CHRISTmas!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!! I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas and have a happy new year! 

December 24th: Christmas eve!! So did you all know the 23rd of December is apparently called Christmas Adam! Ig you learn something new everyday! But anyways today we had to do weekly planning and that's always kinda a pain in the butt but we got some milkshakes afterwards sooo worth itt! After planning we had a lesson with Tamara! So background info: Tamara is someone I just saw standing outside of Kimberly Whites apartment complex and I had the prompting to go talk to her! So I did! And we talked about how God knows more than we can comprehend! Then we had a lesson with Kimberly but I don't know how much she got outta it cause she wasn't feeling so good so she was practically asleep while we were talking to her. But I think she appreciated us coming over anyways! The district challenge that day was to share a Christmas message with 2 inactive families! So we shared a light the world video with them! Then we got to hang out with the liscom family and I got toilet paper and a book full of aliens and big foot for the secret Santa activity! Brother Liscom wrapped all the presents and he wrapped an entire" bicycle" the bicycle turned out to be just a bunch of cardboard and wrapping paper with a burger King gift card in the wheel! 

CHRISTMAS!!!: Christmas was a blast! I opened gifts with my fam that morning then we went to the browns for brunch!! The family bought us some Buffalo Bills socks!! 

And there lil boy Carter is a cheat and cheated at checkered with Sister Simpson! Lol but he's also only 6 soo... then after the browns we got to go back home and talk to the fam for a bit longer!! Then I got to laugh with my sisters on the phone about random stuff and it was the best! It felt like I was actually home for a bit! But anyways then we went to the Karpinskis for dinner and got to share a light the world message with them! Then we had a fashion show that night in our apartment with all our new clothes!  ( hey if ur gonna put three girls in one apartment it's gonna happen) 

December 26th: We had district council today and it was pretty epic! It was my first district counsel in Buffalo! So that was pretty cool! My district is a lot smaller than it was in Utica so I like that! I gave the spiritual thought in district council about how the lord can make our wekaness strengths! Then we did rps and pretended we were in elevators and had to teach a principle in 45 seconds! It was pretty nerve racking with the timer and 7 other missionaries watching you! Then after district council I met this really cool guy named Joe!! He was a shweetie!! So hopefully we can start having lessons with him! Then we had service that day and Sister Karpinskis made us roast beast and made a whole cooking video about it and it was really funny! Then we gave a BOM to a Jehovahs Witness!!

December 27th: Today we went on exchanges with the traveling sisters! We had a lesson with Trudy and her friend!! Her friend said he wasn't feeling good a couple times and had to leave to go to the bathroom but then the last time he said it he threw up all over the ground and we were all gagging! I guess talking about the three kingdoms was just too much for him to take in?? So we raced outta there! Then we prayed to find a family to teach and we never found one but the other girls found a family!! Sooo prayer anwsered!! 

December 28th: We had a lesson with Darryl at tim Hortons about the ten commandments and Sister Fellars showed us these cool sign lanuge things we can do to remember them! Bro Robinson joined our lesson and it was awesome!!! Then we had a lesson with Dan at the church and layed volleyball with him!!! 

December 29th: I gave a talk in church and pretty much knocked everyone's socks off cause it was so freaking goodddd!!! Lol and then for young women's we got cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and I felt like a little kid cause they Christmas stories to us and it was the best! Then after Church my comps got sick:( but we still went out and did missionary work and met this very intense lady who started talking about snake venom!!

Haha okay love yaaa!!! -Sista Hodges 

5 months as a missionary!

What in the sand hills!?! I've been a missionary for 5 months! Haha i just used that second emoji cause its my moms favorite...anyways its wild! It feels like 2 at most! I'm almost a third of the way there! This must mean I'm pretty wise now...jk I'm not. But the gospel is so awesome and I love teaching and learning more each day! 

December 18th: Yay!! The Christmas party was today and it was pretty epic!! So we woke up and got to wear our p-day clothes almost all day long! It was awesome! That morning we picked up Zuster Karpinski ( Sister in dutch) We finally made it to the missionary p-p-partayyy lol! At first we were split up in a groups and we played group games and which ever team won the most games won! Our team won even though the only time I participated was in the rock paper scissors game and I was the first one to lose lol our other team mates thankful made up the difference lol. Then we had the talent show! There were many talents including, egg juggling ( which BTW  both Elders couldn't juggle at all and got egg all over the ground) Lego quick building...( kinda more like slow Lego building) and some piano pieces and stuff but the best one of the night was our talent! All of the BUFFALO ZONE got up on stage and danced and rapped to Justin Beiber drummer boyyy! ( don't worry it's a rap about Jesus) In my personal opinion ours was the best cause my 8th grade hip hop moves came back in play. After the talent show President played this video about the Buffalo bills! Anyways the main message was to remember the reason why we are out here and to be in the moment! So our mission statement thing is: " Where else would I rather be than right here, right now!" ( Buffalo bills saying) after the party that night we went carroling with the youth!! 

December 19th: Carlos ( our cars name) dropped the green beans today!! Twice! So it started off not so great cause I was feeling stressed cause I thought I did a bad job on the lesson we has with Heather about the plan of Salvation, but turns out I actually did fine and I was beating myself up! Then we had service at the Bread of Life Outreach, there were so many people there! Then Sister Simpson cooked grean beans for dinner but we didn't have enough time to eat them so we took them into the car and we spilled them before the lesson with Bill and Jonanne and after. Then we met these people with some stinky/cutish dogs..but the people were so cool and they said they have met missionaries before! Then we had this really cool phone call with Josue! We thought he blocked us in mid sentence but turns out his phone just died! 

December 20th: exchanges!! Today was absolutely exhausting but also awesome! Anyways we had a bizzilion lessons and stuff! Sister Oldroyd says she loves how I use a scripture in every interaction I have! We decided that every yellow house we would knock! So we made two friends by doing that! One of our friends names was Tom! He is sooo cool and funny! He said he just turned 50 years old! Anyways after complimenting everyone we went finding again and had a really cool phone call with someone! Dang it they are from North Dakota.

December 21st: Tbh today wasn't super productive cause I think we were all so burnt out from exchanges! And today is my five months so woohoo! But we did go to service that day and had a lesson with our friend Dan and read 3rd Nephi chapter 11! 

December 22nd: Today was absolutely freezing!!! Like the cold air outside felt like a slap to the face! But it was church!! Yay!! And for church there was so beautiful musical numbers! We had a lesson with Tom outside and it was really cold! Then we started the battle of the districts! The challenge today was to get a Pic with a member and sing to them! 

Spiritual thought: 3rd Nephi 11 makes me feel the spirit so much! And that was a scripture we used a lot for our lessons! Jesus Christ really does care about everyone individually! 

Okay love yall and merry Christmas 🤶 🎄 

TRIO!!

This week was absolutely bonkers!! I promise it'll be worth it to read it! Unless you don't like reading or your a missionary like me and just enjoy the pictures haha! Oh also I'm so proud of myself cause I finished writing in my entire journal! 

December 9th: pday stuff! Talked to Fam! Went Shopping! And went to Rilees one last time! And had a crazy call with this guy named Roberto! 

December 10th: OH MY GOODNESS!! I'm leaving Rome and going to Orchard Park NY with Sister Simpson and Sister Fellars! I'm in a trio and Sister Simpson ( my mtc comp is my comp again!) I'm so excited to have Christmas with them! My whole mission I've never wanted to be in a trio...but now it's come to pass! Anyways it'll be good though, all three of us get along well so I'm not to worried! So for one of my last days in Rome we had some lessons but we mainly visited members so I could say goodbye and then at the end of the day we went to a choir concert and it makes me miss choir so bad!! But it was overall a great day and now I'm packing like a maniac! 

December 11th: My last day in my Rome Home! Holy Cow it came too fast! This morning I said goodbye to Sister Dupont and she made me and Sister Robert's super cute Keychains! Then we had a lesson with Lorrie for the first time eva and talked about Joesph Smith! And oh boy Lorrie loves to talk but she is the sweetest! Then I said goodbye to bishop and Sister Converse and then we played basketball for youth night!

December 12th: Today was actually so hectic but awesome at the same time! So after saying goodbye to the old home Rome we set off to Transfers! On the drive to Transfers we almost ran outta gas! But thank goodness we didn't! We got to Transfers and it's just hectic! We had 20 or so missionaries leave and only about 5 came in! But it turns out Sister Simpson and Sister Fellars can't pick me up cause in Orchard Park there is a travel band because there is soo much snow in Orchard Park! So anyways I got to drive with the Lockport Sisters to Lockport and half my stuff was put in there car cause Sister Edward's was transfered to Lockport and half my stuff was in the North Point car! Anyways we made it to Lockport and we had a lesson with the sweetest old lady eva! She also had a sick bristish accent! We had a lesson about faith and how she had faith she would see her husband again someday so that was super tender! After Dinner we had a lesson with a super cool lady named Jennnifer and she had some awesome questions! 

December 13th: Today was crazy! So I started off the day in Lockport and after service at Lockport the Orcahrad Park Sisters came to pick me up! So we drove all the way to Orchard Park and it was really fun catching up with Sister Simpson! The mtc was the best together so it's incredible we are comps! And it was also super exciting getting to know Sister Fellars! I love them both! That night we had a lesson with Mary Lynn and we taught the Holy Ghost and baptism! Then that night we hung out with the freedom ward cause we cover Orcahrd Park and Freedom!! So it's a lot of area to cover! Anyways I got to be the narrator for the Christmas Nativity and then they asked me to read a book for the kids! Turns out all the kids would rather run around the building soo..I read to an elderly couple and maybe one other old lady but still worth it! 

December 14th: We had service at the bead of Life place, and I was seriously just scrambling around and following my comps cause I didn't know what to do! We had a lesson with this super cool guy named Darral! We taught him the plan of Salvation at Tim Hortons which is like a Canadian gas station but they are found all over Buffalo NY. Then we got and oil change in our car! We met our bestie Barb in her apartment and she was really kind and she said us coming was a miracle so that made my day! Then we went to Sister Karpinskis house for dinner cause it was her birthday! Then we had a lesson with our bud Dan at the church about temples! 

December 15th: CHURCh!!! I got to know the members at church better and this ward is GIANT!! There are like 100 people so a little different than my lil Rome ward! After Church we had choir practice and I'm sooo glad I was able to join some sort of singing group! Then we went to the Showalters for lunch and there kids are adorable!! And I tried to teach a lesson but the kids were going crazy so we just taught the parents mainly hahaa! After that we met this really cool dude named Bill and taught him the spirit world in the hallway of his apartment Then that night we had a Christmas Concert and we got to listen to a bizzilion singers and it was super cool!

December 16: Bill happened to be at the post office!!! And he bought us 45 dollars worth of chocolate!

Spirit Thought: Alma 32! Have faith like a mustard seed! On the mission at the beginning having faith was tricky but now it's been such an amazing experience growing my faith and getting to see the progress in myself and in friends we are teaching! 

haha okay love yall!! -sista Hodges

Little Baby Jesus

 

Hi everyone! Long time no see!! Jk you still don't getta see me cause I'm in NY but I promise I'll send some cute pics at the end of this super long email!

December 3rd: Today was a pretty long hard day for me ngl...but we did Yoga for YWs today and that was really fun and relaxing and exactly what I needed!

December 4th: I woke up to exercise and all the Sisters were laying in the living room with their blankets over their heads lol but eyyy it's progress!! Usually Sister Robert's and I work out and the other Sisters fall back asleep haha. I love these Sisters even though it's been hard being in a quad, they help me grow. We had district counsel today and we talked about how we can answer difficult questions. The question we (Elder Gunter and I) had to anwser was "why do we need the Sacrament when we can repent each day?" Which is honestly such a great question! The Sacrament renews our covenants we made with God and helps us remember our baptismal covenants! It also helps us remember Jesus and cleanse ourselves! After District Council the Gardeners made us delicious chicken noodle soup and then we played a bit of basketball in the gym before we had to go back out. Two of our lessons fell through after district council and that wasn't fun buuuut we did some door knocking and street contacting but we didn't make any friends until we went contacting in public at Walmart! Then after finding we went to volleyball for youth night at the whitesboro church and  believe it or not but I'm getting better at volleyball! Sorta!..I accidentally smacked Elder Anderson in the back with the volleyball lol. After volleyball we went to Kaylees and found out she has been really sick:( but she still wants to get baptized, we just don't have a date yet!!

December 5th: We went to Drew's house and it took forever to drive to his house cause we got soo much snow! We met Drew's wife Bonita too! They are the sweetest couple of all time! Buuuut...they are not interested in the gospel at all. After there lesson we had lunch and then scurried to Cluster 13 but it was snowing like crazy today! Sister Robert's said it might be from lake effect..whatever that is haha. Anyways snow was falling like cats and dogs too so we didn't get to Cluster until 1:40ish.. Then we had interviews! After interviews me and Sister Pantle had a lesson with a recent convert at her house and it took us an hour to get through 1 Nephi chapter 1 but it was awesome! Then the president bought us all Mexican food! After that we had Book of Mormon class! We learned more about the Sacrament! 

December 6th: My mom's birthday!!! Yay!! Today was hectic! It was pretty good tho too, just crazy! Sooo much stuff happened..so we had a micro training this morning and since there are four of us we all had to squish together at the counter to see everyone and then the glare from the sun off the counter made us all look like floating heads apparently..the Gardeners kept laughing about it. The micro training was about how to get outta slumps! And the anwser Is just focus on Jesus christ! Try to be more like Jesus Christ! And share with everyone the happy news that Jesus will come again! That we will see our loved ones again! That they will be resurrected with perfect bodies! After that we went to the Rescue mission!! I organized cans of greens beans, sweet corn and Spanish stuff! White Sister Robert's organized peanut butter and spigethii! ( idk if I spelled that right..but don't ask me why the peanut butter and the spigethii were sitting right next to eachother on the shelf) Then we went to Oneidia, we got there and the snow was crazy!! So we got Rear Ended!! But our car is fine and we are fine! We just got a lil scratch and the dude that hit us felt really bad :) so we filled out a bunch of paper work and stuff and it was all good! Then cause we were freezing and it was snowing like crazy outside we thought it would be a good idea to find referrals and hopefully get in houses with pity points...it did not work but we tried. But we did meet this really cool guy named Ed! For dinner we watched the christ child and it was so spiritual! But I felt the spirit the most when we went to the church and saw the mangers! By the time 8:00 rolled around I had a massive head ache! So Sister Robert's and Brother Boxall had a great  lesson with Charlie while I felt like I was dying under Sister Robert's blanket! Then I put a heat pad of corn on my head and talked to my family for my mom's birthday!!

December 7th: Okay today was absolutely incredible!! We woke up at 7:20 cause somehow both of us slept through the alarm but it was serious the best sleep I've ever gotten on the mission! And holy cow did it snow! Then I took a really nice hot shower and I felt like a new women! But anyways..to the important stuff, we went to Katie's and she wasn't home so we got some hot chocolate at stewarts and has an amazing lesson with Carmelo!! We asked him to flip to a random page in the Book of Mormon and he chose page 26! It was the most perfect verse ever! It was 1Nephi 13:37! Then for lunch we bought eggs and eggnog! For comp study we studied the Plan of Happiness, then we went to the Christmas nativity thing and were there for like five hours! But we had two lessons there and we got to see all the nativity so win win! Then after that we made three friends at Michael's! One of them texted us and said she was so thankful for us and it was tender!

December 8th: CHURCH!! Church was great! The Gardeners spoke and the whole entire time at church we were focusing on how this is the church of joy! Then we made a bizzilon cookies for members but we had a super long lesson with Kaaya so we had no time to deliver cookies! Then we had dinner at the Gardeners and watched the devo last night!

Spiritual thought: So this story stood out to me: Brother Winklers parents were struggling because their house burned down and they felt like God wasn't their. As they tried to find their nativity in the fire baby Jesus was the only one that survived! They took it as a sign that God does care about them and Jesus is who our main focus should always be on! 

-♡ Sista Hodges :)

Turkey Time

 Okay I was gonna name  I almost We talkedOkay I was gonna name my email Thanksgiving but I kinda feel like that's too boring. But I am very thankful for all of you!! Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my essay emails each week haha. But for real I'm thankful for my family, my friends and especially Jesus Christ and his perfect gospel! 

November 26th: Today was lonnngg, we went to onedia today and I tried to find refurals but most people weren't home. Womp womp. Buuut it was really fun going around and seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights! Sister Gubler was singing the " Army of Helman" song today and instead of saying "strengthen the weak" she said "conquer the week" and it was so funny I almost peed my pants haha.

November 27th: Today was a great day!! So we were late to district council but district council was awesome! We talked about how finding is hard but you can find more motivation to do it by reading the scriptures. Then after district council we played basketball in the gym! That was really fun even though I suck butt at basketball! After district council I fell asleep in the car for 15 minutes which Is against the rules so I'm trying to be better at not doing that! We went to refurals house and asked his son if he could get his dad so we could see if he was still interested. So we stood there for like 20 minutes and then the little boy came back and said his dad wasn't interested, soo that was funny. Then we had the best lesson EVA with our friend Sean!! The Gardeners joined our lesson and ittt was epic! We talked about the BOM and prayer! Then we asked him to read Enos! Then that night we put up our Christmas tree!

November 28th: THANKSGIVING!! Today was awesome! I just talked to my family, went to the gardeners for lunch and played Skull king with them and then ate dinner at the Danielsons!

November 29th: There are days I do not wanna do missionary work but guess what?! I did it anyways! We knocked doors and tried to find refurals all morning! Then we had zone council and that was really spiritual! We all went around and bore our testimonies and said what we were thankful for. I said the plan of Salvation cause I love that I know I can be with my family for forever! After zone council we went on exchanges! Me and Sister Pantle went to Oneidia and we got to know each other a bit better and find refurals!

November 30th: I beat my plank time this morning, which I was super proud of myself! Then I read more about the restoration an the preisthood for my personal study! This morning we found our friend January again and we got to give her a hug. Then me and Sister Gubler went knocking and found this really sweet lady named Sue and she gave us a hug too!! We got so many hugs today! Then we went to Barbs for dinner and had a great lesson with her about sharing the gospel with others. Then Lindsay wasn't home so we couldn't visit her and we got to talk to our boy Devin on the phone!! He was soo cool and had a lotta questions! And he said I was a good teacher which made me feel so good about myself! Then that night we saw our friend Lissete! We had her pick a random page in the BOM and she chose page 316 so we talked about the importance of wearing the armor of God!! And by that I mean praying and reading scriptures!

December 1st: It's behing to look a lot like Christmas!! Today was the best cause it's SUNDAY!! Our friend Sean, Lily and Lorie came to church and I bore my testimony on miracles! After church we visited the Boxalls and delivered Cookies to a bunch of members! 

-love sis Hodges 🫶🏼! her a 

hug. Then me and Sister Gubler went knocking and found