Week 11- Baptisims and Temples and a little bit of scary

This week was super great! It started out with the most pitiful storm I have ever witnessed. haha "flossie" was so tiny! just a bit of rain and wind. that's all. :(
We did get some Cleaning done....some a bit scary.

I don't know if I ever mentioned that we got a call last Friday from a girl named R who wants to get back associated with the church. We met up with her and talked for a bit. She has chosen to be baptized on the 24th of August. She also told us that she wanted to give up smoking! She is awesome. We had our Zone Leaders come and give her a priesthood blessing. They also brought this 15 steps paper for how to quit smoking. It had some super great tips and Ryese seems to be doing great. It was great to walk out of the appointment with a box of cigarettes......not a typical missionary accessary:)
Oh, p.s. our mission got texting this week!!!!! It has been super helpful for getting in touch with families!
We had Riley (13 yrs old) and Logan's (8 yrs old) baptism and confirmation this weekend. They were both so excited and it was such a great experience. They are such amazing kids with such strong testimonies. They were invited up to share their testimonies after the baptism. Riley went first and shared how happy she was and how grateful she was. Logan got up and said "um, I feel really happy and warm, like everyone is around me and like Heaven is on earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." So cute!

 We got to go to the temple today! Aw north shore is so beautiful! and the temple is SO AMAZING! We got a bunch of pictures but this computer doesn't have a way to send them....I'll send some next week. The temple was so peaceful and quiet. It was really nice.

So a few nights ago we came home and when we opened the door, we saw that all of the lights were off except for the bathroom light. The light was on and the door was closed...but sister mottl and I were both standing in the doorway. We looked at each other like okay who's in our bathroom... Then we turned on the kitchen light and the bathroom light went off. We started to really freak out. We grabbed my pepper spray and shoved open the bathroom door to find nothing! we laughed a bit and realized that it had only looked like the bathroom light turned off because of how bright the kitchen light was. I guess it's good that no creepy stranger was in our pad.....that would have been exciting. but it did really scare us!
The weeks go by so quickly here. I can't believe that I have been out this long already. I love Hawaii, but I miss you all too <3
love, Sister Hodgson

p.s. the main lady temple worker's name was Heidi <3   Missing her....

P. p.s. also we went to pearl harbor this Wednesday and we got to sweep the corridors of a battleship!! i guess that's pretty cool too! haha I cant believe I forgot to mention that:) I love you all so much! Have a fun mommy daddy vacation!

week 10- starving or stuffed

This week I feel like we've either been starving or stuffed all week. We get some pretty great meals here, and once this week we had some one at a lesson feed us right before our dinner appointment. Everyone is so hospitable. But also we are running low on food from having the mini missionaries for the past month and a half. That meant that we were feeding 4 with a budget for 2. not impossible but defiantly leads to less enjoyable food options. for lunch on Sunday we ate some smarties candy and notebook paper..... it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.some times people give us food...it is usually SUCH a blessing...sometimes we are not quite sure what to say or do.

oh, and I ate the hardest thing that i've eaten on my mission so far this week.......and It was the dessert: rice pudding...................... as  you know , I can't really swallow anything that is that texture. I ate as much as I could as quickly as I could and then started slyly slipping some into the napkin on my lap. (my trainer taught me how to do that). O boy, I almost finished it but just couldn't.......but I was close enough that it was socially acceptable.

This week our district leader taught us about being bold in our commitments. So we took that and ran with it. We have 2 baptisms scheduled for this Saturday and 3 scheduled for august 24th. We feel so blessed to have these wonderful investigators and we love learning with them.

One was actually a miracle investigator. We got a phone call on Friday saying that she saw our # on a flyer. She used to attend Young womens and seminary, but she hasn’t been involved in years. She wants to get back associated with the church! We are super excited to continue  teaching her. I love that the Lord can take 2 boppy 19 year old girls and use us to do good. We could not do ANY of this on our own!

lots of love,

Sister Hodgson

p.s. we get some pretty funny responses from people here. We went out this week to get back in touch with a former investigator. There were two guys out front so we asked them "does J  live here?" his reply was "are you the girlfriend?" haha. 1st of all, there's two of us..... we cant both be the girlfriend. 2nd of all, do we look like the type of people who would be "the girlfriend?" haha in our grandma sandals and our long skirts....anyway. we got in touch with J and we will meet with him on Thursday:)

WEEK 9 - Sunburns and a fair

Every week I feel like there is so much to write! But it never seems to all get in there right…

Monday- we had pday and played frisbee. Also, we were running low on food so we decided that we wouldn't buy water this week so we could spend that money on food. we would just fill our bottles up at the ward mission leaders house.

Tuesday- We went to fill up our water bottles and the ward mission leader was just heading out the door to go shopping with his brother and sister-in-law who are staying with them. They let us fill up our bottles then offered to buy us a case of water bottles. We went to pick up the water bottles after a lesson and they had also bought us groceries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the sweetest thing! they bought us snacks, frozen veggies, fruit, spinach, potatoes, cheese, tons of stuff!! We are so grateful for them! I also heard about sister Julie Jones' grocery miracle. people are really taking care of us. it is just so sweet!

ON tuesday we also taught a lesson to J. The last lesson that we had with her didn't go very well. nothing awful happened but the spirit just wasn't there. This time around, we were scared. we knew that it would be important to help her feel the spirit, and we knew that we couldn't teach this lesson without it. We had to pray hard.  I was more afraid than sister M, so we decided that sister M would invite her . As we were going through the lesson we felt very guided and the spirit was able to be there. as it came time to invite J to be baptized, words came into my head and i felt that those words were the exact way that she needed to be asked. I felt that I had so say it, but sister M was already starting down the road to the invitation. She finished her sentence then looked over at me, then I asked Jamie about her thoughts on baptism. After the lesson, sister M and i were talking. she was like "that was so cool! I just felt like you needed to ask her." and I was like "me too!" It wasn't important to sis m or me who asked  J but it was really neat to feel how the spirit can work to get both sis m and me on the same page so that we can teach in harmony. It was neat to feel guided to do something differently than we had planned, and it was neat that we both felt the same way. Lessons go so much better when we let the spirit lead. When we are trying to do exactly what we want, we are WAY less successful!

Wednesday: some of the elders needed to borrow our car for the transfer meeting so we had a walking day!!!!!!!!!! we were running behind schedule in the morning and we finally got out the door and started walking. I was like "oh no we forgot sunscreen.....never mind were late" .....................bad idea........ALWAYS. WEAR. SUNSCREEN. end of discussion. we got SUPER burnt! our faces and arms got it a little bit but the back of my neck and shoulders got fried! we had a really great time walking though! it was fun to experience what that would be like. and it made us way more grateful for our car!

Thursday: we had week plan, so all morning we lathered aloe and moisturizer on while we planned. That evening we got two more mini missionaries, which turned out to be super great girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were so much fun to spend the weekend with!  ( Mom loves how they have "Mini Missionaries" that are bigger than the two "real" missionaries  :)

Friday: we had zone conference. We got a new set of elders in our zone because the M1 ward is very busy  and it is hard for the Zone leaders to handle it all! so now, with all these elders in the zone without cars, our zone has been authorized for sisters to drive elders. WEIRD! so right now we are at the library with the salt lake elders.... . Friday we also taught a lesson to the D family. The dad's  kids are staying with the dad and his new wife . The 8 yr old decided that he wanted to be baptized so we have been teaching the lessons to him. On Friday, we found out that his sister (13 yrs old) has read the book of Mormon, prayed and felt the Holy Ghost. She is going to be baptized with her brother! We are super excited for them both! And the oldest brother (14 yrs old), has started reading the book of Mormon and we are so happy for him too

Saturday: our stake had a giant fair all day at the stake center! there were 1200+ people there! there were food booths, game booths, a stage with singing, dancing, etc. a fire truck haha it was crazy!

Sunday: I spoke in church! about missionary work:) and we had a fireside.

Today: my sunburn is peeling like crazy! I feel like a zombie.

Anyway, I am LOVING it here! I know that this is where I need to be!

lots of love,

Sister Hodgson

p.s. I have started referring to myself as sister hodgson when I say things in third person....weird! sometimes I feel like my name doesn't exists anymore.

Week 8- exchanges, fruit and veggies and transfers

You may note that Rachel Hodgson has a brace on her arm.  Her father asked about it in one of the "chat" emails and she said she would share that in the family email....and we got  NOTHING...soooo

This week we went on exchanges! Sister M went to another area with one sister and the “sister training leader”  came to our area. It was neat to see how other sisters do things. We learn a lot from exchanges. Also that night we were asked to sing at the cottage meeting- (a meeting at the president's house where new converts share their conversion stories and we invite our investigators to hear). Sister M the Samoan sisters and myself sang acapella"I need Thee every hour". It was really neat to be able to sing with such amazing sisters! But it was also kinda scary because president's wife used to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle choir! Haha

So I got a few questions to answer this week:

What is a normal day like? I'd say that we NEVER have a normal day haha but a rough outline of the schedule is: wake up at 6:30, exercise, shower, eat, personal study, companion study, 12 weeks training (which is the in field training that we do for the first 12 weeks because the mtc time was shortened) then work for a few hours (usually visiting less actives , service or tracting), lunch break, back out to visits, service opportunities, tracting and lessons, dinner break, back out to visits and lessons, home to update the area book, plan for the next day then go to sleep:)

What's my companion like: A lot like me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just where I am a bit more of a guilty conscience she is a little more care free. She had a VERY hard childhood and teenagehood, so that has shaped her into a bit of a tougher shell than me. We share EVERYTHING with each other! food, clothing (we're even the same jean size and shoe size), thoughts. It is nice to be able to be so open. We could probably read our journal entries and emails out loud to each other and not learn anything new haha:) she is a songwriter. like, going to be famous, wrote her first song at age 3 type songwriter. we take care of each other and understand each other. She is so wonderful! She actually got a blessing this week and in the blessing they said that she and I have similar strengths. even in a blessing we are compared as similar:)

What do we eat? Spinach eggs, spinach smoothies, spinach quesadillas, beans and rice, apples, carrots, we went through a small cereal phase because I just wanted milk.....weird right?...... um sometimes ramen with cheese and vegetables......... we start out the week pretty healthy, but by Saturday (especially with feeding 2 mini missionaries as well) we get down to like a few carrots and cheese puffs. we don’t even like cheese puffs. I’m not even sure that they are actually a food...... but some members gave them to us and we saved them because we knew that we'd run out of food by the end of the week. Monday is like Christmas because we get to buy more food. I have never appreciated fruit and vegetables so much in my life. I don’t think I ve ever appreciated the value of a dollar either.....or just food in general

Details of my apt: cockroaches, one bedroom, new appliances and counter tops, good storage space, the closet doors are GIANT mirrors, laundry costs like 70,000 quarters a load, and the stairs to our apt give us a good workout!

what ever happened to the investigator who was open to the gospel but living with her boy friend? she moved....and she wasnt ready to make those changes in her life yet.....super sad but hopefully the new missionaries will know how to help her.

okay, transfers happen this week! we got "the voice mail" last night. The zone leaders leave a voice mail Sunday night announcing who needs to pack their bags- Its like the Hunger games reaping! Listening as they call names one by one: "the missionaries who need to pack their bags are : elder Deane, elder Armstrong, elder Ukenio, elder Martino, Sister.......... Totally suspenseful moment .....Fisi' ahi. We are staying in Hon- West!!!!!!!!!!!! Sister M  and I were so excited! SO another 6 weeks together here:)

well Im out of time. The church is true! Heavenly Father knows us each personally and He is there to help us. ALl we need to do is ask.

Much love, and Aloha from Sister Hodgson

WEEK 7- NEW MISSION PRESIDENT AND LOST SHOES

This week was one of the funnest (most fun) weeks ever! Monday was p-day, Tuesday we met our new mission president and his wife, Wednesday we had zone meeting, Thursday was the 4th of July, Friday and Saturday we had 2 mini missionaries and Sunday we had cake waffles at our bishop’s house. (cake waffles are amazing....just cake batter cooked like a waffle, but I’m pretty sure it tastes better that way:)

Okay so President Warner and his wife are super nice! I think that I'm going to like them a lot. They are funny and organized and super ready to do whatever they need to do. Oh, and did you hear that there are some new missionary rules? no backbacks. period. all the elders need to get satchels:) also, they can wear light colored suits (like grey and tan------not like that will matter for hawaii because no one here wears suits anyway).

Our mini missionaries were super sweet and hardworking! We loved having them!

oh, also, at church this week, some lady bore her testimony then had a seizure and passed out. She's all good now, but it sure made for an eventful Sacrament meeting.

O WOW!!!!!!! We just now got a phone call from a recent convert in our ward. Her husband's kids are living with them for the summer. She said "Hi I was just calling because the 8 year old who is staying with us wants to be baptized before he goes".......okay we can probably work with that!

We have a lot new investigators.....and a lot of investigators with unique names. A few of the names are: MandiAnne, Krisha, Augustine, Jerrell, Corbin, Jeanine, Aurthor, Beatrice, Trinity, Rudy, Buddy, Byron, Lalo, and Princess! Haha, we feel like when we talk about our investigators, people will think that we're just making things up!

The fourth of July was awesome!!! We stopped proselyting at 6:00 and just got to hang out with our zone! We did some fireworks then went on a hike. It was super steep up the side of a heavily forested mountain, and it was dark out! But the view from the top was amazing!! one of our poor zone leaders got stung by a bee though. But he's okay now!

While we were on the hike, one of the zone leaders lost his shoe and it rolled down the mountain a bit into the dark. We all started looking but weren't having much luck. After a prayer, it was found almost instantly. A few minutes later, I lost my shoe. But again, a prayer was said and we found it right away. I was thinking about how dumb that was to lose 2 shoes in like 2 minutes and ask for help to find them, but Heavenly Father really cares about us individually, and He cares about our specific problems. He knew exactly where we were and exactly where the shoes were. He also knew how important it was to us to find them. I am so grateful that He loves us so much and answers all of our prayers. There is no request too small or too silly for Him. He is watching over us and wants to help us. All we have to do is ask!

Love you all!

-Sister Hodgson