May 23, 2016

Hey everybody!
 So this week has been a pretty crazy week. We started off the week great, we were finding a lot of new people and teaching a lot of lessons. We had some really good success and we actually found another member that isn't in our records. He was baptized in Venezuela and moved to Florida, I guess his records just never got moved. He was very happy to see us, he started to tear up while we were there talking to him. He says he wants to come back to church, so we are going to get him there. The Lord will always put us where we need to be and when we need to be there, it always amazes me how it happens. 

        We had the Gladys knight event on Friday night and it was so awesome! There was one at 5:30 and one at 8:30. We could only go if we had investigators that we invited going, so we went to the 8:30 one with one of our investigators. It was packed! There was around 1,100 people there at both shows, it was held at the stake center. It filled the entire building. It was like nothing you would ever experience in an LDS chapel. It was more like baptist music, really upbeat and people clapping and shouting amen's and hallelujah's and people dancing, this is exactly what we were going for with this whole event. We had people of all denominations there enjoying one another and praising the Lord. It was amazing. I am super glad that I was able to go. This will never happen in the Tampa area again, it was a once in a lifetime thing. Man it was so cool, we had a lot of fun. After it got done, which was around 10:30, we stayed with a lot of other missionaries to help pack everything up. They had to get to St. Pete to have the same two shows the next day. So it was pretty great for two reasons, 1. we got to stay out way past our curfew and it was okay (we got home at midnight) and 2. it was down pouring while we were loading up the trucks so we all got completely drenched. It was so much fun. It felt really good to be able to help them out too, without all the missionaries it would've taken them a really long time. At the event you could fill out a slip requesting a gift and that was a book of Mormon, sample CD, and a restoration video. So from that we have 38 referrals to drop these gifts off to. We are going to be busy this week haha. I am really excited to see where this goes. Some missionaries have gotten 10 baptisms from this. 

          After that the rest of the week was pretty average. I am so thankful to be a part of this church and to be serving a mission at this time. I am having so many amazing experiences that I wouldn't get anywhere else. I have been so blessed to have this opportunity. I hope that you all have a great week and try sharing the Gospel with somebody! It just might change their life. I love you all!!

Love Elder Hudson 

Pictures from the Gladys Knight event (they are getting soaked) and a door knocker you would only see in Florida.

May 16, 2016

Hey everybody, so this week has been a bit of a rough one for us. We have been doing a lot of tracting and working hard but just haven't seen the success that we have wanted. We did set a baptism date with a guy this week that has been working with missionaries long before I got there. He is really solid, he has read the book of Mormon 6 times and knows its true, He will be baptized in June so that will be very cool. While we were tracting this week we ran into a member that hasn't been active for a while, she was so happy to see us though, her testimony is still very strong, she has just had to help her husband with all of his medical issues, sadly he passed away not too long ago. She was very welcoming and we are now helping her get active again. We are going to help her stop smoking and get on track to be sealed in the temple to her husband. That was a miracle this week. 

            This week is transfer week, I highly doubt that me or my companion is going to be transferred. My companion has one more transfer before he goes home, after he leaves I will take over the area. I hope that I can do it, I haven't before but I am ready to take on the challenge, I know that it would help me grow a lot. I hope that I get to train, I think it would be really fun. I will let you all know what happens. Other than that, I don't have much more to say. I am excited to see what experiences the mission has for me and even though being a missionary is very hard, I love it so much. I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all! 

Love, Elder Hudson

Pineapple plant

May 9, 2016

Hey everyone!

         So this week was a pretty average week. Nothing too exciting happened. We had a pretty bad storm on Wednesday, it started right as we were getting ready to work out at 6 and it lasted all day. So we worked out in the apartment that morning. Florida doesn't mess around, when it rains it rains hard! It was a good start to the summer storms. 

        We have 5 investigators with baptismal dates and we were able to meet with all but one this week. They are all doing very well and progressing. We should definitely have some baptisms in June, I am really excited about them! Other than them we have a good amount of new investigators that we are working with and trying to help progress. It just takes time, especially when most people only want to meet once a week. We keep working hard though and we have definitely seen the blessings from that. 

       It was really good to Skype the family yesterday. I feel like it came so fast though! Time is flying by. I loved seeing them and talking to them, now I just have to snap back into missionary mode until Christmas haha. That is really all for this week. I cant think of anything else to say. I hope that all the Mothers had a great mothers day yesterday! Everyone have a great week, I love you all!

Love Elder Hudson

Cool caterpillar I saw

Lightening bolt hitting pole

Rainbow after a big storm

Above ground water tank

May 2, 2016

Hi everybody! 

         So this week has been pretty good and pretty bad. Since it is the last week of the month we were coming close to the end of our miles on the car. We only get a certain amount of miles on the car each month. At the beginning of the week we only had like 75 miles, so we did a lot of biking this week. I think we biked around 70 miles this week alone, and it was HOT! Man I got such a bad sunburn, and my watch line on my wrist is so bad haha! I'll send a picture ;) 

         This week we were able to set some really solid baptism dates! That couple we met tracting that I told ya'll about last week, yeah they're awesome! They have a baptism date for June and really want to be a part of all this. I love investigators like that. We have been having good success like that this week. The days are just blurring together, time is flying by! Its crazy to think that I am already about 1/4 of the way done with my mission. I have loved it so far, doesn't mean I have loved all of it, but most. I really cant think of what else happened this week. We have just been working super hard. 

       This area is pretty good, it is harder to find the humble people here though. This area is pretty well off and most people don't want to talk to us. We get doors slammed in our faces, people screaming at us, people bashing with us and the whole thing. I have gotten pretty used to it though. It happens every day haha. 

     Well sorry this weeks email is short, I'll write a longer one next week. I love you all and I am so grateful for everything ya'll have done for me. I hope this week is a good one for everyone!

Love Elder Hudson

It was a hot day...so to the freezer I went.

My companion had to sit in a car seat. ha ha

Feeling goofy!

My sunburn lines

My lunch!