January 25th, 2016

Hey everyone! 

        So this week has been a really good week for us. It has been a little bit colder though. It got down to about 36 one morning and that is like freezing cold for people here in Florida. I am just glad I don't have to deal with the snow and ice ha--ha. I bought three really nice sweaters though, I like them a lot. I probably won't use them for long though, winter doesn't last long here. I'll have to store them away for next winter. We actually had frost on our car windshield this morning which wasn't normal. I don't mind the cold that much though. 

        So on Wednesday we had zone conference but it was a little bit different than all the other ones. We had to drive two hours to get to the building so my companion was plucking the other elders eyebrows on the way there ha-ha. Believe it or not that is something that our mission president wants us to do. It is a pretty strict mission, but we see a ton of success from that. I don't see it as a bad thing. Anyways we had our normal meeting for about two hours then they had lunch for us, they bought us all Jimmy John's. They usually buy us food when we are all together, but after that we had a special broadcast from salt lake just for missionaries. It was broadcast across the entire world so all the missionaries could watch it. A few apostles spoke and a few others, it was really really good and I learned a lot from it. The last time they did this was about 10 years ago so it doesn't happen often. It was a privilege to be a part of. that took up most of our day though, we left at 7 in the morning and didn't get back until 5. It was worth it though. 

        This Sunday we are having another baptism! We are doing it before church. His name is Ricky and he started out as just a media referral. He had requested a Book of Mormon online so we brought it to him and started to teach him. It has been really cool to see his progress from the very beginning. He is so excited to be baptized, it is really awesome. My companion Elder Nilsen will be baptizing him and I will be confirming him. It will be my first time confirming somebody so we will see what happens, I hope I don't mess up! I am excited for him though. I'll make sure to get pictures. 

        That's really all for this week. We are working hard and it is crazy how many miracles happen while on a mission. I feel really blessed for this opportunity, I am so glad I made the choice to go on a mission. It has changed me already. Anyone that is thinking about going on a mission, do it. That is my advice to you. I hope you all have a good week! I love all of you!  

Love , Elder Hudson 

January 18th, 2016

Hey everyone! 

      

          So this week has been a pretty good week. We didn't end up reaching 60 lessons but we got close to it. We did a lot of tracking this week and we found a lot of new investigators. We met a lady named Fabiola and her two kids. She is from Peru originally. They were really nice and her two kids were pretty funny. They brought out their bearded dragon lizard and showed it to us. We had brought a recent convert with us named Miguel and he freaked out ha-ha! I put it on his shoulder when he wasn't looking and when he saw it he jumped out of his seat and screamed "MAMA MIA!" hahaha we laughed so hard at that. They came to church on Sunday though which was really good. We actually had 7 investigators at church this Sunday. That's more than we have ever had so we are doing something right I guess. 

         Ever since I got here 5 people that we know have died. My companion says I'm bad luck ha-ha. Its kind of weird though. We got a call last night from a lady in our ward and she told us that her husband had just passed away like 10 minutes ago. We went over to their house quite often and he loved us. He was a really good guy. He was 75 but he looked like 55, he was pretty ripped too ha-ha. He had a lot of good stories that he would tell us whenever we went over. We went and saw him in the hospital the night before he died and spent a little over an hour there with him. His heart just gave out, he was only using about 10% of it. I hope his family can get through this okay. They're having a pretty hard time with it. So that kind of put a damper on the week. 

        Other than that not much happened. This morning was pretty fun though. We went to the ward mission leader’s house and had a huge bonfire. We burned an old couch, his Christmas tree, and a bunch of tree branches and stuff. I got a good video of it, but we poured about 3 gallons of gasoline on it and lit it up. The flames were like 20 feet high haha! I guess a cop saw it from the road or somebody called the cops because a cop came over and asked us about it. Nothing happened but I thought it was pretty funny. 

         Anyways the missionary work has really been picking up here. People seem to be more receptive to us lately. It’s so cool to think about how much of an impact we are having on people’s lives. From one baptism it could affect their whole family for generations and generations. That's so cool! And I feel really blessed to play a part in it.  I have grown so much already from my mission. I'm not afraid to go up to a stranger or knock on a random person’s door and talk to them about the gospel. And if any of you know me I don't like talking in front of people or talking to strangers, I usually just keep to myself, but that has all changed now. The blessings of a mission are endless. I know that this is the true church without a doubt in my mind. If people would just take 5 minutes to listen to our message it could change their life forever. It makes me sad to think of how many people just don't know, that’s why I feel so blessed. 

           Well I hope you all have a good week. Thank you all for the support you give me, I need that a lot. 

Love Elder Hudson

rain storm

spider

train tracks

lake view

Train

January 11, 2016

Hey everyone!

           So I'm basically getting jipped on my email time today so this one will be short. We have had a really busy week this week. Transfers were on Monday and luckily nothing changed for me. My companion is now the district leader though because the district leader of our district got transferred out. So we have a new elder in the district. He has been out for 20 months, he's weird, but that’s okay ha-ha. We have taught 50 lessons this week which is good for us. We are trying to hit 60 this next week.
          I got a call from president Cusick early in the week and he told me that my dad had emailed me some information about my Grandpa Channon. He told me that he wasn’t doing good and that they were taking him back home after 18 long months for home hospice care. He said that he only had about a week to live. So he told me I could call my dad and step-mom to talk to him about it and my Grandma because my Grandpa can't really speak. It was pretty hard to talk to them and it kind of threw off my week. He passed away the next day after I called. It was hard but I think I am doing okay with it. I know that now he is free of pain and that he is in a much better place. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation, It gets me through hard times like this, but the week got a lot better after that.
        Today we went to brother Carroll’s and he took us to this train park that he runs. It was so cool! We got to ride on the trains and look around at everything and we had a lot of fun there. It was hard to leave because he just loves to talk and show us everything that he has made, he is a funny guy. Well that is really all I have time for today. I'll talk to you all next week. I love you all!!

Love, Elder Hudson

January 4th 2016, letter

Christmas Day

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty interesting. On Tuesday we skipped district meeting to go to a funereal of one of our investigators. This is like the third investigator that has died on me since I have been here. I must be bad luck or something. His name was Denise and he was about 65. I only taught him about two times, but he was a really nice guy and was really fun to talk to. We came to find out that he was a marine. So they had the marines there at the funeral and it was pretty cool. There was an Indian guy there that played a flute and it was funny in the beginning because he ran out of breath and said, "Sorry I have asthma" I don't know why but that was so funny to me and my companion. We got a video of it ha-ha, but we talked to him after the funeral and we set up an appointment with him. So that was good. 

       Sooooo we got a flat tire on Monday. We came out from our apartment to leave for a lesson and found it like that. I looked at the tire and we had run over a screw, just our luck, and so we changed it right there and got our white shirts all dirty. So we went inside and changed then brought the tire to Firestone to be repaired. I figured it would only take about 15-20 minutes. I did flat repairs all the time at Doug Smith so I knew how long it takes to do it. We ended up waiting 2 HOURS. So ridiculous. I was so frustrated. I was about to walk in there and just do it myself. My boss would have fired me if I took that long to do just one flat repair. So that put me in a bad mood for most of the day. Which is stupid I know. 

        We started teaching this guy named Ricky. He is....interesting. He definitely has some sort of learning disability. He can’t read and changes the subject a lot, but we did set a baptism date with him the first time we met him. His heart is in the right spot and really just wants to follow Jesus Christ. So we will see where that goes. 

       So 2015 ended.....what the heck? The year went by way to fast, but I'm really looking forward to 2016 and dedicating the whole year to being a missionary. I have set a lot of goals for myself this year and I hope all of you have as well. The only way we can progress is if we have something we are striving to achieve, a goal in mind. So that’s something I have been focusing on lately. 

       On Saturday we had 2 baptisms! They are a part member family and it was the husband and daughter that got baptized. My companion baptized the husband and I baptized the daughter. It was so cool! It was my first time baptizing somebody. I felt the spirit so strongly while I was performing the baptism and it's crazy to think of how great of an impact that has on their family! They will be able to go to the temple in one year and be sealed as a family. I feel so blessed and privileged to be able to have that authority and power to baptize and bless people. It is a really special thing to me. 

      That's basically all that happened this week and its getting easier and easier to be away from home. I know that it takes time to adjust and to be a missionary. It’s a totally different lifestyle and can be really hard at times, but with Christ anything is possible, if we have the faith. I love you all so much and have a happy new year!! 

love, Elder Hudson