Side Notes and Miracle Notes

Side notes I love:
1. My Welsh ward mission leader and I performed in Sacrament meeting. I accompanied on the piano and in the middle of the song, a sheet of music fell down. I have never dove to the ground faster in my life. Somehow, the song didn't completely fall a part...most people didn't actually notice. And to make it even funnier, one of our investigators, Anne, clapped as the song ended. Thank goodness she is a spitfire and doesn't care that she clapped alone. I love that woman. All the members LOVED that she clapped and somehow that one moment helped break the ice with everyone. Anne is the ward's new best friend. Hallelujah.

2. My darling dad sent me flowers on my birthday (aka July 1st). Those flowers arrived on the 23rd. The woman in the apartment office was very upset for us and ready to call FedEx to complain. Sister Ashcraft and I were giggling too hard to even care. The smell coming from that box was strangely hilarious and the woman kept holding them.

3. I didn't know how much I had missed mashed potatoes. I don't know how the South missed the memo, but apparently their equivalent is mac and cheese. This week we were fed mashed potatoes twice, and I felt so at home. I'm pretty sure this cute recent convert family that feeds us every Wednesday is going to feed us mashed potatoes now for the rest of time because I got so excited about them. I didn't even realize I like mashed potatoes that much.

Miracle Notes that I LOVE even more:
1. A man, named Fred, that we've been teaching for quite a while now (husband of a member-Pat) finally set a baptismal date. I've never met a man with so many questions in my life. I'm still stunned that he agreed to a set date, and though the date is NOT solid, he still is finally working toward something and is opening his heart little by little to this actually being the fullness of the gospel. Fred and Pat feel like my grandparents here in Mandarin. They are this darling couple in their 70s that just got married in May. Love 'em.

2. Anne and Sean (also people we've been teaching for AGES) clicked with a recent convert family we brought over to their lesson. And because of that incredible relationship, Anne and Sean came to church this Sunday. There really are two parts to conversion-the social (hello members-that's you) and the spiritual (hello missionaries-that's me). The desire they have now to read the Book of Mormon, come to church, take the lessons, and learn more is awe-inspiring. I can't tell you what kind of answer to prayer members in lessons really are.

3. I learned a BIG lesson this week that I somehow wish I could imprint on my mind and heart forever and not forget it. This past transfer my area that I've been serving in has been struggling a bit. Sister Ashcraft and I would go to other areas, serve there and see incredible miracles, and then come back to our own and see things fall a part. It was throwing me off my groove. Then, come emails last Monday, an old companion of mine sent me a CES devotional talk to read from Elder Bednar called "That We Might Not Shrink." It was the perfect answer to my fears and prayers. All my mission, especially since January, I've been learning all about faith in miracles-incredible miracles. From the Facebook Event with #discoverthebook to the Starlings being baptized. But at some point, I need to have faith in God's will, even when His will is NOT to have those miracles. It doesn't mean He can't perform them, it just means they aren't part of His plan. It really helped me to pause and ponder my faith. Do I have the faith to continue pressing forward if those miracle baptisms don't happen this month? Do you have the faith to press forward and choose the right if something you've been praying for doesn't happen? I'd like to say my lesson has been learned, but I'm still in the midst of learning it. All I can say is that God has perfect timing. Even in the midst of trials, tender mercies surround me more than I can ever adequately email about (1 Nephi 1:20).

I love you all. I love the Lord. And I LOVE this work. Oh and by the way, a new facebook event is coming up on Called to Share! We'll be releasing it on Wednesday. I'M SO EXCITED FOR "I FOLLOW HIM." Join us in spreading WHY you follow your Savior. I'll be bullying y'all more individually next week through email. Happy Monday!

No Zipper Issues and Strong Testimonies

I found Proverbs 17:22 this morning and it made my heart so happy. I actually giggled in the middle of personal study and my companion got a bit of a kick out of it.  "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." It definitely sounds a bit more like Shakespeare than scripture, but I loved it anyway. Here are a few funny moments of the week, because let's be honest, there are some flat out hysterical moments in missionary life (or at least my missionary life).

1. In Ward Council, I feel the need to sit up straight and act a bit more like a grown up than usual, but this week I lost a bit of that composure as I looked across the room and saw an elder serving in my ward with MY name tag on. I had to do a double take, look down to check to see that my name-tag was in fact, still on, and then look back more puzzled than I've been in a while. I tried to point at him slyly to my companion and suddenly the entire ward council was following my gaze, the bishop was laughing, and calling him out and my new name tag (that I ordered 4 months ago) was tossed to me across the room. Favorite quote of that morning, "Will the late Sister Hutchins say the closing prayer?"-Bishop Reading.

2. As we were getting into the car one day this week, my companion was telling me why she was grateful to be a missionary. Here I was ready to here some profound wisdom, and she listed off that she loves being a missionary because she never has to worry about her zipper being down. The pro and con list was already in favor of the Pros, but it just got a bit longer. I'm learning to love this skirt thing more and more.

3. We ate dinner with a part-member family in my ward last night. We had been warned by the wife to keep things very casual with her husband and not to be pushy with the gospel. I expected a rather awkward dinner conversation that night, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that though her husband is not a fan of our beliefs, he is a fan of us. By the end of dinner we were all hysterically laughing as this couple bickered back and forth about the toilet seat the husband had just purchased. Favorite quote of the night,"Sisters, come here and just look at my toilet seat."-Husband. "Wait, look at mine!" -Wife. Oh the joys of missionary life. 

Along with the oh so funny moments of missionary life, come the oh so powerful ones as well.

1. Trade offs have become such a normal thing in my missionary life that I almost don't realize them happening anymore. We went on two this week and on both trade offs, both sisters needed a bit extra TLC. Through rather long conversations, the Spirit began to flow and answer the questions and worries of these dear sisters. I'm always so stunned when a sister presents her troubles to me and somehow, ever so perfectly, they find their answer by the end of the trade off. I never know the answer they need, but I trust that God does. Thank goodness for that.

2. Members are the best thing in the whole world. We invited a cute recent convert mom to join us a for a lesson with an investigator this week and it was literally the best member match up I've ever witnessed. I do believe we may have just witnessed future best friends meeting for the first time. Just about made me want to cry with happiness.

3. During weekly planning this past Friday, Sister Ashcraft and I were finally led to the root of why we're struggling in our area. We're trying to do too much ourselves. It's time we stepped up our game with our members. I am oh so excited. And to confirm that to us even more, President Craig spoke in our Sacrament meeting and in the 3rd hour all about member missionary work. LOVE IT. 

We've been focusing on meeting all these unknown members in our area. We were visiting an older man in our ward, and in the middle of the conversation I just asked him what wisdom he would share with us. He replied, "I need to get back to church." That was not the answer we were expecting, but you can bet your bottom dollar we are re-teaching this man the lessons now and he is working on getting back to church. Love it.

LOVE YOU ALL. I just finished the Book of Mormon again for my mission's 90 day read (it took me 110...woops! I'm a slow poke). I love that precious book SO much. We write our testimonies in the front cover of all the Books of Mormon we give out and it hits me so often how incredible it is that we have this second witness of Christ in our lives. When is the last time you gave someone a Book of Mormon? 

Love, Sister Hutchins

Goals and Promptings (w/ lots of fun pictures!!)

After three back to back trade-offs Monday through Thursday all over the mission, we saw an incredible miracle in our own area. It truly has been one of my absolute favorite experiences on the mission yet, and though it hasn't turned out quite how I'd prayed for, I'm oh so grateful for it. 

Sister Ashcraft and I have set really high goals this month as I've mentioned before and those goals have caused me to spend quite some time on my knees praying to know where we are going to find the people The Lord has prepared. One night this week, the letter "D" came into my mind. I just assumed it meant that we should knock on streets that have "D" starting letters. I felt a little weird about it, but I decided it'd be better to go forth with faith than let the chance of finding someone to teach pass by. Little did I realize what He was trying to tell me. 

Remember the big #discoverthebook Facebook event we were doing? We did it with the intention of sharing the gospel I know, but I am continually stunned with the fact that it worked out SO well. We received a referral the very next day after that "D" prayer from a set of sisters in Gainesville. A woman had asked for a Book of Mormon from them on Facebook and they gave us her address....a woman named DEE. She let us straight in and was more open than anyone I have ever met in Mandarin. She asked questions, LOVED Moroni's promised in Moroni 10:3-5, came on a church tour the very next day, stayed for all three hours of church the day after that, and kept talking about a feeling that our church has that she hasn't been able to feel in other places. I really have been stunned for the past four days. The Spirit is usually a subtle thing in my life, but I've found that as I ask more and more specific questions, we really can receive incredibly specific answers. God will and does answer us. 

Just like in 3 Nephi 14: 9-11 when Christ says, "Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" I know that He answers us perfectly.  After those three days, I really could tell that God was answering me. 

But often, we look at our circumstances, and feel like God is NOT answering us or is answering us the wrong way. I know with all my heart, that if we do all we can and wait patiently, that His perfect plan will come about. Just this morning Dee asked to stop meeting with us. And honestly, most of our other investigators decided to drop us this week too. At first, my heart felt like it was breaking and doubt filled my mind that maybe God wasn't hearing my prayers. But then I was reminded oh so quickly, that God's ways are not my ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts. This is His perfect plan and as I continue to work my little heart out and trust Him, my will will become His and His miracles will come about perfectly. I truly am so grateful that I can completely and fully rely on my Heavenly Father. Not one bit of me doubts that He has a plan for Dee, Carla, Cindy, Fred, and Isaac. I couldn't have said that a year ago. 

I'm so grateful for the many lessons I learned on my mission. They are more precious to me than I can even describe. I know Heavenly Father loves us. I know there are prepared people all around us, but we can't be afraid to face a little heartache along the way. More often than not, it's through those heartaches that God can guide us even better. My goodness, I love being a missionary. I love this perfect gospel more than I ever believed was possible.

Side note: I adore my companion. We tend to analyze the world through personality colors (Red, Blue, White, Yellow) and somehow began analyzing Book of Mormon prophets and characters this week. This led to us having our own Book of Mormon personality twins. It's made us laugh so hard. I don't know if any of you have this in your mission journals, but y'all should start drawing. 

p.s. We went to the ZOO. LOVED it.

pps. Pictures are from birthday, 4th of July, and zoo fun. :)

All Sorts of Celebrating

Turning 21 this week was all sorts of delightful.Not only did we laugh for hours about drinking rootbeer out of glass bottles all day, but Sister Ashcraft had coordinated somehow with other sisters in the mission so all day long she was handing me lists from others sisters of the 21 reasons why they love me. Best companion ever (well, every companion is the best companion ever too, but go with it.) We ate delicious cake from the darling Taura Dobbs and even had an article posted about the Called to Share facebook campaign from BYU that ended the day perfectly. Let's just say,being 21 is practically perfect in every way.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. Best holiday of the mission so far. The day started off with a ward pancake breakfast and bike parade, then we had an inspired weekly planning session, followed by a delicious barbeque at our Welsh Ward Mission Leader's home. And it ended with my favorite part of it all....Hello center of Downtown Jacksonville street contacting all night as a zone. We even got to watch the fireworks off the river. We were carded to get into the area where the most people were (quite the drinking scene...and to think we were going around handing out Books of Mormon)....and I was 21. Woot woot.

Ready for our three favorite ways for starting conversations with complete strangers?
1. I LOVE your shoes (works like a charm every time)

2. Do you know where the bathroom is? (you think we're kidding, people like to feel like they're helping someone)
3. Is this the best place to stand to watch the fireworks?

It's almost hard for me to fathom how willing we are as missionaries to just walk up to anyone and share the gospel. I still feel the initial sense of hestitancy, but then as we just step up to the plate and embrace our calling it's incredible to witness miracles just pouring out. by the end of the night, we had 13 or 14 people say yes to having missionaries come by. Opening your mouth is worth it every time.I LOVE IT.

We are actually headed to the zoo today, so I'm running out of time, but let me tell you real quick about a perfect moment this week. When I first came into this ward, the bishop gave me a blessing and mentioned specifically working with the Young Women in the ward. I instantly fell in love with a laurel named Dayna. She agreed to go out with us this week and by the end of what felt like a not-so-miraculous night,she was thanking us for the incredible night she'd had. Come Sunday, she was bearing her testimony all about missionary work and her desire to serve a mission. I love when God can promise us something and it is so clear when He blesses us with exactly what He said He would.

Long story short, I love this work as always. I never think I can love it more and then another week goes by,and I LOVE it all the more somehow..Miracles are happening everyday. There really is no place else I'd rather be.

Sister Hutchins