Monday, May 20, 2013

The Scorpian Grasshopper Spider


The bugs officially waged war on us this week.
 
Earlier this week Sister Pisciotta and I discoverd a new insect neither of us has ever seen before. We were saying our closing prayer after our daily planning and I look up and the first thing I say is, "What is that?!" There is this giant ugly looking spider in the kitchen!! It was SO hideous! Sister P and I are freaking out while I grab a shoe to kill it. I get close to it, getting ready to smack it when it starts hopping! I scream of course and jump back and we're freaking out even more now since this spider thing now can hop! We finally corner the thing and I smack it. Sister P searched for some bug spray and since we didn't have any we settled for lysol. So we start spraying it and IT COMES BACK TO LIFE and crawls into the corner of our cupboards!! And we're like, oh no, now we don't know where it is and it's alive!!! We finally get some bug spray from our neighbor and go on a scorpian grasshopper spider hunt (that's what we decided to name it). We found it under our stove (don't know how it got there from the cupboard...) and we're pretty sure it's dead now. We found out the next day it's actually called a mole cricket, but I like our name more. We also found out that they mean good luck...I don't know if it still counts if we killed it...
 
The bugs came at us again later in the week while we were tracting. Over here I guess they have buffalo knats and they are THE WORST. They literally swarm us and I guess they stay for a few weeks. Sister P and I went to the store and got some deep woods bug spray and it did NOTHING! We even tried putting vanilla on since locals said that that should help buuut it didn't...but the work carries on!
 
So the bugs here are definitely not the same here as in the west!
 
On a higher note, Sister P and I found a great family the other day! The main investigators are Faith and her daughter Gwendolyn. We taught them and her husband Michael and their son, who's name is also Michael. Faith is very open to learning about other religions and Gwendolyn asked really good questions! Michael, the dad, is Nazarene and said that our beliefs "are actually very similar." Gwendolyn and Faith came to sacrament meeting this Sunday! I hope I didn't act too excited haha, but they said they liked it. We won't be able to teach them for another week since their son is graduating and they have family coming over this week but it'll be great teaching them again.
 
We were only able to talk to Trish this week since Ronnie hasn't been feeling too well. We talked about faith and emphasized how important it is to read everyday and pray specifically to be able to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Since then she's been reading a lot this week and she's been doing great. Hopefully we'll get to see both of them this week and get them on the same page.
 
Well, it's been a great adventurous week here in Posey County and I hope ya'll had a good one too!
 
Sister Hodges


Isn't it hideous!


On the ground looking under our stove scorpian grasshopper spider hunting.


It's under the stove!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Deer in the Headlights

Well Mothers Day is officially the best day of the year! ... Till Christmas :).

It's been a great week in Mt. Vernon! I'm seeing miracles everyday.

We taught Miranda and Jerry the Plan of Salvation this week and it went really well. It really touched Miranda that we could be with our families forever and be sealed for eternity. It took them a bit to fully wrap their heads around the full plan of salvation, but it made sense to them and they asked great questions.

 We watched The Testaments with Trish and Ronnie. It's a movie that shows events from the Book of Mormon and when Christ comes after he is resurrected. It's very touching and helps connect the Bible and Book of Mormon. After the movie we talked about faith. Trish and Ronnie seem to be looking for hard evidence that this is the restored church. That evidence we have is the Book of Mormon but you have to read it and exercise faith. You start out with a belief and when you exercise it your using your faith, just as Enos did through prayer, and once you put it into action you'll find your answer and it becomes "unshaken". You plant a seed of faith and as you nourish it daily you can know that those things you plant in your heart are true as it grows. Sister Pisciotta and I are going to elaborate more on faith with them in our next lesson.

 Funny things that happened this week, well funny to Sister Pisciotta. We had dinner at a members home and right before we left they said to "be careful as we back out of the driveway" and we're "like oh yeah! we will!" I mean, we have a backer for goodness sake, of course we'll be fine! So I start backing the car, Sister P is backing me, then suddenly we hear a loud clunk. I'm like ohh no. I try to pull forward, then backward. I get out the car annndd we're stuck. The Halls driveway kind of curves and if you go off the edge while you're backing there's a little ditch and I just so happened to get the front left wheel stuck in it. And I am SO embarrassed as we go to the front door and have to explain that although they just told us to be careful backing out AND had a backer....we got the car stuck. So I have my head in my hands as this nice family helps us get out and Sister Pisciotta is laughing so hard as we drive away. It was so embarrassing...and I guess hilarious.

Earlier this week we went over to a member's house, Robbie. She recently had surgery on her hand so we thought we would stop by and see her. We chat and share a scripture and as we're getting ready to leave she asks if I can do something for her. And I'm all willing like "Yeah! Whatever you need!" Annnnd then she asks "Can you give me a shot? In my stomach?" and I'm not sure how to react because I am definitely no doctor and as a missionary I'm not sure if I should be giving people shots. I don't like getting shots myself either sooo I'm all hesitant and she pulls the "my blood will clot and I'll die if I don't get this shot" card and I'm like "Weeell you should just wait till your mom is home to give one." And she's like fine. So we get out of there and Sister Pisciotta says I should've seen the look on my face when she asked me to giver her a shot. I imagine I looked like a deer in the headlights.

Well, it has been a really great week! I've seen Heavely Father's hand in this work and I know that as you put your trust in Him, he'll lead you on the right path.

Have a great week!

Sister Hodges


Monday, May 6, 2013

Reunited!!

It was quite the week! It started off with a trip to Louisville to get my new companion. Guess who was right! My new companion is Sister Pisciotta (Pish-oh-tuh.Your welcome). We were in the same MTC district so it's like a reunion!

 Dan is doing great. We read read about the Tree of Life and really encouraged him to "hold to the iron rod". He's been reading the Book of Mormon more and you can tell. He went to Stake Conference yesterday and was excited after we sang The Iron Rod as our closing hymn. It was so perfect! When we went to read with him that night we talked about faith and are going to elaborate more on it this week. He said that the idea of having a prophet was warming up to him, which was SO good to hear! So, he's definitely coming along!

 Sister Pisciotta and I taught the same girl again from New Harmony. Her name is Miranda. Her husband, Jerry, sat in with us this time and it went so well! We discussed what we had already taught Miranda in the last lesson so we couldn't really get around to teaching the Plan of Salvation, but Jerry really liked what we taught so now we're going to be teaching them the first lesson again so that we can get him fully on board. We went over the Book of Mormon with them and both agreed to read the first chapter by the time we see them again. You can tell by the questions each of them ask that they've been prepared.

Sorry I can't write too much this week, but hope everyone has a good one!

 Sister Hodges