April 25 2016

Hey Everybody! 

          So this week has pretty much just been a blur, I can't remember exactly what happened each day but I will tell you the major things that happened. We have been doing a lot of tracting and street contacting this week and last. We have been finding a lot of good people though. A lot of them are now progressing and are looking promising. We had a miracle happen to us when we were tracting on Friday. As we were walking up to this one house a car came barreling down the street and into the driveway of the house we were at. A lady got out and said, "don't knock on that door I have three dogs that will go crazy!" so of course we didn't knock. We got talking to her and asked if we could say a prayer with her, she accepted and as she was thinking of what we could pray for her husband pulled up and she said to pray for him. We started talking to him and he invited us in to say a prayer for his brother who had been in an accident 14 months ago. After words they wanted to speak to us in private. As we got talking he told us that he wanted to learn everything that we have to teach. He just felt like he needed to talk to us. He wanted to meet us for like 2 hours at a time haha. So we told him that tops we can only be there for 45 minutes. It was a really cool testimony building experience though. 

On Saturday we went to a funeral and we were there pretty much all day. It was one of the members and we had it at the church. He is Tongan and is apparently related to a king there. So there was a ton of people there. It was pretty cool to see how that culture is and does funerals. They were dressed up and did a lot of singing and some dances. We were helping with the set up and take down of everything, there was only like 5 of us there to help. It was a lot of work! we had to set up tables and chairs and the whole sha bang! There was about 300 people there. We did have some amazing food after though, so it payed off. 

Not much has happened this week. My birthday was good, I still have cake to eat though haha. Thank you all for your support and for the many birthday wishes and cards. I hope that you all have a great week and I love you all! 

Love Elder Hudson

Strange face in the tree

April 18th, 2016

April 18, 2016

Hey everyone!

        So this week has been an interesting one. I had to go to the bike shop on wednesday to get a new tube for my back tire. Surprisingly there were no bike shops in our area, there is like nothing here. So we had to go up into the Brandon area, and of course we had to get permission for that. We had to drive a little ways to get there. We are running so low on miles for the month. They only give us 1000 miles for the month and that is not enough, especially in this area because it is so big. We only have 200 left for the month.....so we have been biking a ton haha. If we go over they will detract miles from us for the next month. So that has been fun.

         We had surprise interviews with the president on Thursday. We were told on Wednesday that we had to be at the mission office at 2 so we had to work that into our schedule. The interview went really well. It is just kind of weird because my mission President looks so much like President Juchau (my steak President back home). He told me that he was really impressed with the work that I have been doing and what I have been contributing to the mission. I guess they had these interviews because there has been Pokemon cards going around and missionaries are wasting time on them. So they wanted to get down to the bottom of it. I just laughed when I heard that haha. I hate Pokemon anyways. So President was happy with me and my companion.

        On Saturday I got to go back up to Hudson and see 3 baptisms that were happening. These were people that I worked with for a while before I left the area. It was so great. There were some complications when we first got there though. I guess that the missionaries there now didn't keep an eye on the font when it was filling up so it had overflowed way bad, it went all into the hallway. It was pretty bad, and on top of that the water was a dark brown color. It looked so nasty!! It was such a mess! We had to drain it somehow, so one of the missionaries went in the water and pulled the plug. What a brave soul, I would NOT have gotten in that water! We still don’t know why it was brown, but I don’t really want to know. So to make a long story short we had the baptism at a members house in his pool. It was pretty neat! They all had a great experience and I was so glad I got to go.

      Other than that we have been tracting and street contacting a lot this week. We have gotten a lot of new investigators which is good. So today is my birthday, its been a normal day so far, I don't feel any different being 19 haha. It is just one of those middle ages that doesn't really mean anything. We are gonna go bake a cake after this and eat at chili's so that will be good. That is really all for this week. Thank you all for the birthday wishes and for all your support. I love you all and hope this week is great for all of you!

Love Elder Hudson

"I made chicken gumbo"

April 11, 2016

Hey everyone!

          Man this week has been crazy! We had no district meeting this week because of transfers. It took me about two hours to pack all of my stuff. So Wednesday morning I left to the Apollo Beach area. This area is HUGE compared to my last one. There is a lot of ground to cover here. My new companion is Elder White. He has about 2 months left of his mission. So more than likely I will take over the area when he leaves. I hope I get to train, I think it would be a lot of fun to mess around with a new guy haha ;) For anybody that needs it, my new address is 12305 Foxmoor Peak Dr. Riverview, Florida 33579. We live in a 2 story apartment which is kind of weird, I'll have to get used to it. It is a nice apartment though. I have my own bathroom and a walk in closet and the bedroom is a lot bigger than my last one. It is a nice place. 

         So the day before transfers we all went to the beach to take some pictures and get sand. The beach is really not that great...but we got some good pictures. I really did love my first area, it is sad to have to leave. I am hoping that I will come to love this area as much as i did my last. We went around on Tuesday to say goodbye to some of our members and investigators. I will send lots of pictures this week. 

        The work in this area seems to be going a lot slower than in Hudson. That is going to change soon though. Here we have a lot less people in our teaching pool and less people with dates set. Looking at their past weekly plans I can see a need for a change. Hopefully I will be of some help and get the work going in this area. My companion is a good guy, he just needs some guidance. Apparently they didn't do very good workouts before I came in either. I basically just took over and told him what we were doing for workouts. We have to do 30 min of cardio each morning and 30 min of whatever else. So we went on a 4 mile run and my companion was dying haha. I keep having to drag him along. I'll whip him into shape though. He is skinnier than I am, so he is small. Good guy though. 

       It has been a pretty good week and I am still trying to get to know the area but I'll get there eventually. I hope that you all have a great rest of your week!! 

I love you all. 

Elder Hudson

April 4th, 2016

April 4, 2016

Hey everybody!

        This has been an exciting week! So last week we were given the goal to set a baptismal date a day. We have been doing pretty good with it! Some days we do not set one, but others we set two so it equals out. Right now we have 12 baptismal dates set. That is awesome! The hard work truly pays off. It is actually not that hard to set a date with somebody, all it takes is the invitation.

        So Elder Nilsen left for two days on a transfer and that left me and Elder Farr here. We got a lot done while he was gone. On Wednesday we have a scripture study class that we teach. Me and Elder Farr taught the plan on salvation from the bible and Book Of Mormon. The class went great. We always bring treats because it seems to motivate more people to come, so we made brownies. We made a plan of salvation diagram out of the brownies too haha. Everybody loved it, I'll send a picture.

        Conference was SO good this weekend!! It was a little different being a missionary. I was definitely more concentrated and focused on all of the talks. In between sessions we would go and teach like one or two people then head to the next place. We watched the first session on Saturday with one of our investigators, the Indian guy. He had a lot of questions, which was expected. Then we went to a members for the second session, then to the church for priesthood. We watched the first session on Sunday at the church, then we went to a members house in between sessions for a lunch with a bunch of other members. Then for the afternoon session we went to Rainer's house. He is the one getting baptized on the 16th. He really likes President Uchtdorf because they are both German haha. I think that my favorite talk was from Elder Holland, it was the very last talk of the Sunday afternoon session. His talk was really powerful and uplifting to me. I fear that President Monson won't be with us much longer, but I loved his address about the choices that we make and how it affects our eternal destiny. It was very simple, but very enlightening as well.

         This week is transfer week, and guess what.............I am being transferred! I honestly did not think that I was going to be leaving. Elder Nilsen is being transferred too. So that will leave Elder Farr to take over the area. I am kind of nervous, but I am sure he will do well with all of our investigators. We do not know where we are going yet. We will be getting an email tomorrow telling us where we are going and who our companion will be. Then we leave on Wednesday morning. So I will be packing tonight and tomorrow. I am excited to go somewhere new, but sad to leave this area. I have met some really cool people here, and have become close to some members, especially those I baptized. That is how it goes though. I will have to stay in touch with them. I will let you all know next week where I am! I am sure this week will be eventful. Thank you all for what you do and your support. I love you all!

Love Elder Hudson

Elder Hudson sent me these pictures without any explanation as to what they are. I guess he just thought they were cool things to take a picture of.