Week 53- la Vida Loca

I feel like every day sister OH and I say to each other "this is going to be a crazy day" and then the next day comes and we are like "this is going to be a crazy day too!" It is just one busy day after another. We have been blessed with a lot of appointments each day and we have so many people that we want to visit and we are still trying to meet new people every day. So I feel like we have just been running around like little chickens trying to get everything done. We have been having a lot of "on the go" lunches and sometimes if we don't have a dinner appointment we're like "we'll just work through dinner" but then our district leader found out and he was like "SISTERS! You have to take breaks and eat real food!" ,so we have been trying to find a good balance between working hard and taking care of our bodies. But we are just having so much fun!

We had zone conference this week and our zone provided the musical number. So that meant that the day before conference we had to get together and practice. Apparently the idea of getting up early to come and sing wasn't very appealing to the boys .....so naturally it turned into a giant breakfast feast and they all came. but it was really fun to see a kitchen full of elders scurrying around cooking eggs, potatoes, pancakes, French toast, 3 kinds of breakfast meats, a Chinese chicken dish, etc. WE EAT here is Hawaii and It was all super good! then we sang and got back to work.

Thursday was zone conference and my year mark! I cannot believe I have already been out here for a year! I love it so much! time has just flown by! And it was neat that three elders at the zone conference were in the MTC with me so it was their year mark too!  ( I love how we are all looking at our own cameras  haha)  Zone conference is always fantastic! We got to be trained by President and Sister Warner. They are so sweet! President talked about Zion's camp, and how the early saints had to travel 900 miles to receive military assistance, and when they got there the assistance wasn't available, so they had to travel back. He talked about how hard the circumstances were and how, to many people, it seemed like a wasted trip. But he talked about how maybe the Lord wasn't really interested in what they did or didn't accomplish, but rather, He was interested in their faith. He talked about how our obedience shows our love for the Lord and our trust in Him. And I love this last bit- he said sometimes as a mom or a dad, we will feel like we are not accomplishing much (like just going to work every day, or just cleaning up the toys over and over again) but that is such an important job. Parents teach their kids by example, and kids can see the faithful acts of their parents. No effort is wasted. And during all of our hard times, we can find the strength that we need as we turn to the Lord.

One more story from this week: A little miracle- we had a little bit of extra time and we felt like we should go visit  D, even though we hadn't planned to visit him that day. As we were walking to his house we saw a girl and she was like "I am so happy to see you!" we had met her a week ago, but she hadn't seemed too interested in our message. She said that she had never been much of a religious person. But now, she told us that she had lost her house and her car and had prayed for help and she got a car that morning and would be moving into a house on Sunday! She said she wants to meet with us and she wants to start coming to church to show her love and gratitude to the Lord.   I am so glad that we ran into each other that day! The Lord really will put us in the right place at the right time as we try our best to do what is right. We had no idea who would be walking on the sidewalk at that moment on that day on the way to D's house- but Heavenly Father knew!

love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

 PS...LOTS OF RAIN...flash floods that knock out the street lights...I love adventures!!

WEEK 52- Faith and works

So this week was exciting! Last Monday, we got a call from a member who said that she had a friend who wanted to meet with the missionaries. So we went to go and meet with her and she is the sweetest thing ever!!!!! She is just darling. She is married to a member of the church, so she already knows a lot. She asks great questions and I feel like every time we meet is just a party! She is like Glinda from wicked. I love her.

We also met a guy named Dave while we were walking on the street and he seemed interested in our message. A few days later, we were trying to get back in touch with him  and we were driving down the street and we were like "is that Dave!??!!" Awesome!!!!!! so we started meeting with him:) he loves the gospel! but he is a young single adult so we have the zone leaders who teach the young single adults working with him. The zone leaders said he came to church and loved it. We are so happy for him.

So we have been tracting a lot this week....and I have thought a little bit about why we do what we do. I would Never Ever be a door to door sales lady! I would just not like it at all.....but for some reason, I love going door to door to share about the gospel! So what is that reason? the reason is that everyone deserves to have this joy! This gospel has brought me so much happiness in my life! And I want to share that with everyone!!!! 

Weird crazy things have happened too: I love spicy stuff now.........I don't know what happened but it's crazy!! I used to not even like barbeque sauce but now I am eating Hawaiian chili peppers.....It's super funny.

One day this week we came home at the the end of a crazy busy day and while sister oh was taking a shower, I lied down on my bed and then.......I woke up and it was 5:30 in the morning....haha I was still in my clothes and had my name tag on! so I got into my pajamas and slept the last hour on the night. haha.

We have been so busy lately. We haven't had time for many lunch breaks so we are eating a lot of nuts and oranges and granola bars in the car. but we are having so much fun! Heavenly Father is giving us all of the strength that we need.

The military guys here know us so well! They just see us and they're like "oh it's you guys. you're good" they don't even look at our id sometimes!

Sister Oh and I made a transfer theme. It's from James 2:17:"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead " so we made our theme "faith with works is alive!" alive and real- our goals came become a reality if we have faith and do all that we can do to achieve them.  ( mommy note they have been asked to do a mission training on the way they have organized things  and what they are doing as a companionship) We have seen that promise fulfilled day after day. The Lord has more blessings in store for us than we even sometimes believe. When we have faith and work hard, He will show us what our potential is. He knows the kind of people that He wants us to be. We can come up with an idea of who we think we should be.....but we will surely fall short of our potential. If we turn our lives over to Him, He will make more out of us than we could ever make of ourselves.

I love you all, I love this work, I love this gospel

Love,

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 51- Sister Oh

well this week was transfer week, so Sister Richardson left to go back to the visitor center. And I got my new companion, Sister Oh from Korea! SHE IS SO FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her so much! She is so positive and optimistic and so so so sweet! She has really good English, and she has only been out for 9 months! I did have to teach her what the word "ghetto" meant. haha.

We are having so much fun together! we are doing our best to talk to everyone and just share a little bit about what we love. This gospel has brought us so much happiness and we just want to share that with everyone!

It was so wonderful to be able to skype home!!!!! It was weird though too!!! It was like I was back home for a second then we ended the call and I was like "oh, right I'm still in Hawaii" haha. We looked over our planner for next week though and we are super excited for what we have planned. That helped us to focus back on the work here. But it was great to see and talk to the family!! it gave us a great boost of love and happiness :)

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention the little miracle last week! I was thinking about how long it had been since I had homemade chocolate chip cookies. I started to really really want chocolate chip cookies and for a few days I was hoping that someone would have them for dessert, but it didn't work out that way. But then, we checked the mail and BAM!!!!!!! a package from the Allens.....and I was like "it's not Christmas......what is this special parcel?" and guess what? it was homemade chocolate chip cookies!!!!!! MIRACLE!!!!!!! haha so basically I just wanted to let the Allen family know that the cookies were heaven sent! and they tasted ONO! super super good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!

 

We have an awesome district here. and an awesome district leader.... and awesome sister training leaders......and awesome zone leaders!!!!!!!!!!! we just have a great zone! We love it here in Mililani! We are having an easier time getting on to military bases now.... they're like "oh its the church people, let them in:) "

This week has just been so much fun. We are loving this work. There is just a special feeling about sharing this gospel!

Love you all!

-Love, Sister Hodgson

Week 50- Transfers and "I'll pray for you"

Matthew is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!! that's crazy!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to talk to him and mommy and daddy and becca on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, this week Sister Richardson got sick:( like not just VOG sick, but throw up sick too. She told me on Saturday morning that she had been sick last night and had tried to wake me up. She said she shook me and was like "Sister Hodgson I am so sick." and she said that I told her "Aww, I'll pray for you" then rolled over and kept sleeping!!!! I didn't even wake up. I have no memory of that. But I felt so bad!! I was like "I'm so sorry"........motherly instincts FAIL!

So we have spent alot of time in our little apartment :)

Saturday, we had a lot of appointments set up, so the sister trainers came and helped us out. One stayed home with sister Richardson, and the other came out with me and went to all of our appointments. We teach English in a beautiful little Filipino village  . We work with the Filipino Elders.

 

 It was fun. Then at night, Sister Richardson and I stayed home and started a giant puzzle with a bunch of turtles on it. That's what missionaries do when they are sick, in case anyone was wondering.

She felt well enough to come to the first hour of church but then we had to go back home again. We made it to the dinner appointment that night, but that was it. Luckily, she seems to be doing a lot better this morning!

We got transfer news! I am staying here in Wahiawa. My new companion will be Sister Oh from Korea! She is also from the visitor's center! It will be fun to get to know her.

 

We

You know you're in Hawaii when [Continued] :

- There are no sidewalks in residential areas! you park on people's front lawns.....ya weird!

-When you want a "salad" you have to specify "green salad"....salad usually means mac salad or potato salad.

-guys go shopping without shirts on and nobody stops them

-the normal speed limit is 30 mph

-every kid you see has a kendama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or two....or nine........they're everywhere!!!!!!!

(http://shop.kendamausa.com/?gclid=CMagyJ__mb4CFedj7AodyC8AbQ  for those that have no idea what that was like mama)

Love,

Sister Hodgson

49 and a half........

You know you're in Hawaii when...

-You never say "hello" you only say "Aloha"....like seriously....I think I forgot to say Hello.

-Roosters fly at your car and it's a normal occurrence.

-90% of meals you are fed include rice.

-You have a slipper(sandal) tan on your feet

-You call sandals slippers :)

-Everyone's excuse for everything is "it's the VOG"....... but really a lot of the time it is the VOG!

-A gallon of milk costs like $6.00

-Little kids call you "Auntie"

-A "shaka" works better than a turn signal to change lanes.

-All of your sentences end with "Ya?"

-You stare at blonde people like "what is wrong with that kid?! they're glowing!"

Week 49- he'll put us in the right places at the right time

Monday: we had our zone p-day activity- tree climbing for the elders then we all went bowling. it was fun!

We had exchanges on Wednesday. The sister that I went on exchanges with is such a great teacher!! she really asks great questions that get people thinking.

When we were planning Tuesday night for what we would do on exchanges, we felt like we should visit a lady named sheri who had met with the missionaries before. But we had so many other people that we needed to see Wednesday so we decided to visit her on Thursday instead. We had never gone to visit her before but we figured out where her apartment complex was and right as we pulled into the parking lot we saw a lady from our ward getting out of the car with her toddler and little baby. She asked us if we were there to visit her. She went on to explain that she was getting kicked out of her apartment and she needed help. We dropped our plans for today and got her all packed up and loaded into her car, our car and one other brother's car. We drove to the storage facility and stowed away all of her stuff. She was so grateful that we had come and were able to help her. She told us that she had been praying for help, and then we pulled up! It is so amazing to see how Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. We would never have thought to visit her. but God knew that if we went to visit "sheri" then we would be in the right place at the right time to help this other sister. We don't have to know everything, but if we are doing our best to do what is right, Heavenly Father will put us in the right place at the right time to help those in need.

We are working with this great family from chuke! It is always fun in lessons because......well.....I don't speak chukeese! but It has been fun bearing my testimony then hearing it translated.....then they respond and I smile and nod then I'm like "wait....what did they say?" It's fun though!

We got to do a service project with our ward this week. We got to paint the outside of a nearby elementary school! We loved that! We also got to help a family in our ward to put dry wall in? they are rebuilding a room in their house? or adding on or something. So we learned how to be like bob the builder!

We got to go to Laie this week to go to the temple! I love the temple! It is so peaceful there:) and it's just beautiful too!

Love you all!!

love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 48- I am super old and we hit a horse :)

This week was fun!!! Monday, my companion decorated our house all birthday-ee . It was super cute! Then, Tuesday was my birthday and we had our missionary district meeting....which turned into a party! The elders wore party hats, we sang, had lunch and cake.....the whole deal!!!!!! Then we went to visit some people. It was a good day. Then we had dinner with a great family and they had soft tacos (YAY!!!! We never get mexican food!) and chocolate cake! haha it was a great day! Then sister Richardson and I had a balloon fight (it's way more fun than a pillow fight)! So now i'm 20.....weird! 

On Wednesday, we went to serve at Pearl Harbor. We swept this huge deck on the ship! It was awesome. Then we carried choke mattresses down into the ship for the bunks down there. they were heavy!!! We made a chain and were passing them to each other. One elder threw a mattress to the next elder and hit him in the face with the mattress and he got a nose bleed haha:) Then we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders. It is always fun to see a different area and meet new people:)

It was great to see so many people at church this week!! One family that we have been working with, who haven't been to church in a long time CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome!

We met this great Samoan family this week who just welcomed us in and let us sit down and got us so much food and were so nice!!! haha there are just such hospitable people in the world!

Also I realized this week that I don't feel comfortable in houses with my shoes on anymore haha. some one was like "oh you can leave your shoes on" and I was like "thanks" and like two minutes later my shoes were off. haha I can't stand it....it makes me feel uncomfortable:) haha

One time this week we had to call our zone leaders and they didn't pick up their phone so sister Richardson left them a message that went something like this "Hi elders....umm, we....well, we got in an accident...umm...it's a pretty interesting one- well, we...we hit a horse. And we just don't know how to fill that out on the accident report form, so if you could call us back as soon as possible....the police are waiting on us. okay, bye." hahaha I love my companion!

Easter was wonderful! I am so grateful for our Savior, who came to this earth to live for us, and to die for us. I am so grateful that He lives again. Because of Him, we can all live again. everyone watch the Easter video on LDS.org. It's fantastic!

Love you all!

love, Sister Hodgson