Happy Halloween!!

October 31, 2016

Hello everyone!!

It was another great week :) It was kind of slow, but not in any bad way! Just didn't go as quick as usual!

It is getting chillier here in Nebraska!! It is turning into the phase where the only thing members feed you is Chili and baked potatoes. Sister Orton didn't even have to buy food from the grocery store today because our fridge is so stocked up with leftover chili and taco soup from various members.

We went on a couple of exchanges this week!! On our first exchange, I was with a sister who has only been out 2 transfers. She has been struggling a lot with being here on her mission! She did NOT want to get called to a visitor center, and she was pretty bitter about it for a while! But, as we were talking, there was something different about her! She said that she received a letter from her mom that totally changed her outlook on her mission, and ever since then, she has LOVED the Trail Center!! The spirit is so cool :) It truly does change hearts!!

We went on another exchange this week! I was with Sister Ibanez! She has only been out 2 transfers as well, and she is from the Philippines! We had a fun time. I loved getting to know her and learning some Tagolic :) (unsure on the spelling)

Our investigators are doing well!! We have Chris set for a date for baptism, so hopefully he will continue to keep commitments to work towards that day! :) I have faith that he will! He is progressing so well!

We found another investigator this week! Her name is Alicia. She was a former investigator, so we decided to stop by. She let us right in! We were able to have a lesson with her, and we taught her the restoration. It made so much sense to her. She wants more than anything in the world to know she can be with her daughters forever! The message of the Restoration gave great comfort to her! We have a couple of appointments set up for this week already, and she agreed to baptism! We are excited to continue to keep working with her. Heavenly Father is blessing us greatly.

We had our Missionary Leadership Council this week! It was great :) I love being trained by President Gardner and the assistants. Finding out more ways to improve is such a great feeling. This week is the busy week when Sister Orton and I get to go train in a couple different Zone Trainings about everything we learned to other missionaries. I love these weeks! :)

Tonight we are having a big Halloween party at the Trail Center!! Sister Orton and I are dressing up like each other. I put a sneak peak in this email, but you'll get better pictures of it next week :)

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. It is truly such a blessing. I am so happy to share it :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week!! I miss you, but know this is where God needs me to be!

"17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the bservice of your cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Me and my little Filipino <3

Halloween sneak peak.. Be ready!! 

Sister Orton and I are totes adorbz

"For the First Time in Forever.... Transfers Didn't Effect Me"

October 24, 2016

Hi Family and Friends!!!

Another great week has flown by here in Nebraska! I hope you all appreciated my "Frozen" referenced subject line. It was transfer week and literally for the first time since the beginning of May, transfers didn't do anything to me! Woot woot!! I am staying in the Winter Quarters Ward with Sister Orton :)

A lot of my week was dedicated to making the Trail Center Schedule for all of the Sisters, and helping the sisters get adjusted in their new areas. I love being able to help all of the sisters here as much as I do :) It is so rewarding!!

Last week, me and the Nebrasquad hit our 1 year as missionaries!!! It seriously feels like yesterday that I was laying in bed on the first night at the MTC, staring at the ceiling, thinking "what in the heck did I get myself into?" But let me tell you.. This mission that I have gotten myself into has been the best decision of my life. This past year has been so hard, but it has been so rewarding. I have never had this happiness before, and I know it is because the materialistic things do not matter anymore! All that matters is serving the Lord, and that is was true happiness is. Happiness is being able to see the gospel change another persons life. Happiness is coming to know that The Book of Mormon is true. Happiness is the knowing that we truly CAN have an eternal family. We are so blessed to have all of this knowledge!!! If you ever feel like you aren't truly happy, take a second and think about what you are doing with this beautiful knowledge of the gospel. Are you sharing it? Are you applying it? I can promise you that as you understand the importance and the seriousness of the gospel, you will feel that TRUE joy that Russell M. Nelson talked about in his recent conference talk.

Sister Orton and I were able to skype with some people from the Visitors Center department in Salt Lake last week! It was so cool! They were able to train us on some new things about Teaching Center, and then we were able to train the Sisters at the Trail Center about those things on Saturday! I love being able to learn new ways to improve. :)

Anyways, not too much to update you on this week! Since transfer week was wild, we didn't have much time to do a lot in our area! There was a ward Halloween party last week, and it was great! Sister Orton and I were able to meet more members of the ward. A less-active woman in our ward brought two of her non-member friends, and it was awesome! Sister Orton and I got to know them and we taught them the restoration. They asked a lot of great questions! By the end of our conversation, they both wanted copies of The Book of Mormon and wanted to meet with missionaries! They both aren't in our area, but it was still so amazing to teach them and to see their desire for truth. I love being a missionary!

Anyways, I hope you all have a good week! You are in my prayers. Thanks for all of the support :)

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Fall is coming and going!!

Same ^

ONE YEAR

We had to get the finger one too, of course!

we get sick of taking smiling ones!

Dinner with Sister Cope

Running with the Dinosaur

This picture was an accident but it ended up pretty hipster so it's fine

Music and Authorities!

October 17, 2016

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a good week last week :) I had a good week, as well! Pretty busy, as usual, but the best, as usual :)

Sister Orton and I went on a couple of exchanges this week! I was able to be with Sister Irwin for one of them, so that was super fun! It was fun seeing how we have both grown since the MTC (which was almost a year ago, sooo weird). But, we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of success on exchanges!!

On my second exchange this week, I was with a newer sister named Sister Willmore. She is a sweet heart and has been out a little over a month. We saw a lot of success, too! We actually met this girl named Mallory. She was a referral from the Spanish Elders. When we stopped by she seemed kind of reserved, but as we testified to her of the truthfulness of this gospel, she opened up. She said when the Elders first met her, they "blessed her". A couple days later she got in a huge car accident with a semi truck. Although she is bruised from head to toe, she was able to walk away from the accident! She knew it wasn't a coincidence that she was saved after the Elders stopped by. So, she agreed to be baptized on the doorstep and we are meeting with her on Wednesday :)

Our investigator, Chris, is doing really well! We had an awesome lesson with him last week, and he came to church yesterday! He is definitely progressing :)

This week I was able to take a member of the 70 on tour of the Trail Center! His name is Elder Daniel L. Johnson! It was a super cool experience! There is such a strong spirit that general authorities hold. I felt so blessed to have that experience!

Sister Gardner asked me, Sister Orton and another companionship to do musical numbers at a Stake High Priest Activity! It was a lot of fun. I was able to sing a few songs, and then I played the piano! I was able to figure out the piano chords to a song, and so I played and then another sister played the Violin. It was neat!

I feel like this email is kind of boring! Not too many things to explain this week. But I am still loving it here, and having the time of my life. :)  I love you all! My prayers are with you!

Love,
Sister Hutchison

Our "awkward family (district) photo" 

exchanges with Sister Irwin

Sister Orton let me pluck her eyebrows... hahaha

face masks are life

the "Hutchison" ward from Kansas came into the TC. I happened to have my hat! How fitting!! (Thanks for the hat, Scotty)

PS. I thought you would all enjoy this rap I wrote back in April about the Trail Center. I think you'll learn a lot of history. Sister Orton helped me with the "what" s. One day I'll be rapping on stage with Beyonce.

Trainings GALORE

October 10, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

It was certainly a great week :) It went by so fast! It's crazy!! I don't even know where to begin :)

I guess I will start with all of the trainings Sister Orton and I had to do this week! We had to train at 2 separate Zone Trainings on 2 completely different things! We had a couple late nights because we had to plan so much, but everything turned out great!! On Tuesday, we trained at the Omaha Zone's training! It was fun. We trained on planning effectively, setting goals, using the Trail Center as a resource, about a 40 day fast exercise the mission is doing. Then, on Thursday, we headed to Iowa to train at the Council Bluffs' Zone Training. There, we trained on Planning and the Trail Center again, but then we also trained on making your studies effective, teaching the Restoration simply, and finding families! It was a lot of fun being able to work with so many missionaries this week :)

Sister Orton and I set a goal to teach the message of the Restoration 50 times this week. We were able to accomplish it! President Gardner taught us a way to teach the Restoration in 3 sentences, and it is so effective. We were able to share it on the doorstep, in the parking lots, at the drive-thru window, and many times at the Trail Center. Last night we realized, in order to reach our goal, we needed to share the Restoration 32 more times! Sister Orton and I went a little crazy on teaching center (online chats and phone calls). Every chance we had, we got on and called as many referrals as we possibly could. Whether it was over the phone, voicemail, text, email, or on tour, we tried to share the message of the Restoraion with EVERYONE. We were lucky we had a 9 hour shift, because after we finished we had taught the Restoration 33 times, which meant we taught the restoration 51 times last week. We were so proud and felt so good!

We were able to receive a new investigator this week! His name is Chris. He has a pretty wild teaching record, because he has been taught for a while, so we thought we would give him a shot. He is super sincere and loves the gospel so much, but his girlfriend wont marry him. That is what is holding him back. We are excited because we have a lesson with him today. We are teaching him the steps to receive revelation! We really think it will help him if he knows that God is truly trying to speak to him. It will give him the push he needs.

Sister Orton and I are working hard and having a wonderful time. We are still praying to find that family in our area who is ready for us to find them. Please keep us in your prayers!

I love this work so much. I am so happy all of the time, and I know it is because I am serving the Lord. Nothing is more important in this life than serving Him who gave us all we have. I love you all! Have a fantastic week. :)

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Drove the transfer van to our TC party. Lookin swaggy

Family photo. We all live in the same house, haha. Its "Papa Ort, Mama Hutch, Babies Beck and Bergman"

Sister Orton and planned to match for our Training for the Omaha Zone:) 

Me, the AP's, and Elder Hubbard awkwardly in the background at CB Zone Training. 

We had to match again at the CB zone training, of course :) 

We may or may not have had Taco Bell 3 times in 4 days...

"Serving Jesus is the Best Thing Ever!"

October 3, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

It was another INSANE week here in Nebraska. It went by pretty slow though, because meetings were what constantly kept us busy. But, all is well!! :) It was still SUCH A GOOD WEEK.

I will start off telling you all that you should be proud of me, because I got a flu shot! The doctor that volunteers at the health clinic where we serve insisted that Sister Orton and I should get one. So, we did! They hit a capillary or something when they gave me the shot, so my arm bled a lot and got super stiff, but that's okay! The only bad part was the next day... Sister Orton and I both had bad reactions to the shot, and were SUPER sick. We woke up the next morning and felt like we had just been hit by a bus (fever, chills, upset stomach, headaches, etc.) . THEN we had to go to a 7 hour meeting for all of the leaders in the mission (which I also had been asked prior to sing for a musical number). Even though we felt sick, the meeting was AWESOME!!! We learned so much. This week, we get to train everyone in our zone about what President Gardner and the Assistants trained us on. Heavenly Father definitely helped us feel better during that meeting. After the meeting, we had to go take a driving test! There is a big Trail Center activity in just a couple of hours, and so Sister Orton and I had to learn how to be "van certified" so we could take the 15 passenger van today, and lug a bunch of sisters in the back. For dinner that night, we went over to a member's house. We made her hug us like a mom and take our temperatures so we would feel better, and it worked a little. But, luckily, the next day we felt fine!!

Sister Orton and I had a cool miracle on Teaching Center this week (our online chatting). Sister Orton and I were determined to send a solid referral, so we were hoping and praying to find one. This man named Telvin ordered a Bible, so we called him to confirm his order! We asked him why he ordered the Bible, and he said he didn't know why, he just felt like he needed to. We asked him if we could share a message with him that help him know why he felt prompted to order the Bible. He agreed, we prayed, and then we taught the Restoration. The whole time he was in awe, and he felt like he could relate to Joseph Smith. Afterwards, we asked him how he felt. He said "I have never felt this way before. I can't begin to explain how I am feeling. This is such a good feeling." We were then able to testify to him about the influence of the Holy Ghost, and that he could feel that way all of the time. We committed him to baptism, which was exciting, and then sent his information off to the local missionaries in his area. We are hoping and praying they will contact him soon. :) I love being able to use Teaching Center!

Here is my missionary spiel about conference (hence my subject line from the quote in Elder Yamashita's talk) ... General Conference was AMAZING. I learned so much. I loved Russel M. Nelson's talk about JOY. What he said is so true when he said "We claim that joy by looking unto Jesus". I love that, because it is so true. If you aren't truly happy, you aren't applying the Atonement well enough in your life. If you aren't truly happy, you aren't constantly striving to live like the Savior. I also loved Elder Ballard's talk. It really stuck out to me when he kept saying "to whom should you go?" It really made me realize how blessed I was to have the gospel. That is why I am here on a mission! Lots of people don't know "to whom [they should] go". This gospel is THE MOST important thing in this world . Because of this Gospel, this world was created! We should never let ourselves be discouraged when we are worthily living the Gospel, because Elder Ballard is right, "even though the storm might beat the old ship, remember the Savior is on board".

Sorry for the long email! I hope you all know how much I love you!! You are constantly in my prayers. Thanks for the love and support I receive from all of you. Have a wonderful/blessed week!

Love,
Sister Hutchison

"24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.
 25 And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation." 3 Nephi 18:24-25

flu shots...... Yeah. 

MLC (missionary leadership council) The Elders always sneak in the pic :) It's okay, we love them anyways! 

MLC

MLC

Saturday morning training