at Walmart! Then we had a lesson with Barb about the importance of temples! Then we had a lesson with Connor about tithing and keeping the sabbath day holy! We had a lesson with Lily about how Jesus is always there through the ups and downs! Then we had a lesson with the Robinson family and they are so cute and goofy! 

November 3rd: Sundays are thee best!! So we got to sleep in today cause fall back day light savings! Lily was at church and we had testimony meeting! Katie Atwoods testimony was so powerful! It was about a women who got in a car accident and was able to walk away unharmed! So God is watching out for everyone! Then we made cookies and delivered cookies to a bunch of ward members and Lily! 

-♡ Sista Hodges :)