Mission Zone

Mission Zone

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Week 42



Feliz Navidad you filthy animals.

Dearest family and friends,

Hows everyone doing? has everyone enjoyed this christmas season so far! This has been the most diferent christmas for me but definitely one of the best. And to top it all off I get to talk with my family! Im so pumped! 

This week was pretty great. As always. Its kinda funny, at this time of the year, everyone is painting their houses for some reason, so Ive become Elder DaVinci! We paint almost everyday and all of our new investigators have come through painting haha one of them is a single mother named Claudia and her 3 children. Theyre GOLDEN. She told us that she loved church and she went this sunday as well even though she had to go to see her dying grandpa but without even having to tell her she came for the first hour before she had to leave. We had an incredibly spiritual lesson when she told us that she feels like this is for her. She feels God has sent us to her! She and her family are progressing super quickly. Its awesome.

We had our multizone conference this week and it was 100% centered on Jesus Christ and his atonement. It was incredibly uplifting! I loved it. Sometimes as missionaries we focus a ton of the church and its organization and restauration and not enough on the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know he is my savior. and I know He Lives.
We had our ward party here in the ward on friday and of course, a ton of less active members showed up just for free food, but of course when sunday comes around they dont have enough money to pay for the bus! Its ridiculous. Well, at least you all know that theres that type of people all around the world! But the party was awesome and very good for the investigators.

This week I heard the strongest testimony ever. We went to go visit the most active members of our area, the flores family, who werent able to go to the temple because brother flores came down with a case of Dengue Fever. Dengue is like having the flu for 10 days. We went to visit him and asked "so tomorrow we imagine you wont be going to church then?" he responded "No way. I dont care what happens to me, I will ALWAYS go to church" I WAS STUNNED!!! My jaw hit the floor. This man is a convert of only a year and a half, is 65 years old, can hardly see, but has faith grander than almost anyone I know. I walked out of that house astonished. Now if only we could help others to understand what he understands!!!

Well. Thats all for this week. I love you all! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!
 

 

Monday, December 15, 2014

Week 41

PDAY WEEK
 
Dear family and friends,

This week was just one giant pday! With a ton of activites and mission chores to run I feel like I did nothing in my area! So I dont have much to write, but I hope you enjoy what I have to say.

This week I got to go to San Pedro finally! And finally im not illegal! haha San Pedro is the name of the mission but its actually outside of the mission boundaries. weird right? But that city is so awesome! It was so cool to actually see civilization again! I was actually really baggy. It made me miss the big city of las vegas. But the help me with the bagginess, we went and had an awesome lunch at Chili`s! It made me miss all the lunches ive had there with my family, but it was great to be at that restaurant again.

So I think I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission this week. Some of the sisters in my ward had a baptism of an 18 year old girl named Cesia. Shes super cool and wants to serve a mission. I went and had the interview with her. I went through all the questions, but then the spirit told me to go over the word of wisdom again. So i obeyed and it turned out she hadnt totally abandoned coffee. But as we talked I decided that she should go ahead and get baptised. It had been "sufficient time" without drinking. But in reality she wasnt repented of the sin. ALL DAY long afterwards the spirit annoyed me and I knew I had made a mistake. I came to the conclusion at the end of the night that she shouldnt be baptised. But I knew I had to pray and ask before making any decision. At 1030 at night I knelt and asked and felt and heard that she needed to be baptised still. I was so confused! I even asked God if he was sure about that!!! haha I felt a comforting peace that this is what he wanted. So the next day, we got the baptism ready and I said to Sister Urresta (the missionary) that I wasnt gonna let her get baptised but the spirit told me otherwise! It turns out that Urresta was having the same feelings, and she had prayed a short time before me to know what to do, and she received the impression to look at the teaching record, and noticed that not everything had been taught! From there they were able to go visit cesia in the morning and teach her everything that was missing, and Cesia then realized how important the word of wisdom is, truly repented of drinking coffee and boldy declared that she would never drink again. The Lord definitely is part of this work! I had no idea what had happened on Urrestas end of things until the day after, but it goes to show that the Lord was working through the both of us! He blessed me with peace because He knew Urresta and her comp were gonna take care of everything. I love this work! I know its true. I ended up baptising cesia that day.

Always,
Elder Hodson 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Week 40

STILL IN SAN JUAN

Dear Family and Friends,

Im still here in San Juan!!! Im super happy about it! I wasnt ready to leave this area yet. I love this ward and I do love this area. So Im pumped Im staying. My comp didnt have changes either, so Ill be with him for the next two months! 

This week has been great! We had the church christmas devotional, with 5 investigators there with us! It was great, and a great experience for the investigators to hear the voices of a few apostoles of the Lord. Fernando even brought his whole family! Hes doing great and is preparing for baptism on the 27th.

We had a great experience with Elkin and his family this week, I left my DVD of the restauration at their house, and his mom ended up watching it alone! She felt the spirit incredibly strong and without any doubt told us that she knows that Joseph was a prophet and that this is the true church. We explained that in january, Elkin will be 16 and will be able to baptise his family! We challenged her to the 21st of january, and she gladly accepted! 

We had an awesome service project this week! We went to an old folks home and gave service there. It was awesome and it put a huge smile on the old folks' faces. I then edited all the photos and videos to put together a zone video for christmas. I worked for 4 hours putting it all together perfectly, and guess what happened? Computer shut down. I was distraught. haha

Christmas is coming up soon! im super pumped to talk with my family and friends! Thats all for this week! I love you all! 

Always,
Elder Hodson
 


 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Week 39

Dearest Family and Friends,

Its already december?! Holy cow! Time is flying. 

Well This week was so awesome! and so fast! I have a ton of stories.

Thursday was thanksgiving, so we had a district party where we all cooked and ate together and said what we were thankful for. We had mashed potatos (made by my comp, hes a beast in the kithcen) corn on the cob, canned peaches, rotissery chicken and rolls. It was so bomb! And I ate soooooooooooo much food. Hes the interesting part. My body is not accomodated to so much rich food, and then working the whole day afterwards didnt help at all. At 1220 am. All my thanksgiving ended up in the trash can! hahaha It was pretty terrible. But hey. The most bittersweet thanksgiving of my life.

Friday was absolutely nuts! In the morning Javier and Yolany got married! It was awesome. Ive now helped marry two couples! I hope to have many more in the mission. Then in the afternoon, I had 6 baptismal interviews!!! I was SO exhausted afterwards. But baptismal interviews are the greatest. In total my district had 5 baptisms this weekend. Almost every companionship had a baptism. It was awesome! 

Saturday was Yolany`s baptism. It went so well! I also baptised the sisters' investigator. 

Sunday, we had a newer investigator named Fernando come with us to church. Hes 13 years old, and we are teaching his family. His dad is in adultery with his mother in law, so the parents wont be able to be baptised for a long time, until he gets divorced and remarried, but Fernando can still progress in the meantime! He loved church, prayed in his class, and even said he wants to serve a mission. The dream is that by the time he gets home from his mission he'll be able to help his family get baptised as well! But we have some great hopes for him. 

Sunday was the primary program. It was so awesome! And I was so baggy! I cant wait to have a little mini Riley grab the mic and shout his testimony. The primary program is always my favorite sunday of the year. And its always extremely spiritual. 

Last night we had an incredible experience. We had a lesson fall through and as we turned the corner from that house, there we saw the bishop randomly visiting in our area! So we decided to accompany him. He wanted to visit one of our investigators, Orlando. So we headed over! The bishop shared his experience of how in the hardest trial of his life, a simple exact prayer was answered by God and helped him come through. It was an incredibly spiritual lesson, and you could see the impact in Orlando's eyes. his wife and kids are members, and now he's trying to make the decision for himself. I know for a fact that our lesson didnt fall through on accident. We were meant to be there to have the chance to run into the bishop! I love this work so much, and I know its true! 

Always,
Elder Hodson
 











 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Week 38

GRATEFUL TO BE IN HONDURAS

Hola,

Well, thanksgiving is this week! and Im grateful to be here in Honduras! On thursday we are gonna cook together as a district and we are gonna have our own little thanksgiving! im pumped really. Im grateful to be on a mission, Ill miss my family and friends for sure, but theres no place else Id rather be! 

This week has been a great one! it went by incredibly fast! It was actually a really hectic week for us. 

I dont know if you saw the news, but the Miss Honduras pageant winner was killed this week by her sisters jealous boyfriend. It has been all anyone can talk about. It just so happens that they were members of the church. Their funeral was held at the LDS chapel in Santa Barbara. It was interesting to see missionaries and church members on TV. Im not saying in anyway shape or form that her getting killing was something good but something good came out of. Millions of people were able to see and hear how our meeting are actually held. SO MANY people here have a ridiculous idea of what our church is like, so at least now everyone knows what our church meetings are like. 

Well, on saturday we had a service project helping a recent convert clean her house and front porch. There just so happened to be 2 buckets of water.... Buckets of water and 12 young adults is always a terrible combination. It started with a small flinging of water from my companion at our zone leader..... So, you all know me..... I had to get involved! haha It escalated quickly and everyone left that service project soaking wet! haha even the recent convert was soaked! hahaha it was way fun. It helps to unwind in the mission and have a nice shenanigan here and there. 

We had interviews with president Klein this week! They were great, Him and I have become great friends! It was a great interview. He shared something very interesting with him. One of satans greatest victories. The two great commandments, 1.Love thy God and 2. Love thy Neighbor are very importand and need to be in that order. Satan has made a slight change that has caused so many calamties in this world. People are still loving God, but they are loving their neighbors and caring about their opinions first, and Gods opinions second. Thats what impacted me most from our interview.

We have a great new investigator! Her name is Glenda! Shes awesome. 55 years old, more or less. She hates all the evagelic churches in honduras. She always says that people go to those churches just to get robbed by pastors! I laughed out loud. We have only had 2 lessons with her and she said in our first lesson that she always thought only one of two churches can be the true church, The LDS church or Jehovahs witnesses, because theyre the only ones who are real missionaries, but in our second visit she expressed to us how she already can feel that this is the true church, and she asked one of the greatest questions ive heard on the mission. "If Joseph Smith was the prophet in the 1800's, and hes already dead, then who is our prophet today?" I love that question because of the words "OUR prophet" !!! Shes already willing to go forth and follow the prophet and more importantly follow the savior. Im excited for her progression! 

I had another awesome experience this week. Normally, I hate silence! I never like to sit there in silence with an investigator. But in a lesson with an investigator of several months, who has now stopped progressing, I have a testimony of the importance of shutting my mouth and listening to the spirit! We planned on going in and reteaching the restauration, and my companion was searching for a scripture as I sat in silence, and then I heard "hes lost all excitement" So i asked him if what the spirit told me was true, and we were able to turn the lesson into an incredibly spiritual environment! I really felt as though that lesson helped him a ton. We left and he actually had hope in his eyes again! I now know of the importance of silence.

Well. The missions great. loving everyday. I miss and love you all!

Elder Hodson

photo: a sweet lizard we found today haha 
 
 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Week 37

SUCCESS IN SAN JUAN
Dearest Family and Friends,

How is everyone? I hope alls well in the states. and Im jealous that everyone will be eating thanksgiving while Im stuck here eating balleadas. Im so burnt from eating the same food day after day. I miss cafe rio and capriottis! haha 

Well. Im on cloud 9 today! This week has been incredible! And it ended awesome with an awesome pday with president Klein today! We played kickball, frisbee golf, and ultimate frisbee! FINALLY the only sports Im good at!!! I had a blast playing frisbee. And my mission president is awesome at frisbee as well! Hes like a little kid. Him and I were competing the whole time playing frisbee golf. Every time wed finish he would make up an excuse as to why we had to play another round!!! it was hilarious. Im thinking Ill be having many more pdays with him in the future! And he was on my team in ultimate frisbee so of course we destroyed the other team 7 to 1!!!! haha for someone is his 60´s, hes a beast! Then we went and ate pizza. I was able to show my friends how good I am at eating hot wings hahaha 

So this week was incredible. To start off, we worked our butts off with members this week and we ended up teaching 46 lessons by the end of the week! We wanna hit 50! I know its not about numbers but it feels great to work hard and visit all that we can! 

And all that hard work paid off on saturday! Elkin got baptized! Everything went perfectly smooth. It was actually quite interesting how smooth everything went. All of my other baptisms, something has gone wrong and we have had to run around like chickens without heads trying to fix it! But no, this baptism went perfect! Elkin was so happy after wards. He was on cloud nine! I had the chance to baptise him, and that was very special. After the baptism, his neighbors were making fun of him for the choice he made. As he told us this story he said to us that the opinions of other people make no difference to him! The words came out of his mouth "I would die for this church" How incredible is that?! This kid blows my mind. He has overcome EVERY challenge that has been put in front of him with little or no help from us! He even fought with Jehovahs witnesses for his beliefs! He progressed to baptism by himself! I will always be blown away by him. I gave him my golden virtue tie that Dad had made for the ward. Its in a better home now! 

As I sit here and think, I am blown away by these last 8 months in the mission. Elkin is my 7th baptism, so its not like Im baptizing a bus load of people here every weekend like in other south american missions, but in reality, I wouldnt have it any other way! EVERYONE of my converts is firm and active in the church. Milagros has now helped her mom be baptized, and has missed 2 sundays in 6 months. Nicolle, despite having anti mormon parents, is set on her goal of being sealed to her family. Now, her aunt has been baptized and her sister will be baptized this next week. Hector Davila is the first counselour in the Y.M. and Reina is The first counselor in the primary, both active in the church, and Luis passes the sacrament every sunday. Lina is the first counselor in the Y.W. and is more active and works harder than 90% of the ward in La Ceiba. And now, to add Elkin! Hes going to be an incredible and firm member forever. Because hes already self sufficient! Im not worried about how many baptisms I have at the end of my mission, I just want 100% retention. 

Well. Thats all for this week. I love you all!

Always,
Elder Hodson
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Week 36

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Monday everyone! Once again, sitting here in the internet cafe. Its so frustrating how slow the interntet has been these last two weeks! Ive been trying to send photos! But nothing is working. Its annoying. Hopefully the internet gets working better before I leave and I can send off some pics.

Hows the states treating everyone?!?! Whats new over there?! We´re getting close to thanksgiving, and then just a short month later till christmas. Im interested to see what christmas is like in the mission. I thought birthdays were gonna suck, but I enjoyed my birthday a ton! So I feel like Ill enjoy christmas as well. I mean, I somehow find a way to enjoy every situation. Im a silver lining type of guy haha

So this week has absolutely flown by. I really dont know what to write... But I think I have some good stories for you. I hope. haha

Well, I went on division with my zone leader, Elder Carroll. Which is always a bad idea because hes become my best friend on the mission. Its a party whenever we are together. haha But we had probably the most interesting lesson of my life. An investigator named Cesar, has "decided" to start attending church with his wife at her church. Really it has come from her fighting and pressuring him. But the problem is, he has received an answer that this is the true church! So we began very nice and calm talking to them, but she wanted to fight! haha So to make a long story short, Elder Carroll told her that she was fighting against God and that makes her satan! hahahah I couldnt help but laugh. She got ticked and got up and left, so then we could speak peacefully with Cesar. Im still laughing about how priceless her face was. Good times. 

So our investigator, Elkin, is getting baptized this saturday!!!!!! He is such a stud. That kid keeps his word! If we didnt pass by his house, hed go to church no matter what. Im so proud of him! And its weird, because I feel like hes progressed without us pushing him at all. In a few short 3 years, hes gonna be an awesome missionary. He wanted to be baptised this saturday that passed, but because he hadnt fulfilled the requirements of church he couldnt get baptised. He looked so depressed! And then so determined to go to church no matter what! Hes super dope. Im way pumped for his future. 

So we had an incredible experience this week. We went out looking for a few references we had received. Aaaaand we had no luck finding them! ha it was a tad frustrating because there are no addresses here in Honduras. Just "yellow house by the school" WHAT?! haha but as we were searching, it started to rain. We ducked under a porch to put our scriptures in bags. Then the temptations to stay dry and wait it out hit us. But I was not going to give up searching for this reference!!!!As we walked back out into the rain and started searching we heard " Hi elders!" From some random guy. He was walking with his friend Javier. They invited us inside and we started sharing the gospel. It turns out the guy is an incredible member of the church who lives in another area but is from Nuevo San Juan and goes visiting his family and friends every week! This man is awesome! His name is Hernan, and we could just let him teach! He knows the lessons like the back of his hand and teaches as good as any missionary. And He knows a TON of people here in San Juan that hes going to help us with! Javier is going to be a great investigator and Hernan, and incredible tool in the work of salvation. If we hadnt have kept walking, we never wouldve met them. I now have a testimony of the blessings of working hard, regardless of weather conditions! 

Well, the mission is great, I love it. I know this church is true. And I know the Lord works with us.

Always,
Elder Hodson

Monday, November 3, 2014

Week 35

Hola,
Hows everyone doing?! Can you believe I have 8 months?! its mind blowing!!! Time is so weird here. I feel like I just started the mission yesterday, but I also feel like Ive been a missionary my whole life... its quite weird. But I love the mission. Its been an incredible 8 months.
Well, I dont have a ton of time to write. Only 10 minutes, so Im gonna make this fast!

Today was an awesome pday! We went to one of the best cities in Honduras, Tela! Its super clean and the beaches and super pretty! We played a ton of volleyball, it was awesome! I took a ton of pictures but the internet is super slow today so I cant send them, but I will next week!
Monday night we had a sale of Balleadas, traditional Honduras tacos. Cheap and delicious. We made 1500 lempiras and we were able to help a couple get married! The Husband, Javier, is a member and his girlfriend, Yolani, is our investigator. Theyve been trying to get married for years, but theres never been missionaries who have been able to get it done! But Elder Chicaiza and I are Men of our word! The sale went great and it was awesome to see the hand of the Lord working with us. Everything turned out well and they should be married and baptized next weekend!
On Friday this week, we had an awesome activity with all the young single adults in our whole stake! We did a huge super contact and went to all our areas! It was great to see the support of so many young members of the church with us! I went out with a young man of 18 years who is a recent convert of 2 months! He was so pumped to be with me! It was awesome to see someone who loves the gospel so much and wasnt just quitely accompanying me, he actually wanted to teach! And he was doing a great job! Afterwards they invited us to play sports for a little afterwards, so we stayed, ate lunch at the stake center, and played soccer and ping pong. I had to have played 50 games of ping pong. I only lost once. I come to find that my ping pong skills become more useful as I get older! hahaha jkjk
Well, Its been a great 8 months, and Im pumped for the next 16! As of right now, we should have 2 baptisms in the next two weeks, and many more in the future! I love the Lord, and I love serving him!
Always,
Elder Hodson

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Week 34

Hola!

How is everyone this fine day?! Im great, because its actually cold here in Honduras today! Not cold enough to wear a jacket of course, but Im not sweating! what a miracle! haha I hope alls well in the states. i hope you all enjoy your warm water... I was crying for it this morning. Coldest shower of the mission  for sure haha

So this week was incredibly fast! And really great. The time is absolutely flying here. I cant believe I already have a month in this area! Its nuts for sure. 

So I went on divisions this week for my first time as a district leader! it was awesome. I went with a new gringo named Elder Brower from Idaho, Poor kid. Hes such a gringo!!! haha But he loves this mission and isnt baggy even though his spanish is terrible. Divisions are fun because it throws in an interesting twist with their investigators, but it actually helps them to have another elder there that theyre not confident with! We had a lesson with a guy named Olbin, who is absolutely awesome, but has always struggled praying in front of the elders! But with me there, and a little coaxing, he prayed! It was great. I also love being DL because I get to do baptismal interviews! I love that part. The testimonies of other people who only have a few weeks of visiting the church  is mind blowing! It strenghtens my testimony every time! 

Quick funny story. Last night while eating dinner, the chair I was sitting in snapped and I went tumbling to the floor! It was hilarious! it looks like im getting fat! haha 

We  had an  awesome activity this week. I love this ward because they actually help us! We had a movie night in the chapel! I made a ton of popcorn (my Popcorn girl skills are kicking in!!) and we watched the testaments! it was awesome and a ton of people showed up! Then we had a speed dating type activity after so that the investigators could get to know the members better! it was awesome. 

We are putting on another sale tonight to help a family we are teaching get married and baptised! Hes a member but the wife isnt, but theyve wanted to get baptised for a year now, and no one has had the idea to do anything about it until I got there! But yeah with the help of the ward it should go great!

The mission is awesome. I love it here. I miss you all of course, But theres no place Id rather be!

Always,
Elder Hodson
 
 
 

Week 33

Dear Family and Friends!

I HAVE SO MUCH TO WRITE AND SO LITTLE TIME!!!!!!

Story number one. Today was the best zone pday ever! We played coca cola drinking games!!! We had a tournament and me and my little nicaraguan partner sister olivas won! You should all be proud. Growing up in vegas payed off! haha Then we had some awesome pizza for lunch. It was so fun. I have a ton of pics that Ill send next week. I forgot my cord to my camera. 

Number 2.
Elkin is doing great, and now we are teaching his whole family. They love us more than anything. His mom started crying in a lesson! She had been passing through a ton of trials and to have our love and support and the love and the support of the ward has helped her so much! She really feels Gods love. They are our greatest hope of a baptism here. I know they will be baptised. Funny thing, her little 5 year old Kevin, is always winking at me. He learned it from the tv. Its hilarious. I just hope he doesnt wink at the elders when hes grown up!!! hahahah!!! 

Number 3
In a different area, santiago, the near by rivers had flooded, so the missionaries had to be emergency rushed out, so right now we have 2 other elder living with us in our tiny house! haha we sleep all 4 in our tiny rooms with their mattresses on the floor! Its actually really fun. I love the other two as well. With their helo, we acheived 43 lessons this week. Which was awesome. The most Ive ever taught. And the future here in san juan is looking very bright! Im pumped to serve here now. I wanna spend christmas here! 

Number 4
We threw a suprise birthday party for our cooks daughter, they didnt have enough money, and there was no way we were gonna allow for her to go without, so we threw her one! She was so happy! And then Elder Chicaiza threw an egg on her head, I have it on video. Its great. Their family loves us. They were inactive for the past 8 months, but they are now re activating! Its one of our greatest succeses! When they didnt see me this week because I was with the other elder from santiago eating at another members house, they told chicaiza to tell me they missed me! Haha theyre great. 

Number 5
Yesterday was one of the best sunday of my mission. The whole ward council came to our area, which is far away from the rest of the ward, to visit our investigators and all the less active members in our area! The spirit in san juan was so different yesterday. You could tell the Holy Ghost was their with us and it made such a huge difference in the Life of so many less actives to see the wards support! I loved every minute of yesterday. We have an incredible ward. even though they cant always come out so far to us, it goes to show how amazing and willing they are. 

Well family and friends. this week has been a huge testimony builder for me. I love the mission so much. I know this work is true! I love you all!

Elder Hodson

Monday, October 13, 2014

Week 32

BIG NEWS

Dearest Family and Friends,

I cant contain my excitement! I have to tell all of you about the biggest change in my life that happened this week! On saturday night......

 
WE GOT AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! I have never slept so soundly in all my life. I will never take A/C for granted ever again! I love it so much. ha! Our landlord is the husband of a recent convert, and he is a man of his word. Hes awesome. He told us tuesday we were getting a/c and by saturday, all done! The first night in 6 months when I didnt have to have my fan blowing in my face all night long! 

So things here in Nuevo San Juan are going great! Fun fact: I got oveer 30 bug bites this week! haha so I finally started using bug spray. Im just too lazy to put it on twice a day! But yeah, this week was incredibly fast. I really like the area, even though we dont have many investigators. We give a ton of service here! Always cutting the weeds with machetes, helping people clean their houses, or whatever service possible! Thats the best part of my new comp. He loves serving others. 

Weve been working here with the many innactive members of the ward in our area, and we've seen some success! Yesterday 8 less active people showed up. It was awesome. We want our own branch of the church here in nuevo san juan. Its hard for people to travel 15 minutes by bus to the chapel. Its really not that hard, just the hondurans are a lazy people haha But our ward is AWESOME!!! We actually have priesthood leaders! The ward is huge, we had 190 at church yesterday. And the bishop is awesome. We had a meeting with him yesterday, and hes definitely a man of action. Im pumped to work with him. 

We have some great investigators, some that even pay tithing! But they are, what you wouldd call, "eternal investigators" But they all are very special. One investigator we have, is a 15 year old named Elkin. Hes awesome. The missionaries found him only 2 weeks before I came. The poor guy has a terrible in grown toenail! Its kinda gross. super infected. But the kid still comes to church in his flip flops! Hes awesome. So the ward secretary is a nurse, so this morning and 5 we dropped him off at the hospital, and hes gonna get him all fixed up. Elkin is our best bet for the next baptism we will have. Hes a simple teenager, but with a heart of gold. He already has a testimony, and he knows this church is true! 

Well, a quick funny story to close. We took the last bus home the other night, so there was a ton of people waiting. Luckily we made it in first, because we ended up squeezing 30 people into it! To put that into context, these arent busses, these are 10 passenger vans! haha  It was so full that people were outside of the bus hanging on to the railing on top! It just so happened to be raining! And these bus drivers are nuts! They floor it all the time! haha it was quite entertaining!

Well, the mission is great. Always loving it! I love this work and Im greatful for the chance to have a new trial ahead of me!

Always,
Elder Hodson

Monday, October 6, 2014

Week 31

Welp,

how gigantic of a change this has been for me! New area. New assignment. New comp. New house. Its all new! But unlike the first time, Im super pumped. This area is gonna be hard but Im ready for a challenge.

So first. My area and ward. Nuevo san juan is a little colony 10 minutes by bus away from the chapel. Its a branch extension of the ward La Paz. The chapel is super high tec and awesome where we have our change meetings every six weeks. The ward members are great and all have money.... But we are in a super poor area. Because we are an extension, we have no member support from the ward leaders. They stay in their nice areas and dont venture into our neck of the woods... so we are alone out here haha this area is pure houses. Houses as far as you can see. So theres definitely some work to be done. 

My comp, Elder Chicaiza. Hes the man. We get along really well. Hes super prideful and loves to talk about himself, so I just tune him out and let him go. But hes super funny and we have a good time together. Were good friends. He has the same time as me so neither one of us feels above the other. Hes 25 and from ecuador. He loves to travel. And loves to study. He stays up reading by headlamp till 3 am every night. Its crazy. Im out at 1030 haha

How was GC for everyone?! I loved it. It was so awesome. My favorite talk was saturday afternoon by Elder Jorg Schwarzennegar!!!! hahah jk Jorg Klebingat. It was pure machete! sometimes youve gotta cut peoples branches. If the branches are bigger than the roots, the tree with fall! I loved all 6 of his suggestions to have confidence before the Lord. Especially when he said "Choosing bad instead of worse is still choosing bad" hahahah!!! HOW BOLD! I LOVE IT! Im gonna teach my district his talk next week. Im pumped.

Being District Leader is fun. I love calling at night time and helping the other elders and sisters out. I just love being their friend! And showing my love for them. I have a district of 12, which is huge for a district. Its more like a mini zone. So im always up late calling around for everyone. But its quite fun. I have 6 sister missionaries.... Im definitely praying for help from God for this one!!! HAH!!! jk my sisters are beasts and work hard.

One frustrating/spiritual experience. We have a ton of less actives in this ward that were working with. One of them, Francis, came to the conference, She doesnt have a ton of money, so she came in the best clothes she had, and another sister there, offended her and told her she couldnt be there in those clothes! HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT!!! To make it worse, she brought a non member friend! I was blown away at the audacity of that lady. We sat down with her at night time to help her out. I felt the impression to share 1 Ne 8, Lehis dream. Lehi tells us of their "fine clothing" and how the pointed and made fun of those partaking of the fruit. He then gives counsel, tellling us not to give heed to their words, and all those who heeded their words were lost. We shared this with her and she became reanimated. It was a great experience for me of how I wasnt thinking about anything, just listening, and the spirit told me what to say.

Well. The mission is great. Love you all. 
Elder Hodson
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nuevo San Juan

Dearest family and friends.

Heres a little update on my life. Said goodbye to all my converts last night, which was fun. But sad. Im gonna miss them! But I have to come back! I cannot allow myself to not see them as a normal person! This morning, woke up at 4 and headed out for the transfer meeting. Im now in an area close to san pedro called "nuevo san juan"! Im excited for this area. We dont have a ton of investigators, but so Im pumped to hit the road and work my butt off. I got made district leader today. Im super nervous but Im gonna do whatever it takes to be the missionary the Lord needs me to be! And Im super pumped for general conference, I know that is gonna help me a ton!!!!! I dont feel ready at all to be a DL but president klein talked about how he didnt feel ready either because he had never been a stake president, but that in reality, it doesnt matter. The Lord qualifies who he calls. Im gonna try my best! I know the Lord doesnt plan on me failing, or he wouldnt have given me this calling. 

But yeah: Im a DL of about 10 elders. Mom's friend's son, Elder Streeter, was the DL before I came here. My companions name is Elder Chicaiza. hes from ecuador. hes 25 and has lived alone since he was 16. Hes awesome. We have the same amount of time on the mission and the same amount of baptisms and everything. Im excited to learn from and love him. 

I love you all! I hope I have some interesting things for you this upcoming week. 

Heres a photo of the entrance to my new area

Elder Hodson
Entrada Nuevo San juan segunda Etapa La Lima Honduras

Monday, September 29, 2014

Week 30

Dearest Family and Friends,

               Whats new everybody?! Hope alls well in the states. This week was definitely interesting. A little boring because tuesday I got sick with a cold then yesterday it hit Ruelas really hard. But we still had a very interesting week. The Lords hand is definitely in the work.

So this week, we had a baptism of 3 teenagers who Ive been working with forever. I love them more than anything! And finally, after quite a journey, much pray and fasting, they received permission to get baptised. We went to their housefriday afternoon for their baptismal interview and their Mom came out and told us that the whole extended family is against their baptism and that they cant be baptized. Their mother loves the church as well, but cant be baptized because she has an 80 year old canadian crazy husband but theyre not legally married sooo... yeah. But back to the story. We discussed the need to trust in God before trusting in man. We then turned to the teenagers for their testimonies. Jean, the least intelligent of the 3 said something I will never forget. Jean struggles to read and understand the book of mormon, but has a heart of gold. What he said touched my heart "Mom, I need to be baptized. I need to because I feel something here, that I have never felt before." His simple testimony was beyond a shadow of a doubt the most powerful Ive ever felt. After his testimony, we prayed, and the mother, Suyapa, felt peaceful about the situation. She told us how she had been trying to call us to tell us not to come for the interviews, but that not one of the phones in the house wanted to work! We testified that God knew we needed to have that interview, that he wasnt going to allow us to just throw in the towel that easy! He definitely makes baren his arm in the work! 

Later that night, there was a huge stake party, so we passed to bring jean Gil and tahisa over there with us. As we started walking, we started looking for a taxi to take us. One after another, the taxis passed by and we said "no, that ones really ghetto" or "no, that one probably doesnt have air conditioning" little did we know that god was using our "stuck-up-ness" The next taxi that passed by looked acceptable and we put our hands out. He came to a screeching stop and put his head out the window and shouted "ELDERES!!!" It was our investigator Elbin, who we hadnt been able to find because of work! He had finally found a job as a taxi driver! His and our prayers were answered. He informed us that hes been ready dilligently still, and that he knows Heavenly Father has blessed him. It was a huge miracle, because now we have constant contact again. And hes our personal taxi! haha 

At the party, another investigator, Mari (nicolles older sister) showed up. She quickly found and old friend of hers, an RM! He talked with her all night, and she now is much more excited about baptism, and is preparing much more dilligently. Just another miracle in the Lords vineyard! 

But, as much as the Lord helps us in his work, he still cannot take away the agency of other people. Saturday afternoon, suyapas 6 year old daughter, who meant no harm, came running to her dad with excitement to tell him the news about Jeans baptism. That was the beginning of the war. He and Suyapa had a large fight, and the kids werent able to be baptized. Its a hard thing to deal with the agency of other people. But afterwards, we sat and prayed amd felt peaceful. All of us had done everything possible. Even God worked a few miracles. But He still cannot take away agency. I know that they were ready for baptism, and that they have their salvation at the moment. The sin will fall on the head of he who is responsable. I am so proud of those kids. Theyre going to make excellent missionaries one day. Ill always consider them as my converts!!! 

Well, the mission is incredible. Ive learned so much! Even in trials like these, theres always peace and happiness knowing that youre serving the Lord, and that in trials and disappointment, youre walking with the Savior. The mission isnt easy. because salvation isnt a cheap experience! Im so pumped for GC this next week! To hear the words of a living prophet is an invaluable experience. 

I love you all!
Elder Hodson

Tuesday, September 23, 2014