WEEK 21- On the BIG ISLAND

Aloha from the BIG ISLAND!  So last week, basically started out with a lot of packing and goodbyes. I got 3 hours of sleep Tuesday night, then morning came and I got dropped off at the airport. We were running a bit behind because neither of us heard the alarms go off, so when I got to the airport I was a bit flustered. I went to check in my bags and they were both overweight! I was getting a little stressed. I had to decide to either throw things away or pay the fee for overweight bags. Apparently I looked stressed and confused enough, because one of the airport workers came over and asked if he could help with anything. I explained that my bags were overweight and asked what the fee was for that. He didn't answer. He picked up my bag and placed it on the scale again, but lifted it up just a little bit from the handle while it was weighed. Because he was still holding it, it rang in as not overweight. He looked at me and said "I don't know what you're talking about. This bag is fine." He then proceeded to "weigh" the other bag. "This one seems to be fine too." he said with a smile. I thanked him profusely and he got all of my luggage tagged and ready to check. Then I went through security and got to my gate. I flew with a few other missionaries who are in my new zone. One is my new district leader and one is my new zone leader. When the plane landed the airport workers pushed a little ramp up to the plane and we all filed off. It was an outdoor airport!!!!! It was super cute! And so tiny! Then we got our baggage and waited for our companions to come pick us up. My new companion is sister Pantalakis! She was one of my roommates in the MTC! We get along super well! Our new pad is actually a small house on the church property! it is so cute!!! 

 We just walk across the parking lot to go to church!

We have been keeping pretty busy here! it is a really great area! There is a lot of driving to do on this island. In my old area, you could cross the whole zone in 30 minutes, but here, you can cross about half of the zone in an hour and 30 minutes. It is so much driving!!!! There are horses and goats and chickens everywhere!!!

I am learning to play rugby- because I guess that's our zone sport for this transfer. it is super fun! I also found a centipede in our house and killed it! crazy!!! I cannot pronounce all of these Hawaiian names! coming from a military ward to a local ward has been a big change but I love it. We help teach mission prep here. I just love big island. oh, and it's super cold here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wear my sweater all the time and it rains a bunch too! I LOVE IT!

Okay, Question time: What is something I wish I knew before my mission?

well, missionaries are allowed to be silly! that's one thing. Also, they don't have to get everything right on the first try- they're human:) We should always be improving, but we shouldn't beat ourselves up for not getting it all right. One time, I went to say hi to a young couple at church. We always greet every guy with a handshake, but we can hug girls or greet them in any way. As I came up to them I thought in my head "I'll shake his hand and pat her on the shoulder"....naturally I shook HER hand and patted HIM on the shoulder. haha I just smiled, said Hi and walked away. I just had to laugh at myself.

Also bring scissors! Always bring scissors. We use them for everything out here! that, and crazy glue... don't forget crazy glue.

What is one great lesson that I have learned out here on my mission?

 PRAY. That's it. Just always pray. No matter what you are going through, or how sad you are, or how sick or tired or depressed you become: no matter how inadequate or lonely you feel, no matter how large the challenge that you face- PRAY. Heavenly Father wants to hear from you. He wants to help you. If we turn to Him in prayer, and trust in the Savior, we will be okay. Jesus knows exactly how we feel in any given situation. He knows perfectly how to help us, and He will help us if we let him. Trust Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They are preparing miracles for us everyday.

Love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 20- transfers

Transfer voicemail- Sunday night, 9:37pm:

"Those lucky people who are leaving this zone- that would be Elder G, Elder K, Sister Hodgson!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder... etc etc etc................"

"Those who are leaving off this island- on a jet plane will be Elder G, Elder K and Sister Hodgson!"

Woooohooo!! I'm going off island! And I don't even know where I'm going! I'll go to the airport early Wednesday morning and get my ticket. That's when I'll know which island I'm heading to. The other islands that sisters are currently serving on are Hawaii, Kauai and Maui. People have been guessing that I'll go to big island, but we'll just have to see!

We had a few back to back appointments this week. At one, Sister Mck spoke a lot. I didn't say very much, and that was totally okay because the spirit wasn't giving me very much to say. I knew that the lady needed to hear specific things from sis Mck, and that was totally fine with me. It's not about who is speaking, as much as it is about who is hearing. The sweet lady who was hearing the message was most important at that moment, and she needed to hear things in the way that sis Mck can share them: sweet and peaceful. The next appointment that we went to was just the opposite. I spoke more than sis Mck. The spirit was prompting me to share certain stories or say things, and she said afterwords  that she just wasn't feeling like she needed to say that much. The man that we were teaching responded well to the way that I was sharing things: funny and comfortable. It was neat to see how Heavenly Father knows the skills and abilities that we all have and knows how to best use them to bless and help others. I could not have helped the lady in the way that sis Mck did and she feels as though she could not get through to the guy in the 2nd lesson as well. Heavenly Father knows how to take us and make us instruments in His hands. It is also neat to be able to feel who He wants to be speaking, because your mind will just be blank if He doesn't want you to share at that time. But if He wants you to speak He will fill your mind with everything that you need to say.

We are teaching a new lady named Vanessa. She is a really sweet girl. As we spoke in our appointment, we could feel how much Heavenly Father loves her. it was really neat! The whole room was filled with this feeling that we couldn't describe in any other way except "He loves you". It was just love. That is what the gospel is all about.

That is what they spoke all about in general conference. If we love God, we will be obedient to His commandments. If we love God, then we will love all of His children and we will want to share this message of love with them. And that doesn't mean that everybody has to go out and be full time missionaries. That means that the way we live our lives should help others to see and feel of Heavenly Father's love. Whether through service, or kindness, or your example, you are spreading the message of the gospel- the message of Heavenly Father's love.

I can testify that He loves all of us. He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us. And His son loves us so much that He was willing, not only to die for us, but to rise again and live for us. We can show our love as we live for them.

-Love, Sister Hodgson

Week -19 sick days and wonderful blessings

First the answer to mom’s question of the week;  The first sound I hear when I wake up is the alarm, and I jump out of bed to go turn it off! Then I can hear the sound of our fan...its super noisy! But we're used to it now so I hardly even realize. Then, let's be honest, I usually I hear an ambulance or police siren......it's the ghetto.             

Okay so this was one of the toughest weeks of my life! I'm doing so much better now, but it was just a hard week- Emotionally more than anything, but in addition to that, I got sick this week!

I love missionary work! I love working hard! But this week my comp and I spent a few days home. At first when she suggested we stay home and recover a bit I was totally against it. But after a few appointments I realized that she was right and I needed to take a break. I was exhausted! She gave me my medicine then put me back to bed! I slept so much that day!!!!! Then we slowly eased back into the work as I got better and we are back out on regular schedule now.

This goes to mom’s other question; how have I seen the Lord's hand in this week? In the priesthood blessing I got! It is amazing to see the immediate relief when we get a blessing. I know that the Lord works through normal people to bless all of His children, and It is especially neat to see a young elder bless you with the things that Heavenly Father would tell you if He was here. and If you don't feel like you need a blessing, prayer is a great help too!!!!!

My ward mission leader and his lovely wife are fantastic!  Brother and sister Winward! They tell us that we are always welcome in their home and they mean it!!!!!!! They make everything in life fun and they really support us in the work. They check in on us every day and make sure we are doing well!  hes a military medic.  In this picture  hes breaking in his new boots.

We got to go on an amazing hike this week! We hiked through a muddy forest and got to a part where you have to climb up a bunch of rocks, and then it gets to the waterfall!! It was so tall!!! And the best part was that it started raining while we were hiking!! haha yay more mud:) it was really fun!

We were visiting people in a nice apartment complex that we go to a lot, and I remembered one of the girls that we had met there a long time ago. We had started teaching her a while ago but because she was a minor we would need to get parental permission before continuing on, and we hadn't asked her parents yet. So we finally decided to go and visit her. We asked her to introduce us to her family and she did. We got to pray with her family and find out some of the struggles that they are going through right now. They commented on how they really needed us to come that night. It was so neat that Heavenly Father knew that they needed a visit that night, and He let us know. The dad felt the spirit very strongly during our meeting and he wanted us to teach both of his children (the girl we had taught before and her brother).

The spirit will always guide us to those who need us if we are prepared and if we listen!

Love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 18- Jefferey R Holland and why you should stock your missionarie's fridge

This week Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to Oahu! He spoke to all of the missionaries on the island. Because I was in the choir, I got to sit on the front row, and boy was that a super great experience! He shook every single person's hand and looked us right in the eye. His wife also spoke, and Elder and Sister Soares. Sister Holland was so sweet and smiley, and every time we were singing I would smile super big because I was so excited, and she kept smiling back at me!! Then during the last song, she waved to me and mouthed "I love you". She totally made me cry. I had been having a hard day and I really needed to feel special. Her whole talk too was on feeling good enough- just what I needed to hear. Elder Holland told us to work hard and go to bed exhausted every night! He made me want to work so much harder and be so much better! It was really neat to be there and listen to an Apostle of the Lord.

We had a neat experience this week in a lesson. My companion was talking and then she finished her thought and looked at me. That's kinda how we trade off talking, so that meant that it was my turn to speak. I had nothing to say. My mind was completely blank. Then I just started talking, and a really neat thought just jumped out of my mouth. When I finished, our investigator Ryan said "that's really crazy, because I was totally thinking about that exact thing in sunday school today." That was a strong testimony building moment for me to see how the Lord works through ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It was neat to see the promises from the scriptures fulfilled. Doctrine and Covenants 38:8 says "Open your mouths and they shall be filled". Doctrine and Covenants 100:6 says "for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say."

This week was zone conference. I love President Warner and his wife. They are so sweet! Also, something they do at zone conference is they have every missionary prepare a talk on the same topic, then during the conference they call on a few to speak. The topic was "the importance of recognizing the Lord's hand in our work" and guess who had to speak? yup, me. I was super nervous, but it went well. Also, the assistants to the president and the zone leaders did a dance number from high school musical "we're all in this together".....that was inspiring;) haha it was really funny.

I almost forgot! one night this week we went to go pick a sister up from the airport! she was coming in from the marshal islands for a doctor's appointment. and guess what time the flight came in? that's right, 2:50 am. So we got up at 2:10 and went to the airport and drove around for a while but didn't see her. One hour passed, then two, then they closed the airport because everyone had landed. I was like "ummmm...excuse me mr. security guard, is anyone else going to come out?" he told me not till tomorrow. Which is super unfortunate because we had no idea where this sweet sister was. so I ran all over the airport and couldn't find her. Then we called the assistants and they said to just go home. So at about 5:30 we got back to bed. but I got up in time to still do personal study! i was just 5 minutes behind schedule. anyway, apparently she ended up not coming but nobody told the Assistants so they couldn't tell us. Fun times:)

On Thursday night, after my companion had just fallen asleep and I was about to climb in my bed I heard someone pounding on our door! I ran to my companion's bed and shook her awake saying "there's someone at the door!" she shot out of bed and we ran out to the front room. They shouted "It's the Honolulu police" and I was thinking "really?!! we can't catch a break" I had no idea why they were here. Then they said again "It's the police!" and I recognized our zone leader's voice. It turns out they were just checking in on us. Our phone died because we lost the charger in the move and we asked them for a new one. But now we're all good and we can charge our phone again! yay!

oh and one more thing from this week that I forgot to include in the big email. After church, one of the sweet young mothers (21 years old, mother of 2, non member husband whos out of town) in our ward mentioned that she was going to have to go shopping because she was all out of food and she felt bad starving her kiddos. We thought about it and told her that as friends and missionaries we know that keeping the Sabbath day holy is so important! SO we told her we would bring her some of our food. I am so grateful that we have such wonderful members in our ward who had given so much food to us, so we had plenty to share with this sister.

Okay, to answer this week's question a normal p-day is like this:

get up, exercise, personal study, more personal study, then we pick up our carpool buddies and go emailing and shopping. We throw some laundry in the wash, then we usually have a zone activity (hiking, basketball, frisbee). then at 6:00 we drive everybody to dinner and go to our dinner appointment.  Then we might have time to visit a few people before dark, but usually we don't so we just go back home and do more paper work.

One of my favorite p-days is any p-day that we hike! I love hiking in Hawaii!

Who know's what we're doing today! ......wait, I do. We're taking our car into the shop to repair the dent from the flat tire incident. but other than that. WHO KNOWS! :)

Have a lovely week everybody! and don't forget to pray!

-Sister Hodgson