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

 

 

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 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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