Hello World...dog bites, cool breezes, awkward prayers, and more!!

Hello World!

This has been one crazy week of 'firsts'. Are you ready for the list? Be prepared to laugh and shake your head a bit in disbelief.

1. I've finally be bitten by a dog. Yep. Picture Serious Black from Harry Potter as a dog....and he bit my leg. Luckily, there was no blood. Just a lovely bruise. 

2. We woke up at midnight to the police banging on our door. Yes, the police. Don't worry. We aren't felons. Scariest moment yet on the mission though.

3. Our washer flooded...and we live in the second floor of our apartment complex. So naturally, the water seeped into the man's apartment that lives below us. Apology note already delivered. (That was why the police were banging on our door weirdly enough. Just wanted to leave y'all in suspense for a bit haha).

4. I found out that one of my favorite skirts has quite a large whole in it, while very much out in public. Shaking your head yet?

5. I've officially been pulled over in Florida. WOOT WOOT. Don't worry I wasn't doing anything like speeding (I promise Jen). Our bike rack apparently blocks our registration tag...which is illegal. And I was wearing my seat belt under my arm. Thankfully he was nice and only gave us a warning. 

6. My ankles were swollen for 4 days. FIRE ANTS ARE THE WORST. I seriously had pregnant woman ankles. (I just wanted to be like you Jewelsie. Just kidding. Love you forever sister friend.)

Okay are you ready for the good 'firsts'? Because this week has actually been one of my absolute favorites of my mission so far.

7. I felt my first cool breeze in four months. Never felt anything more divine in my life.

8. We set a goal with our mission president to find 5 new investigators this week. Now, we only reached 4, but that is still the most I have ever found in one week so I'm pretty jazzed about it. My favorite new investigator moment was on Tuesday night. We had 20 minutes before our next appointment. I looked at Sister Hibpshman and told her that I really felt that God had given us 20 minutes to find our first new investigator. Little did I know how true that was. We knocked a few doors near a referral and then started talking to a man outside his home. He was definitely prepared by God. LOVE IT. My companion and I got back in the car nearly in tears...it was such a powerful experience. 

9. All my life I've been a little bugged about all the time girls waste getting ready every morning. I've officially found a solution. I now memorize a scripture a day while getting ready. It's great. No longer am I wasting all that precious time. I realize this is a rather large nerd/dork alert. But please love me anyway. 

10. As missionaries/representatives of Christ...part of this lovely calling means we can give Harvest Blessings. They are basically blessings on people's home/families....or just really mighty prayers. We did one of these with a less active sister who I will call Marilyn Monroe. (Seriously, I wish you all could meet her.) After the prayer my companion and I felt the spirit SO strongly. She didn't feel a thing. It was a little discouraging, so you can imagine our surprise when she walked into church on Sunday. After Sacrament meeting, she grabbed my arm and said, "Your prayer worked!" She went on to say that everything she had specifically asked us to include in that mighty prayer, had started happening. Most importantly, she woke up that very morning with the desire to go to church after not having the feeling in years. Yes yes, I may have started tearing up telling my companion about that afterwards. Oh my word, I love how powerful prayer is. By the way, the other seriously offended less active sister came to ALL of church today and even made a cake for the potluck afterward. Sure, she's still wearing her cross necklace, but she agreed to open back up her Book of Mormon this week. LOVE IT. Oh and did we mention she met with the bishop this week as well? Oh and is going to watch conference with us this weekend? I LOVE THIS WORK.

And lastly, I want to share the quote I've shared with what seems like every person we have taught this week for one reason or another. "Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of the prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference."-Max Lucado. Oh how true I know this to be. I seriously cannot get enough of this incredible work. I am stunned beyond words at how much I am not doing this work at all. I'm finally better grasping the idea that I am just a tool in His hands. He is performing the miracles, I just am doing my best to not get in the way of them. Hope you all are having a lovely day.

Sister Hutchins

p.s. If you have any friends or family you think would be interested in the gospel....I can teach them over facebook now. And would love love love to do it =)

Hello Real World

Hello Real World!

Maybe that sounds strange, but it's true. I find myself saying, "Well in the real world, I listen to.....and do....." It's pretty funny. Mission life is almost a completely separate reality. A great one, but a very different one. This week, I want to just write about a few purely perfect moments because they truly are my favorite and I love recognizing them.

Perfect Moment #1: We went on trade offs this week with our Sister Training Leaders. In other words, my old trainer and dear mission mother, Sister Wood, and I had a sleepover. Oh how I love that darling girl. She taught me more than I will ever realize. After daily planning we sat in the middle of the floor eating cookie dough ice cream and sharing all the things we had learned on the transfers we had been about. It was lovely.

Perfect Moment #2: I decided I've been too easy on people that we talk to about the gospel. One sign of hesitancy and I don't want to push them....so I just tell them to have a great day. This week, I decided to try being a bit more forward, which nearly gave me a panic attack, but it also has been incredible. If I push against my comfort zone a bit and just jump immediately into testifying to people about this wonderful gospel, the spirit will soften their hearts and literally open doors. So instead of walking away from Jonathon when I normally would have, I asked him one more question. "Well, are you completely happy? Because this gospel is the center of my happiness." He let us come back and is now investigating the church. Oh how I love setting goals and being able to see the marvelous blessings that come from trusting in the Lord.

Perfect Moment #3: Belting along to "I Can Go the Distance" with three other sister missionaries on the way to the library this morning to email. Disney mixes from the darling Jaclyn Michele are the best soundtracks to P-days.

Perfect Moment #4: This week it suddenly hit me how far we've come since starting this transfer white washing. We have investigators, less active members we are bringing back to church, and members to serve. It was definitely a happy dance moment.

Perfect Moment #5: We walked up to a family doing yard work this week...asked to help...and were then weeding in skirts, talking about the Book of Mormon with them. It's a pretty lovely picture. The family we met is golden. Can't wait to hear about their experience reading the Book of Mormon.

Perfect Moment #6: I'm a facebook missionary! Woot woot! Here's the gist of it:  My profile is Sister-Jenessa Hutchins. You can add me as a friend, but we can't really talk on facebook...unless it's something to do with missionary work. Like you could give me a referral of someone I should message and share the gospel with or you can comment/like/post things on my profile as long as it's not talking about home and adds to its visibility/gospel conversation. I'm already seeing miracles through facebook. It's pretty stunning-so add me. I'd love to be your friend.

Perfect Moment #7: I taught our Gospel Study class this Wednesday night and it hit me finally that I enjoy teaching. Kind of a freaky realization. It no longer stresses me out. I love doing it.

This week truly has been lovely. From a perfect package from my fam bam to finding more people to teach, I am one happy girl. This work is incredible and I feel so blessed to be apart of it. I love you all.

Sister Hutchins

Hello from the other coast!

Hello from the other coast!

So last week I told you all to be looking forward to some quality miracle stories. And let me tell you, there were INCREDIBLE miracles this week. Oh my word, it has been divine.

Miracle #1: Marggyla from Haiti. Yep, that is her name. She's 11 years old and the most prepared individual I have met on my mission so far. We were driving to a less active member's home, and something told me to get out and talk to the woman sitting in her driveway. Well, we did and she brought out her granddaughter. The darling girl said she prays every night that she will be able to see God and Jesus Christ someday. We told her all about Joseph Smith seeing God and she got so excited. It was incredible. I cannot believe she is 11. We asked her to read Moroni 10 and when we came back she told us she loved it, especially verse 4. Sister Hibpshman and I just kind of sat that stunned that this young girl could be so ready for the gospel. Thank goodness for the spirit whispering to me to get out of the car and talk to this family.

Miracle #2: We don't knock a lot of doors like missionaries used to because we've found it to truly not be an effective use of time. BUT, we do knock doors sometimes especially when other plans fall through. On Tuesday night after we fasted, we knocked on a door of a former investigator the Elders in our ward wanted us to go see. She had moved, but 18 year old Krista invited us to come in and teach her. She's a gem and we are so excited to keep teaching her this week.

Miracle #3: This is my favorite miracle of the week by far. We went over to see a less active sister that we didn't know anything about. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. She had been the most die-hard member all her life, until she became seriously offended 12 years ago. We stood on her porch for a half hour listening to her rant and cry about her experience. We were in tears with her by the end and though she was hostile in the beginning, she finally let us say a prayer with her and hug her before we left. We stopped by a few days later with muffins and she invited us in. This time, she was kind and welcoming. The transformation was almost stunning. She told us more of her life story and by the end, we were setting up a time to come the next week to do service for her. We had determined prior to seeing her that we weren't going to push her into going back to church, we were just going to come and serve her every week until she was ready. In our minds she still had a long way to go before she'd be willing to even consider coming back. So, when Sunday rolled around and in walked sassy, opinionated, but oh so loving Rosemary...my heart nearly stopped. The sisters in the ward that knew her jaws dropped too. It was possibly the most incredible moment of my mission so far. She cried through all of Relief Society. Sister Hibpshman and I really didn't do a thing...God just knew exactly where we needed to be and all we had to do was listen. Oh my word, I love this work.

Miracle #4: I had an oh so homey Sunday dinner at the lovely Hutchins' home. Wait, are you confused too? Looks like I've found my second family here in Jacksonville. Brother Hutchins is in the bishopric of the ward I am serving in and we had quite a fun dinner trying to figure out where our family lines connected. We haven't found it yet, but we will.

Miracle #5: I don't quite know if this counts as a miracle, but it was one of those purely perfect moments so I'm going to count it. Last night Sister Hibpshman and I had 10 minutes to sit and eat cookie dough (we were going to make a lot of cookies for an Elder's birthday....now we are going to just make a few cookies haha) and tell stories about our lives and families. Sister Hibpshman is one incredible girl. It is such a privilege to be serving with her. Oh how I love having sisters in the mission field.

Oh and here's a newsy update for y'all. I am a facebook missionary! And I can actually be friends with you. Crazy. I have a lot of rules to learn and such, but be looking for a friend request from a Sister Hutchins
sometime in the next few weeks. Hopefully I won't have forgotten how to use a computer =)

Lesson learned from the week...when we solely rely on God, He can perform miracles through us. It has been such a privilege to be apart of this work here in Timuquana. I absolutely love it. And I absolutely love being able to show others the love their Savior has for them. There truly is nothing better than that. I love you. So so so much. Have a lovely week.

Sister Hutchins

Teaching record for one of our new investigators. We look exhausted and my hair is falling out of a braid...but this is definitely one of my new favorite photos.

Y'all have a blessed day from Timuguana (with more pictures!! :) )

Hello from Timuquana!

Okay so I lied in my last email! I had been told Timuquana was the center of the city. That was a bit of a lie. Now that I am here, let me fill you in. Timuquana is just part of the very spread out city of Jacksonville. It's definitely busy city life, but we aren't around tall buildings or anything. It has been quite fun to be back in a place with lots of people. Feels a little bit more like home. The Southern accents seemed to disappear as you enter Jacksonville too.

The past few days have been a whole different kind of mission for me. White washing is intense and takes a lot of patience, but it has been great. My darling new trainee, Sister Hibpshman, is oh so positive and ready to work. We've definitely had to keep each other going as we haven't found anyone to teach yet here, but we will keep trying. God has prepared people here....we can feel it. Miracles are coming. During my personal study this morning, everywhere I turned in the scriptures seemed to say, "Trust in the Lord." And that is just what we are going to do this week. Tomorrow we are fasting to be able to better feel that God is guiding us in every aspect of our work. I can't wait to share the miracles next week. And if y'all want to pray a little extra for us tomorrow, we would be forever grateful.

And of course, I have a few fun side notes to share...

1. I have gotten to the point where I kill cockroaches with my bare feet. Part of me thinks that is really just awesome, the other half is horrified. Good thing Sister Hibpshman and I have learned to laugh really hard at this. 

2. Lucky Charms are our new best friend. I've consumed more Lucky Charms this week than I will ever be able to admit. Empty cupboards + emergency shopping on Wednesday night = absolutely no food of true substance in our new kitchen.

3. While at a member's home, we were flipping through an ensign during our lesson. When I saw the little snippet about our Jerusalem study abroad watching conference on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, I could have cried I got so excited. It astounds me that I had the privilege to meet so many amazing people and experience the life of Christ so vividly. It truly is such a blessing.

Y'all have a blessed day (officially my favorite Southern phrase).

Love, 
Sister Hutchins

ps. New Address: 6870 103rd Street Apt# 109
Jacksonville, FL 32210

 Saying goodbye to Grace's cute kids-Nima and Keyo. 

 Sister Deanna Hibpshman-my lovely new companion from Colorado straight from the MTC. 

 Epitome of my relationship with Sister Richardson. Oh how I love this incredible missionary. 

Off to Jacksonville!!

Y'all ready for this? My little Southern self is being sent to the heart of Jacksonville tomorrow in Timuquana! Goodbye Southern small town ...Hello city. I am so excited. Good thing I bought a Georgia t-shirt last week because it's off to Florida tomorrow. Life is crazy. 

Favorite Quotes of the Week:
1. Strange man: "I mean no offense, but y'all look like a couple of church church girls." Sometimes people say things to us and I want to say something sarcastic back. This was one of those moments. Luckily I held it together and explained our role as missionaries.
2. Crazy Rachel looking about my family picture: "Your momma looks like Julia Roberts. Just look at that look in her eye." Rachel is officially in love with you madre. And she has decided she and I are sisters...regardless of the age difference. Rachel is one of the few people I can just feel that I knew before this life. Oh how I love that feeling. 
3. 60 year old husband of a woman we are teaching: "My name's Howard. But since high school everyone's called me Bo-Dilly." Kid you not. I have never had to pray so hard to not laugh out right in that man's face. We're still laughing about this.
4. President Craig: "All of the elders have unanimously agreed to give up their cars to the sisters in the mission." Oh how in debt we are to our elders. Such a humbling moment...especially because I wasn't supposed to have a car starting tomorrow.
5. Less-active woman in our ward who's address has been wrong for years so she hasn't been visited in who knows how long: "You have no idea how much of an answer to prayer y'all are today of all days." Sometimes I feel as if I am not even doing this work at all. God is directly answering these people's prayers and I am just so grateful to be apart of it. 
6. Beehive after our missionary work lesson to the YW: "I was talking to my friend about the gospel and he said..." Nothing makes me happier than when members get involved...and when they are darling 12 year olds....it's somehow even more inspiring.
6. Alma 26:35..."There were never men that had so great reason to rejoice as we since the world began..." That entire verse is my theme for this coming transfer. LOVE IT.
7. Sister Richardson: "Are you so nervous for transfers?" I'm thoroughly surprised by this fact, but I'm not nervous. To some extent, of course I am....but for the first time I'm realizing what true trust in Heavenly Father is. I know that He has led me life, and I fully trust that He will lead me there, no matter the struggles I have white washing. It has been oh so lovely to develop this deeper faith in my purpose here out on my mission. I am so grateful for the strength the Spirit provides in my life all day, everyday.

I love you all. And I love this work. I truly am so incredibly grateful to be out on a mission. 

Sister Hutchins

 So very Georgian, don't you think?

 Just hanging out with the fabulous young women. Love this girl!!

Darling Sister Angel the perfect ward missionary and my second mother