Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A Whole New World

Please forgive my cheesy Disney song for a title buuuut I can't help it haha. I'm pretty sure my jokes are going to get lamer too over time hahaha.

 Anyways, what a week!! I left the MTC exactly a week ago today and flew down under to Louisville! I was sad to leave the MTC but Sister Short gave a great analogy for it. The MTC is like a milkshake. It tastes really good at first and you really like it, but over time the milk starts to get a little sour. But by the end when there's only a little bit left your trying to get as much as you can and your scraping the bottom and sucking so hard through the straw that you start to get light headed. When it's all said and done, let's me honest, you only need one milkshake. hahaha and to some extent that is pretty true! I was ready to get out here and start doing the work!

 The day I flew out was pretty crazy. We had to wake up at 2 in the morning and be on the bus that took us to the airport at 3. We flew out of Salt Lake by 6 and had a layover in Houston. During our 3 hour layover we saw Avery Johnson! Buuut the Elders didn't move fast enough to try and convert him haha, and he was in a hurry so he probably wouldn't have taken our message too well.

 We got to Louisville around 5 that night and got picked up by Sister Woodbury and were able to stay the night at the mission home. It was pretty packed since there were a TON of new Sisters! And I slept like a rock since I had literally gone all day on 3 hours of sleep and couldn't fall asleep on the plane.

 The next day we were assigned to our trainers and I met mine, Sister Mickelsen. I'm the third Sister she's trained so she's got it down pretty well. She's a really hard worker and I'm learning a lot from her! She's been super great! After we were assigned to each other we were off to my first area! I've been serving in Mt. Vernon, Indiana and its a great town. It's pretty small but it has lots of great people.

 EVERYONE and their dog....has a dog hahaha. You would die mom, literally every house I've been to except maybe a couple have some sort of dog, if not, some sort of animal. Sister _____, a great lady in our branch who is always willing to feed us or give us rides, has a ton of Portuguese Water dogs and pictures and paintings of them around her house. They shave there behind I guess to swim better.....interesting hahaha. You'll have to look up pictures of them.

 The first day I got here, Sister Mickelsen and I taught our first lesson to a guy named Dan . He's a super great guy who read most of first Nephi before his second lesson that I was at. He's very open to the gospel, but whenever we bring up baptism he feels like we're pushy, but he'll for sure get there. We have lots of great people we're teaching! I wish I had the time to explain them all but I only have so much.

 Sister Mickelsen and I had a fun adventure a couple of days ago. Our area covers a lot of ground! About 3 towns. We were searching for an inactive and the GPS took us on some crazy muddy back roads through fields. When we finally got onto a main road we were able to find the trailer park in the middle of no where where the man lives. We roll in, looking around for his trailer number when we notice a TON of peacocks around us. When we finally get out to talk to the manager to try and track this guy down, they all start cawing, They're like an alarm system for the neighborhood haha. Anyways, we finally figure out that the guy doesn't live there anymore since half of his roof is gone so it was a bust. But it made for a fun adventure!

 It's been a good week! Being here has been so great, and the people are even better! I feel so blessed to be here serving these people that have been prepared to hear about the Gospel. Thanks for all the love and support! I really appreciate the letters! If you want to write me in my new area my address is:

 413 E 10th St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620

 Till next week!
Sister Hodges

Friday, March 15, 2013

Hello!!

 Wow I CANNOT believe I've been in the MTC for only 8 days!! It feels like WAY longer!! They jam pack your day and I've been learning so much it's hard to believe!

So I thought I'd list off what make the MTC like a little piece of heaven :)

  1. You get delicious ice cream every Wednesday and Sunday! Great comfort for your first day here :)
  2. Better than whatever cake they serve every once in a while. YUM!
  3. Sister Vikari- Requested to be on the list with a star next to it but idk how to do that
  4. Ballin' it up with the District during gym time! (The elders have this awesome illusion that I'm some sort of baller. They were like "where did you play college ball?" and I was like "...uhh I didn't" hahaha
  5. Confusing the poor new missionaries with Sister Short that came in last Wednesday by saying hello in some crazy accent and them thinking "where the heck am I?" haha
  6. Wilderness Wednesday! (Our disctrict wore shirts with animals on them to gym last wednesday. I got to show off my creepy cat shirt my dad got me for p-day-pics to come!)
  7. Being in the largest Relief Society Ever! Over 1,000 sister missionaries here! and even more came last Wednesday! It's insane!
  8. Feeling like a Disney Princess cause for some reasons birds aren't afraid of you here and Elders always hold the doors open for you
  9. Getting starstruck when you see missionaries that were in The District (a video missionaries watch about mission work before they go on a mission)
Best Quotes of the Week:

A poor sister didn't get any mail
Sis: "I didn't get any..."
Elder: "Want a mint?" hahaha

 So the sisters and I were talking in our room and saying what our first names were (since we call eachother Sister insertlastname). When I said my first name was Janna, Sister Vikari looks at me with this stank face and was like: "Your name is Janna?" and I was like "uhh yes" hahaha and now we like to point out whenever Sister Vikari has a stank face haha.

 "Oh my gatos!" -Sister Short

 The Elders in our District decided they were a "wolf pack" so I asked, "If they're a wold pack what are we?" and Sister McInnis responded with, "a herd". The rest of us were like yeahhh nooo we are not a herd lol,

 "That song got Navahawked" -This poor sister, bless her sweet spirit, is kind of off key and likes to sing very loudly off key. So after she sang a song with a group of missionaries during sacrament meeting, someone thought to label it as getting navahawked hahaha

 So I forgot to elaborate on what a coordinating sister is. Having that calling I'm asked to help welcome in a new district or group of missionaries and go over rules and stuff like that. So, last night Sister Short and I were trying to show an example of what a companion inventory is, which is just time to talk out problems and concerns with eachother, which is really hard for us since we get along so well and have had nothing to talk about in inventory. So when we tried showing how to do it, it was kind of a funny disaster haha. We tried to go over how to get to know eachother and I told her that I wanted to go into Psychology and she asked "so you can read minds?" and I was like "I'll try it right now" so I put my fingers on my forehead and randomly guessed "are you thinking about chocolate?" and She was like "yes! l seriously am!" crazy! hahaha and we also realized that we have the exact same laugh, and we think we're hilarious, so we're laughing at eachother like all day.

 I can't believe I'll be flying out Monday to head to Lousiville! It's crazy! But I'm super excited! I've been able to learn so much at the MTC and I can't wait to go out and teach the Gospel to the people there! Thanks SOOO much to everyone that's been sending me letters! The love and support mean the world to me! Since I fly out Monday you can write me at dearelder.com the next couple of days and after that you can send it to my mission home and I'll get my new address after I get there!

 Till next week!

Sister Hodges

Monday, March 11, 2013

Hello From The MTC

HELLO!

 Well I officially made it through three days here at the MTC and it has been SOOOO great!!!

 This has already been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I've ever done. This place is literally like a little piece of heaven on earth. The spirit here is unlike anything I've ever experienced! There's so much to tell I don't even know where to start!

 First thing, I met my companion, Sister Short. Crazy thing is we'd already found eachother on facebook after we found out we were going to the same mission! Crazy! She's so great and I'm so blessed to be comapnions with her. And she's majoring in hip-hop dancing and break dances which is pretty awesome!

 Everyone in my district is going to Kentucky and they're all so great It has been such a blast getting to know them so well in just a few short days. There are Four sets of Elders and three sets of sisters if I'm remembering it right.

Time here is the craziest thing. Each day feels like a week, but it feels like a week that just flew by! I feel like my brain is constantly being stretched to make room for the flood of knowledge they're giving me here.

 Sister Short and I taught our first lesson yesterday to one of our teachers who played the part of an investigator, Jason. It was pretty nerve-racking, but it was really good! We taught a decent lesson, but I learned probably one of the most important things you can while here. You are teaching real people! You need to love them and teach according to what they need at that moment.

On Thursday we met our President and counselers. President Wenn is literally like 4'6" hahaha which is awesome!! But he's definitly a spiritual giant!! He's so great as well as his counselers! Love them all!

Crazy thing is after they interviewed all of us and got to know everyone in my district a little better they called a District leader, two zone leaders, and a coordinating sister. I wasn't nervous cause I thought there was no way I'd be called to the coordinating sister position, but despite what I thought, President Wenn offered me the calling. And I thought it'd be a good idea to not turn down the first calling offered to me on my mission.

I didn't feel too overwhelmed till afterward he went over what my calling entailed and I was like ohhhhh dear! But I know the Lord doesn't make mistakes and there is something I need to learn from this! Thanks goodness for my amazing companion who will help me through it!

 To get an idea of what I've been doing the last few days here's a rough schedule:

6:30 Get up, get ready

7:40 Gym time!

8:30 Get ready for the day

9:00 Personal Study

10:00 Workshop (Learn something new with other districts)

11:00 Study Time

11:30 Lunch! Whoo!

12:15 Study

12:30 Class Instruction

3:30 Zone Teaching (From our Zone Leaders)

4:30 Dinner

5:15 Personal Study

6:30 Meet Branch Pres

7:30 Interviews

8:00 Zone Leader Orientation

9:00 Companion Planning

9:30 Personal time

10:30 Time for Bed

 So it's a full day, but it is so great! Your constantly learning and I love it so much!!! Till next time!

 Love,
Sister Hodges :)

*Janna flies to Kentucky on March 18.  While she is in the MTC you can write her for free through dearelder.com

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

MTC Address

Sister Janna Hodges
MTC Mailbox #197
KY-LOU 0318
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

She'll be flying to Kentucky around March 20th

**Janna's official fly date to Kentucky is March 18.
 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Almost There!

I'll be going into the MTC this Wednesday, March 6th!

If you'd like to write to me for the week and a half to two weeks I'll be in there you can us dearelder.com

It'll send me your e-mails that same day and I'll be able to write a letter back to you!

After those two weeks are up I'll be flying to Louisville! Till I get my current address there you can send letters to the mission home and they forward them to me.

Friday, March 1, 2013

The Bluegrass State



Here are my 20 Reasons Why I can't wait to be in Kentucky! 

 1. The KENTUCKY DERBY













Can you say big and crazy hats? annnddd
















Horses + racing is awesome! Pretty sure I can't attend while serving, but someday! 


2. On that note... horse farms! 













3. Gettin' some Southern Hospitality!














4. With that, some delicious Southern food! Hello deep-fried! 













5. The Louisville Slugger Museum


















Not a huge baseball fan, but hey, who wouldn't want to see a giant baseball bat right? Let alone the largest in the world! 

6. See this bluegrass for myself! 












7. See what this rivalry is all about















8. Go to a Wildcats game! (Post-mission of course) 















9. To convert this guy: The Turtleman. 

















10. And also Jennifer Lawrences mom so that I can become best friends with Jennifer Lawrence.

















11. Mammoth Cave National Park. The longest cave system known in the World















12. See the Cumberland Falls. Gorgeous! 
















13. Thunder Over Louisville 
















14. Hear that Southern accent




















15. Learn how to say Louisville right 




















16. Living in all that green! 




















17. Kentucky Lakes 
















18. Fall Weather 














19. See old victorian homes in downtown Louisville














20. And of course the reason I'm most excited is to finally be a SISTER MISSIONARY and be able to serve the great people in Kentucky!! 



If you're going on a mission I'm officially challenging you to find your 20 things!


The Call!


So getting my call was kind of insane. I had it sent to my school address at BYU-Idaho since I didn't know I'd be in Salt Lake wedding dress shopping for my sister when it came.

I only had to wait two weeks after turning in my papers for my call to come, but those were the longest two weeks of my life!

I thought I'd have to have it over-nighted to my home in Washington since I'd be driving there the next day from Salt Lake.

Good thing my mom is a genius!

She had the brilliant idea to have someone from the ride board take it from Rexburg to Salt Lake that night.

I called someone I found on the ride board, explained the situation and asked her to bring my call. I'm pretty sure she was really confused since I had to explain it a few times, but she ended up getting it from my roommates (one in the picture with my call) and got it to Salt Lake at midnight.

After waiting since the announcement in October and all day I finally opened that white envelope and read that I'd be serving in the Kentucky Louisville Mission!