Week 56

Good ol' San Juan

Dearest family and friends,

I dont have much too say this week! It was a great week and we got much done, but it was kind of a regular week! 

The highlight of this week was definitely our giant family home evening we had with all of the members of the ward. We watched the restauration movie in the ortez´s house and it went great. We are seeing a huge difference here in san juan as we can feel the love in between members growing. 

We had a super funny story this week. A crazy guy who looked totally normal stopped us and started to preach to us about how because Im from the united states that I have the blood of the jews in my veins and because of that Im automatically saved. But when he would talk to marin hed get real close to his face. It was hilarious.

Elder Godoy is leaving us tomorrow :(:(:( He got the call today. Ive loved my second son! Hes awesome and is gonna be a leader in costa rica! Its been super fun to be in a trio. There hasnt been one dull moment in these past two weeks for sure. 

Well, Sorry I dont have too much to write! But I have a ton of pics. Heres the pics of my shirt burning and pics of us today in this cool historical train. I love my pics with my two little comps. I love them haha 

Always,

Elder Hodson

 

 

Week 55

Visión Nuevo San Juan

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hows everyone doing today?

So Elder Godoy is still with me. He should be out of here in a few days, but right now were in a trio! Elder Marin is my new comp, from Peru. Hes AWESOME. Super smart and super funny. 20 months in the mission, finally have a comp with more experience than I do. We get along great. 

 I have had a weird week. Ups and downs really. Im happy, but we have had some hardships this last week. Alvin, one of our investigators and Andy's bestfriend, died this week. He played soccer one night and got hit with an asthma attack and passed away. Its been extremely hard for his family. And Its hard to teach someone and have them progressing towards baptism, and then they pass away. Obviously the thought races if they will have a chance in the next life to accept the gospel, but alvin was a great kid. Andy was getting him pumped for baptism and was going to baptize him. I know he'll have the chance still. 

Its been interesting to see Andy go through this trial. We went to go visit him the day after the funeral to see how he was holding up and the first thing he asks us when we got there was "so can I be baptized for Alvin?!" Hes very excited to go to the temple in a year and be baptized for alvin. Its awesome to see how much the gospel has helped Andy make it through this challenge. 

We witnessed a miracle here in San Juan! Dunia Ortez's ex husband took her to court for custody of their children because he said that those two men in ties, or in other words us missionaries, were going to rape his children. In reality it was just a tactic to get at Dunia. She was terribly shooken up on sunday when we went to see her and we assured her the Lord would put forth his arm. She prayed that night for guidance and then opened up her brand new triple. She opened to mormon 8 which says.

 17  Y si hay errores, son errores del hombre. Mas he aquí, no sabemos que haya errores; no obstante, Dios sabe todas las cosas; por tanto, cuídese aquel que condene, no sea que corra peligro del fuego del infierno.

 18  Y el que diga: Mostradme o seréis heridos, cuídese, no sea que mande lo que el Señor ha prohibido.

 19  Porque he aquí, el que precipitadamente juzgue, precipitadamente será también juzgado; pues según sus obras, será su paga; por tanto, aquel que hiera será, a su vez, herido del Señor.

In her court case, the first thing she did was defend her religion. She brought her triple and read that verse to the judge and in her ex's face. In the end, the judge ended up reaming the ex husband and giving more rights to dunia. How awesome is that story?! I was shocked.

We had a meeting with all of the members this week to present them our new plan for san juan. We have about 25-30 active members in san juan and theres like 200 less actives. So we sat them down and presented them a plan and gave them visiting asignments. The meeting was great, the members were pumped and we are going to see miracles here in San Juan! 

To close, I had a cool experience yesterday. The young mens stake president had a fireside last night with all the parents and youth of those who wanted to serve missions. He asked me to speak and share a little bit of what I did to prepare myself for my mission. I expected to speak for 10 minutes, and it felt like 10 minutes, but without noticing I had talked with them for 35 minutes. I felt a little dumb after, but I am super happy for all the work I put in BEFORE my mission, because its made my work here in the mission easier. 

Well. I love you all! 

Week 54

Andy & Elder Anderson

Dearest Family and Friends,

What a fast week it has been. Holy cow. We have put into place the new plan Elder Duncan had told us about and wow does it work. We have a ton of new investigators and I really do feel like we are gonna make a huge difference here with this new plan. 

So Elder Andersen from the quorum of the 12 came to visit us this week! It was great to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord! We had the opportunity to sing for him! it went great. all the elders put on the blue ties dad sent me. It went super well. I conducted to choir. Afterwards Elder Andersen shook my hand and congratulated us. He came also with Bishop Davies and Elder Maines of the 70. They both gave incredible talks. Then he started to speak. It was interesting because he spoke purely about the atonement of jesus christ. But it makes sense. He is a special witness that jesus christ lives, and he came to the mission only to testify to us that Christ lives! 

It was great to hear an apostle speak, but even more special was Andys baptism. Before hand he was feeling a little down because of one of his peers and couldnt focus on his baptism. We shared a few scrips before hand, got him pumped and we started the service. Let me tell ya, he was the easiest person Ive baptized on my whole mission! haha he bent his knees like a champ! But afterwards, as he and I were changing, he couldnt stop telling me how incredibly he felt. and how happy he was. That to me is what makes the mission worth while. Seeing how much Andy has changed and seeing how happy he now is. Im really proud of Andy. I feel as though he will be one of if not the most important convert I have. 

Well, Elder Godoy got his visa, so my beloved son is now leaving me :( ill get a new comp this week probably. Ive loved Elder Godoy. Probably my favorite comp. Hes gonna do great in Costa Rica. Now the crappy part is, Im staying here in San Juan for another month and a half! Its not too bad actually. I love this area so much and all the people here so, Im not upset really. 7 months isnt too bad ahah I might just buy a house here with how much time I have living here haha 

I burnt my shirt this week. I have photos but on Godoys camera and hes in tegucigalpa today so Ill send pics next week. 

Well. Life is great! I love you all. 

Always,

Elder Hodson

 

 

Week 53

Carwashes brings miracles!

Dearest family and friends,

this week was different, but awesome none the less! On wednesday the area president, elder Duncan, came and spoke to the mission. And he got us all pumped up to go out and work harder! This saturday we have a fireside with Elder Anderson of the 12. And the elders in my zone are singing! Im a little nervous! 

My highlight of this week was this saturday. We decided to experiment and try a new tactic of finding, so we did a free carwash in the church! A bunch of people came and we got some awesome references. And 2 of them even came to church the next day! The activity was a blast. Afterwards, the elders quorum put on a huge activity with a bunch of traditional games and soccer. It was a blast. Andy came and even brought 3 friends! Hes doing great. 

I feel like I have nothing to write this week! This week went super fast, but I have nothing new to write! Well. Im sure Ill have much to write next week. I hope all is well with everyone at home! I love you all! 

Elder Hodson

WEEK 52!!!!!

1. YEAR.

Dearest Family and Friends,

Yep. 1 year in the mission. This is kind of a big deal. How incredibly fast it has been. Sometimes I start to look back at this past year and think, "could I do it all over again?" "yep. easy peezy lemon squeezy."  But this has definitely been the most rewarding year of my life. One I will never forget! And Im so glad Ive written in a journal everyday for the past year, so now Ill never forget any of my experiences! 

So now that Ive hit a year, do any of you have any suggestions? Anything youd like to read differently in my emails?

This week has been awesome. We had our White Night! 8 people were baptized and in total there were 14 people in white clothing! I baptized Dunia, Ana Paola, And two investigators from the sisters. I baptized their sister a long time ago and they wanted me to baptize their whole family soooo. Bueno. And It made me sad, elkin was supposed to baptize dunia but he was too week and couldnt lift her out of the water, he almost dropt her and drowned her! hahahah so I had to step in and help out. But afterwards the ward made a cake and everyone was so happy and the spirit was so strong. It feels awesome to have a ward that supports you. 

Dalaai, the girl from last week, is progressing wonderfully. We went to her house one night at about 7 and we sat down and immediately she asked "whats the book of mormon?" so we started explaining and she said "how is it that Im 20 years old and have never heard of this book?!" so we gladly gave her once and she rejoiced to receive it! So held it dear and for the first time in my mission Ive seen someone actually rejoice to receive a Book of Mormon. 

Andy, a 17 year old teenager weve been teaching for a few months, never ceases to suprise me. Just when we think weve lost him, he shows up at church without us passing by for him. Funny story, we contacted his grandpa and brought him to church without even knowing theyre related! But Andy is doing great. Reading the BoM without being told to do so, and even went and did visits with us on sunday night! He really loves church and wants to be a missionary. The best part is, he really means it. He doesnt just want to be a missionary to travel or because we look cool. He really has found a love for the gospel. He wants me to baptize him before I leave this area, so he'll be baptized next weekend. What surprises me is that the kid is tall, handsome, super good soccer player, economically comfortable, yet hes humble. thats INCREDIBLY rare here in honduras or in the whole world. It shocks me how he could so easily be lost in all the wrong things, but he isnt! 

We had some funny experiences with some wildlife in the house. A giant scorpion and the biggest frog ive ever seen hahaha 

Welp. One year down. Im loving it. Ill send pics of my burning shirt next week! haha love you all! 

Always,

Elder Hodson

 

 

Week 51

Crazy fast week!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hows everyone? I hope everyone has had great weeks. Mine has been incredible. And way too fast! I cant believe its already the week of the 28th! This week is gonna be so awesome because we have 10 baptisms in my district! Im so pumped! Were gonna have a "white night" and we are gonna invite president Klein to be there as well! Its gonna be awesome.

The Ortez family is progressing wonderfully. Theyre super excited for their baptism this weekend. We shared a scripture with them this week, and I learned something super interesting from this scripture. Mosiah 24:14 teaches us that the Lord will ease our burdens, but that we have trials for a purpose, so that we can be witnesses in the future that God loves us and will always help us! Isnt that interesting? I had never thought about that. It reminded me of my dad, and that he passed through a difficult trial of depression and anxiety while serving as bishop, but thanks to that trial, He was able to be a much better bishop and is able to testify to others that God will always help! I love that, and it makes me much happier and willing to except trials, because I know afterwards Ill be able to help others!

Eduardo is doing great. We had an awesome experience where we knelt with him and he asked God if everything was true. He expressed that all the noise from the neighbors huge radio and the dump truck outside of the house was completely blocked out, and that he felt a deep penetrating peace, and the greatest part was that Godoy and I felt exactly the same. 

We had an awesome experience this week contacting in the rain. We contacting a 20 year old girl and her little sister in the pooring rain. they invited us to sit on their porch and talk with us and I thought "eh, she probably just wants to learn english or something" but she then started to ask a ton of deep incredibly interesting stories. They dont go to any church yet they have an INCREDIBLE knowledge of the scriptures. They came to church with us the first time we invited them, which NEVER happens. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!

Well, Im almost to my year mark! Im feeling great and I still feel new!

Love you all!

Elder Hodson