Hey Y'all!
I keep waiting for the learning curve to lessen out here on my mission, but it's slowly starting to dawn on me that I'm going to be waiting for it to slow down my whole mission. I love that. The lesson I really learned this week is, "The harder today is, the better you'll be tomorrow." This week was one of the hardest. From standing on a porch in a really swampy area literally getting eaten alive (95 bug bites...we counted. We got into the car screaming and laughing out of pain. It's almost funny now...almost.) to having to tell a woman and her darling little girl that the church couldn't offer welfare to non-members and watching her walk away feeling defeated in every sense of the word, to appointments falling through like crazy, and yet I can honestly say this has also been the best week of my mission. I know that sounds bizarre, but with perseverance through hard times, comes so many miracles. We found two new incredible investigators and quite a few golden potentials. We had investigators actually follow through and come to church. After working every week the entire time I've been out here, both Rachel and Grace (with her kids) came to church! And I swear, watching Grace walk in to church with her kids and hearing her talk about how wonderful it was afterward was a miracle in itself. She has a baptismal date now and we are doing lots of happy dances about it. I love this work. Long story short, every time something hard comes up, my companion and I just look at each other and smile because we know tomorrow will be awesome.
Oh and let me tell you about my "Aha" moment of the week. We were talking to the epitome of a Southern Baptist woman on her porch in the pouring rain and she asked me how Christ had changed my life. As I was trying to put together my answer, I can began by saying "I think." When I finished she looked at me straight in the eye, and said, "Do you know your problem? Right from the get-go...You have got to stop thinking and start knowing." In that moment I realized that if I truly want to help people come unto Christ, I have got to start having a stronger conviction with people as I talk about it. I need to impress upon people that I truly do know and not be casual about it. I love love love the moments that are so incredibly eye-opening and how they come in the moments we least expect.
Picture this moments:
1. We were working in a garden pulling out corn stalks with both the elders and our Ward Mission Leader and I stepped on a fire ant hill. Once I started feeling the bites, I was running and jumping and taking off my shoes as fast as possible. I looked like a crazy person. (And I quote from my ward mission leader: "Remember what I said Sister Hutchins...I told you your nice pretty legs would look like that soon enough. Am I right or what?")
2. Sitting in gospel doctrine, a convert of a few years had his arm around my chair. The awkward vibes nearly killed me. You can bet when the teacher asked who wanted to give the closing prayer, my hand shot up. Oh and yes, I was in the front row. The number of people who talked to me about that experience after was much too high. I really am still stunned those moments can happen on a mission.
3. Rachel's dog, Precious (terrible terrible terrible name for such a large dog) was literally trying to lick my face for a full 30 seconds when we went over early Sunday morning to wake Rachel up and help her get ready. Only then did Rachel process I didn't like dogs. I'm quite proud I lasted that long...my face finally cracked in that moment.
I LOVE YOU ALL. The church is true and I have never been so happy in my life. So so so grateful to be out my mission. Hallelujah. Have a wonderful week and enjoy your dry summer heat for me!
Sister Hutchins
I keep waiting for the learning curve to lessen out here on my mission, but it's slowly starting to dawn on me that I'm going to be waiting for it to slow down my whole mission. I love that. The lesson I really learned this week is, "The harder today is, the better you'll be tomorrow." This week was one of the hardest. From standing on a porch in a really swampy area literally getting eaten alive (95 bug bites...we counted. We got into the car screaming and laughing out of pain. It's almost funny now...almost.) to having to tell a woman and her darling little girl that the church couldn't offer welfare to non-members and watching her walk away feeling defeated in every sense of the word, to appointments falling through like crazy, and yet I can honestly say this has also been the best week of my mission. I know that sounds bizarre, but with perseverance through hard times, comes so many miracles. We found two new incredible investigators and quite a few golden potentials. We had investigators actually follow through and come to church. After working every week the entire time I've been out here, both Rachel and Grace (with her kids) came to church! And I swear, watching Grace walk in to church with her kids and hearing her talk about how wonderful it was afterward was a miracle in itself. She has a baptismal date now and we are doing lots of happy dances about it. I love this work. Long story short, every time something hard comes up, my companion and I just look at each other and smile because we know tomorrow will be awesome.
Oh and let me tell you about my "Aha" moment of the week. We were talking to the epitome of a Southern Baptist woman on her porch in the pouring rain and she asked me how Christ had changed my life. As I was trying to put together my answer, I can began by saying "I think." When I finished she looked at me straight in the eye, and said, "Do you know your problem? Right from the get-go...You have got to stop thinking and start knowing." In that moment I realized that if I truly want to help people come unto Christ, I have got to start having a stronger conviction with people as I talk about it. I need to impress upon people that I truly do know and not be casual about it. I love love love the moments that are so incredibly eye-opening and how they come in the moments we least expect.
Picture this moments:
1. We were working in a garden pulling out corn stalks with both the elders and our Ward Mission Leader and I stepped on a fire ant hill. Once I started feeling the bites, I was running and jumping and taking off my shoes as fast as possible. I looked like a crazy person. (And I quote from my ward mission leader: "Remember what I said Sister Hutchins...I told you your nice pretty legs would look like that soon enough. Am I right or what?")
2. Sitting in gospel doctrine, a convert of a few years had his arm around my chair. The awkward vibes nearly killed me. You can bet when the teacher asked who wanted to give the closing prayer, my hand shot up. Oh and yes, I was in the front row. The number of people who talked to me about that experience after was much too high. I really am still stunned those moments can happen on a mission.
3. Rachel's dog, Precious (terrible terrible terrible name for such a large dog) was literally trying to lick my face for a full 30 seconds when we went over early Sunday morning to wake Rachel up and help her get ready. Only then did Rachel process I didn't like dogs. I'm quite proud I lasted that long...my face finally cracked in that moment.
I LOVE YOU ALL. The church is true and I have never been so happy in my life. So so so grateful to be out my mission. Hallelujah. Have a wonderful week and enjoy your dry summer heat for me!
Sister Hutchins
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