6/29/2015


JUNE 24th  Helping Hands Day

Hello :)

what an amazingly HOT week it has been..

haha from biking, biking, biking to service, service, service!

 WOW :)  but its fun!

big news first off..

My new mission president arrives in Houston today at 1 pm. The keys will be his!! AHHH HOW CRAZY IS THAT. pretty crazy. 

We had a big farewell mission conference for President (Elder) Ashton on Thursday, and boy oh boy was I sad! I know change is good, and that President Hall will be awesome! I am so used to change on my mission now, so I am not even phased. just kidding I was crying like a baby shaking his hand.. hahah he has helped me out alot :)  It will be good!!

This week has been awesome!

On Wednesday we went to city hall. Our mission got recognized for the service we have done since the memorial day flood!!

It was declared that JUNE 24th as HELPING HANDS DAY! what! cool :)  It was a big deal! We had a general authority there.. what! bomb. :) cool. It was neat just to know that the city appreciated what the missionaries have been doing! Our days consist of us going and doing service from about 10am-4pm everyday. It's now its been about a month, so peoples houses are super moldy.. its gross, but I love kicking in walls hahah its fun! and people are so grateful!! We have one house that will take us a while to get it all ripped apart! 

but other than that..

mmmh gator talk!

We have a lot of investigators :)

This area is seriously golden, maybe because it's just apartment complexes stacked on top of each other.

Plus all of the members just like bringing their friends to church!! We got a call yesterday from a member who said her friend wants to be baptized.. so we were like, "cool" but really we were totally freaking out! It's amazing how the members are doing so much missionary work here in this area. :) 

HAHAHAHAH HERMANA WHITEHEAD GOT HIT ON.. sooooo soo funny.. so she is seriously like a cute baby girl, she looks like she is 15. This creepy Arabian man came up and was talking to us, and he kept asking if we could get married, and such. Then after talking we asked if we could leave him with a pray, and if there was anything specific we could pray for.. haha and he says "Pray I find a wife" THEN LOOKS STRAIGHT AT HERMANA WHITEHEAD BAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH I was busting up, you bet we biked as fast as we could after that prayer.. HAHAH so funny.. yeah funny.. little moments like that make me love being protected by angels as a missionary ahahhaha

I love Houston. Weird to say, we are friends with all the homeless people! We always wave and they love it when we pray with them, they have some crazy stories! but I am safe.. dont worry!
Houston is crazy and it smells so bad. hahah 

Oh, the smells of Houston!

The sunrises and sunsets are so beautiful! 

Oh Texas :)

Happy Birthday to my sister Maegan today!

I know there is more to say.. but I will just send pictures like always! :)

LOVE ME,
HERMANA WIDDISON

Houston City Hall

Downtown Houston

Bikes or Bus, that's how we roll!

City of Houston Housing & Community Development added 25 new photos from June 24 to the album: Mayor Parker Honors Faith-Based Volunteers — with Jan Chappell and 4 others in Houston, Texas.

·

Mayor Annise Parker Mayor issued proclamations at Houston City Council recognizing the relief efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), NECHAMA Jewish Response to Disaster and the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. These were the three largest groups of volunteers that were instrumental in assisting the areas most affected by the Memorial Day flooding.
These faith-based groups quickly organized their volunteers and were some of the first volunteers on the scene lending a hand to families that were struggling to recover from the Memorial Day floods. In addition to local volunteers, many of the volunteers were from outside the Houston area.
More volunteer groups are scheduled for recognition in the weeks ahead.

To view the entire presentation online visit http://bit.ly/1Kchukc

 



The proclamations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), NECHAMA Jewish Response to Disaster and the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church are ready for the ceremony. — in Houston, Texas.
  
 

                                             6/22/2015

HOLA
 

Well, Guess who is in  A BIKING AREA and  SPEAKING SPANISH ?  :)

yup, that's right, It's me :)

I am serving in an area called HOUSTON 1 WEST :) It's amazing.

I am serving in the city, oh my heavens Houston is so sketchy. haha pray for me! Literally this is the craziest melting pot I have ever been in and I am biking through it every day!

The sidewalks are so sketchy, and the drivers are bad.

BUT IT IS SO MUCH FUN! We get to talk to everyone.

Yes, I am back to Spanish! I am serving in a Spanish ward. It's the biggest ward I have ever been in my whole mission! There were about two hundred people in sacrament yesterday, that's a lot of people. It is crazy, I love it! :) It's crazy how real the gift of tongues is. I truly know the gift of tongues is real and that Heavenly Father is helping me teach his children in their language! It's crazy cool :) 
AHHH MISSIONARY WORK 

Some moments this week..

I said goodbye to the YSA branch :( 

As you may have seen tropical storm Bill came through Houston. It was so dumb.. hahaha we were trapped inside all day and I just wanted to leave.

Since I have been transferred to Houston we are doing flood clean up! it is soooo crazy, we are ripping out floors and walls. It's been three weeks, maybe four by now, and people seriously have mold in their houses. It looks like snow!  It's neat being able to help people. :)

Our area has some awesome investigators too!

 This ward is amazing and so is the area!

Oh yeah I have a new companion, her name is Hermana Whitehead. She has been out for four months. She is so nice, like way too nice. but its cute! Shes so young and has a ton of faith, haha like a lot, and she is a crier! So it's good for me because I am a bit of a tough nut. So this is a learning experience :)

 On Wednesday the mayor is presenting the mission with something for helping with all the flood victims. It's going to be on the news!

So mom, you wanna see my face? check it out :)

I am sure I will have more next week!

Our days are kind of crazy, we do service everyday til around four, then we are on our bikes for the night proselyting!

I love my new area.

I am grateful for bug spray.

I am grateful for the gift of tongues.

I am grateful for pepto.

hehe

LOVE YOU ALL,
HERMANA WIDDISON

doing service

Doing more service

 This is me and Hermana Wagstaff today at the sketchy laundry mat

Saying goodbye to the YSA

                                                   6/15/2015
YELLOW ANGELS


FIRST THINGS FIRST..

Another six weeks have past, which means TRANSFERS! 

That means I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED.. again!

I am now heading to my 5th area in the mission. Oh my gosh, I am so sick of packing up my stuff.

 For me I have always hated change. So now I guess I'm just used to it. Heavenly Father is teaching me a lesson by transferring me ALL THE TIME.

 Let me tell you about my week :)

WE GOT TO GO UP TO HOUSTON!

It was actually pretty sad, we got to go up as a zone to do some service for the families whose houses were ruined in the floods. My goodness it looked like a natural disaster. It looks like the end of the world. We would drive through neighborhoods and there were peoples belongs all over the front lawn. Carpet, walls, ovens, anything, you name it, it was out there! The flood waters came up to about 4ft in some peoples homes. So we went in and ripped out all the walls, carpets, whatever got wet.  I can't even describe the smell, it was so moldy!! It has been three weeks since the first flood. People just let the water sit, and it is so gross. However, it was fun to be able to just rip out walls, but then sad to think that these are peoples homes and that so many of their belongs just got destroyed!  People would see us all in our Mormon yellow helping hands shirts and come up to us and just cry and ask if we could come help them. It was so humbling to know people recognize us and know that we can help them. It's a beautiful work to be apart of.

As for y'all who watch the news,  Houston is gonna be underwater again this week! So pray for us here in Houston, and pray for my worry-some mother ;)  Just keep us in your prayers!! Tropical storm Bill is on his way!) 

GATOR TALK

Randy is doing AMAZING!! No other way to put it. He teaches us the lessons and he is so excited, he is even talking about a mission.  COOL :) I am so sad to leave because he is progressing so much.

RAUL! is doing awesome, he will probably cry when he finds out I am leaving, but I will be able to go back to see him get baptized on the 28th :) 

MOMENTS OF THIS WEEK 

 I got to go visit another member of the branch in the hospital, hahah gosh, it's like a weekly trend. ANGELICA got west nile virus, so we went and saw her! She is doing good now, so keep her in your prayers please :)

MY MISSION PRESIDENT HAS NOW BEEN CALLED TO BE 2ND COUNSELOR OF THE GENERAL SUNDAY SCHOOL PRESIDENCY... YUP.  

Yeah, my mission president is a general authority. I have cried to a general authority before :) How many people can say that?!?! :) haha

 We had the chance to have a "mini missionary" with us, and that was interesting. She was with us for about 2.5 days, and was so exhausted by the end of it. It was fun having someone brand new try and see how the mission life is! 

We have a new investigator!

RAQUEL! she has so many questions, but the first question she asked us was, "When can I get baptized.." hahaha I laughed and then was like oh my gosh shes serious. SO COOL HOW HEAVENLY FATHER PREPARES PEOPLE :) so we are teaching her right now! Pray she can overcome the temptations of the word of wisdom!

Anyways, the weeks go by fast, lots of little moments here and there!!

A new adventure awaits on Wednesday!!

I love you all!!
Have a good week :)

Enjoy the sunshine where ever y'all might be ;)

Plenty of rain down here :)
 
love,

soon to be Hermana Widdison?! or Sister Widdison, who knows? :)

whichever it may be, I am happy to be a missionary :)

Wearing our yellow "Helping Hands" shirts while we serve those who have been flooded.

So much damage to the houses.

Service makes you feel like a super hero.  Go Missionaries!

                                                                                                                 6/8/2015
MIRACLES

Hermana Widdison and Hermana Irhke on splits

 SO MANY MIRACLES THIS WEEK :)

One amazing thing that happened, was NATE was able to go home! We have been praying and praying and praying! We were there on Wednesday when he was discharged!! amazing :) It was so exciting, haha all he wanted was a blizzard from DQ.. so pretty sure he was excited to go home :) 

As for other things this week.

I WENT ON AN AMAZING EXCHANGE!! 

with HERMANA IRHKE :) We are  praying we will be companions! I am pretty sure this exchange is the only one we will ever get the chance to be companions!

I took her on a fun time here in the YSA branch, all the members loved her! It was fun because she has been in the city her whole mission, so I decided to take her to the ocean :) haha since I am so lucky and have it in my area!

AS FOR GATORS::::

We have Raul!! please please pray for him as he is taking those big steps towards baptism, :)
and Randy!! pray for him.. he has a bit of a complicated situation, so pray he keeps continuing to progress on his own. 

I love this area, I am learning so much from these members, and a lot about myself.

The mission is hard.

The mission is great!

love,

Sister Widdison..

(oh yeah, I humbled myself and ordered an English tag..)

                                                    I AM ALIVE!!!

 As far as the rest of the nation knows, Texas is flooding! Yes, we are under water, but I am alive and dry!

JUNE 1st.. WHICH MEANS..   HURRICANE SEASON!!!!!! yay.. haha until November!! So mom don't watch the news.

This week has been amazing, but every week is amazing!

I love being in YSA! It is so much fun, the people are so different.

WELL :)

We went to the temple with SUSANNA, a recent convert; it was such an amazing experience! She was able to take 20 family names, it was so neat! As we were leaving the temple, PRESIDENT CRANE (temple president) came to her and was just beaming and told her how happy her ancestors are right now, and that she was such a sweet spirit, and how much Heavenly Father loves her.. I CANT DESCRIBE HOW STRONG THE SPIRIT WAS WHEN HE WAS TALKING TO HER! Susanna is so amazing, she has the biggest smile, and has been through so much, and she loves being able to testify to everyone her beliefs and how she is a Mormon. It is so cool, she is such a good example to me! 

AS FOR GATOR TALK!

We have RAUL!! who is amazing and basically came out of no where. He has been on a spiritual journey for 3 years, and then the past year has been looking into our church, and is now ready to be baptized! SO.. we had an AWESOME lesson on Saturday with him and a member and Raul was just like I want to be baptized, so he is going to be, simple and easy as that right? God is truly preparing his children, and I am so lucky to be apart of this work! SO PRAY that Raul will continue his faith and stay strong, and then on JUNE 28TH he will be baptized :) YAY!!!! PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!

and of course, NATE AND ZACH, the two who were in the car accident, are doing awesome!! We went and saw NATE on Saturday and was doing good. Then Sunday we had a very spiritual experience, we went after church to go visit him, and basically the whole branch was in his room, Nate asked if he could have the sacrament. So oh my  goodness, the spirit was so strong, Trevor and Jason blessed the sacrament, and JOSH (a recent convert) passed the sacrament to him. After this was done, a member named Tiffany, was like " that was awesome" haha because it was! It was so spiritual. I am so grateful for the support and love this branch has for all its members; they are so welcoming and accepting of everyone. It's truly eye opening.

I love my mission

:)

have a good week :)

love,

Hermana Widdison... 

(Sister Widdison ..... ) hahah