week 39- no one is home and the Lord loves us!!

MOMMY QUESTIONS:
The most memorable thing that I have eaten is called Laho, or Lahos.........it's basically........I don't know how to say this in the most politically correct way......... Cow testicals......yup... just fried. freshly cut from that morning.

one of the most memorable things that I have done is still hiking Pali lookout at night on the fourth of july with our zone. We kept losing our shoes! and the blind elder tripped/slipped less than I did haha. it was a steep, muddy hike! The view at the top was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you could see kaneohe and the road to honolulu. It was awesome!

What I have learned from having companions is when you are both concerned for the happiness of the other, and are willing to make sacrifices for each other than you will be able to get along. I have also learned that as we pray to the Lord, and ask for charity, He will bless us to be able to love ANYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have also learned that the people that I enjoy being around are the ones who encourage me to be my best self, and I want to be that for others too.

Aloha!!!!!!!!!!!!  So this week we got sister P all packed up and went around so she could say her goodbyes, then we drove down to Kona to stay the night.  The night before sister p and I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep because of packing.  Then Tuesday night, the sister training leader and I got like 4 hours of sleep, and the others got about a half hour..... then we drove to the airport. We got everybody off then we had more cars than companionships staying on the island so like four of us had to drive cars by ourselves and then there were a few who had companions. It was a crazy early morning, then we drove up to Waimea and I got my new companion.

She just came over from the other side of the island.   She didn't even have to fly, but she made it here!  She and I love to quote movies together, and we are learning a lot from each other!  She is from Alabama and she said I have a good fake southern accent! haha, but we keep practicing just for fun.  ( she is the one in the EATING pictures )

This weekend like 90% of the people we went to visit were not home!!!!  It was less than exciting, but we are hoping and praying for more success this week.  

Well, I have been learning a lot about charity this week. I love in Moroni chapter 7, verses 45-47 it says:

 "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."  

I have been trying to take the attributes listed here one at a time and work on developing them in my life.  It has been fun to see how Heavenly Father gives me opportunities to work on each one.  Heavenly Father is so interested and involved in our progression.   As we come to Him with our weaknesses, He will bless us to be able to make huge strides of progression.  He can make more out of us than we could ever make of ourselves.    I love this poem, I don't remember exactly how it goes or who it is by, but this is the gist of it:

"my life is just a weaving between my Lord and me.  I cannot chose the colors- He weaves so skillfully.  Sometimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.  Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly will God unroll the Pattern and reveal the reasons why.  The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the strings of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."    

It is something like that.  But I love the concept.  He knows who He wants us to become, who we can become and what He needs us to experience.  He will bless us and help us along this journey.

I know it!

Love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 38- learning, changing and growing

This was such an amazing week! the Lord really blessed us with miracles.

On Friday, Jayden and Stetson (cousins) were baptized! They each have a mom who is a member, but not fully partaking of the blessing church can bring, and a dad who is not yet a member. So they have been such a good example to their loving parents and we know they want to be a forever families.

On Saturday Tehani and Tania were baptized! They are sisters. Their Dad is a  member and their mom is not  a member of our church. But their faith has been such an example to their families as well. I just love seeing these kids take the step of baptism. They can feel the spirit so strongly, and they know that it is a good thing. They find joy in changing their lives; And the baptisms are such special experiences for everyone who is there to see it.

Sister Pantelakis and I also found out transfer news. She is leaving to go to Honolulu. I am staying here and a sister Willis from the other side of this Island is coming to join me. Sister P and I have been through so much together and this was a perfect last weekend. We are really going to miss each other, but we are grateful for the wonderful time we have had here in Waimea.

There is a store here called Aloha grown, that sells t shirts and such. They have some shirts that say Waimea grown on them. Sis p and i both got one because we feel that we have really grown a lot and learned a lot here. I am such a different person now than I was even four and a half months ago because of the things we learned from each other and with each other. Also, Auntie Lahi gave us our Hawaiian names this week. She went and got them from one of her old kapunas, who prayed about it and dreamt on it. The name she gave me is Uluponi, which means to grow well and be successful.

On Sunday, Kaila was baptized. Kaila is stetson's cousin . All of their parents have been talking saying maybe this is a sign that they need to focus on coming back to church and again strengthening their relationships with God themselves. These kids are such strong warriors for Heavenly Father, and they are teaching all of us adults how to have faith and follow Christ's example. After Kaila's baptism, Jayden's dad came up to me and said that his son, Jayden, had inspired him and he wants us to come and teach him to work towards that himself.

Our hearts are SO full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father who has prepared these children to be examples for all of us through their choices. Heavenly Father is really moving His work forward in this area and we feel so blessed to be a part of it. It is so amazing to see that none of these blessings came about because of sister Pantelakis or myself, but they came about because of the Lord. He sends His spirit to testify that His gospel is true, and that changes hearts. He allows us to be here to see all of this miracles, and it is changing my life.

This is one of my favorite scriptures : "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles ... have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. " Alma 26:12

Love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 37- snow in Hawaii

Well, this week was surprising!!

On Monday we played volley ball down at a park near a beach and enjoyed the sunshine! then we went to teach a lesson to a cute 9 yr old girl. We had forgotten the DVD player, and so we had to change lesson plans (we had planned on showing a video) so we decided that tonight was not the night to invite her to be baptized. but as we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) she was like "aw, I want to be baptized!" and we were like thinking 'shhhh....little girl, not yet!' and we just said "that is such a good thing" then went on with the lesson. Then she said it again, but this time louder "I want to be baptized!" and we were thinking...well.... okay fine. I guess we really should not fight this! so we set up a goal for her baptism day, and she and her mom are so excited for it. Heavenly Father is preparing people everywhere to take that step. and especially little children are so receptive to the spirit! They feel it, and know that it is a good thing!

We went on exchanges this Wednesday! Sister Uasila'a-vaha and I went down to Kona. We went to visit a girl , and she wasn't home, but the two men who lived in the house beneath her were home. One of them came up to us and was like "are you the mormons?". my heart sank....I just didn't feel right about this guy. I said a silent prayer in my head to know if I was just being judgmental and he really needed the gospel, or if he really was a creep. I still just didn't feel good about it. I could tell that my companion didn't either. The spirit was giving us the feeling that we needed to leave, and that the intentions of these men were not good. The man told us how he "wanted to learn about the mormon bible" and that he was "so very interested". We told him about mormon.org, and how he could learn more there. We went upstairs to try and see if L was home and the guy went back into his house. We quickly and quietly stepped away and had almost made it out of the yard when the two men rushed back out of their house. They were like "wait, come back! I want to learn more!" we told them that we had left a mormon.org card on their washer (washing machines  are common to find out side of people's houses) but they didn't even listen as we told them. They both began to enthusiastically  invite us back. They we're beckoning and kept saying "come on. come here." " they were becoming super frantic. we just explained that we had to go and quickly left. It was so uncomfortable. I am very grateful for the spirit, who warned us that this was not a good situation. That was unmistakable. I am so thankful for Heavenly Father's guidance in situations like these.

So today, we drove up to Mauna Kea and played in the Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so freezing cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay it was like 37 degrees, but that is cold to us Hawaiians! We built a snow man, made snow angels and sis p even went sledding down a hill.....but she fell off and super junked her leg. But she's tough. She's okay. We took pictures in our Heidi shirts…missing Heidi.

We are all getting a little antsy because transfers news is coming up so soon! We'll know officially on Sunday, but we'll probably find out tonight....all of the flights get booked tonight :)

      Take away thought for the day: Always be ready to listen to the promptings the spirit gives you. He will never give us false information. He always testifies of truth, and gives us direction and protection. And whenever we have a decision that we just can't seem to make by ourselves, we can come up with an answer, pray about it and see how we feel . The spirit will help us know if it is right or wrong. Even if it's just a little thing- If it's important to us, It matters to Heavenly Father and He will give us guidance.

He loves you! I love you! Church is so important to teach us what we need to know! and don't forget about family history!

love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 36- comp unity and Rexy!

Aloha!!

So, this week sis p and I hit our 8 month mark. It was really weird. But what better way to celebrate, (missionary style) than by tracting door to door!!!!!.....in the pouring rain...... yes that's exactly what happened! We thought that it would be a good idea......but maybe our brains aren't fully developed yet because we both got super sick and spent the next day confined to our beds with tissues and medicine. That was not so fun. Sis p got it worse than me. she could hardly even talk.....which semi defeats the purpose of going out to do missionary work. We were totally laughing though at our companionship unity....we do everything together... we even get sick together:) We got out and worked the next day though. I ended up needing to do most of the talking. Her voice is still a little sick sounding, even today. But we feel better!!! We both got priesthood blessings, and that always helps.

Also, this week we got a new car! Our 2011 toyota corolla, named Bruce, is going back to Oahu today. We got a 2014 Chevy cruise! we named it Rexy...because it's license plate starts with RXZ.

So we went from 64,000 miles to 64 miles. The church takes really good care of the missionaries.

We have been teaching a lot of little kids this week. It is very interesting to have to teach things so differently, so that they can understand. We have to come up with new ways to explain things, and a lot of analogies. I have decided two things: one, I don't think that I have what it takes to be a 3rd grade teacher. Two, these little kids are so important to Heavenly Father. They are so innocent, and they have the desire to be good. They know when something is good, and they are eager to learn. We love seeing the way they change as they learn more about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

We're also working with K towards baptism. It is really on the line. She has a lot of outside influences and pressures, but she really wants it. So please keep her in your prayers. We know that Heavenly Father's love for her is stronger than any other influence that is pulling on her.

One more thing that we have been noticing this week, we need the help of the members in our ward!  Maybe the missionaries in your area need help giving rides to church, or maybe they need help in some other way. But I guarantee that they could use your help!!!!!!!!!!!! so ask the missionaries in your area how you can help them! This is the Lord's work, and we can all feel the blessings of being a part of it as we work together.

Onward Christian Soldiers! Have a wonderful week!

Much love,

Sister Hodgson

WEEK 35- Goals and the Temple

So, on Sunday night, like I mentioned, we stayed the night in Kona. Then Monday we stayed the night again because Tuesday we had our meeting in Kona in the morning. oh, ya and for pday we played volleyball and got shave ice! it was awesome!!! So then, when went on exchanges again. I stayed in Waimea and took sister Uasila'a-vaha back with me.

This week we have just been focusing a lot on how much our   baptism has been a blessing in our lives. Thus we have been trying to help people to set a goal date for when they want to be baptized so that they have something to work towards. At the beginning of this week, only C had a set date. But on Tuesday J and K set dates to make those covenants; on Thursday T and Ta set dates; on Friday J set a date and on Saturday K made the same decision, to make that a part of her life.   It has been amazing to see how many people are ready to take that step. They just need a goal to work towards. It motivates them! That is why it is so important to set specific goals! In our district this week we have all four set the goal to not crack our knuckles! haha and we account to each other each night. that is another thing about goals: they are easier to stick to if you have someone to account to! And the third thing that I have learned about goals this week is to shoot for the moon! When you set a goal, set it to stretch yourself! As you put forth your best effort, and ask for the Lord's help, you can achieve so much more than you think! So push yourself! "There is no growth in the comfort zone, and there is no comfort in the growth zone"!

Our mission president did a big training on member missionary work, and we have really seen a difference! We have had a lot more members coming to us to see how they can help with the work. It has been going well!

This week, while we were tracting, we met this one lady who spent the whole time telling us how we were in a cult and just didn't know because we were to young and deceivable....and how if we ever wanted to get out she could help us. I  personally  believe that Jesus is the Son of our Heavenly Father....especially considering how He prayed to God, and specifically asked His Father to forgive the men who crucified Him. According to her conclusion, I'm going to Hell. But I told her, that if Im going to hell, I  will have some  good  company:) It was a very nice conversation....I've never been told that I was going to Hell in such a nice way. We thanked her for her kindness and concern. I just told her that I am doing my best to do what I know is right. and she got super upset and told us that it isn't about what we do at all, but it is about Jesus and We can't get to heaven by what we do. true.....but I know that faith without works is dead, so I am going to work to show my faith in my Savior. I know that I absolutely need His grace and mercy to achieve anything, but I know that He expects me to try hard and learn and grow while I'm here on earth. Hence, the importance of goal setting, once again.

We had interviews with the President on Friday, and then we had Cs baptism  It was good to see president and Sister Warner again. They just checked

in to see how we were doing. It has been a great transfer.  So that's good. Then everything went well with Caryssa's baptism. she was pretty excited and then -in the Hawaiian style- there was a big dinner afterwards:)

We went to the temple today!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was wonderful! After the session I just sat for a long long time and enjoyed the peace. Then I double checked the chandeleir- it's still broken:) haha

Well, as I've mentioned, I've been thinking about goals a lot this week. I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father wants us to set and reach our goals. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to be happy. And he provides a way! He already knows who He wants us to be. He already knows how we can get there. He paves the road to our potential; we just need to walk it! And we have the promise that we never have to walk alone. Our Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ will walk the road of our refinement with us. And if needed, He will carry us. I know, because I have felt the times in my life when He has carried me.

So, set some goals, and invite Heavenly Father's help. He'll never let us down

Aloha nui loa

-Sister Hodgson