Scattered Side Notes w/ Fantastic Pictures

This is going to be incredibly scattered. Hope you love me anyway =)

SIDE NOTES GALORE:

Side note #1: I was on a trade-off finding with a set of sisters in Jax West. As we were out tracting, we walked past a basketball court of probably 8 men playing a pretty intense game. They were covered in tattoos and looked a bit on the rougher side. I found myself walking up to them, and after they shot a basket, telling them who we were and leaving cards on the bleachers for them. They were surprisingly kind. As we walked away it hit me that a year ago, I would have walked right past that opportunity. I seriously love the power of my calling as a missionary. That sister next to me (who was rather shy) didn't say a word hahaha. 

Side note #2: While doing service this week, my cute companion sucked up my hair into a vacuum that was extra powerful. It was hysterical. And reason #233422 why I want to chop my hair off again.

Side note #3: Remember the family that dropped us, and then picked us up again after they saw Meet the Mormons? Well guess what? They waltzed in to our Fall Festival on Saturday. ALL FOUR OF THEM (yes, the handicapped 21 year old, the VERY Catholic father, the 16 year old daughter, and the incredible mother). And what did the darling Mandarin 1st ward do? Fellowship them beautifully. I have no doubt they'll be baptized in the next few months. How wonderful is that?! 

Side note #4: I seriously adore Nate. After an incredibly powerful lesson about the Atonement, he said the closing prayer asking about WHEN he should be baptized. There was such a powerful spirit during the prayer. He was crying, we were crying, his fiance was crying, heck...the member we took with us was crying. We had to race out of the lesson to help with the Fall Festival, but he called us 12 minutes later. Listen to this!! He said he had a question! And his question was, "Did y'all feel that? When I asked about when to be baptized...did you feel that fire in your heart or however you would describe it?!" Sister Petramalo started doing a little dance and had to hold back from screaming, "You mean, the SPIRIT?" It was incredible. He's taking us out to dinner tonight as a cute going away evening for me.

Side note #5: Did you know that the way members show their love is through food in Mandarin First? It's killing me. We have 4 "goodbye" meals over the next 2 days. And we already had to say no to 4 others. I'm sick to my stomach at the very thought. But anyway, I am NOT a fan of saying goodbye to the people I adore so much. During the closing hymn in Relief Society, I started bawling like a baby hahaha. Every single ward I've served in on my mission has become my home. I love it oh so much. And yes, that is exactly why a CRAZY amount of photos are coming your way =) 

LOVE Y'ALL. I'll have to let you know next week where I'm headed!!! PARTY. Adventure awaits =)

Sister Hutchins

From Brunswick to Gainesville

1000 baptisms is the mission goal for the year. WOOT WOOT.

From Brunswick, GA to Gainesville, FL....it seriously feels so good to be back with my companion again. We get back in the car together and it almost feels like vacation to not be the "leaders who supposedly know what they're doing 24/7". We usually refer to ourselves as Hutchamalo, but we recently have been laughing our heads off about Petrachins. Some of my favorite moments this week were car conversations with her. She astounds me. I love the way she so fully comprehends the gospel. This week I stole her journal and wrote in the 25 reasons I look up to her. I'm pretty sure I'm the cheesiest companion there's ever been. But really, I'm going to LOVE these last 9 days with her. A less active, part member family let us borrow their guitar...we've been writing a song about our missions after planning each night. I'll send it home soon =) Be excited. 

Mandarin 1st sisters for life

Have y'all seen Meet the Mormons!? Have y'all invited your friends to it? My goodness, I can't believe I haven't talked about it to y'all yet. Anyway!! We had a Meet the Mormons miracle...well we're currently in the middle of it. A cute family with baptismal dates that I absolutely adored dropped us a month or so ago after deciding they would go to their grandmother's church instead. BUT yesterday a member called us and told us they invited this family to see Meet the Mormons...and they're going. What's even better is the mom of that family said,"We really need to meet with those gals again." OH HAPPY DAY. I've been praying for them for months. 

 Bet y'all have never karaoked to church music at a Filipino party

We taught Nate again...and we felt really impressed to teach from the 5th lesson all about the Priesthood he would SOON hold. We read the beginning of Alma 13 with him and ended the lesson with this beautiful truth-Nate has been foreordained to hold the Priesthood, NOT by chance, but because of his exceedingly great faith and good works (v.3). God has a perfect plan for each of us and for Nate...He's planning for him to hold the Priesthood and to stand as the Patriarch in his family (Kylee and Nate are officially engaged!!). Isn't that remarkable? I have been feeling more and more gratitude toward worthy priesthood holders over the course of my mission. The lesson ended on such a spiritual note. I LOVE it. I could teach Nate everyday. 

Side note: I went on a power trade off in my old area-lovely St. Mary's Georgia! I was out with a sister in training. We finished our trade off and were waiting for the other sisters to meet up with us at my old apartment. I grabbed her iPad, flipped through her areabook to find a former investigator I taught (his baptism fell through 4 days before because he never quit smoking). And guess what? He had moved into that very same apartment complex!! We raced to his apartment low and behold...he had gotten off of work early. I can't quite express to you the tender mercy from Heavenly Father this whole experience was. We stood on his doorstep as he shared with us the sad turn of events in his life...from divorce to his work stress as a Chief Petty officer in the Navy. I then was able to tell him as sincerely as I could that the joy he was looking for....was in the gospel. He had a quick and snarky remark to come back with as always, but he'll realize it's all worth it someday.And for now, I was able to tell him I loved him and share my testimony with him again. God's timing is perfect. I finally am beginning to trust that now. 

 We FINALLY finished the bishoprics' scarves. Holy Hannah-it only
took five months of teaching Shay pre-baptism and post-baptism weekly :)

Alright, that's it from me. Know that someone in Florida loves you OH SO MUCH.

Sister Hutchins 

Heads up-Next week is transfers. There's a 95% chance I'll be headed out to a new area for my last transfer on the mission. Fingers crossed I'm training...though that's not very likely since only 1 sister is coming in!! But anyway...next week's P-day will be a Tuesday.

8 weeks!! I go to the temple in 6 weeks and three days!!! District p-day....we went bowling....felt strangely like a singles ward family home evening  

WE LOVE YOGA. We can officially do crow's pose for a LONG time.
Meaning like 10 seconds but still haha.

Pray and It'll All Work Out

Ready for this craziness? We went on four trade-offs this week. We started in Lake Butler on Tuesday for a 24 hour trade off (oh how I love that place), directly after Sister Petramalo and I split up again to go on another 24 hour trade off in Gainesville. Once we reunited, we ate lunch, and raced off to a power trade-off (2 hours) in MacClenny. FINALLY...we arrived back together in our own area Thursday night to teach a member present lesson with our progressing investigator, NATE (I'll share more on that later).

​Then on Friday after weekly planning and training the new missionaries on how to use Facebook via conference calls....we went on another 24 hour trade-off on the other side of Jacksonville in Arlington. By the time we got back into our area together at 4 on Saturday, I felt like I hadn't seen Sister Petramalo in ages. We have another 4 trade-offs this week. I never anticipated my mission being one big constant sleepover, but it seems to be turning into just that. But instead of being overwhelmed by this crazy mission life, I'm learning to take one day at a time and PRAY that it all works out. And miraculously, everything does, in fact, work out.

Now are you ready for the two best moments of the week?

1. I'm completely in love with my Relief Society president, Sister Herrin. She is incredible. She was released this week (she's moving to southern CA), and my heart dropped for just a moment. She bore her testimony at the end of RS and as she spoke, I knew God designed for me to serve with her these past 5 months. I've learned a lot during my mission from lots of people, but she's one of the ones I've learned the most from. I'm so grateful for my mission.
      *Side note: My first night out in Florida, we had such a big group we all couldn't be housed at the Mission home. The Mandarin wards had to open up their homes for the night. Guess where I stayed 16 months ago? You guessed it - Sister Herrin's home. And to think, that just 16 months ago I had not idea the impact she would have on me.

Service in the rain and dirt....showers during lunch hour? You betcha.

2. Nate's lesson! Let me paint this picture real quick. Our lesson was at the church with Nate's member girlfriend, and Laurent (one of the BEST member missionaries in the world). Nate, Kylee, and Laurent are all in their early 30s. If I could invite Jaclyn along to be quality fellowship, I would. Anyway, Nate has been taught and dropped for the past year. We recently began teaching him as he has aged out of the YSA. We felt impressed to go back to the basics and teach a lesson completely focused on prayer. There was such a powerful spirit in the room, especially as he admitted that he had never really believed that God answers his prayers. After I bore my testimony, Nate looked me in the eye, and asked me if I really meant what I was saying, or if I was merely saying what a missionary should say. I was taken aback for a second and my early mission life seemed to flash through my mind - moments in which I testified of things because I knew that I should, not necessarily that I knew them for myself. But in that moment I could clearly feel that I now know the things I'm saying. I have a testimony of the restored gospel that can't be swayed by yelling strangers, slammed doors, depressing drop texts, discouraged sisters, or really long days. I looked Nate straight back in the eye and said, "I can honestly say that my favorite part of the day Nate is when I hit my knees before I go to sleep. Those precious moments talking with the One who knows me perfectly, are seriously what motivate me to keep going throughout the day." Nate is now praying. He's now taking the steps to text us on the phone. And rumor has it from Kylee, he's been talking about being baptized in November. (But shhhh, he hasn't told us yet.) I love baby steps. I love 'em. I love 'em. I love 'em.

p.s. Quotes on my walls....just make me happy. Don't they make you happy?

"It's true, isn't it? Then what else matters?"

Short and Simple:

1. Follow the Spirit, NO matter the situation. We were praying about power trade offs this week (about who should go with who) and I kept feeling like I needed to go with this certain sister who I feared would be quite difficult to handle. I thought about not listening to that feeling, but luckily the better half of me won, and I went out with her for an afternoon. It was absolutely incredible. Down went this strong sister's wall, and out came her incredible story. This usually very reserved sister talked and talked and talked. She kept asking me if she knew me from somewhere pre-mission because it was SO easy for her to open up. All I can say is God answers prayers when we faithfully obey what He prompts us to do. Just two months ago, this very same sister would barely look me in the eye.

2. General Conference is a blessing directly from God. I've recently faced some anti during online lessons, so naturally, Elder Anderson stands and gives a POWERFUL talk on Joseph Smith. I've been pondering and pondering this concept of being a disciple of Christ, so naturally, President Monson stands and gives an inspiring talk about Jesus Christ. I feel as though I am constantly teaching the concept of "Ask, and ye shall receive" lately, so naturally, President Eyring and Elder Hale each spoke on receiving personal revelation. The very thoughts that have been on my mind and heart lately were addressed, answered, and testified about. My goodness, I could watch Conference every weekend.

3. God answers the very prayers you've been saying everyday for 16 months. I taught Cameron again via Skype just yesterday. In the course of that hour, we talked about the influence the Book of Mormon has played in the past two months as he's been reading, he powerfully shared with me that as he has focused on following the commandments of God that the power of Satan's temptations have literally left him, and I had the opportunity to share a bit of my heart and testify of the power of the Atonement in my life. It was one of those entirely perfect hours in my life. He still has a long road ahead, heck, we all do. But I got to repeatedly tell him that with Jesus Christ, he could do it. And as a tender mercy from Heavenly Father, Cameron ended the call telling me that his turn around this past year has been all thanks to me. Now while I would never take credit for anything like that, I do feel strongly that while on missions, the families of missionaries are blessed beyond belief. I felt very strongly as I left on my mission that Heavenly Father would take care of the ones I love the most, and let me tell you....He keeps His end of that promise. If for nothing else, my mission has been more than worth it because it in some small way has played a role in blessing my darling older brother. Best decision of my life.

 

"It's true, isn't it? Then what else matters?"

Amen to that. Over and out.

 

LOVE Y'ALL.

Sister Hutchins