Week 58- service and the secret pizza meeting

Well, last week we helped a sweet lady move all of her sister's stuff into a storage unit. that was really fun. 6 elders came to help too and they were awesome! We loaded all of the stuff into the moving van then drove to the storage facility then unloaded all the stuff onto carts then rolled it to her storage place then we made a line to pass the boxes from the cart, into her storage room, then up to an elder on a ladder who stacked the boxes super high! It must have been at least 11 ft high!

We were teaching a young man this week who wants to strengthen his relationship with God, and wants to do good things but just said that he has a hard time getting the motivation to do it. We had planned to talk about the scriptures but while we were meeting with him, we had this feeling, "talk about the temple". I was like "but we're talking about the scriptures and that doesn't even make sense!" Then again "ask him if he's been to the temple". So we asked and began a discussion about the temple and the blessings of the temple. He shared that he really wants to go to the temple but it seems like such a big goal. So we helped him set a "baby step" goal, that would get him back on track to prepare to go there. He seemed really happy about that and it was neat to see and feel again that we don't know what these people need, but the Lord does!

On Saturday, we had interviews with President Warner which is always fantastic! The Sister training leaders check everyone's area book and planner for organization and to see how well they are planning, etc. so that took a long time. Then we had interviews with president. IN my interview he asked me "Sister Hodgson, how long have you been out?" "13 months" "what have you learned on your mission?" I told him that I was learning so much, but one thing in particular was that "the best I can do is the best I can do" The Lord doesn't expect more than that- but He does expect the best that we can do. I am so grateful that, weaknesses and all, Heavenly Father allows me to participate in this work. I am so grateful that He isn't looking for perfect missionaries! And I am also grateful that Christ can take imperfect people like us and help us to accomplish great things as we rely on Him.

On Monday we got to go to MLC (Missionary Leadership Council).....which sister Oh and I had always referred to as the "Secret pizza meeting" haha...just because they always have pizza for lunch and not everyone gets to go. so it was "secret" and it's a meeting and there is pizza..... ya you get it. So this was our first time to actually get to go to MLC. We woke up at 4:45, got ready, then drove to honolulu to pick some other sisters up from the airport. Then we drove to the meeting. It was so neat! Because we got to represent our zone of missionaries as we discussed changes to be made in the mission, and things that we needed to learn to be better missionaries.( it was also really cool to see old buddies that I miss) 

It was really amazing to see as we discussed changes we didn't come to an agreement on specifics for a very long time, but finally someone made a suggestion and it was right! We all felt that it was right! This is not our missionary work, but it is the Lord's missionary work, and we can feel when something is pleasing to Him. So the changes were made! the meeting was super long though! and we got stuck in traffic on the way home. so we didn't make it back till almost 7:00pm! And Yes, the pizza was delicious!

Well, it's great to be here. I love it! but I miss you all too!

love, Sister Hodgson

Week 57- Luggage taxi and my future husband's shirt

so they say that for every drop of rain that falls on your missionary name tag, your future spouse gets more attractive----hence my gratitude for serving in Waimea and Mililani- some of the wettest places in the mission haha. But in all seriousness, I would much rather work in the rain than in the sun. it can get HOT here! I feel like a little raisin....i'm tanning into a crisp! #awkwardmissionarytanlines (do people even use hashtags anymore? haha)

Well, this week on Wednesday morning, we woke up at 4:00, and picked up the other sisters. We dropped one off at the airport, then drove to Honolulu where the other sister met up with her new companion. Then all the elders in our zone filled up our car with luggage...................It was LOADED with luggage! like STUFFED!!!! okay not that full, but close! it had a lot. (all the other cars had 4 or 5 elders in them so we were the luggage taxi). We followed our zone leaders around to a few different pads and dropped off everyone's luggage. then we got back home and officially started the transfer. 

Here on the islands you can ride in the back of trucks legally...I love this

 

 

On Thursday we set goals for the transfer ,that is always fun! We taught a lot of people today. Teaching is one of my favorite parts of missionary work. We don't just recite a script- we really do our best to share what we know to be true and understand their concerns and feelings. And we cannot teach, unless we have the spirit! We, as 20 year old girls, don't have the ability to help people to change their lives in this big of a way. But Heavenly Father loves the people that we teach SO much and He will help us to show them His love and His plan. Only then can people make these lasting changes in their lives.

My favorite part of Saturday, was when we saw this old guy with a cut-off- sleeve shirt. Not just your average cut off, but like he cut off the sleeves and a part of the shirt haha. Sister Oh was like "did his shirt come like that?" I explained that people buy t-shirts and cut off the sleeves, and that's how you get that kind of shirt. She told me "if my husband wear that kind of shirt I will be like 'no' and when he is sleeping I will throw it away." she is so cute!!!!!!!!!

 We were excited to get our "Sister Training papers"......I guess we will figure out what that means...hahah

love you guys,

Sister Hodgson

WEEK 56- The last sisters.... and the PCC

 

 

 

Monday, we went to the Polynesian cultural center!! That was awesome!  It's like the Disneyland of Hawaii!  We saw the first mission home in Hawaii, and we saw lots of dancing: Hawaiian, Tahitian, Samoan, Tongan, Maori, Fijian-  It was awesome!

 

Tuesday, we had our last district 12 district meeting.  we went to the "wilderness" (the botanical gardens) like Lehi and his family.  It was super fun!  

Wednesday, we had service at Pearl Harbor.  We got to sanitize EVERYTHING!!!  we just wiped down any and all surfaces on the whole battleship. it took forever but it was fun!  We also got to go to a meeting at President and SIster Warner's home this night.   It was good to see them again and to see some old mission buddies:)

Thursday, We went to go visit a member, but she wasn't home, so we were walking back to our car thinking that it was kind of a waste of time to come over, but then we saw a car parked by a red curb.....which is illegal.....and on a military base if you do something illegal- they'll find you!!!  so we were like hey it looks like that car is at our OTHER members' house, so we thought maybe we should go knock on their door and let them know the curbs were crazy confusing here.  We we're like "naw that's dumb" then we were like "no we should go tell them".  so we knocked on the door, they let us in, a friend was just leaving so he took the car and that was fine BUT we stayed and talked for a bit with this sister.  It turns out that she is moving soon, and the military mover guys were coming the next morning to check the house and see how much they would have to move.  SO she was really stressed!  we offered to come help her to clean and she was so grateful for that!  It was really neat to see that we had no idea that she needed help, but Heavenly Father did, and He brought us to that street, and prompted us to go stop by.  He'll put us right where He needs us to be!  He loves all of His children, and He will send help when someone needs it, and He will give us opportunities to be the help when someone needs it.

Friday, we went over to help that Sister clean her house.  it was so much fun!  she is so sweet. 

Saturday, we went to stake conference adult session....I still think it's weird that I'm an adult...haha

Sunday, we went to the Sunday Session of Stake Conference.  It was so good.  It was all about missionary work and the book of Mormon.

ALSO, we got transfer news this week!  There are so many people leaving our zone.  There are 7 elders leaving and the other two sisters are both leaving!  WHAT?  that's right, BOTH of them....so that means Sister Oh and I will be the only sisters in the zone........... talk about lonely......  there goes our carpool buddies.  No exchanges for us! haha  So that was a shocker.  this is like pre-age-change status...  But Sister Oh and I are staying together so we're really happy for that:)

love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 55- Amazing youth and 3 dinners

This week we had exchanges on Wednesday. I went to Mililani with sister Meatoga and Sister Broomhead went to Wahiawa with Sister Oh.

Then, on Thursday we had a district meeting to plan for a training that our district would be giving at youth conference!  They hand cuffed us to our companions and then we had to build something out of snack foods and frosting.  It was super fun!

Friday we spent ALL day at youth conference. There were 6 groups, so we gave the training 6 times. It was so much fun! We were supposed to be done around 2:30, but the leaders decided that they needed one more set of missionaries to stay later and help the youth go tracting. SO our zone leaders asked us to stay! We were so excited!!! So we got to go around with these cute teenage girls and help them invite people to the activity Saturday morning. They were so cute! They were a little bit shy at first, but then they got more confident. It was great to see them out being little missionaries :)

The activity that they were inviting people to was a family history fair. Saturday morning all of the youth helped people in the community to learn more about family history work. Many people came to the church and the youth helped them to set up accounts on familysearch.org so that they could look for their own ancestors. It was neat to see the youth so excited about it, and it was so good for everyone else to be able to learn about it.

On Sunday, we had so many appointments and we were busy all day!!!!We had a meeting in the morning, then we went to church, then we ate lunch, then we had appointment after appointment. Unfortunately, the last three appointments were dinner appointments......so that was fun. We felt so bad because the 1st dinner was like "eat sisters!" "have some more!" "that's all you're going to eat?" "have some more rice" "I'll scoop you more soup". Finally his wife was like "honey, maybe they're full! they don't eat as much as we do!" haha so that was our first dinner. The second dinner had a salad with the meat, so that one was nice and easy. Then the third dinner was a Samoan family….  ..So it was all meat! We just explained that we had a curfew that we had to make- so we ate a little bit, then took the rest to go. We made it home with 7 plates of food to go. gotta love the generosity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously! They are so giving! But I am so full :) I think that love is spelled F.O.O.D. here. If they love you, they feed you- if you love them, you eat their food. That's how it works.

Oh and the most exciting news of the week is that President gave our zone permission to go to the Polynesian cultural center today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never in my craziest dreams would I imagine that he would approve that! But the zone leaders asked him, and he said yes!!!! No one EVER gets to go to the PCC unless it is the day before you go home. (or if you serve in Laie). But since I don't serve in Laie and I am not going home I never expected this! So we'll have great pictures next week!

We see so many chickens and cats here all the time. We saw some cute baby kittens and I was like "aww they're so cute!!! Kittens don't deserve to live in the ghetto" then sister oh was like "cats do, but not kittens!!!!" she is so funny!!!!!! I love my companion! I love this work! I'm so glad to be here:)

miss you and love you all!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 54- National Creeper week and why I want to share the Gospel

so this week we were walking down the street and some guy beckoned to us to come to him. so we walked over, introduced ourselves and had a little gospel conversation with him. He started saying super weird things about the gospel and we were getting a little creeped out so I said "It was so nice to talk to you but we'd better get going" and I went to take a step away from him and he was like "don't move your foot! don't you dare walk away from me!!!" Then he proceeded to yell at us about how selfish women are. it was super crazy so we let him finish his rant then I was like "I really don't mean to be rude sir, but we really do have to go" he was like "don't you dare leave." then, he pointed to my companion and he said "What does she have to say?" My companion and I were a bit flustered, but mostly just annoyed at this point. I turned to her and said "do you have anything to say sister oh?" she turned and looked at the guy and just said "it was nice to meet you" haha and we turned and walked away as fast as we could. He was shouting at us and super mad, so as soon as we turned the corner we sprinted all the way to our car! we were like "we just got held hostage..... by words!" It was funny!

okay and second creeper story: we were making phone calls to people that missionaries have met before, but never got a chance to teach. So we call them and see if they are interested in learning more and we set up appointments. Seems simple enough. We called this one guy and he was being super rude and sarcastic. So we ignored most of his previous comments and just skipped to asking him if he would be open to meeting with us. He was like "depends.....on a scale of 1 to 10 how attractive are you?" I said "2." he swore and was like "ooh you're so modest....like 2 hundred or just 2?" I said "2." He started going off about something else and we just told him that what we thought would be most fitting for his gospel learning would be chatting with missionaries online at mormon.org. he was like "so you don't want to come visit me? now I'm not gonna learn about the gospel so i'm just the same as before this phone call, so you haven't helped me at all!"   sigh…some times its hard when you are trying to be nice.

and thirdly....and not really  creepy...: we passed by this guy in the parking lot and he asked us if we could give him some money for gas. We said sorry, we didn't have any and he was like "oh okay. thanks. you look beautiful today!" we were like "umm....thank you." some people are so friendly....I think doing drugs makes people seem prettier too haha.

so there's our creeper week! Sister Oh and i LOVE our ward...and are very busy!

but on a more spiritual note, we are seeing so much help from the ward members here! People are offering to come out with us to lessons and people are asking their friends to come over and listen to our message! It is so neat to see! The prophets have repeatedly stated "every member a missionary". and why is that? is it because we want to have the biggest church? no. Is it because we think it's funny to see people get wet when they're baptized? nope. Then why is it so important to share the gospel? President George Albert Smith said: We have that which is of more value than all the wealth and the scientific information which the world possesses. We have the plan of life and salvation. … The best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ

We have seen the blessings that this gospel has brought into our lives, and we need to share this with others. This is how we can show our love. The relief that comes through the atonement, the peace that comes through knowledge of the plan of salvation, the guidance we receive from a living prophet- these are priceless treasures that we can help others to have in their lives as well.

You all know how excited I can get about a good ice cream flavor, or a nice pizza.....I'll tell everybody: "have you tried papa john's spinach Alfredo pizza?" or "you have to come and try some of this ben and jerrys ice cream! It's chocolate peppermint crunch! It's so good!!!!!!" If I want to share something so trivial as a pizza slice, I should be have a greater desire to share the things or greater worth in my life.

I know that this gospel is the way to have “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (D&C 59:23).

I love being a missionary! I am so glad to be sharing what I love! (aka the gospel) (p.s. I also share pizza and ice cream occasionally....so that's nice too:) haha.

love you all!

-Sister Hodgson <3