17 B- tell us about where you live

This is  the view from our apt. we're the tiny building amongst the tall ones.

my apartment is a one bedroom on the third floor. the windows are the kind that don't close and there's no AC. but we do have one very beloved fan. We don't have hot water in our sink. we have wood floors in the kitchen/ living room. we have a carpet bedroom and a tile bathroom. We have two small plastic tables pushed together for our study desk, one old recliner from a ward member, a weird glass table in the corner that we don't really use and a dresser with three drawers each in our bedroom.

we have plenty of shelving, plenty of cockroaches and a mold- free shower curtain. There is a pet cat that lives in our parking lot named celery. and a gimpy bird that I named gregory.

we live in the ghetto- as previously mentioned- so there is a lot of smoking, police sirens , and sketchy people who sleep in the park next door. But we have nice neighbors and a great stove and fridge too!

WEEK 17- Hiking, losing my companion and FOOD

Last week on pday we went on a hike! There was a part where you could either continue on by climbing up the rocks next to the waterfall, or you could just wait at the bottom. I waited with one of the Samoan ward sisters that did not want to climb, and sister McKinney went up with the other Samoan ward sister. Then about a half hour later, that sister came back down by herself. I was like "hey where's my companion?" and she told me that she had gone up further with some others . So we just waited at the bottom. We started to get a little bit worried. So the Zone leaders went back up to look for them. About 20 minutes later they came back down by themselves. They couldn't find them! I was thinking "awesome......i totally lost my companion in the forest....that's so not ideal!" We got down to the cars and they weren't there so I turned around and started running to go back to the waterfall. After about a minute, I ran into the zone leaders and they were like "where are you going?" I told them "back to the waterfall." they were like "um...we can't let you do that" I’m like "ya, but I lost my companion!" and they're like "but you can't just go running off into the forest by yourself........that would just be one more person that we're responsible for if anything bad happens." They kinda had a point....it's probably never good to run off into the forest by yourself anyway. So the zone leaders and I drove up the road to see if they had hiked far enough to get onto the main road. We didn't find them, but while we were heading back we came across an ambulance and a few police cars dealing with something on the side of the road. I was like "this really isn't good......". we kind of slowed down, but couldn't see any one that we recognized. Then we got a call saying that they were back at the cars. I was so glad to hear that everyone was safe and everything was okay. We found out later that the elders were catching crawdads  and sister  M couldn't just hike back through the forest alone. haha.........18 year old elders seriously need to keep an eye on the time..........

On September 11th, we got to do service at Pearl Harbor. We got to clean out the sick bay. ( she did not mention which boat…hahahah ) It was really neat to be there on such a special day. Then we toured the boiler room afterwards. 

After the service, we went to a lunch appointment. It was Mexican food: Horchatta, burritos and some sort of spinach/bacon/cream cheese chicken. I don't like milk, so sister McKinney drank her horchatta and then slyly switched cups with me and drank mine too..... the only problem is, if you drink it, they pour more. So She had to drink two more cups of horchatta! And she doesn't like bacon or chicken, so I had to eat her chicken thing....well most of it. We got outside and I whispered to her "I have chicken in my skirt". She was like "What!!!??" . this is becoming a common occurrence.

Our Pad got fumigated this day also. We had do bag up almost EVERYTHING!!!!!!! Our car is like a hobo shopping cart it has so much stuff in it!!!! We spent $40.00 washing every item of clothing and bedding that we own.  

We are having a lot of success working with members that are “less active”. It is really neat to see how much everyone just needs love. That solves almost ANY problem.  We are working with one sweet young lady to prepare her to go through the temple now that she is coming to church again. After she was baptized, she moved and she hasn't gone to church in years! She recently started coming back and she is doing so well!!!!! We love meeting with her.

We helped another lady bag up all of her food because her house is going to be sprayed for termites....we know how that feels.... we did a LOT of bagging this week.

Our 1st councilor in the bishopric came to us after a meeting and said that he heard from a missionary who recently got home, that we had found a man hanging in our park.........my ,word spreads so quickly! And I don't know if I already mentioned that a sister serving in Hawaii kai asked me if I was the sister hodgson who found the guy hanging in the park next to my house......um yep that's me...... she said that she heard from her mother. crazy!

Also, we took our car to get it;s  oil changed and while we were waiting, we walked around a little shopping center. A guy sitting out in front of a plate lunch window restaurant said "you look hungry" we were like "o we're fine but thank you!" he insisted that we get a drink at least and then went on to order us hamburgers and fries as well. The Hawaiian people are SO hospitable!!! but we can't eat all of this food!!!!!! he said we look like we're losing weight... BEST. COMPLIMENT. EVER!

until next week-

Sister Hodgson <3

WEEK 16- cockroaches , bedbugs and mice

Well, another sister got transferred in to the Samoan ward, so we are out of the tripanionship….. sorta.... We went back to our pad and found a ton of cockroaches!!! They had taken over while we were away. We bought a spray and a bunch of traps and spent all day cleaning everything and killing so many bugs! At first we were totally screaming and freaking out, but by the end of the day, I smushed one with my bare hands! So when we were finally satisfied that the whole house was clean, we went to sleep. In the middle of the night I found a bug crawling on my and killed it then went back to sleep We woke up in the morning and my companion had a ton of bites! I only had a few. She had picked up some sheets from the tabernacle earlier that day and I don't know if they were super clean. We found more bed bugs and had to move back to the Samoan sister’s pad. We didn't take any of our bedding (for obvious reasons) so we slept on the couch with our towels as blankets. It was super pathetic. The senior couples at the mission office said they will send someone in to take care of it today. But until then, we're missionary hobos.

All of this "homelessness" has brought about a lot of conversation for sister Mckinney and I. We were told by ward members of missionaries whose whole pad had to be burnt to the ground because of bedbug infestations. So we started talking about what we would want to take out of our pad. We decided on our scriptures, our journals, and our study notebooks. Everything else could be replaced, or we would be okay without. We read Matthew chapter 6. In the last few verses it says "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?....for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." We loved those verses. We just have to focus on what we're supposed to be doing here and everything else will work out.

We have been so blessed these past few weeks to see a lot of  members that have been struggling, coming back to church. We have been teaching them, giving service, and visiting them, and we are seeing the fruits of those efforts. Really, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. As we show these people that we love them and care about them, they are feeling more welcome and wanted at church.

We met a lot of new people this week that are interested in learning about the church.

Also, I had my therapy session, which was good, and helpful.  The therapist was good. He said to read over the journal entries of my blessings every day. I’m doing much better now. The image has softened with time. In one of the blessings that I was given it said that Heavenly Father would erase the image from my memory.

My companion and I are getting along great! We really love each other and are learning a lot from each other. We just have so much fun working together.

Oh and on Sunday, we found a mouse in the church and trapped it. Some brothers in the ward took care of it from there.

love,

Sister Hodgson

I asked about Transfers in her mission…only read on if you care about that….

Sunday night before transfers our zls leave a voicemail like "the people who need to pack their bags are.......elder such and such, sister what’s her face, elder whomever, etc." Then on Wednesday, the people who will be affected by the transfer drive to the transfer meeting at the tabernacle. Those from outer islands who fly in to Oahu are there and those from Oahu, leaving to other islands are there. Also those from Oahu transferring to somewhere else on Oahu come. If you are staying outer island you just stay because it would cost a FORTUNE for the church to fly all of the missionaries in and then back out.

In the meeting, they call out companionships; you stand, hug then go and sit on your zone's bench till everyone is sorted. Then you go out and get to work!

WEEk 15 - Transfers, Tripanionships and Therapy

Transfer week!!!!   I'm staying here in Honolulu and sister M went to Maui.  Before she left, we went back to the park to put some flowers by the tree.  There were flowers and leis and so many things
there already.  His mom was by the tree too so we got to talk with her
and get to know a little more about her son.  That was nice.
      I found out what all the bug bites were from.......bed
bugs, unfortunately.  We washed everything and we haven't had problems
since:)
     On Wednesday morning, I went to drop Sister M off at the
airport, then all I had to do was drive down one level and pick up
another sister to drive to transfer meeting, but airports are
confusing and somehow I ended up on the freeway and drove down to sand
island! I totally got lost in Hawaii for like 45 minutes without a
companion.  crazy! but I found my way back with a map and a prayer and
we all made it to transfer meeting safely.
     I was looking around at all of the sisters and I thought to
myself  "I hope she's my companion" and now she is!!!! it was super
funny that I "picked" her and then she turned out to actually be my
companion!  She is so great!  Sister McKinney is from provo utah.  she
was called to serve in the visitor's center and has been serving for
10 months.  She is so nice to everyone and reminds me of a Disney
princess. I love her!


     We are also companions with sister Meatonga right now !  All of my
companion's names start with an m!
 Sister Meatonga is so much fun!  ( we do not have a picture of her since sister hodgson could not send photos on her "labor day computer"...but this one is from a member who fed these two before they became a three!)
She is part Samoan.  Her companion is in the hospital on maui.  She
can't fly over here yet because she's still sick. So we're in a
tripanionship until then.  Sister Meatonga is over the Samoan ward. It
has been fun but hard to cover two areas.
     So, our first day together, the three of us were driving and we
saw a really old man leaning on a street sign and his head was
bleeding.  Sister Meatonga pulled over and we ran over to help him.
We were like "Hello sir. are you okay?" he kinda mumbled a bit and we
asked him "do you know that your head is bleeding?". He said he did,
but he was trying to walk to get his hair cut.  We took his arms and
started walking him towards the hair place.  We asked more questions
and found
out that he lived in a care home.  Sister McKinney asked "did you tell
someone that you were leaving?".  He hadn't told any one so we turned
around to walk him back.  By this point, we had notice that he was
missing a large piece of skin from his elbow.  He was pretty bloody on
his elbow and head, and he couldn't remember where he lived so we
decided that we should maybe call for some assistance.  So I pulled
out my phone and called 911 again! ( this is getting to be a habit in Honolulu) 
 Just as I stepped aside to make the phone call, the old man threw up
and it got on sister McKinney's feet!  It was a super crazy first day
out of the visitor's center for her!  Welcome to Hon-West!  The police
and ambulance came and took the old man to the hospital. Then we went
to sister Meatonga's ward mission leader's house and washed up to our
shoulders with soap and hot water.  So that was exciting.
     Now, we're basically living out of two apartments.  We sleep at
Sister meatonga's pad, but we go back to our pad to shower and eat.
Both sisters have been super sweet helping me deal with the issues
from Saturday.  They wait to fall asleep until I'm all settled in bed
and they turn out the lights.   They told me that I could wake them up
any time that I need.  The mission president found out about what happened and called to talk to me.  He wants me to talk to the mission
therapist, so I have an appointment on Wednesday. and He sent the zone
leaders to give me a blessing.  It was a really neat blessing and I'm
already seeing some of the promises from the blessing coming about.
Two nights ago, I even got up by myself in the middle of the night to
use the restroom and I wasn't even too scared!  haha it's a silly
milestone, but it's huge to me.  Heavenly Father is really helping me
to not be afraid.  He was one of my brothers , someone's son, a child of God, we pray for his peace.
     I don't know if I ever told you much about R.  She was the
investigator who called us and we started meeting, but she ended up
being in the zone leaders ward so we had to pass her off to them.
Well, she stopped meeting with them, and we got back in touch with
her.  So she's meeting with us again!  It's super funny how this has
all been turning out.
     We had a lot of service opportunities this week.  We cleaned a
sweet young family's house.  That was fun! We cleaned our bishop's
kitchen, and we helped some kids with their math, english and science
homework.  It's weird that school has started again.
     Because we are covering 2 areas this week, we have been able to
see a whole different side of Honolulu.  Military housing is a bit
different than KPT.  Kpt is a set of 16 story buildings with a TON of
tiny apartments.  A lot of Micronesians, Cheukeese, and Samoan people
live there.  Sister Meatonga took sister McKinney and I around to
visit people.  Within an hour we got asked if we were twins two times!
 (We kind of look alike, but not too much.... but we realized that we
were the only 2 white people in the whole complex.  That might have
had something to do with it.  We stuck out like sore thumbs!)  We got
to play "football" with some really little kids.  They were so cute!
     We also had a Samoan dinner this week.  Kinda.  We went to a
restaurant and the lady was going to buy us a plate lunch.  I looked
over the menu, and all I really wanted was the eggrolls. So I ordered
a side of egg rolls and Sister McKinney ordered a plate lunch so we
could split it.  When the Lady went to pay for the food, she picked up
the order and looked in the box.  She became very puzzled and asked
which one of us didn't order food.  I told her that I had just ordered
the egg rolls.  She still looked confused.  Sister McKinney tried to
help explain that we were going to split the plate lunch.  The lady
looked half confused and half offended.  She couldn't imagine why we
didn't get our own food and why we hadn't fully accepted her offer to
feed us all.  Sister Meatonga chimed in and said "There not very big.
they don't eat very much."  The lady kind of shrugged, and seemed half
satisfied with that answer.  So she gave us the food, we thanked her
and left.  Sister Meatonga has been filling us in on a lot of Samoan
cultural formalities since then.
     We went to the Samoan ward Sacrament meeting.  Their Language is
beautiful!!!  but complex.  I loved singing the hymns in Samoan, but I
had no idea what we were saying!  It was great!

Until next week!
love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 14- one ambulance, one firetruck, 2 under cover cop cars, and 6 honolulu police

We went on a great hike this week to see some waterfalls and the ruins of King Kamehameha's summer palace. It was awesome. 

 Also, we had some very filling dinner appointments. When we left one dinner I leaned over and whispered to Sister M "I have chicken in my pocket" and we both laughed a ton. The next day, we left our appointment and I whispered to Sister M "I have a tortilla in my shirt". We're getting very creative. We can't eat as much as some people think. We had bean burritos in our bags. Sister M has taught me a lot:)

Well we got to call 911 twice this week.....that's not normal.

The first call was to report one of our neighbors. Let's just say, don't beat your children. It works out better for everyone that way. Our call to 911 was super calm. they answered and we said "non emergency" so they transferred us to someone else and they sent the police right  over.

The second call was for something a bit more crazy.

We're all okay and the police took care of everything but not much detail is needed.

Sister Mottl and I went to the park next to our pad for morning excersize. We split up, as usual, so that we could go at our own pace, but we still stayed within eye sight. As I was started my first lap, I looked up and saw a man awkwardly standing beneath the tree about 20 feet in front of me. He startled me because I hadn't noticed that he was there before. I realized that he wasn't moving, then I saw the rope around his neck. He had hanged himself from the tree. I ran SO fast towards sister Mottl, it was probablly olympic speed. We ran back to our pad and called 911. I always thought that if I had to make a 911 phone call I would be calm and be able to clearly explain the situation. Boy, was I wrong. I was hyperventilating like CRAZY and trying to gasp out sentences. I couldn't remember my address correctly, but luckily they figured it out. The police and fire department and ambulance all came and they taped up caution tape all over our sweet little park.We said a prayer and gathered ourselves. We went out and worked the rest of the day like normal, but I had an awful time trying to fall asleep that night. I was too afraid to close my eyes. I prayed so hard that night, and was finally able to get some sleep. Mommy, thank you for the flower lights that you sent in the greenie package. They are so helpful because I am now terrified of the dark...and trees.

We are all doing better today with the excitement of transfers to distract us, but it was not a fun experience. Well, sister Mottl will be going to Maui on Wednesday, and I will be staying here. I love this ward and am glad to be here. I just wish that I was a little further away from that park.

Oh and I got a note and some AWESOME bug spray from a sweet sister who used to live in Loomis I think. That was so sweet of her. And we killed a tick and a spider that we found in my bed. life is hard:) I'll get over it.

Love you all tons!

-Sister Hodgson

Week 13- Car trips, blessings ,the Hospital and a surprise visit

This week was eventful.

Monday was p-day and we carpooled like EVERYBODY and their companions to EVERYWHERE! We felt like soccer moms! We had 3 companion ships that we would drop off at and pick up from libraries and stores and anywhere so that we could all get everything done. We also went on a hike.

Tuesday I woke up with tons of bug bites on my arms and legs.

Wednesday we had interviews with the mission president. He is so nice and caring. I also had more bug bites on my arms and legs.

Thursday a sweet old lady from our ward called and told us that her uncle had been in a car accident and was in the ICU. We drove to the hospital and met her there. The zone leaders gave her a blessing. It was such a sweet blessing, and the spirit was so strong in that tiny little hospital room. He passed away this Sunday.

Friday we locked ourselves out of our apartment and had to drive downtown to get the spare key. They gave us the spare key and some bug spray for our apartment.

Saturday we found out the bug spray totally didn't work. I still had bites all over. Also, Saturday night we went to our dinner appointment and I saw the sister cooking two giant slabs of meat, which I assumed would be split between the 6 of us. I assumed incorrectly. Everyone got their own giant slab of chicken. Which is super unfortunate because my companion cant digest chicken. so We finished dinner and sped home. We made it just in time before she threw up. Haha, she has been so good for me. Then the zone leaders came over to give her a blessing. Poor thing. Her stomach is very temperamental.

Sunday sister M  was feeling better, but I had new bug bites. I even sprayed myself with bug spray right before I went to bed! I don't know what's happening. Anyway, Sister M four elders and I sang in Sacrament meeting. It went well. Then after church I came home to find a note on my door from Lindsay and Jonathan!!!!!!!!! about a half hour later, Jonathan knocked at my door!!! It was so fun to see him! Don't worry mom, we totally got a picture :) Well, I’m out of time. there is never enough time to email! love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 12 - Car troubles like crazy

Our poor car has been through a lot this week! On Tuesday night, we got out of an appointment to find that we had a flat tire. I was like "o cool I know how to fix this." haha apparently not. We got it jacked up alright but we didn't loosen the bolts before so we had to start over. We were right down the street from some ward members so we ran over to their house and brother D came outside to help us. He jacked it up again and got the tire off then it TIPPED OVER off of the Jack! It landed on the Axel and bent the roter in !? (I dont really know what I'm talking about but I think that's what they said.) Any way, we jacked it up again then it fell over again! Brother D ran back to his house to get his jack. while we were waiting by the car, some guy walked up to us and informed us that "it's bad for the car to just sit on the axel like that" and that we "should jack it up and put the tire back on" -----no kidding.............. that's kinda what we were trying to do haha. We had a good laugh about that all later. we didnt drop it on the axel on purpose!!!

oh well. it was pretty funny. Then brother D came back, got it jacked up and put the spare tire on. We had to take the car into the shop the next day. There wsa a shard of metal in the tire and it the hole couldn't be repaired. They replaced the tire and bent the roter back away from the axel.......I think? We also had to take the car to the shop on Friday to get the window wiper fluid motor fixed. It took about 5 hours!!! So we did a bit of walking this week while our poor car was in the shop, which slows down the work a bit but still a great week!

R  is actually in the zone leaders area so they will get to teach her now. Sister M and I taught her for the first week then we did team teaching with the zone leaders for the second week, and now they will take over. We are going to miss seeing her, but we still pray for her and we'll stay in touch I'm sure.

We got to go on a hike this morning! One of the elders lost his cell phone so we all gathered together to say a prayer  then two elders retraced the hike backwards ----which was impressive because there wasn't a trail----- and they found it!!!! Prayer works! don't ever doubt it!! According to our faith, and Heavenly Father's will, miracles happen!

Our new we are now teaching N and he came to church this week! I think he really enjoyed it. It was so sweet to see one of the new families in our ward talking to him and getting to know him. I think they'll be great friends! It is so much easier to have a good Sunday if you don't feel lonely and left out. It is super nice when they can feel welcome and befriended when they come.

we'll this last hour went by WAY to quickly. I'm already out of time. I hope Rebecca, Caroline and Trent had a great time in FIji!!!!!

love, Sister Hodgson