MARCH  2  2015

Amazing!

Oh my heavens.. this week, wow!

Okay funny story! Well more like an amazing testimony builder story :)

On Wednesday the Lozano family signed up to feed both the elders and sisters for dinner, but its mission rules elders and sisters can't eat together. So one of us picks up the food and the other one stays and eats.  On Wednesday we went and picked up the food while the elders stayed!  While we were there, Sister Lozanos grandpa "Abueltio" was there and he is straight out of Mexico! He doesn't know any English, and has been visiting Bay City for a month or so, but all he does is chill in their house so he doesn't know Bay City very well.  While the elders were sitting eating dinner with the family, Abueltio just peaces out and decides to go for a walk (this is around 5:30.)

 Then always on Wednesday nights we teach English class, and Sister Lozano always comes! but that night she didn't but her husband was at the church and came up to us and said we are having a little bit of a crisis. ABUELTIO IS GONE! So since 5:30 Abueltio was just walking around Bay City completely lost! so me and Hermana V were like, lets go find him.  It's 7:30 now and its cold outside  so we get in the car and pray and then we are driving up and down all these streets close to their house trying to think of where an 80 year old man would go. So we went to all the taco trucks in town and we went and checked the Mexican stores too.  By this time its around 8ish, and the elders call us and tell us they are gonna start looking for him. So there is a whole bunch of us looking around for this grandpa. We are just praying and we can find him! Then around 8:20 we get a call from the elders and we answer it and Elder Carter goes "no freaking way" hahahahah then we freak out because we know that they found him! Abueltio walked about 4 miles away from his house! The elders were parked somewhere and they decided to pray, and then after the prayer they looked up and they saw Abueltio walking down the side of the road!! IT WAS SOOOOO COOL! It was an immediate answer to their prayers! Well to all of ours. So the elders went and helped him out, but the elders don't know Spanish! So we drove to where they were and we went and talked to Abueltio and all he said was "I got lost" hahahah he was so cute! I was so happy he got found! Its cool to look at it, because we all knew exactly what he was wearing that day and we all knew who we were looking for! Heavenly Father answers prayers :) AMAZING!!! 
 

Then oh my goodness, we were eating with the Nielson family and the little boys were so hyped up.  I told them I could beat them at a race. So of course we had to all race and they won of course:)
hehe  hence the picture, they are cute! future missionaries too :)

Racing the Nielson boys

 I love the families in this ward! they are seriously amazing! I can't even begin to tell you about how much I love Hermana Sharp! She knows about 5% English but she has such a testimony of this church. She is from El Salvador, and she is amazing. She doesn't know what is always being said in church, but she radiates the spirit! She is my favorite and she is honestly one of the most amazing examples that I have seen of someone who just loves everyone she meets! She instantly will just love you. She is wonderful and we even have the same favorite hymn :) #50 Mas Cerca Dios :) amazing!

 Let me rave to you about how amazing another member is and how she just loves us to death! Sister Barbour!  She is a less active and she is around 80 years old. Every time we go to visit her we get a big  hug and kiss from her. I just feel so much love from the members here in Bay City! Its truly amazing!

Sister Barbour

Oh and don't get me started on fast and testimony meeting! YESTERDAY WAS AMAZING!
 I have never felt the spirit so strong in a testimony meeting before. Yesterday I was sitting in the back row by Hermana Sharp and she is just crying because the spirit was seriously so strong. Every testimony is what I needed to hear. Its amazing  how testimonies can change peoples lives... SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY! you never know who needs to hear it :) I love being a missionary because every day I get to testify of this restored gospel... seriously how cool is that? :)

gosh being a missionary is the best! wow I am lucky!

Oh wanna hear something random?

We were visiting people in this apartment complex when I see a little  lady walking around with her walker. I wave to her and just tell her that we are coming to visit her.. hahah didn't even ask- just told! gotta be bold :) 

I watched where she went (yeah missionary stalking skills) and I see where she goes then I turn to Hermana V and I say we are going to go visit her and shes like ehh.. and I am like HECK YES. So we  go to knock on the door and we just hear yelling  "come in " so we go inside and it's this little  lady named Fanny. We just sit and talk to her.. (well yell, cause shes hard of hearing) haha and we ask her if there is anything we can do for her. and shes like "can you do my laundry?" HECK YES WE CAN! So I got to do a 69 year old ladies laundry.  I can't say I want to do it ever again.. but hey you never know if people need help :) hahahahhahahahahaha that was funny... I enjoyed it though :) not so sure about Hermana V
!

Oh my heavens, amazing GATORS too :)

I love teaching people!  Let me tell you what happened this week with one of our gators named Edmund. He has been investigating the church for about 10+ years...  (eternagator) so basically he knows this church is true. He read the Book of Mormon daily and he loves the missionaries. ( he's about 65) but he wont do anything.. so I told him "call us when you want to be baptized.." bold.. yeah, he hasn't called us since then :(  One day he will call! 
 

and then... we teach a really funny Baptist black lady named Audrey! She is smoking during the lesson and she loves Jesus and she loves the missionaries! She invites all her neighbors over when we go over to teach her... so that's a party.. I have never smelt like 2nd hand smoke so much in my life #missionaryprobs hahahah

okay..

pienso que es todo :)

Keep it up Girl! Best Hermana Ever, Love Nick (and my mom) ;)

OKAY LOVE YOU ALL
HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!

pray Edmund calls.. haha

oh and pray our mission can achieve our goal of 58 baptism for the month of MARCH :)

love

me

Hermana

Widdison

:)

su favorita hermana :)

                                                Monday 2/23/2015

Tastes like..

Hello Hello Hello :)

 

Greetings from the land of hicks :) whom I love hahaha

well another week of fun over here in good ol Bay City :)

The weekly happenings of a missionary..

Waking up around 6 am.. then the day starts.. and a day consists of..

workouts 

studying

driving

praying

walking

biking

preaching

OYMing (open your mouth) aka talking to random strangers :)

teaching

walking up to doors...

knocking on doors..

walking away when people don't open the door.. hahaha #missionaryprobs

smiling at everyone 

(or at least trying to)

waving at everyone

sleeping.. haha or trying to..

planning

working as hard as you can

wearing a skirt.. everyday. :/ not fun haha

trying to find time to eat hahaha

oh yeah showering 

visiting people

(or trying to)

driving

oh cant forget laughing 

singing to songs I don't know

trying to speak Spanish... (TRYING)

I don't really know what else.. seriously so much happens in one day. The mission is amazing! We have some amazing gators here in Bay City :) Gators as in (investigators.. ) but gators yes because that's what people eat here.

Anyways, we have had some amazing and powerful lessons this week :) Its weird and way cool to think of how the Holy Ghost truly testifies during a lesson :)

I love being a missionary :)

I thought that I loved Kemah, and I do and now I love this area so much :) The people are amazing :) 

We were blessed to have an awesome training on the restoration of the church this past week, and boy was my world rocked! Have you ever taken a step back and looked at how amazing this church is?

To have the same church on the earth again that Jesus Christ established when he was here.. COOL. haha thats all I have to say!!

I love teaching people! Its so fun! A little different in English though, but its fun :) plus church in English is way weird! 

hmm.. what else!

I feel so loved in this ward that I am in right now! The members here are amazing! The ward had a ward camp out on Friday so we got to go (I wore normal clothes.. I was happy happy happy)One of the members cooked RABBIT and its actually way good. It tastes like chicken.. Hannah I know you love Benny.. but he probably tastes way good too. (just kidding)

okay enough.. 

I wish my weekly emails were better.. I just don't know what to say!
but I have pictures :):)
YAY!!!

okay, love you all

:)

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

SISTA WIDDISON 

loving the ward camp-out

eating rabbit.... so sorry Hannah

camp out selfie with my companion Hermana Villarreal

#ZEBRA

HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY :)

What a crazy crazy week it has been. Where do I even begin? 

On Wednesday I was transferred! I was with Hermana Morano and Hermana Turner. I was in an area called Alief West. It was an English area... haha weird right? but English was more like Nigerian. I guess there is a super big population there because all the people we taught were from Nigeria. cool right?! haha anyways.. key word in all that is WAS! Because I was then EMERGENCY TRANSFERRED! cool right? So on Friday I was in the mission office just helping out with stuff, and all day long I just had a feeling I wasn't going to be in a trio for very long! I told Hermana Morano and Hermana Turner I though I was going to get transferred. haha funny.. yeah the holy ghost.. anyways I didn't even unpack my bags. So on Friday the 13th there was a sister who came in for an interview with President Ashton because she was super sick and had to go home. So the second that sister came into the office I just knew I was going to her area. weird right but that's what happened! The sister went home to get better and now I am with her companion! make sense?! well in other words.. I have been in three different areas, and have had four different companions in 1 week :) COOL RIGHT?! 

 Let me tell you about where I am to stay hopefully :)
I am serving in a town called BAY CITY!! hahah and it is in the middle of nowhere! It is your stereotypical Texas idea.. hahah straight up no joke.. fields upon fields.. THE COUNTRY! I love it so much! I am a ZEBRA missionary! Therefore I am both English and Spanish! Its really fun! The town is quite small.. really small.
 (it reminds me of the town my mom grew up in) but there is a Walmart here :)
Oh and bad thing, but good thing. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! I thought I loved the people over in Kemah (and I do) but I love these cute people so much!  Can I say there are a lot of rednecks.. hahaha a lot of toilets on the side of the road.(interesting)oh yes and road kill everywhere!!
 The members are amazing! Seriously some of the sweetest members!  They are all... Characters :) everyone is so different here! I am glad I have been exposed to all different kinds of people because it really prepared me for this! 

Let me tell you about my COMPANION :) I love her.. I seriously have been blessed.. like holy cow! Her name is HERMANA VILLARREAL :) she is from Othello Washington and she is amazing! We are just having a good ol time! It was funny on Friday when she came into the mission office. I told her I was going to be her companion, then President Ashton called both of us into his office and said "you two are companions, you're awesome, shes awesome! have fun" haha I have the most amazing mission president!

Anyways what else... the area is beautiful, the people are even more amazing! I live in a pool house.. weird, but cool :) and I feel like I am going to eat road kill at some point while serving here!  I have really made a connection with a lot of the members... because my dad raised me right with all that hunting and fishing :)  and visiting East Carbon ;) hahahahhaha
 
I don't know what else to say! 
I love it here in this area and the people are amazing! I hope you all map quest Bay City Texas..  because you'll see a little town of nothing... hahahah but its my little town of nothing and I love it:)  and the members love the missionaries :)

whooh :)
I am so excited!! 
I will try to send pictures but the computers here are super old so I  don't know how well they will work.

okay
:)
much love from Hermana Widdison :)

                                                                                                      January 26 2015 

What a wonderful week!!! seriously amazing!

                                        THEODORE GOT BAPTIZED :) yes amazing! 

             We did so many things this week! and so many miracles happened this week :) 

So the cute lady with the giant cupcake and flowers is our investigator Gabriella :) I can't tell you how much I love her. I have a lot of love for her :) and it was her birthday so we had to give her a little something :)

 We are always with her.. haha seriously! We walk with her every night, we do yard work and house work. We are seriously her best friends! (now if only she wanted to go to church).. haha #bummer! anyways, we did about 7 hours of yard work with her on Saturday.. haha never thought I would be so excited to do yard work.. but I love doing service! Seriously any opportunity for us to do service we take it!

 So get this, As we were leaving Gabriella house on Saturday, we were driving and then we stopped to ask these people if they needed help.. they were  doing things in their driveway.. so they said yes! So their story, their house caught on fire, and they have to take pictures of every little thing from inside the house! so their driveway was covered.. like covered with stuff! and so we had to wear gloves because everything is basically destroyed with sot.. (is that how you spell it?) anyways, we got to help serve them!  I learned I never want to have my house catch on fire. It was seriously so sad we had to throw away everything. Pictures,  memories, baby clothes, everything.. but my Saturday was a good day full of service :) LOVE SERVICE!! but just because I do like hours upon hours of yard work here mom doesn't mean I am gonna be so excited to help you pull weeds at home ;) hahaha

anyways... what else...

Theodore. I have no idea what to say about him, except he is amazing. The change he has made in three weeks..!! AHHHH freaking out! When he bore his testimony, it was seriously so amazing!! I wish you could all meet this guy! Amazing!!

what else... hmmm........

Just doing the Lords work! seeing miracles!

I am positive more happened this week.. but I just cant remember (sorry mom)

I love you all :)

I hope everyones lives are going good :)

mine is going dang good if you all were wondering ;) hehe

love

Hermana widdison :)

PS I know I say this all the time.. but I love being a missionary.. with all my heart! I never knew I could love strangers as much as I do. I love these people.

PASSION                                       January 20 2015

Whats up everybody? :)

Another fabulous week here in good ol Texas! :)

Finally the sun is out and it is a good time to be preaching.

Some amazing things happened this week! but for starters, I love my mission. I couldn't be more excited to be a missionary during this time. :)

 First off can I say how weird it is to be a missionary as well.. straight up, people tell us everything.. like EVERYTHING! we are out talking to everyone, and people just tell us their whole life stories. people these days.. haha we tend to get a lot of people who will just talk to us and cry.. its interesting.. but hey its missionary work!

Oh funny thing too! haha I love this! So as a missionary we have a thing called OYM.. It stands for open your mouth! So it just means talk to everyone! haha So we OYM everyday. We talk to people and teach them and them pray with them... haha  I seriously love praying with black people and Catholics.! because why? well let me tell you why.. haha black people just are saying amen after everything we say, and then they want to hold our hands and just praise God.. seriously so funny.. I laugh 99% of the time during these prayers! and then the good ol Catholics.. So Catholics are super hard core.. especially all the ones from Mexico.. Okay, They are dang funny when we pray too! haha because they say their own prayer when we are praying.. yup I laugh during those too.. hahah I just love it! Praying with random people is so much fun! I love it! :) 

So get this! on Tuesday.. maybe Wednesday we were biking around town.. (I say that casually, but really we bike about 30 miles a day.. ) anyways biking biking.. and it was very cold. Way cold! around 42 degrees... yes down here that is cold! we have our coats on, our gloves, hats, fleeced lined tights, the whole get up! We say "HI" to everyone, and we said hi to this one lady, and she

 hollas at us asking us what we were selling? So then we go and talk to her and she was going door to door selling magazines. Then she continues to tell us her life story, and then seriously during the middle of her life story Hermana Agyin just asks her if she wants her coat.. (I WAS LIKE WHAT) and so the lady was in shock, she was so grateful... oh yeah the lady's name is PASSION (hint like the title of the email :) ) anyways Hermana Agyin takes off her coat and gives it to this lady we just met, and then she takes off her scarf too! and I was just in shock. Seriously I was amazed how quick and lovingly she did this for this complete stranger we just met. Passion was amazed by her too.. and that was that.. then we biked away.. and of course I am like flipping out on what Hermana Agyin just did! How amazing she is and generous.. amazing. anyways, I offered her my coat and everything but she didn't take it. It was about 2 miles to bike back home and I was frozen biking home. At one stoplight I turned back and asked Hermana Agyin if she was cold, and she said she wasn't one bit... WHAT! HEAVENLY FATHER WAS KEEPING HER WARM!! How cool.. seriously it was an amazing experience and testimony builder! I don't even know if I explained that story well enough.. it was wonderful. Ask me in a year to tell you all about it ;) 

Okay, for other things.. umm..Remember Theodore??? well.. HE IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SUNDAY :) so that's bomb! Basically the most amazing person ever. I have learned so much from this young man. We have been teaching him for about 3 weeks.. he went from being Atheist, to now.. praying every morning and night and reading the book of Mormon. Now all he wants is an eternal family. I AM JUST FREAKING OUT. He is amazing. The change we have seen is seriously beautiful. He is one of the reasons I love being a missionary for sure :) He is more excited for his baptism then I think I am for it :) pictures to come next week :)

 Something silly that happened this week.. haha So we have a less active whose name is Martha. Her mother lives with her and her mother is around 60 years old and her name is Martha.. haha so Marthas mom Martha wanted to learn how to ride a bike. So we tried to teach her yesterday.. BAHAHHAHAHHA like the funniest experience in the world.. me and Hermana Agyin are trying to hold this abuela up, and its just not working and she is not pedaling and it was just a hoot.. but she didn't crash. which is good :) haha

I think that's all folks.. enjoy the pictures :)

 Heck yes that's me in pants preaching! The elders asked us to go visit an investigator and they knew I would be excited because they asked us to go in NORMAL clothes! whoot :) so that was good.. haha

OKAY I'M DONE :)

love you all,

Hermana Widdison

Teaching in pants... great day!

Teaching Martha how to ride a bike

Who wants a picture with the missionaries?

Hello all you beautiful people :)

What amazing week! had a crazy new years.. I am sure all of you did too :) mine consisted of sleep.. haha whoot ;) okay but really HAPPY NEW YEAR :) 2015!

Amazing miracle happened this week :)

1. Silly miracle.. for those of you who know me all to well.. you know I love candy canes! So me and Hermana Agyin were biking our hearts out on New Years Day.. (51 degrees might I add) and she super wanted ice cream. So I said why not we are already frozen. So we went to dairy queen and YOUR GIRL GOT THE LAST CANDY CANE BLIZZARD :) yay!

2. My sweet cute Raul :) We went to go see him, and he gave us little gifts :) flowers and a bear :) Because he said we are beautiful young ladies who deserve flowers :) heck yes we are beautiful ;) haha He is seriously the sweetest old man! yeah cute with his shirt unbuttoned too.. hahahahhahah funny! I love Raul!

3. THEODORE. Oh my where do I even begin. On Friday we were going to some old investigators houses to see if they wanted to learn and we were getting out of the car and there was some guy just walking down the road. So of course your girl was loud and said hi to him and such, and then he kept walking and we just walked up to the door of the  investigators.. so while Hermana Agyin was talking to the people at the door, the guy comes up and said "sorry, are you guys the missionaries for the latter day saints?"  and I say yes, so me and this young man are talking in these peoples front yard, while my companion is talking to the other people. So long story short, the people in the house weren't interested, but this guy was. So we are standing talking to this guy,( oh yeah, his name is  THEODORE :) and he is super interested about life and is searching for answers. We talked to him, and then he asked us for our "holy book" ahahha and he said,"I've already studied Joseph Smith.

 So cool!  then he asked to meet us again!

So that was Friday!Then on Saturday we met with him and he just basically had 5 million questions,  deep questions! (he is 25)  anyway, we sat and talked and testified with him for 2 hours in Panda Express! It was wonderful!

Then Saturday night we get a text from him, and he is asking us more questions, questions like "Why do we glow?" "What is the light he sees in our eyes?" (light of Christ duh ;) hehehe)  Then he  calls us and continues to explain to us that we were in his dream! what? okay!  In this dream, he was in a room just searching for something and he could only hear our voices leading him towards the light.. SHUT UP WHAT!! goosebumps when he was telling us this story because the spirit was so strong!  So cool!  Amazing! Then he was asking us questions about families, and so on..

 Then on Sunday, he wanted to meet with us again, so he said Panda Express.. ( I can say that going to Panda Express on fast Sunday was something extremely hard to do.. hahahha so hard. funny. )  We met with him yesterday again for another 2 hours and he is so curious. Oh I totally forgot. He is Atheist.  So he doesn't believe in God. Anyways, we were just telling him about what we believe in. He brings a notebook and writes down what we say and he writes down his questions. OOOH another cool thing, he told us how in his body he feels like there was a light that was turned on that is overcoming all the darkness. AWESOME!  that's the gospel my friend.  I was flipping out. Trust me I was.

 I am pretty sure you probably only got about 10 percent of what really went down with Theodore this past weekend. but trust me, there will be more next week  because we are meeting him today :) Oh and the crazy thing is he tells us to meet him at this Panda Express which is 6 MILES away from his house. and he doesn't have a car.

okay yeah. cool. Ask me when I return home from my mission to tell you about Theodore please. because this email does no justice whatsoever.

I LOVE YOU ALL :)

the mission is crazy.

miracles are happening.

what!

love,

Hermana Widdison ;)

ANOTHER WEEK!! and a special week at that :)

CHRISTMAS WEEK :)

first off- Merry LATE Christmas :)

I had such a fun weird week!!

Well to start things off, it was definitely weird being surrounded by palm trees.. and no snow for Christmas. I definitely miss my mountains more than anything!

let me tell you what went down :)

On Tuesday we had our mission Christmas!! AMAZING! It is the only time where all the missionaries will be all together! So the WHOLE Texas Houston South Mission was together! Can you say cool?! yeah it was cool and the spirit was so strong. I knew no one. 200 missionaries! crazy! but it was beautiful! In the morning we had some lessons and learned a lot!  The most amazing thing was when President Ashton.. ( mission president) was telling us how we can get a butt ton of baptisms during the month of January! hahah like seriously.. it was amazing when he was telling us all this! so he was asking us how many, then all the sudden he said lets all kneel and pray.. WHOOOOOH THE SPIRIT WAS SO DANG STRONG!  200 missionaries all kneeling as our mission president prayed!  Seriously, I can't describe how amazing that was. So then after the big powerful amazing prayer. He promised us 60 baptisms! like whooooh what! Then yesterday we had a mission wide fast for those 60 people ( whomever they may be )  cool right?

So that was in the morning!! Then we got to watch movies.. nothing to crazy.. like super Mormon missionary movies haha ehh  but fun (sort of)

After the movie.. we were fed. well, fed isn't a good word.. WE WERE STUFFED!! they seriously fed us like a 20 course meal. Don't worry mom I got some good food.They also gave us Texas sheet cake.. interesting... but it is a Texas tradition.

Then that was all! oh wait.. so president Ashtons daughter.. in the picture. the cute little girl.. She is seriously my favorite.. oh my gosh. she is 9 years old, we have a secret handshake. I seriously love her so much, and I know why!! because she reminds me of my favorite 9 year old sister back home :) whom I miss so much ;) hahah  she is amazing! President Ashton and his family are amazing people! We get a new president in July.. and yeah not to happy about that... Next subject!

So then Christmas eve... what did I do... oh yeah, we had a bonfire and smores! how cute! and  a testimony meeting! but really it wasn't a bonfire, it was a sad little fire.  but Hispanics don't know what smores are.. so they were just burning their marshmallows and eating them hah gross.. but hey I mean whatever suits them haha but that was fun!

 Christmas day!

We have an amazing member in the English ward who got permission to have a breakfast for all the missionaries that live around him! (he is the  guy in the pink shirt sitting by yours truly) so he gave us the most amazing Christmas morning ever!  He just loves missionaries so it felt so good to be around him! After the lovely meal I  skyped my family.. of course I cried. hahaha missing the family! It was good seeing their beautiful faces ;)

 Then we went and saw RAUL! my home boy! and he is the cutest older man.. hahah we get to go "workout" with him tomorrow... which means walk around! but hey hes my bud :)  We went and took him a little present! which was ties and chocolate! and yesterday he wore the TIE :) ahw how cute!

Who knew I could love so many older men on my mission...( hahahha awkward.)

The rest of my lovely Christmas day was spent playing games with elders :)  It was a good day! don't worry mom :)

Also one thing I have learned you make some dang good friends on the mission! because for one, we are all emotionally unstable and we know what we are all going through. and we all left our families, and are put into this world of unknown! So I have made some amazing friends since I have been out here! The pictures are of Sister Hunt and Hermana Huntsman! It's amazing to have people out here who understand!

The new year is around the corner! 2015! whoot... crazy that past year just zoomed by.Time is a weird concept!

I love my mission. it seriously has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. The HARDEST.  I know I am learning so much, and I still have no idea what I am doing out here. hahah it hasn't hit me that I am on a mission.. weird. but hey one day it will. :)

I love you all :)

peace and love

your girl

Hermana Widdison :)

Sister Hunt

Christmas morning

Another new friend!

Christmas morning with Raul. Did I say he's awesome!!

Silly picture of Christmas morning

Hermana Huntsman