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!!!

 

 

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 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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