Week 70

Good ol Santa Rita

 

Dearest family and friends,

Life is great here in the mission! I dont have much to say this week, theres not much different. But its been a great week none the less.

Tuesday we went to La Paz and had a multizone conference! One of my converts from that area showed up and brought me baleadas. Ana Maria, dunias daughter. Theyre going strong in the gospel and even went to the temple! Im happy for them. But theyre going through a ton of problems right now with health and work. I wish I was there to help them out. But our conference was all about HARD WORK!!!! I loved it. Thats what these missionaries need. Hard work.

I baptized one of the other missionaries investigators this week. Luis. I dont have any idea why he chose me to baptize him. But yeah. I did. 

The silva family has a baptismal date for the 18th of july and Gloria and her husband have a date for the 2nd of august. So we're seeing more progress here in the area! 

Well, a little shoutout to my big bro Tanner for getting engaged! Proud of him!

Always,

Elder Hodson

 

 

 

Week 69

Great Week

Dearest family and friends,

How ya'll doin? Im doing great. 

Ive got two great stories for you. We've been teaching this girl Edith for a while now, and never really progresses, but we felt to go visit her on friday, and only her mom was there. Her mom always listens, but shes adventist and never really cares about what we say haha When we showed up she quickly ushered us in and told us that Edith wasnt there, but that she, Gloria, had been feeling very sick and worried with her heart problems and broke down in tears. We gave her a blessing and she calmed down. She told us after that she was in her hammock reading the book of mormon and had prayed to god to help her in this time of need with her heart problem, then as she closed her prayer we showed up at her door! We asked her what she thinks god is trying to tell her, and she took that as her answer that God wants her to be a member of his true church! I love being a part of miracles and being the answer to peoples prayers. theres no sweeter feeling.

The Silva family came to church and they loved it. We went back after church to find Andi, the 14 year old. So we talked with her for a minute and asked if she had read and prayed. She said that she had. And that she couldnt explain what she felt. But she knows that what she felt was an answer from God and she knows the church is true. It was great because Ive never seen an investigator so happy to know that the church is true. She was ecstatic! And so I was ecstatic! haha She told us that she wants to be baptized so we put down her date for the 18 of july. That family is great. 

So I learned something this week. its nothing new for me. But it refreshed something for me. Its called NOT CARING! Not caring at all what people think about you. Just going out, and not caring if they laugh, or if they reject you, just going out and PREACHING THE GOSPEL! Always with love, but always bold. When we preach with all of that power and authority, the people dont get offended. For example, I told a catholic lady straight to her face that the catholic church is false. But that God wants her to be a part of his true church.  So now we're just doing our best to find people, regardless of if theyre gonna laugh, and to teach them the restauration simply so that they can understand, and defying them to read and pray. No more tactics, no more fluff, just preaching the restored gospel!!!!!!!! haha 

Well. I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Always,
Elder Hodson

Week 68

Who knew popcorn girl would come in handy!

Dearest family and friends,

How is everyone doing this week? once again, another great week in the mission. Every week is different. But every week is good.

Remember the Silva family? THEYRE SO DOPE! The mom, Elsa, asked such a golden question. "I know there has to be only one true church, its not like every church can be true. But what happens if I never find the true church and I die?! Do I go to hell?!" Boom. baptisms for the dead. She loved it. 

We also found another golden investigator named Jaime. Hes 19 and goes to an evangelic church but he understands that his church is false. How awesome is that?! We challenged him to baptism and he said "of course. If its true then I have to be baptised there" I asked him "so it doesnt bother you that we challenged you to baptism...." and then he interrupted me and said "and that youre basically saying that Im in the wrong? no, not at all. If it wasnt that way you wouldnt be here as missionaries!" dang. He even knew the word apostasy before we taught him! so cool haha hes super smart. And he wanted to buy the Book of Mormon, and when we gave it to him.he was shocked! 

So we had a ward movie night and watched meet the mormons! 120 people showed up! It was awesome. It was raining and the people here in honduras are made of sugar and will melt in the rain, so it was a miracle that 120 people showed up! Our ward rented a popcorn machine, so of course I had to put my experiece to the test! I made popcorn all night long! I felt like I was in high school again! haha I never thought my high school job would come in handy. I used to complain always because they worked me so dang hard and never paid me extra, but in reality Im glad that they abused me! Because now Im working even harder and I dont get paid at all! Funny how God prepares us at all times huh?

Well. Ill leave you with a scrip.John 15:15  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." If we do exactly what He wants from us, we are his friends, and through the Spirit he reveals to us all things. If we just serve with half of our heart and mind, were just servants, and our service is good for nothing!

I love you all!
Elder Hodson

 

 

Week 67

Hardest week I've ever worked


Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing this fine day? Im doing great. This week was awesome. This was without a doubt the hardest ive ever worked in my whole mission. We taught 30 lessons and had 20 new investigators. I LOVE the way I feel. I just feel like a super missionary. Ive never felt so happy in my mission I think. And the funniest part is, its not like we saw any crazy miracles this week! Its not like we ran into pure prepared people waiting to receive the gospel! So I dont have any stories like that for today. We found one awesome family, The Silva Family, they seem like they could truly progress. But Today Im just writing home feeling great. We really did work our butts off and I feel like if I keep this up, at the end of my two years Im going to collapse from a stroke. haha i couldnt imagine how incredible the work would be if I didnt have an anchor of a companion! haha dont get me wrong, I love the kid, and hes making INCREDIBLE strides in his progress, but Im definitely dragging him around all day. haha 

But I do have an awesome story from this week. At church on sunday, we had an awesome church attendance of 135 which is huge for this ward. Among those 135 was my comps EX GIRLFRIEND!!! hahah he wasnt so obedient earlier in his mission, and he had a girlfriend about 7 months ago. He repented of that and wrote her off and told president and everything, and all was well. Until this sunday she decided to pay us a visit! Shes deeply in love with my comp haha but he handled the situation incredibly maturely! He didnt do anything stupid! He didnt try and escape from me, he did hug her, nothing! he just shook her hand, said hello, and asked how she found him, then said goodbye! It was great to see that he really is growing up. Hes a great kid.

This week, I held a cayman! Its like a crocodile or alligator. It was a baby, but still cool to say I held one. We took pics on the members phone, but they got erased. Just my luck.

Well. I love you all! All those who have callings, I promise you, if you magnify your calling, you will be so much happier! GO TO WORK! 

Always,

Elder Hodson

Week 66

Hola.

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hows everyone doing? Life is FLYING!!!! Were in June! The second year of the mission goes so much faster. Its pretty incredible really, you reach a point in your mission when you feel like you can do it all. As a proselyting missionary, I feel like Ive gotten there. Obviously I cant think that Im the perfect missionary, because I still make mistakes, but nothing scares me anymore. And thats why I think the mission is going so fast now. You get to that point where youre on it everyday and you just get it done! So Im loving it. But now what Im learning is how to deal with a crap ward haha I love this area. I love the people and I love all my investigators and I just love working here. But I hate going to church haha This ward is terrible. But hey. Im not gonna worry about it. Im just gonna go out and baptize new leaders! Cuz thats what we need! New leaders! 

So weve had an awesome week. Weve worked super hard. And were seeing results! Jairo is doing great. This week we went to go visit him with a member of the stake presidency. We thought president zavala was just gonna pump him up but he helped in a much bigger way. Jairo has a little adopted brother, but his biological family came and took him away. He and his family had been suffering greatly, and miraculously enough, president zavala had passed through the same thing only 6 months before hand. There was a great spirit there and it really helped Jairo. The next day we went back to see him and asked if he had received his answer or not, but he responded "the same as always, I just feel peace everytime I ask. But I know thats God responding. I really do know its true." So we put a baptismal date! He turns 22 on July 2nd so were gonna baptize him on that day. 

We saw another awesome miracle this week. Some recent converts who are incredible in this ward, Maria and Carlos, invited all the missionaries to their house for a birthday lunch for their mom. They had always tried with her, but they could never crack her! Shes a hard one! But we spent a moment with them laughing and telling stories. When we left, she told her kids, I wanna be happy. I want the elders to teach me. Im ready. We're not teaching her, but its always awesome to see miracles. 

Ive decided I need to share my joy with all of you, its selfish to keep all of my hilarious stories from my comp to myself! So Ill tell you all one each week. My favorite story from this week would have to be thursday morning. My comp never washes his plates after using them. His milk just sits there till the next mornings cereal. So thursday he stood up with his bowl, and I thought "finally hes gonna wash that". I was wrong. He walked behind me, grabbed his dirty sheets off the floor, and started cleaning his bowl of day old dried milk with his dirty sheets!!!!! Yeah. I gave it to him good. Weve laughed about it everyday. He realizes that he needs to change his bad habits, so we're having a good time trying to change those haha 

Well, I love you all! enjoy some good pics!