I'm losing my mom....again.

Big changes! Transfer calls came on Saturday! annnnnnnd Sister Mickelsen is leaving me. She's going to Louisville to be the first traveling sister in our mission. I'm holding down fort in Mt Vernon and my new companion will be another 6-weeker just like me. I won't find out exactly who my companion is till tomorrow at the transfer meeting but Sister Mickelsen and I have our educated guess so we'll see of we're right.

 

It was a great week here in the GKLM! We continued to teach Trish and Ronnie. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it was so great! The whole time their minds were being blown! Trish told us at the end that it was like pieces of the puzzle had finally started coming together. And when we taught lesson three later that week they asked such good questions. Ronnie asked a really thought out question that led us to explain more about temples. It was so great. Every question they had, answer! I can't wait to keep teaching them this week. After teaching them on Tuesday I went into their snake room. I didn't go all the way down the stairs though cause those snakes are HUGE, hello biggest fear! Sister Mickelsen was holding them and I held Trish's little pet chameleon Curly. He was SO cute, unlike the snakes. But for some reason I eventually promised Ronnie I would work up to holding a snake so we'll see how that pans out.

 

I really think Dan progressed a lot this week. After our member present lesson he talked to us after and we were able to see more of the root of his concerns and the things that he's been going through. We were able to convince him that he needs to be reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Church was so great for him since it brought up his two main concerns. During testimony meeting President Clowers bore a really strong testimony of Joseph Smith and President Monson and Dan has really been struggling with accepting him as a prophet today. Then later in Sunday school the main point was about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He's been struggling with how we don't have a black and white list of what to do and not do, but members gave great comments that really helped him more fully understand how it works and why it's set up that way. So, Dan's making progress and we get to teach him again tonight before Sister Mickelsen leaves.

 

We picked up a great investigator a while ago. She lives in this cute little town called New Harmony. She's been going through a lot of different things in her family and has been searching for some sort of peace. We were able to teach her the first lesson and it went so well. She asked great questions and you can tell she's been prepared to hear about the Gospel. I'm looking forward to teaching her the Plan of Salvation cause I'm sure it will answer a lot of questions she's had. Over time I know that as we keep teaching her, she's going to find that peace she needs.

 

The work is going great here in Posey County! Or as Sister Mickeslen would call it, the armpit of Indiana.

 

Yuns have a great week!

 

Sister Hodges

 

Shout out to Derrn who is going to AFRICA!!!! What?!!!? Oh my goodness I am SO excited!!

Let It Rain!

It was a great week in Mt Vernon! The weather was pretty insane! It was raining so hard at some points that I would get drenched if I got out of the car for literally 10 seconds! It even hailed at some point and there was lightening. There was also a tornado warning on Thursday, so that was new! But there wasn't one so it was all good! I was actually in Olney, Illinois on exchange when we heard about the warning. It was a nice little town! They are obsessed with white squirrels! I guess they're the only town around that has them and they're pretty proud of it! It was fun to spend the week with Sister Roberts! She's a great missionary and I learned a lot as I spent the day with her.

We taught Trish and Ronnie again. They had us over for dinner and Ronnie made delicious dip! It's the kind with the velveeta cheese and rotel but he puts sausage in it! Yum! When we went to teach them their snakes were all locked up in the basement sooo thankfully I didn't have to worry about that! After dinner we taught them about how to recognize the spirit and faith. Trish has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and Ronnie said he'd start reading more. They have each had really distinct spiritual experiences so they've been great to talk to and teach.

Dan decided to postpone his baptism. He feels like he won't be ready by this Saturday and we're proud of him for wanting to be ready to fully commit and be ready to live it the rest of his life. He's praying about another date that he feels would be right. He came to church on Sunday and loves being there.

It's been a good week! I'm seeing how distinct Heavenly Father's hand is in his work and how he qualifies us as missionaries to do his work.  

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Sister Hodges

 We went to this cool little town called New Harmony last week that's in our area and literally everyone drives golf carts. It was pretty funny to see.

 Welcome to Indiana!

 Great Street Sign!

 Buiscuts from home! Best thing ever!!! Thanks Dad!!!

 Okay, seriously CUTEST bunny EVER!! its so fluffy!!! Look at that face!!!

This bunny was SO soft!! (Sister Vickers decided to get bunnies and showed them to us :))

Uhh Wait....You Have Pet Snakes?

Had another great week in Mt. Vernon!

 

We've been teaching Dan a lot in preparation for his baptism. It's crazy to watch how his testimony grows so fast! He was so prepared to hear the Gospel. He's been through a lot in his life. His wife has a ton of medical issues, a prosthetic leg, diabetes, has to go to dialysis 3 times a week, and she smokes on top of all of that. He's had to pretty much be a nurse maid for a majority of his life and has medical issues himself. He has a pacemaker. Sister Mickelsen and I finally figured out that that was what the ticking was that we always heard at his appointments. His heart was definitely softened so that he would be ready to accept the Gospel. We've been going over the commandments with him this week and taught him the law of tithing yesterday. We were able to teach him at a great members home and they gave great stories and bore strong testimonies of their experiences with keeping the law of tithing. Dan voiced his concern with giving 10% since he has to pay for his wife's medical needs, but he said he would pray about it and try it out. I know that when he does that everything will be taken care of and he'll be so blessed! He's working on gaining a testimony of President Monson. He wasn't sure what to make of him the first time he heard him speak at General Conference. We've given him more talks and he's come to understand more his role and how he teaches.

 

Another great couple we've been teaching is Trish and Ronnie. They're the couple I mentioned a while ago that we ate dinner with at a members home. They watched the 2nd session of General Conference on Sunday with us and their member friends. They really liked it! They asked good questions and Trish has been reading the Book of Mormon every night the past week. We have an appointment with them this Friday...in the snake house. Can we discuss snakes for a moment? I just want to point out that snakes are never good! They're always the evil guys pet like Voldermort! Or how Jafar turns into a giant snake! They refer to satan as a snake! Why would anyone want a pet snake? Let alone a lot of pet snakes?! Anyways, I'm still really excited to teach them even if I have to go into their house full of snakes to do so. On a side note, the family that introduced them to the Gospel is so great! Great missionaries!

 

I got to go on an exchange this week! I was with Sister Earl in Evansville for a day! It was so great! It was interesting to see how she does mission work and how the areas are different. I was able to learn a lot of things that have changed me as a missionary. I was able to teach a great lesson with Sister Earl to a mom and her two daughters about strengthening your family. It went so great!

 

I hope everyone had a great week!

 

Sister Hodges

 

*This is Joey, Janna's mom. For those of you who know Janna VERY well, you will understand the snake issue and get a good laugh out of it.  Or be afraid for her. For those of you who don't know, Janna is DEATHLY afraid of snakes.  Even pictures of them scare her.  Wow! Can you say she's stepping out of her comfort zone? Can't wait to hear how it all plays out....stay tuned.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.

April 8, 2013

What a week! Had a lot of memorable things happen! First off, Sister Mickelsen and I got BIKES! They are sooo much fun!! We were a little sore the next day and everyone we passed by was staring. It was either the fact that we were wearing helmets or that we were wearing skirts or just the combination. Either way, lets just say the sister missionaries are making quite the impression in Mt. Vernon! And I had that song running through my head the entire time we were riding.

 

Dan has set a baptism date! Awww yeah!! We agreed on yesterday, Sunday, to be the day that he would tell us whether he wanted to get baptized or not. After he told us he said he'd known he wanted to do it for a week and a half. We were like what?! And you waited this long to tell us?! But we're super excited! We set the date for the end of April, we can't wait! He watched two sessions of conference and liked parts of it a lot.

 

Speaking of conference, can you say Chirstmas time for a missionary? It was soooo great! Hearing from the prophet and apostles was amazing! They gave such good talks! And they announced that there are over 65,000 missionaries!!! Just like President Monson said "No force in the entire world can stop the work of God."

 

Sister Mickelsen and I ran into a couple interesting situations this week while tracting. The first one was last Monday. The houses we track down here are so pretty! Tracking in the country is so cool. The farm land and ponds with the nice houses are magazine picture perfect! We went up to a house while tracting in the country and there were like five geese and a couple of ducks. When a guy answered the door one of the ducks started attacking one of the geese and it was squwaking its head off and we couldn't even give a serious gospel message cause we couldn't really consentrate with the loud goose in the backround and trying not to laugh. It was pretty hilarious. Eventually we had to be like well sorry we can't really give a spiritual message, but we ended up getting some sort of message accross and gave him a Book of Mormon and he fed the geese for us.

 

Later in the week we literally got stuck on a guys porch for an hour and fourty-five minutes! He had to have been some sort of preacher. We couldn't teach him anything cause he would go off on tangits after we would make one statement and Sister Mickelsen was getting pretty frusterated. He kept trying to give us advice on how to be more spiritual like praying for discernment when we knock on houses and studying the scriptures and praying for hours and we were like uhhhmmm we already do all of that sooo yeah. Eventually we had to literally say we have to leave now cause we were getting no where with this guy. He sang to us as we walked away and Sister Mickelsen soo that was definitely an interesting experience!

 

Well, it was a great week here in the GKLM! I hope everyone enjoyed conference and has a fantastic week!

 

Sister Hodges

The geese and ducks.

 Bikes! WHAt?! 

 Ready to ride! Yeah, we look special I know

Making Grandma's cookies! Can you say delicious?

Who Dat Is?

April 1, 2013

It was a great week! To start off I met my first JDub (Jehovah Witness) and Pinnacostal. Hence my title. They were interesting people. The Jehovah Witness member wasn't too out there since she'd only been in the church for a year, but the Pinnacostal was a different story. We met him knocking doors. His name is Cliff. He was trying to get rid of us at first till we asked the golden question. "How have you come to know Christ and accept him into your life?" Boom. Story time. He told us this 20 minute story of how he had gone into a coma for three days after running into a barge with his boat. He hit is head really hard and "my eyes were half filled with blood". He told us that he had had an elaborate dream and told us a few more things that were very interesting. He also said he could speak in tounges. So, it was an intersting conversation to say the least.

 

We ordered bikes! They will be here Wednesday! I'm pretty stoked to be riding bikes around, but I'll probably be hating them the second day we're on them. I'm still not sure how the skirt and bike thing is going to go, but I'm sure Sister Mickelsen and I can figure things out, right? 

 

Earlier this week Sister Mickelsen and I were able to have dinner at a member's home with another couple, who aren't members. We chatted at dinner and afterward taught them about the Restored Gospel. They seemed very interested and asked good questions. They agreed to watch General Conference with us this week. They own lots of snakes I guess, so if we end up teaching them at their house, I'll probably be a nervous wreck in their home, but It'll be worth it of course!  

 

Easter here was good! We got to eat at Sister _______ house and her million other porteguse water dogs and bird! They're so great! We also sang in church and had great talks about Christ during Sacrament meeting.

 

I'm growing to love it here! The people here are so great in our little branch! The members are so wonderful! The people we run into while contacting and tracting are very nice. It's crazy how people are set in our path who are ready to hear the Gospel. I'm beginning to see the miracles that happen all around me. This Gospel is so amazing and true! Thanks everyone for the letters and support! Its so much appreciated!

 

Keep it real till next week!

Sister Hodges

Traditional MTC

   She looks great with the tag!

This one's for you JOCE! The bird belongs to a member.

Kentucky Country.

Arrival in Kentucky

Janna with her mission president and his wife upon arrival in Kentucky.

Janna with her new companion.