Summer and Snowcones

June 27, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Another great week here in Nebraska :) I mean, of course it is great!! When you are doing what the Lord has asked you to do, no matter how hard it may be, He will always bless you and make everything worth it. :)

I always feel kind of jumbled, I am just going to kind of do what I did last week, and go through each day of the week, telling you my favorite part!

Last Monday, a sweet couple in our ward took Sister Slater and I to get Thai food. Awe man, oh how I've missed Thai food. Yes, I did get the yellow curry, thanks for asking.

On Tuesday we had a good lesson with our investigator, Emma. She is so sweet, but suffers with some depression. The ward is being super sweet with her, making sure she is feeling loved, so that's good! She has been kind of hard to get in contact with, but she went out of her way and made an appointment with the Bishop, and told HIM she wants to get baptized. We are hoping to get in touch with her and see her this week so she can tell US that. Haha. We also had to drop our other investigator, Tammy, on Tuesday. We asked what her expectations of our visits were, and she pretty much told us that she likes us coming over because we are her only social life. When we asked her if she could ever see herself joining the church, she said "Doubt it". So, that's that.

Wednesday was kind of crazy, but my favorite part of that day was a tour I took at the Trail Center. They were a super happy family, that loved every second of Winter Quarters. We were able to just sit together, and chat like old friends, and share experiences. Those are my favorite tours. Seriously, every tour I have been taking lately have been from Utah. I should just bring letters to the Trail Center and make my tours take them home for me.

I am sure Thursday was great, but I cant remember what I did that day... Haha :) But Friday was an adventure. We were non-stop, all day long. But, we had an appointment with our other investigator, Edwin, that day! We met him in the parking lot of our complex, and he was interested right off the bat. So, we gave him our number and he gave us his. We kept trying to contact him, but couldn't. Last week, Sister Slater and I went out to the car and saw a note on our windshield. It said: "Hey, It's Edwin. I want to learn about the Gospel. Please call me." It was a different number than he gave us the first time. So, we called the number, and it was him! So Friday we had our appointment with him. It went really well! We soft-set him for baptism, and we have an appointment with him again tomorrow.

On Saturday, someone that Sister Slater taught in her last area got baptized! So, we went to that, and it was so sweet. Afterwards, there was a shaved ice truck right outside the church giving free snowcones. It was awesome, and so delicious.

Yesterday was Sunday, so obviously it was great!! I love being able to be at church and partake of the Sacrament. It really refreshes me, and gets me ready for the week to come.

I am still loving my mission, loving Bennington, and loving my companion! We are best friends, so that makes everything a more fun! :) We are working on not quoting the Office and Harry Potter 24/7.. Hasn't worked out too well. It will get there.  I hope you all have a great week!!! I love you!

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Straight outta THE GOOD LIFE. This kind of just happened. 

A cute member of our ward made us these head things, so of course we took pics. This is probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

Transfers, Fireflies, Miracles and Drunks

June 20, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow, this week was kind of a crazy week. No, it wasn't kind of a crazy week. It WAS a crazy week.

First of all, transfers were this week! I didn't get transferred, but Sister Firth did! So, I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Slater, she only has 2 transfers left, and I LOVE HER. We get along and work together so well. We were already friends before we were companions, but we are quickly turning into best friends and we are seeing so many miracles together! This transfer is going to be so fun :)

Sister Slater does this thing where every night, she writes down the highlight of her day. So, I have been trying to do that, in addition to writing in my journal! I thought I would share them with you! Some of them are sillier than others, so just bear with me.

Well, the highlight of Wednesday was transfers. I feel awkward sharing the highlight of my day on Thursday over group email.. If you want to know, personally email me.. haha. So I will start with Firday!! Slater and I had an encounter with some drunk painters, so that was fun. We were actually trying to see a less-active member, but him and his friends were all outside painting his house, drunk (interesting combo). We started to teach them the restoration and they tried to bible bash us for a while. But, we kept on going. They kept on trying to tell us that EVERYONE had the priesthood. After bearing our testimonies and asking some inspired questions, their hearts softened. They ended up pulling the "we really respect you ladies for doing what you do", and accepted one of our cards. After that, Sister Slater and I were pretty much dripping sweat because of the 110 degree weather, so we rewarded ourselves with frozen lemonade from Sonic. #highlight Also, that night We were teaching a woman in our ward, and in the middle of our lesson, her friend, Emma, walked in. We asked her if she wanted to join, and she did! We talked about Jesus Christ, and how he helps us through our trials. She opened up to us, telling us how Christ helped her through her lung surgery when she had a lung infection. We asked if we could set up an appointment to teach her more, and she said yes! We also invited her to church, and she said yes to that as well. So she came to church this Sunday and loved it. She asked if she could meet with us twice this week instead of once, so we said "of course!". We are so excited to start meeting with her. She is so special, and we just know how much the gospel will change her life. We are excited to set her for baptism. :) ALSO, at the end of talking to her the first time, another friend walked in the door, and was interested as well! #anotherhighlight

The highlight of Saturday was an online chat we took at the Trail Center! His name is David, and he originally came on asking us why we don't drink tea or coffee. We asked if we could call him, so we did. We didn't talk end up talking about tea or coffee at all! We taught the restoration, and he asked US  if we "could send people to his house to teach him more". It was so cool. At the end of the phone call, we said a prayer with him. He told us he had never felt that peace in a long time. #highlight

Sunday was a good day! Sister Slater and I taught Relief Society on re-activating less-actives. It went well! My highlight moment was meeting Jim! He is a 17 year old boy that we started to talk to outside. He was super open and so prepared. We are hoping to meet with him this week. :) While talking to him, there was literally a guy on crack behind us. LITERALLY on crack. Let me explain what he was doing : rubbing his bare chest on ever wooden pillar he could find, slithering on a table like a snake, chanting "holy bible" under his breath while body-rolling, dancing, and flapping his "wings". It took all I had not to crack up while teaching Jim. I could feel my mouth twitching the whole time. Sister Slater and I just about died of laughter as soon as we got in the car. Jim + Guy on Crack = #highlight.

Tomorrow is my 8 month mark on the mission!! Crazy right! I am almost halfway! Also, the fireflies have started to come out every night. It is so beautiful! Despite the constant 100 degrees and humidity, Nebraska is so beautiful. Wow. I love my mission.

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Transfer point! Me and Sister Slater 

We hate/love how cheesy this is 

8 months with the Nebrasquad!! 

Sister Parsons came out the transfer after us, but she came out all by herself! So we let her take a pic with the group :)

Hot/Humid!

June 13, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow, it was a good week! I think.. I can't really remember. It was all a blurr! It feels like Preparation Day was  yesterday. This mission needs to slow down!!

Sister Firth and I were brave and tracted in the heat this week (like 100 degrees, 70% humidity). We saw a cool miracle! We actual saw the miracle as soon as we left our apartment at 10:00am! So, as we were in the parking lot of our complex, getting ready to hop in the car, there was a man walking by! I yelled "Hi" to him, and he walked right up to us. He stared at my nametag for a little bit, and then asked which church we were from. I told him about the church, and he asked for the address.  We were able to teach him the Message of the Restoration, give him a Book of Mormon, the address to the church, and we received his phone number! We are excited to start teaching him. Even though we tracted for 3 more hours after that and no one accepted us, we are still happy the first one we talked to did. Miracles :)

We have been at the Trail Center quite a bit this week, which is fantastic! The Trail Center is such a sacred place. I am so blessed to serve there. This week, a tour came in that was about 17 teenagers. The man in charge of the group came in first, and asked me to focus the tour on sacrifice. I'm not going to lie, the teenagers came in kind of grumpy! They weren't answering too many questions and they didn't seem too interested in the Trail Center. But, as we got to the memorial room, tears filled their eyes when they heard about the Pioneers' sacrifice. When they left the Trail Center, I could tell their hearts were touched, and they were determined to go home better people then they were when they got there. It is amazing seeing the spirit work on people.

We had a cool lesson with a Less-Active this week. Her name is Rosa, and she just barely started to let us visit with her. She was baptized because her boyfriend was (a long time ago), and doesn't remember anything about the church. We planned a big lesson on the plan of Salvation, but didn't use any of it. it was cool how the spirit just worked on her, and us! She asked so many questions we were able to answer for her. The lesson was the most random/scattered lesson I have ever been apart of! But, it was exactly what she needed. She even agreed to read the Book of Mormon!  Heavenly Father sure blesses us when we show him we care, and plan a big lesson. :)

To start off Preparation day this morning, we were able to clean the temple. I haven't been to the temple for a long time, so even though I wasn't doing a session or anything, it still felt so good to be there. We were able to clean pretty much all of it, and go in every single room. It was so peaceful there. Even though I was in white scrubs, and there were the constant sounds of vacuums, it was the most peaceful I have felt in a long time. I am deciding whether I should just NOT have a wedding reception and get married in the Winter Quarters, that way we can spend that money to ship the family to Nebraska, or if I should get married in Utah and use the money for a reception... Oh well, I have 10 years to think about it. I just love the Winter Quarters temple so much. Definitely the prettiest temple in the world.

I hope you have a great week! I love all of you, and you are all in my prayers.

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Exchanges a couple weeks ago.. I forgot to send this and I like this picture haha 

Zone Training this week!

Zone Training again! I love these Sisters!!

I'VE LOVED NEBRASKA FOR A YEAR

June 6, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

I had a great week this week, like usual. When you are constantly serving the Lord, of course you will always have a good week! He sure blesses me :)

I will explain my subject line! On June 1st of 2015, I received my mission call!!! The moment I read "Nebraska Omaha Mission", I fell in love with it. The spirit testified to me so strongly that Nebraska is truly where God needed me. He still testifies to me every day that I need to be here! June 1st is such a special day for me.

This week was kind of a blurr, honestly! But I will try my best to remember what I did.

You already heard what I did on Monday, because I had to email on Tuesday last week!! But, Wednesday was good! We had District Meeting! I was asked to give the training to all the missionaries in my District. I love giving trainings, because I feel like Heavenly Father is really just teaching me more than anyone else. I gave a training about diligence. It really opened my eyes to what a diligent missionary is. There is a difference between hard work and diligence. Hard work is always good, but diligence is better. What I have truly learned is, it is okay to have weaknesses, but diligence is using all of your strengths. A diligent missionary is a missionary who gives everything to Heavenly Father because he/she loves him. A hard working missionary might "work hard" because he wants to please a parent or a leader. Those are both good things, but diligence is having your mind set on serving the Lord, and wanting to please Him the most. I think I needed that training more than any of the other missionaries in my district. I want to give trainings every day!!

Hey, do you guys remember how I am super allergic to mosquitos? Yeah, I didn't. For some reason, bug spray doesn't pop in my mind, and let me tell ya, Nebraska is mosquito heaven. There are so many here. When people hear I am allergic, they just look at me and say "wow, you are going to die this summer". Anyways.. I got my first mosquito bite of the year this week. It is on my forearm, and it is the size of a softball. Literally, a softball. Everyone at church yesterday was so worried about me because they had never seen anything quite like it. They even made the ward doctor take a look at it during Sunday school, haha. I kept telling everyone it wasn't a big deal and that it is normal. They were mortified!! I will attach a picture of it in my email, but it doesn't look as scary in a picture as it does in real life. A member made me take some Benadryl for it yesterday. That was a bad choice, considering the Benadryl was drowsy. All evening I felt like I was floating in all of my appointments. Everyone probably thought I was high. Oh well, I slept like a rock last night, and the bite has calmed down. It is just a large bruise now.

We got a new investigator this week! Her name is Tammy. We have been met with her a couple of times. She was a former investigator, but she wasn't progressing at all, so the other sisters before us had to drop her. We met with her last week to just see how she was doing, and we committed her to read Ether 12, and to count how many times it uses the word "Faith". When we met with her yesterday, she actually kept the commitment, and started telling us how the Book of Mormon helps her understand the Bible better. It was wonderful! We re-taught her the restoration, and the spirit was strong. It was neat to see everything start making sense to her. We were able to soft-set her for baptism. We have a couple concerns with Tammy. She is a vicious smoker, and she has kidney problems, so she is constantly going in for dialysis. She told the other sisters she couldn't go under water, but she didn't tell us that.. So.. We don't know how a baptism would work. We are workin on her though! Hopefully it will all work out :)

I hope you all have a great week. I love this work so much. I love being able to see the light of Jesus Christ enter into the hearts of those we meet. Thanks for all you guys do for me!

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Mosquito bite (again, the picture doesn't do it justice)

A crazy/sweet woman that we work with in the ward gave me this shirt. Needless to say, I wore it on Sunday to make her happy...

Too Much Fun in One Week

May 31, 2016

Hello everyone!!

Yes, I am emailing on a Tuesday. Because of the holiday yesterday, the library was closed! But man, I felt like I had a crazy week! So much happened!

I'll just start with last Monday. So, after I emailed last week, a couple sisters came over to our apartment and we made chocolate/caramel covered pretzels. Then, since our apartment complex has a movie theater, we took our pretzels there and watch approved church movies. It was the bomb!! Except... I may have eaten too many and threw up some pretzels. I can never eat pretzels again now, but its fine.

Tuesday, we were on shift at the Trail Center ALL DAY, from 9-9. It was actually way fun :) I took an interesting tour.. It was an FLDS family. If I don't want to sugar coat it, they were straight up polygamist. It was only the siblings though. The boys were decked out like cowboys, and the girls had their braids, skirts, and sketchers. All in all, it was a good tour. We were able to testify of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith together! There were a few awkward moments though.. Like at the end when one of the guys told me that I'll find out soon enough that they are right, "it's only a matter of time". Then, another guy told me he was 18, but his sister pulled me aside and told me he lied and that he was really 32. Interesting tour. All God's children.

We went on a Trail Center field trip this week! It was so fun. We all hopped in Senior couples' cars and drove around Nebraska and Iowa. We stopped at cool church history sites and learned a lot! It was a fun day.

This week we were able to find a really awesome woman. We were tracting, and when she opened her door she listened very intently to the message of the Restoration. Afterwards, she informed us that she has been looking for a church for her family and asked for the address. We were able to get her phone number and we are meeting with her this week. Her name is Corrine. :) It was such a miracle!

Yesterday for Memorial Day, we had a party with the sisters in the mission! We had a BBQ and played some sand volleyball. It was so fun. :) I love all of the sisters I serve with.

I feel like a lot more happened this week, I just can't remember all of it!! Anyways, I love you all so much. Thanks for always showing me your love and support. It means a lot to me. I hope you have a great week!!

Love,
Sister Hutchison

Pretzel Partayy

Field Trip

we tried to do a jumping picture, but I like the candid one better

I am a true Husker 

I forgot this picture! Some photographer came into the trail center and took pictures of us this week. :)

7 Months??? Whaaaaat

May 23, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow, another week that has gone by so quick. It needs to slow down so I can savor every moment of this wonderful mission!!!!

Where do I begin with the week I have had... I'll start with Tuesday!! So, Tuesday was super fun. It was Zone Conference, which is always such a special/spiritually uplifting experience. I love being gathered with so many missionaries, and being able to learn and grow together. Not to mention, I love hearing from President and Sister Gardner. They are always so close to the spirit, and say exactly what I need to hear. I was able to say the closing prayer, as well. After Zone Conference, we had the MISSION OLYMPICS. It was so dang fun. It is definitely a way to get the missionaries active, but it sure works. There were many different things we could do. I think I mentioned a few months ago how we had the mission Olympics, but that was just the try-outs. This was the real thing. I actually won something, though! I won the push-up competition! I did 45. I got a medal and everything. It was so fun. The rest of the day, President kept referring to me as "Sister Push-Ups".

I hit my 7 month mark this week!!! That is weird, right?? It is crazy to think that I will be home in less than a year. That will go by so fast! Of course, the Nebrasquad had to get a 7 month picture. I am not going to lie, the people in the apartment were having a fiesta (literally. I couldn't understand any of the Spanish they were yelling, nor the music they were playing) so I look very tired in that picture. But, all is well.

I am still liking my new area! I am getting used to it now, which is good! It is a weird feeling being in a new area. It felt like I was a brand new missionary again! But I am starting to create relationships with the members now, and getting the flow of the work ethic. It seriously just feels like I am in a Utah ward, so it is great. :)

The work is going fantastic. I was finally able to meet our busy investigator this week. She is so cute! So is probably mid-20's and is crazy beautiful. It makes me want to barf because she is so pretty. But, it is okay!! She used to be a member, but her records were lost so she probably has to get baptized again. Her husband is not a member, though. So we are working with them! She wants her family to be sealed, so hopefully things will start progressing more. Their names are Mandi and Adam. Keep them in your prayers! :)

Well, I forgot the paper I wrote on that has everything I wanted to share with you this week. So, hopefully I will remember it next week. But today, a couple other sisters are coming to our complex because we have a movie theater! So, we are going to watch a pioneer movie, write letters, and eat chocolate covered strawberries and pizza.I love you all so much. I hope you have a great week! :)

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Hail Storms and parades!

May 16, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!

It was a pretty good week this week. It is crazy how quickly it went by. I can't believe it is already Monday again!!

Apparently it was on National News.. But yes, there was a huge hail storm this week. It woke us up at 3 in the morning because it was so loud. It even flooded out apartment, which was not fun. There were fans going on the carpet all week and now it just smells like mildew every time we walk in. It's pretty nasty. We are buying incents today at the store! Really though, when we looked out of the window, it looked like it had just snowed because there was so much hail. It was scary! So many cars are dented and so many roofs were damaged. If you didn't hear about it, you should look it up! I took a pretty solid video of it, so I guess I will have to show you it in a year.

A lot of you have brought up the pictures of Florence Days! So let me tell you about it! Every year they have a big parade and lots of carnival rides and stuff to celebrate the city of Florence. Florence is where the Trail Center is, and where Winter Quarters actually was (before they named it Florence), so.. We totally were able to participate in the parade! It was so fun. I felt like I was a cheerleader again in the 4th of July parade (minus the dancing and the cheer uniform, and adding the ballet flats and a heavy pioneer dress). Yes, I have blisters and my face is sunburnt. Afterwards, there was a concert in the park that the missionaries put on. We all sang pioneer songs, and simple church songs. Not too many people were there, but the ones that were are all meeting with missionaries now. It was a neat experience.

I helped a woman clean her bedroom this week. Wow... Mom and Dad, I have learned my lesson. I am never going to have a messy room again. It was terrifying. Later, while we were sharing a message with her, I noticed a black little bug crawling up my arm. I just about threw up. Cleanliness=Happiness. So, there is my awkward/gross story for the week.

On a more spiritual note, I was able to give a talk in church yesterday. The bishop called me and asked me a few days prior, and said it would be a good opportunity for the ward to get to know me! He asked me to speak on temples. As I was pondering what to say, I decided to read the conference talk called "See Yourself in the Temple". It is by Elder Cook, and it is so good. I noticed he used the phrase of "Saviors on Mount Zion" when he talked about temple work. I decided to base my talk off of that. When we are doing temple work, we are literally being Saviors on Mount Zion for all of those who are in the spirit world. Temple work is the way we can help others receive eternal happiness. It is the biggest act of service we can do. I learned a lot as I prepared for my talk.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love and miss you. You are all in my prayers :) I love this gospel, and it truly does bless and change lives. I see it happening every day :)

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

A car with a cool bumper sticker.

Sister Chappell and I decided to try on an incredibly big pioneer dress.. We wanted to wear it to the parade to show that God loves all of his people, but it didn't work out.

Some of the sisters getting ready for the parade :)