The Week of the Bikes

And so it has begun! Biking, biking all around! It has been great. Minus one day when it was snowing a lot. (Yep, it's still snowing here in Ohio. I hope you're not jealous. Because man do we all love it.) Apparently Ohio has been voted the number one worst winter in the United States. But the 9th coldest or something like that. According to the bishop of our ward who we had dinner with last night. (P.S. the bishop is hilarious. In case you were curious.) But yeah. Glad we are having bikes at the tail end of it. They are great though. 

What has happened this week? We are actually having a lot of lessons and service opportunities now! Our days are super booked, without having to try and search out ways for them to be booked which has been really nice. We have 4 investigators, 2 of which are super solid, 2 of which we're hoping will be soon!

We were teaching one the other day and it was really great. She was saying how all of 'the mormons' she's met have this light about them. And it reminded me of that article that Allison had read forever ago that was studying this 'so called light' that people have. :) I wonder if that's why people think we're a cult though. Because a lot of us are so happy a lot of the time. If they think we're on drugs or something. We're not. Obviously. Word of Wisdom, guys. Come on. But yes. I don't know where my thoughts are going right now.

Oh! I bought these track pants a while ago and I love them so much. I'm not sure if it's because I can't wear pants now very often and so when I wear them now they are the best thing ever or if they truly are the best thing ever. I'm going with option 1. Expect me to be wearing them all the time when I am home. Assuming they survive. I've been wearing them running every other morning. (Yep, finally starting that up again. Jennifer, I think of you every time.) And it's just all been going great. This week has been wonderful.

We watched the General Woman's Meeting (I can't remember if that is the name so let's hope so), on Saturday and it was amazing! We've been talking a lot about inviting investigators to watch conference with a question on their minds so that they can find the answer to it and it truly does work. I'm sure the majority of you that will be watching general conference already do that, but if not do!

Well, I suppose it shall end there. I continue to thank all of you for your letters! I love them dearly! I admonish some of you for not writing me more (you know who you are) but then also understand that you have lives so maybe less admonishing and more hope for the future. 

Continue doing wonderful things and being wonderful people! 

Most sincerely,

Sister Hunter

Pictures include: Me attempting to get a picture of me and Sister Hodson while on our bikes and failing and only getting a picture of myself

Our bikes

Me looking super attractive making sure our appointments are still set for the next day in a park.

Sister Hodson looking fly.  

Changes all around

And the new transfer is officially under way and I can officially tell you all the news.

Guess who got transferred...sort of? That would be Sister Hodson and I...or is it me in this case? I don't remember grammar. Here is the story I could not tell you last week:

I was going to explain every last detail, but long story short they needed one car elsewhere, so they put us on bikes (still in Bowling Green, but the biking area where previously we were the cities north of bowling green) so that the sister training leaders who were previously in the biking area could still have a car in order to make exchanges. So, we had to swap areas. It has been crazy. And sad. But also really fun at the same time.

I am very excited to be on bikes, but I am definitely missing the people. But the people in this area seem to be pretty great as well. Sunday is pretty crazy now because being in the biking area means we are also the missionaries for the YSA branch, so we are at church from 9 until 4. (The ward meets at 10 but we have ward council at 9 and then the branch meets at 12 with a 'munch and mingle' after). So, 7 hours in the same building. The branch is super small. There are about 15 people. Much different than the single's ward in Utah. We only needed 3 tables with chairs around them set up for the munch mingle. I thought fondly on break the fast with our lack of ability to have chairs. 

We also were told an hour before the meeting that Sister Hodson and I are supposed to teach Gospel Principles. So that was special. We pulled it off well though. 

I'm super excited but definitely miss everyone in our old area a lot. But I still get to see them at church so that at least is good. 

We have a new sister in our apartment, her name is Sister Maddox. She is from Orem! She is quite fun and is 6 feet tall. So, Beth, I have found a person as tall as you. Be happy. 

Now pictures! 

Sister Openshaw and I before her departure. She is in Strongsville now.

Sister Planer and I looking beautiful. 

Stole sister Hodson's memory card. Say hello to beauty. 

There is me laughing insanely.

Sisters Hodson, Maddox, Planer and I.

And me intruding on Sister Hodson and Sister Maddox's photo with my model pose. 

I promise this is the last one! This was our last district meeting together before transfers which happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, hence the 15 different shades of green.

There would be more pictures but I have this problem where everyone else has their cameras out so I just rely on them for pictures and then never actually take them from them. But there you go. I hope all your weeks are going well, I miss you all and will hopefully have a picture of us looking super fly in missionary garb on a bike. If you thought biking in a skirt would be terrible, you would be right. Though not as terrible as I thought it would be. Just really annoying really.

And on that happy note, I bid you adieu. 

-Sister Hunter

The Week of Transfers

Hello all, 

I hope things are going well in your various lands and various lives. I continue to miss you and continue to enjoy your letters. In case you thought those things had changed. They have not.

My first transfer is officially over tomorrow. Meaning it has been 6 weeks that I have been in the field. Crazy crazy things.

As of right now Sister Hodson and I are both staying, but we're also confused because there was talk of something else happening that I don't know if we can actually talk of yet, so you all get to be in the dark, but just know that we are confused. As to everyone else, one of our roommates is leaving, Sister Openshaw to be precise. Which is really sad because we love her very much and do not want her to go. But she is being transferred out of the stake. Also, one of the biking sisters (sister Mitchell to be precise) is as well. The biking sisters are also our sister training leaders and I am very sad about this development as well because my exchange was with Sister Mitchell and she is pretty much fantastic. (For those of you that do not know, an exchange is when you switch companions for a day so that you can learn from each other and such exciting things). So, her companion Sister Frampton came to our area and I went to theirs, which is a biking area. 

It was super fantastic. I love biking. So much. It is great. I recommend it to all. Though it is less fun in a skirt. And less fun on a bike where the brakes don't work on the right side and you have to make hand signals with your left so when you're coming to a stop for the first time and making the signal and find out the brakes don't work very well you may very narrowly avoid crashing into your companion. Not that that nearly happened to me. Just as a general thought. I also got really lucky because the next day there was a super huge snow storm but that day it was 47.

On the day of the super huge snow storm we were stuck in the apartment until 6. At which point we then went and shoveled a members driveway for 2 hours. It took 2 hours because she a) has a huge driveway and b) there was snow probably about 8 inches at certain points but on average about 6 across the whole thing.  But yes, it shall not be long today because we had a lot going on. So, enjoy the short email. There will probably be some super huge news next week.

Until then, 

Sister Hunter 

PS Here are some more pictures to show how picturesque Ohio is. Also, a picture of me looking like a crazed raccoon after we shoveled that driveway. 

Should be in order: Me as a crazed raccoon, Toy story clouds and the flat barren landscape, Ohio being Ohio, Ohio actually having some pretty things, like a river and trees! And a super beautiful sunset that makes me regret having such a terrible camera because every other picture was blurry or plain terrible. 

Weeks upon weeks. I think this is 6? 7?

Family! 

This week. Wow. This week was really hard. I thought previous weeks had been hard? No. This week trumps it. 

We'll start with the good though. My absolute favorite part of this week was when we knocked on some guys door and found out he couldn't speak English. So guess who attempted to speak to him in Spanish? That would be me. It was pretty terrible. Luckily he knew some English so when I was like "El Libro de Mormon es un otro ....umm...no se la palabra..testament?" "testamento" "Ah yes! Testamento de Jesu Cristo." Yep. That happened. It was actually really awesome. Well, it was kind of terrible because I'm pretty sure he has absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Mainly because I did not know the word for missionaries or latter day saints. So I told him we were from the church of Jesus Christ. We just aren't latter day saints anymore. Sorry, guys. And asked if he knew the book of Mormon. At least I hope that's what I asked him. And then I hope I asked him if he would like to learn more, if not he said no either way. Which is partially why it was terrible. Don't even care though. I wanted to be able to speak Spanish on my mission and it happened. Be jealous. 

The next best part was when we were tracting yesterday and someone started to slowly close the door as soon as he read our name tags, but said hello in response to our hi and good in response to our how are you doing as he was shutting the door. I'll have to reenact it for all of you at some point. It was hilarious. And super special. Ah, people. We also had stake conference this weekend and that was really great. Good speakers, good talks. 

So, now for the bad. Every single one of our investigators cancelled on us and some of our other people. So we had a total of 6 lessons this week. Our goal is always at least 20. Normally we are at if not fairly close to this goal. Not this week. 

And now for the terrible part of the week. It was yesterday. We were tracting. Knocked on this person's door, as we are prone to do. He answered. First thing out of his mouth was, "Ah, from Utah then are we?" I told him, "Nope! Colorado!" He then went on to tell us that we were a cult and he disagreed with what we were doing. So, you know. Yep. Sister Hodson asked him why he felt that way. So, he let us know. Yep. He most certainly let us know. The short list: Joseph Smith is just a disaffected youth and our scriptures were written by him so we're not actually following God because Joseph Smith was completely wrong and troubled. Also, I'm not sure if any of you were aware of this but apparently we're really only out here doing this so we can earn our salvation. Not because we found happiness in this gospel and want to help others find that happiness, it's really just so we can earn our way into heaven. Sorry all of you out there that did not serve a mission, cause I guess you're not going to heaven. There were other things, but I won't go into it.  I just stood there the whole time doing my best to not say anything because I a) didn't know what to say and b) everything that was coming to mind would not have helped the situation in any way. It would have just been gaining up on him to point out all the scriptures in the bible that dispute everything he said. That and if he knew what the actual definition of a cult was. Because we're not a cult. In case any of you thought that, we are not. Sorry to burst your bubble. But I digress.Sister Hodson told him we weren't out here earning our salvation, we were learning how to come closer to Christ and inviting others to do the same. Which I thought was awesome.

Anyway it basically ended with him telling us we were out here doing Satan's work and we should think long and hard about who Christ really is because the person we call Christ is not actually Christ. Oh, and stay warm. 

Yeah, thanks. The words you have just told me bring warmth to every part of my body. It doesn't make me feel sick in any way. 

I prepared myself for people thinking we're crazy, for people disagreeing with what we have to say or not caring, but I definitely was not prepared for some guy to tell us we were working for Satan. Normally stuff like that would not bother me, I think it was just not having the best week and then let's add this whole pile of happiness. It has been hard.

I was reading in the scriptures last night so that life is not so depressing and there are about 500 verses that all say, "He that receiveth you not, go away from him alone by yourselves, and cleanse your feet...bear testimony of it unto your father which is in heaven and return not again unto that man." (D&C 84:92) There are others but that was the first I found. So, now that I have ranted in this email for so long I am not going to mention it again. Ah, how ranting helps. 

Anyway, I still miss all of you and am still really grateful for all your letters! I love hearing from you. If you wanted to stop having lives while I'm gone that would be okay, but if you insist on continuing them then you shall have to continue to write. I think that is good logic.

But I miss all of you and love all of you! And do not be alarmed by this email, I am definitely still happy to be out! Still happy to be serving! (Speaking of which we start volunteering at a really cool organization next week called ISOH or something. It seems like it's going to be really cool that and Hava, there is definitely a Q there).

Sincerely,
Sister Hunter 

Week 4..in the field..so 6 total? What did I say last week?

And we move on to another week! Ah, time. How thou is flying. Not really. But it is. But not at the same time. It's interesting. But hello everybody! I miss you all much! I hope you all are doing well! Your letters are all still wonderful,uplifting, hilarious, some a combination of all of those things and some other words that I can't think of right now! 

This week has been pretty great. We luckily did not have practically every person we were supposed to teach cancel on us, so we were actually able to teach people! Not that we weren't able to last week, but it was much more difficult. We had dinner with the Acostas a couple of nights ago, who are from Colorado! They too dislike the terrible flatness and death of Ohio. Well, Bowling Green. And maybe not so much death. But they much prefer Colorado. This week I am including some pictures of the beautiful scenery that I get to see driving to people's homes everyday. I know you're all going to be so jealous of the majestic views. 

Anyway, I am definitely starting to get much more comfortable out here. The first couple of weeks I hardly said anything during lessons, but it has been my goal to say at least 3 things each lesson and now it is working well. It's really crazy, this work. Sister Hodson tells me about how depressed and down on life one of our investigators was when they first started to teach him, and how now, having the gospel in his life has helped him so much. It's truly incredible. I know it's helped me in my life, so knowing that I'm able to be apart of helping others know of it, it's amazing. It is great. 

We've been talking a lot about family history lately in our meetings and how doing genealogical work can help investigators and new converts focus on going to the temple. It's definitely driving up my desire to do it. I'm regretting I didn't spend more time working on Dad's lines. 

It's so great being on a mission. There are so many things I'm learning right now that I can't wait to apply when I get home. Like scripture study. Why did I not do this every single day? It's fantastic. And family history as well. And going to the temple. Why didn't I go every week when there was one so close? I mean life gets busy, but there was definitely time for it all. So, I guess that is my advice to everyone right now. I know you hear how you should do those things all the time, but take it to heart if you haven't yet. It's incredible. Also, if you have questions, search the scriptures. Truly search them. And pray. Ask. Have faith you'll find the answers. They will come. 

Hopefully that wasn't too preachy. I guess I am a missionary now though, so you know, it's only fair that if I'm telling strangers such things I should also tell family and friends those things. :) 

I love you all! I miss you a lot! Continue doing wonderful things and being wonderful! And writing me! Because I love it! And if you wanted to send pictures, that is perfectly fine! 

As to my pictures: The glorious and majestic view I get to see each day that I know you all are incredibly jealous of. And if I'm being serious, Becky, you probably are actually jealous of it. Please, come. Take it from me. I will switch you. But not the people. You may have the land, I will keep the people. 

Oh, P.S. Definitely pushed another 1000lb thing of hay again. And lived. We also organized a tool drawer for that same man and I'm pretty sure he has over a hundred different screwdrivers. You may think I am exaggerating, but I am not. Also, EVERYONE OUT HERE LOVES COUNTRY. It's terrible. Every single house we walk in to if the radio is playing, that is what is on. My ears may possibly have developed chronic bleeding. 

P.P.S. I'm sorry if there are some of you that wanted me to write you that I haven't yet, I promise if you write me I will reply but if I do not have an email or letter from you I will forget. 

P.P.P.S. The Chase family is amazing. You all should know this. Because they are. And so are a lot of other people. But particularly them. 

PS this is the picture of our zone from zone conference! See if you can find me!