March 31
This week the inevitable will happen..... I will have been a missionary for an entire year... I am super not excited about it.... I might cry... a lot.... ahhh!!! but what a year it has been! oh goodness.
So things are going well here in Huron! I grow to love this town and the people here more every single day. I loved getting to watch the Woman's General Meeting broadcast with some of the woman in the ward (okay so Huron is technically a ward but really it's the size of a branch.) The broadcast was AMAZING!!!!! oh my goodness. warmed my heart!! I totally started to cry when President Eyring told everyone to look to their Mom and smile. I was smiling Mom!!!! :) It made me think of all the wonderful examples of woman that I have seen in my life. My Mom, Sisters, Grandmothers, Aunts, have always been such amazing examples to me. I knew what kind of a woman I wanted to be when I grew up because of the wonderful woman the Lord placed in my life. Basically the broadcast was amazing and I loved it!!!!!!!!!
So we got in with a family this past week that the sisters hadn't been able to get in with for a very long time. The parents are divorced, less active. and both only really speak Spanish. They have two daughters Gabriella and Samantha. They are 9 and 12. They want to be baptized but don't have much of an understanding of the gospel. They speak English well so we are excited to be able to teach them. I hope that they will progress! We are still working with some of the cute Karen girls too. But their parents won't let them be baptized until they are older. So right now we are working on helping them to build a testimony that will be strong enough for them to stay active until they can join the church.
So Sister Dennison and I are getting along great! we laugh together pretty much every single day multiple times a day. She helps me to be motivated when I am like blah! I am quitting! She has a great excitement and she is good at keeping me going :) We both have a similar sense of humor so it's great to joke and laugh. We know how to laugh at ourselves which is super helpful too. Basically it's been a good two weeks :)
The ward here is good. Very different than any other ward I have ever been in or served in. Pretty much the polar opposite of Rapid :) but still good!! Rapid was HUGE and Huron is tiny. but it's amazing to see how the gospel is the same! I love it! There is this amazing little old man in our ward named Brother Whitney. He has lived in Huron since he was 19 years old and He and his wife joined the church together in 1954 when he was 24. The missionaries knocked on his door and his kind wife let them in! It was amazing to see what has come from that. He has had many children and grand children who have been active in the church. Married in the temple. served missions. It's amazing! He spoke yesterday in sacrament and it was incredible to hear his families conversion story. He talked about how all of those little steps in the gospel led his family to the temple where they could be sealed together for eternity.
So we live in a house here in Huron and it's over 100 years old! crazy right. It can be scary sometimes but it's growing on me :)
I just want you all to know how much I love you!! Today as I got on the computer to check my email it was so nice to get to see so much love and support! The emails and letters you send really do help me out. The support and love are needed and felt!! and most assuredly appreciated :) The prayers are also felt!! What a beautiful thing prayer is. We can have a conversation with the most powerful being in the universe. and yet He loves and knows each of us so intimately. He hears us. I know that He does.
I love you all so much!! I feel like there was more I wanted to write today but I can't think of any of it..... so I guess it wasn't too crazy important :) it if was then I guess it will have to wait til next week!
I love you!!!!!!!!!!
Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux
April 7
Hello from Huron!!! Things are going so great! Sister Dennison and I are just as happy as ever :) our exciting news is that we have two investigators on date for baptism on May 10th! so we are really hoping that they will make it! They are Gabby and Sam (both girls) Gabby is 12 and Sam is 9. Their parents are less active members who are divorced and only speak Spanish. The girls speak English but we really want their Mom to feel involved. So we are working on that :) but they are on date! so we are excited. We also were able to teach 18 lessons last week! not sure how we did but we did! which the most lessons I have taught as a missionary. it was crazy. so things are going good! Huron is unique but I love it :)
so conference. oh my goodness I love it!!!!!!! it was so amazing!!!!! everything was just hitting me right to the heart. I loved Elder Holland's talk. and pretty much every ones. I don't even think that I could pick a favorite. it was just all amazing. As I listened to conference I really felt like the message Heavenly Father was sending to me was that I need to be prepared to stand up for what I believe in. That truth is truth regardless of what the world says. That it will take courage but that I need to stand up for what I know to be true regardless of if I stand alone. But in all reality we are never standing alone when we stand up for what's right. Because our Savior is always standing with us. always. so it will take courage! but I know that I can do it. Let's be honest I also need to work on having Christ-like courtesy. Because when Elder Holland told that story about the sister missionaries and how they just walked away after being spit on and having mashed potato's thrown at them I was like oh no. that would not have gone over well. So I am going to work on that..... I have six more months right! :) which is also a super weird thought. Sister Dennison was like by next conference you will be home! and I was like no!!! I will still have two more weeks as a missionary!!!!! don't take those two weeks away from me!! Oh ya by the way I am pretty sure if I have done the math correctly I will actually get home the day after my birthday.... just a heads up! not that I am thinking about it... I am still in denial of everything... my mission is never ever ever going to end. like ever. I love it too much!!!!
so I have decided that Sister Dennison just makes me feel like I am in high school again. She is 19 and does super silly dorky things and then I feel like I need to join in on said silly dorky things (these things usually take place in the comfort of our house...) and she just makes me feel like I am back hanging out with Lindsey and Bri taking silly pictures and acting like a fool :) but it's good for me too. keeps my inner 5 year old a live and well.
so I don't know what else to write. I always have like tons of stuff to write about and then I space it all when I get here and start typing. Huron is small. but I love it! well it's smaller than grand forks and rapid. but seriously its really great. I know the work here is just waiting to BOOM!! and I am so excited for it. I know that the Lord is preparing people every single day so hear the gospel. When Elder Ballard talked about missionary work it really hit my heart. Because 6 months from now I take off the name tag but I never stop being a missionary. as a missionary I think sometimes it's super easy to be like YA the members totally need to be inviting people to learn about the gospel! Help us out!!! but yesterday as I listened I realized that when I get home I will be expected to invite someone to meet with the missionaries once every 3 months. and it is going to take courage. but I know that if I pray for those experiences that the Lord will bless me with them. That if I am courageous enough to open my mouth and share my testimony I will be led to those that want to hear the gospel. You don't need a name tag on you shirt to be a missionary. my biggest regret before my mission is that I didn't share the gospel as much as I should have. but now I am different. now I know that there are people EVERYWHERE who need this gospel. and we are the people to bring it to them. where else will they find it if not from us? The Lord sent all of us to the earth at this time because He needs us to prepare the world for the second coming of His Son. Every single one of you was asked to do this. and we all said yes. so let's get to work!!!! I know that as we work hard in sharing the gospel the Lord blesses us with those people who need it most :) that I believe and know with all of my heart!!!!!!
so basically I have the most legit family and friends out there. and I want you all to know that. That I love you. And I pray for you. and your support and prayers are felt, appreciated, and needed. I would not be here on a mission today if not for my family, ward family. and friends. you all helped me to piece together for myself the truthfulness of the gospel. and with out that I would be a very lost and confused girl right now. but with the gospel my life has purpose. I have purpose. I know that I am a loved daughter of God. That my Savior knows me. This past week we were able to get one of our investigators to young woman's and they were doing personal progress that night. They were talking about individual worth. at one point in time I made a comment and it's something that brings me a lot of peace and comfort. It's actually something that I learned in Grand Forks when I was teaching a Sunday School lesson. And that is that Heavenly Father knew Joseph's name. When Joseph had the first vision, Heavenly Father called him by name. Joseph was a 14 year old farm boy in New York. He was a no body as far as the world was concerned. but God knew his name. and if He can know Joseph's name then why not mine. and why not yours. God knew his name. and I know that He knows mine.
I love you all dearly!!! I am still in denial I have been gone for a year but what an amazing year it has been. I have to thank my Heavenly Father for it often. He has molded and shaped me more than I ever thought possible. and I still have plenty of time to go!!! again I love you!!! thank you for all that you do!!!
Love always,
Sister Boudreaux
your favorite sister missionary :)
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