Nebraska Storms!

August 29, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!

It was another good week here in Nebraska! The weather is calming down a little bit, so that is nice! We had a couple 75 degrees days, which was amazing!! It made tracting and street contacting a lot easier!!

The Trail Center is getting slower, so I have been taking less tours, which is sad. I love taking tours :) But I did take a couple interesting ones this week. The first one I took was a couple of non-member, old ladies. They came in strictly for the "history". As I took them in the film, I explained that the pioneers weren't just US History, but there was a lot of church history. They seemed to be fine with that, and they enjoyed the film. As soon as I started to take them around the gallery, they immediately asked a lot of questions about Nauvoo. One of them asked if the pioneers were anywhere before Nauvoo, and I told them Ohio. Then, they asked if they were anywhere before Ohio. I told them that they were in New York, and they seemed puzzled! It was the perfect way for me to slip in the restoration. After I shared the First Vision and bore my testimony, one of the ladies turned away for me and demanded a self-tour, without me. I was kind of thrown back! But, I respected their wishes and told them to let me know if they had any questions. At first, my feelings were pretty hurt! But then the spirit reminded me of the Savior. His testimony was rejected all of the time, but he kept doing what he knew was right. I then felt an overwhelming amount of appreciation. We, as missionaries, are called to find the "elect". Again, we, as missionaries, are called to help others come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel. The spirit testified to me that I did exactly what I was supposed to, and fulfilled my purpose in that tour, even though they didn't accept it. I am rejected all of the time while out in my area, but that is normal. So being rejected at the TC was new! I am glad it happened though. It was a great learning experience.

I gave another, happy, tour! It was a single woman. She and her husband sold their house, and have been RVing since March. Her husband is not a member, but she makes him stop at all of these sites so she can go to the temple. I asked her where he was, and she said "He is in the RV. I invited him to join me, but he rejected." She then proceeded to tell me that her only child fell away from the church when he was a teenager, so she was the only member in her family now. Her faith amazed me. We just were able to sit and cry together about the blessings of the temple, and how mindful God is of all of our situations. Towards the end, she wept and said "every time I do sealings, I just pray and ask Heavenly Father that I can one day have my turn, without me acting as proxy". I received an overwhelming feeling of peace, and was able to promise her that if she continues to go to the temple, then it will happen. It was a neat tour.

There was a cool storm this week!! There was never-ending thunder roles and lightening. I have never seen anything quite like it! It took mine and Sister Janson's power out of our apartment, but it was fun sitting in the dark with the window open!

I hope you all have a good week. I know that God loves all of you, and is so mindful of you. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of this gospel. What are you doing to show God you are grateful for it? Just something to ponder. :) Love you all!

" Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." - Alma 37:37

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

This woman, Sis Woods, is in my ward. She LOVES the Sisters more than life, haha. 

Those who live near the TC work out there in the morning. We made a music video during our workout, and this is the album cover... Haha

our delayed 10 months picture!

^same. Sister Irwin has talked about doing this 10 month pose since our 1 month picture.. Haha. She is so funny. 

Nebrasquad

I'm Polynesian

August 22, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Another week has passed, and I am sitting her at the computer again! I hope you all had a good week, and that you were able to see the Lord's hand. I definitely was! I hit my 10 months since I left for the MTC yesterday! We were going to take our 10 month picture on Saturday, but Sister Irwin had lice.. Hahahahaha, sucker. So we will take it this week and I will send it next Monday.

I will start off talking about last Monday! All of the senior couples have a dinner together once a month, and the theme was a Hawaiian theme. So, I was able to Hula dance with a few of the other sisters. It was so fun!! I wont lie, it was kind of awkward having to shake my hips in front of President Gardner. His face the whole time was priceless. He shook my hand afterwards, so everything is fine.

We have seen quite a few miracles this week! On Saturday night, we weren't seeing too much success. We had about 5 minutes left of the night, and so we said a prayer to find someone to teach the restoration to. As we were walking to our car, a couple was getting OUT of their car. So, of course, we ran up to them. At first, they were pretty annoyed haha. We asked them what it would mean to be with their family forever, and they said that they already knew that. Then, kind of boldly, I brought up their wedding vowes. I mentioned how they said "Till Death Due You Part", and that doesn't mean forever. This sparked their interest. We were able to teach the restoration and give them a copy of The Book of Mormon. It was just amazing that their hearts were so hardened at first, but then the spirit was able to soften them.

At the Visitors' Center, we take online chats and teach people over phone. I have recently been emailing this man named Lee, he is from England and he is very interested. He came onto mormon.org out of curiosity, but I let him know that it wasn't a coincidence, and that Heavenly Father wants him to find out the truth. Lee has been progressing like crazy. He doesn't want to meet with local missionaries yet because his wife wouldn't approve, but we assured him that if he continues to read The Book of Mormon and pray, then his wife will come around. Over the phone, he started to cry. He felt like as a 43 year old man, he was inadequate to be baptized, especially with all of the wrong he has done in his life. I assured him that if there were perfect people on the earth, there would be no need for Jesus Christ. I was able to testify of the Atonement, and how it is sufficient for everyone, especially him. The spirit testified truth to him, and he wants to be baptized. He is now going to try and visit the London Visitors' Center, and he travels to America a lot and is dedicated to going to Temple Square. He also prayed for the very first time. I can't even count how many times he said the word "brilliant", while telling us how he felt afterwards. Even though we don't have too many investigators in our area, it is so amazing being able to still teach people online and over the phone. I love being at the Trail Center.

Our less-active, Karen, is progressing! She came to church AGAIN, and even brought her other Less-active friend. As we met with her yesterday, she had a new light in her eyes. She told us that she is going to start preparing for the temple, which is amazing. I am so happy for her.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I miss you all, but I know I am where God needs me to be.

"31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us,who can be against us 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the daylong; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:31-39

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

Hula dance!!! Plus the Haka dudes. 

We tried "star fruit" this week!

Saturday morning training

Me and Sister Cope :) 

Another Week Passed

August 15, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow, it is Monday again!! Kids in Omaha started school last week, and that was insane to me. I cannot believe the summer is pretty much over. I am not much more tan, but I am ready for the heat to calm down! If you are curious, no, people don't let you in their houses if it is over 100 degrees. They just want you to leave so they can shut the door. Haha. :)

This week was kind of a blurr, so this email may be a little short!!!! But something that happened this week was Zone Conference!! I always love Zone Conference. Then, we all played baseball afterwards together! It was so fun. I actually hit the ball when it was my turn to bat! I was so proud of myself!

I feel like this week we didn't see too many different people. Our investigators all didn't make it to church, which is a bummer. But, we had 2 returning members yesterday! It was such a neat experience. While they were in church, you could truly see a difference in their eyes. One of them, her name is Nadine, and she was kind of standoffish. But, as she is coming back to church, she is so excited about the gospel. It is neat to see her change. The other less active is a woman named Karen. She has PTSD, so it makes it really hard for her to leave her house. But, each day of last week she did things to prepare herself to make it to church. She said she was having a hard time on Sunday morning, but she said a prayer and was able to walk out the door. It was a miracle! She even made sure to let us know that we can expect her at church again next week. Even though our investigators weren't there, less-actives were. The whole idea is to get people to the temple, so whether it is an investigator at church or a less-active, they are both rewarding and important in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.

I was at the Trail Center quite a bit this week. I met a super cute couple, on the way to their mission! They were from Murray, too! The older man worked at Viewmont AND Riverview. Such a small world!

Anyways, I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week this week :) You are in my prayers!!!

" And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." - Joshua 3:5

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

The sisters I serve with got in the habit of calling me "Hutch", so of course I had to get a picture with this store. 

On our way home from service, we saw this because of the Swim Trials were held here. 

Nebraska's nature

We love when balloon artist come into the TC

Sister Chappell and I are true baseball players

SQUAD

Week of Miracles!!

August 8, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

Wow, this week has flown by again. The days seem like weeks, but the weeks seem like days. Mission time is so weird!

This was a pretty great week. Sister Janson and I saw so many miracles. I will start by telling you about "Finding Night". On Thursday, President Gardner asked us to clear our schedules so we can have a "finding activity" as a whole entire mission. He asked us not to have a dinner appointment that night, and to not have any appointments from 6:00pm-9:00pm, because those 3 hours were dedicated to finding people to teach. We had a big conference call as a mission a couple hours before we went out for the night, and President Gardner set goals for us all to teach the restoration 3 times, hand out 2 copies of The Book of Mormon, and set 1 person for baptism. He ended the conference call giving us all a blessing. It was neat. At about 5:30, the tornado warnings started going off and it looked like it was about to storm. I know it totally was Satan, because why in the world would he want over 300 missionaries out working hard? When we first got out in our area, it was pretty rough. It was pouring rain, we didn't have a car, and everyone was pretty rude to us. I felt like I was on a sad movie when I was soaking wet and no one was listening while slamming the door in our faces. We were able to teach the restoration within that first hour, but that was about it! Then, in the second hour, we met a nice man who didn't have time for the restoration, but he accepted The Book of Mormon and agreed that we could come back. Earlier that day, we prayed about where we should go and we thought of a specific apartment complex, so, that is where we ended our night! For the last hour, we weren't having too much success. It was about 20 minutes before we had to go home, so we said a prayer and knew that the Lord would help us. We met a nice gentleman, named Jessie, taking groceries out of his car! We asked him if we could help, and he said no. We asked him about his faith in Christ, and he went on about how when he was 12, he became addicted to drugs. He told us how Christ was able to help him become sober. Again, this man didn't have time for us to share a message with him, but we set up an exact return appointment to teach him more, and gave him The Book of Mormon. As we were walking the complex, hoping people would be outside, we saw a cute couple getting out of their car, so we ran up to them, taught them the restoration, but they weren't interested. We had about 5 minutes left in the night, and we still had to teach the restoration 1 more time and set someone for baptism. As we were walking back to our ride, we saw a man walking his dog, and the spirit told us to talk to him. We literally started to run and chased him down. When we got closer, we realized this man was Jessie, who we talked to earlier! We stopped him and told him that God told us to talk to him This through him off, but he let us share the message of the restoration. It was powerful. When we were finished, we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was amazing how God truly helped us accomplish our goals that night. He is so mindful of all of us.

I took a cool tour this week at the Trail Center! It was 4 non-member women. They were all really nice, and had a lot of questions. It was really cool how I was able to use so many resources on the tour. They asked about temples, and I was able to give them a "families and temples" pamphlet. They asked about the angel Moroni, and I was able to testify of the Book of Mormon and give them each a copy. They asked if we had a faith in Christ, and I was able to show them the Hallelujah video. God has given us so many resources, and they truly work. They weren't interested in meeting with local missionaries, but I referred them to mormon.org if they ever had any more questions. They even said they would watch Meet the Mormons! As they were leaving, I noticed one of them take a couple more pamphlets about the discussions as they were walking out. Such a neat experience.

This week I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Orton! It was so much fun. It is neat to see how both of us have grown spiritually since the MTC. Teaching with her was a blast, and it was super nice to talk about how our missions have strengthened us both so much in these past 9 months.

Yesterday was a great day! Heavenly Father blessed us. We were able to find quite a few potentials, and we even got 2 investigators! We were trying to find a part-member family, but we didn't have their apartment number! So, we started knocking on all of the doors in the complex. We came across a woman named Angela. As we talked about Christ, she said "I have really been going through a hard time. It is actually really ironic and meant to be that you are here today. Come on in!" And she let us in. Her and her roommate are going through bad breakups, so we were able to teach them how much comfort this gospel brings, and that Christ knows how they feel. They agreed to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and agreed to let us teach them more. Later that night, we had a lesson with a Less-Active woman. We were reading 3 Nephi 18, and discussing the importance of the Sacrament. Without us even mentioning church, the spirit touched her heart, and she told us that she really should have been at church because she needs the blessings of the Sacrament. She committed herself to go next week, and we were able to create a game plan with her about how she will accomplish that. The spirit is amazing.

Sorry this email is so long, but it was such an amazing week. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life. I know that as we show God how thankful we are for our blessings, he will shower even more blessings upon us. I have really been working on being better with gratitude and gratitude prayers in particular, and this is what I have learned from it. That is why I am here on a mission. God and Jesus Christ has given everything for me. I can give 18 months for them.

I love you all. Have a great week!!

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison
"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." -D&C 78:19

Exchanges!! We found a creepy statue

Exchanges again! A cool mural (is that the right word?)

We were going to use bikes for finding night, but the rain was too hard. So, we took pictures with them instead. 

same ^

Sorry, mom, another mosquito bite.  

P.S. I forgot to send this pic of me and Sister Janson!

Transfer Week is back at it.

August 1, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!!

Yes, it was transfers this week, and yes.. I did get transferred. This will be my 5th companion in the 7 transfers I have been out, which is kind of unusual. But, that's fine! I am just too much for one person to handle for more than 6 weeks ;)

But yes, I am in a brand new area. I am in, what is called, the "Old Mill" ward, and my companion is Sister Janson. She is very hard working, which is great! She has been out about 3 months, and just got finished being trained.

My new ward is so fun! It is weird, it feels like a mixture of my last two areas. But, I am excited to serve here. It covers some very wealthy mansion areas, and also some very ghetto dangerous areas. It will be an adventure for sure!!!

We found out about transfers on Tuesday morning! Sister Slater and I were studying, and we usually find out about transfers through members, because we ask them to check the ward roster. They texted us back and said we were staying the same, so we were happy and went along our merry ol' way. Then, our Sister Training Leaders called us and said "you guys really haven't heard yet?", and we told them we heard we were staying together. Then, they said the rosters haven't been updated yet, and I was getting sent to Old Mill. It was such a surprise!! So, I packed for a couple hours on Tuesday, then Wednesday was the big switch!

We have a couple investigators we are working with in Old Mill. We met with Terell on Saturday, and had an awesome lesson with him. It was super powerful and he was set on going to church. But.. He exercised his agency and didn't show up. That is okay, though. He'll come around. :) We have another investigator named Tonyia! I haven't met her yet, but I hear she is an amazing woman, and that she is so prepared for the gospel!

Every time I get transferred, I feel such a sense of peace. I know that this is exactly where Heavenly Father needs me to be at this time. :)

I am sorry this weekly email was lame! Hopefully I will have more to talk about next week. Love you all!!

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." - 1 Nephi 21:16

Love,
Sister Missy Hutchison

CARNNNN

Sister Slater and I had to take a cheesy Nebraska picture to end the transfer.

My ward mission leader in Bennington made me this to say goodbye.. haha

Me and my new companion, Sister Janson!

9 Months???

July 25, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!!

Wow. It was one wild week, and it went by soooo fast. Where do I even begin?? All I have to say is my mission is flying by, and it makes me uncomfortable because I love being here so much.

I guess I will start with the week in general.. A massive heat wave passed through Omaha. Awe man, it was nothing like I have ever experienced. For 3 days it was about 110 degrees, but with the heat index it felt like 120 degrees. The humidity was at least 80%, and I have never felt more sticky in my life. Every time I would step outside, it would feel like I stepped into a sauna, and I was automatically super sweaty. I am NOT being dramatic or exaggerating. This is what makes me so grateful for the Trail Center, because it caused me to be inside throughout a good chunk of the heat wave, haha. I love air conditioning!! Since we were at the Trail Center so much this week, we slept at the Trail Center Leaders' house for 3 nights, and when we got back to our apartment, our apartment was so humid that our bathroom door was literally swollen, and wouldn't shut. (don't worry, we figured out how to get it shut)

On Thursday it was my 9 month mark!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that crazy?? I feel like I just left yesterday, and now I am practically half-way through my mission. Also, on Thursday, it was Sister Slater's birthday! It was such a fun day, that was full of way too much food. For lunch, the senior couple on shift with us at the Trail Center bought us all pizza, and Sister Slater's mom gave the senior sister some money to go get a red-velvet cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (Then the Senior sister told us how many calories were in 1 piece... #noshame) We did service with the Trail Center Leaders at a health clinic that night, and the doctor in charge took us all out to a super nice dinner. When, we got back to the Trail Center, a member of our ward had dropped off a massive meat platter from Famous Daves, and another member of our ward was waiting for us with huge cupcakes. We exercised our self-control and saved the Famous Daves and the cupcakes for another day.. It was such a fun day, though.

I gave a pretty awkward tour at the Trail Center this week. It was this family that was moving to Utah from Pennsylvania, and was hitting all of the church history sites on the way. As we started the tour, I casually started talking about how much the pioneers loved the temple because it strengthened their families. Then, I asked them how having an eternal family has blessed their lives.. yeah... They weren't members. WHO MOVES TO UTAH AND GOES TO CHURCH HISTORY SITES THAT ISNT A MEMBER? I am pretty sure I was sweaty and red the rest of the tour, and I apologized about 100 times. Then, the dad was on the verge of bible bashing me the whole time. He kept asking me about the Bible and I shared with him my favorite verse from the New Testament. As I read it, I started to cry (he thought it was because of the spirit but I was really just nervous as HECK), and then he felt bad for me and was nice the rest of the time. So, that is my awkward story of the week. Long story short, they are going to start meeting with missionaries in Utah. So all is well.

Anyways, it was a really good week. We didn't have a lot of time in our area because of the Trail Center (we literally only had 2 days in our area), but it is cool how Heavenly Father makes up for the lost time. We were able to find about 3 potential investigators the other night, and I know it's because Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He isn't just mindful of His missionaries, but he is mindful of YOU. I have learned that so much on my mission.

I love you all, and am so grateful to be a missionary. The gospel is the only way to true happiness, and I am able to experience that every day. I pray that you do as well. Have a wonderful week!!

Love,
Sister Hutchison

"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen." - Alma 26:37

*lots of pictures this week*

our last District Meeting since transfers are this week!

proof of heat

9 Months with Nebrasquad

one more Nebrasquad pic :)

one of my best friends, Sister Hyde, goes home this week :(

Happy Pioneer day!!

Nebraska = Humid

July 18, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!

I can't believe it is Monday again. It feels like Monday was 2 days ago!! Time just goes by way too fast on a mission. It is freaky.

I don't feel like I have too much to share this week. All of this week I was working on not letting myself freak out since my family was in Lake Powell without me.. But I made it through, and I am really good at breathing exercises now. Haha just kidding. (kinda).

Most of this past week was spent at the Trail Center, since it is crazy busy. I have some good Trail Center stories! A group of 150 polygamists came in. That was something else. They all just looked really angry the whole time. One of them went to high school with one of the sisters that serve here, and she said she had no idea because he graduated from Seminary with her and everything. It was interesting! I learned a lot! That's what I love about serving a mission; you get to learn so much about other religions.

I took a tour group of 36 youth all by myself this week. In the beginning they were really shy and didn't want to be there, since it was the last stop on their trip. I tried cracking some of my good ol' jokes, but they didn't laugh and it was awkward. But, it is cool how the Trail Center softens peoples hearts! By the end, they were all talking to me and they were so spiritual. The Holy Ghost does wonders :) Another cool tour I took this week was with a single woman. She was probably in her 60's, and she was baptized when she was 18. She didn't speak English too well, but it was such a good tour. We mostly just walked around the gallery, and then sat and talked for about a half an hour. She completely opened up to me about her amazing conversion story, and she asked me about how the gospel has effected my life. We just sat talking, laughing and crying with each other. I love how you can meet someone for the first time, but during the tour you start to feel like you've known them forever. I love serving at the Trail Center.

Kind of a funny thing that happened this week. I completely fell asleep while reading the missionary handbook in the morning. Mid sentence I just was out, immediately woke up, and all of the sudden I was crying. Sister Slater couldn't stop laughing for like 15 minutes, and neither could I, which made me cry harder. Missions do weird things to you.

All in all, it was a pretty good week. Next week is going to fly by, I just know it. I am way too busy. Summer is great. :)

Love,

Sister Hutchison

ps. I am going to start putting a scripture of the week in my email. I found this one a few days ago, and completely fell in love with it.
- " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,and gave himself for me." -Galatians 2:20

Yes. This happened. 

I had to add this because we looked so happy

Since my family was in Lake Powell, I wanted to be there too... On lds maps. 

also, this is why Senior couples should not leave their phone unattended at the Trail Center.