100 Reasons to LOVE the Mission (w/ pictures!)

Hey y'all!

There seems to be a common thread that ties together all of our darling sisters. It seems like everyone is here "enduring" their mission. And somehow on every trade off, I find myself sitting there answering beautiful sister after beautiful sister how I came to love my mission. So after a whole lot of prayer, we came up with a plan revolving around weekly challenges for our sisters. Last week's challenge was to write 100 reasons why we each love our mission. Are y'all ready for this? Here's the complete 100 reasons why I, Sister Hutchins, LOVE, ADORE, AND AM POSSIBLY OBSESSED with my mission. (you don't actually have to read them haha, if I were you....I probably wouldn't.)

1. Prayer time with my oh so favorite prayer journal
2. Life long sister friends (I love companions!!!)
3. Name tag reminding me of Jesus Christ
4. Falling in love with complete strangers
5. Constant service
6. Book of Mormon revelation
7. Teaching precious people
8. Sharing my testimony constantly
9. Feeling the Spirit often
10. Eating yummy Southern Food
11. Stealing wisdom from people from all walks of life
12. Cute dresses/skirts
13. Letters from loved ones
14. Seeing packages on my doorstep
15. Opportunities to learn and lead as a trainer and sister training leader
16. Beautiful church music as a constant background
17. Finding myself
18. Journal writing each night
19. Daily scripture study
20. Constant companionship with a divine daughter of God
21. Exercising every day
22. Reading miracles from complete strangers from around the world
23. Taking funny and completely dorky pictures
24. Laughing at churchy jokes and actually considering them funny
25. Planning for each and every day
26. Quality car conversations with companions and on trade offs
27. Setting weekly goals and constant self-evaluation
28. Count downs - Happy 10 and a half months!
29. Growing appreciation for my family
30. Feeling love love love love all day
31. Having a prayer answered
32. Being an answer to prayer
33. Acting on the spirit quickly and smoothly
34. Powerful confident handshakes
35. Catching on to all my favorite southern catch phrases
36. Serving families in the ward and learning how to clean!
37. Praying all through out the day with my companion
38. Eating cereal two meals a day multiple times a week
39. Actually having scriptures memorized
40. Wearing a special necklace everyday to keep me going
41. Perfect April Florida weather
42. Being apart of the 85,000 missionaries around the world
43. Understanding people and actually knowing their hearts
44. Getting tech/blog savvy
45. Sleeping like a complete rock every night
46. Finally understanding how to love every day
47. Never having to paint my nails
48. Harmonizing to hymns during companionship study with my talented companion
49. Color coded scripture marking
50. Collecting all my favorite quotes into a study journal
51. Accompanying on the piano at any and all church functions
52. Heart attacking
53. Feeling more and more prepared to be a mom
54. Loving the gospel more with every passing day
55. Being overwhelmed with gratitude for the small things
56. Lunch dates with incredible sisters on p-days
57. Priesthood blessings to comfort, lead, and guide
58. Not caring about my hair in humidity
59. Bonding with people of all ages
60. Two minute toothbrush workoouts
61. Washing other people's dishes (I seriously love that)
62. Having mission parents/sisters/grandparents/cousins. Wards=families
63. Watching people change
64. Answering the phone and screaming with joy afterward during miracle moments
65. Writing letters back and forth with our mission President.
66. Feeling in exactly the right spot each time I kneel
67. Watching the restoration DVD and feeling the spirit each time
68. Having 1200387482 inside jokes with my companion
69. P-day family/friend emailing is like Christmas every week
70. Lake Butler Subway outings-aka splurge days
71. A clean clean clean double wide trailer that is oh so homey
72. Seeing my mother-daughter ring and feeling my momma's prayers from far away
73. Gaining appreciation for the temple
74. Becoming a people person...like really really. I enjoy talking to strangers officially.
75. Being watch wearer
76. A J2 Postcard pillow to hug all night
77. Fasting in unity with a zone or the mission or a ward. Talk about a purpose.
78. Feeling like a complete and total Floridian.
79. Those moments where you almost forget there was life before the mission
80. Sharing my Book of Mormon aha moments day after day with everyone we meet
81. Companionship "I love yous" each night
82. Realizing I am capable of SO much more with God....faith 

83. Service in the cute little Lake Butler library

84. Conversations of true meaning
85. Overflowing happiness for other people
86. Learning communication (companionship weekly inventory!)
87. Feeling a missionary mantle
88. My heart is at peace
89. Relying upon my Savior as I am humbled to dust every day
90. Gaining an eternal perspective
91. Planning and plotting and praying for people's inevitable conversion to the gospel
92. Walking in the sunshine from house to house while tracting
93. Knowing my entire 20th year is being spent as a missionary
94. Pondering the future and realizing my path has completely changed because of this mission 95. Listening to recordings from my family that bring tears to my eyes in 3.2 seconds
96. Learning to live off the bare minimum-two suitcases baby
97. Not being able to throw a stitch of mail away. Have fun posterity.
98. Feeling close to my Heavenly Father
99. Experiencing my Savior
100. Knowing I am called of God every minute of the day.

Moral of the Story....no matter what stage of life we're in, no matter how hard the day may be....like President Uchtdorf said in Conference, we MUST be grateful in our circumstances. And let me tell you dear world, I am so grateful for my mission. I'm grateful for lowest lows and the highest highs. I love my life. So much.

Sister Hutchins

p.s. That was darling Sister Tsai's first burrito!!!! SHE LOVED IT.