Week 78- almost Pau

okay so this week was super fun! Monday, we practiced for our zone's musical number for zone conference on Tuesday.

Then Tuesday we spent pretty much all day in zone conference. It was wonderful! they played a talk from elder Bednar and he talked about how Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be perfect but He does expect us to be clean. I liked that distinction. also, President pulled me out for my final interview with him!!!!!! I was so surprised! I mean I knew that it was coming but I didnt think it would be that day but SURPRISE! He talked about the importance of education and temple attendance and what to look for in a spouse and all of that jazz.

So our zone did the musical number and we really did a MUSICAL! we did a meddly of "I hope they call me on a mission", "called to serve Him" and I'll go where you want me to go". with the storyline of a young boy preparing to go on his mission, then the day he opened his call, to the time he had to pray about it to really resolve that he would go where ever the Lord wanted Him to go. then on to when he met his trainer and learned how to tract. it was super fun and we got it all on film so I'll show you in a few weeks:)   ( weird to say that) Then at the end of zone conference I gave my departing testimony with two other sisters. and then another SURPRISE they started playing "Aloha Oi" on the piano and everyone sang to us....... man I knew that these things happened but I guess I just totally forgot! It was so crazy….yeah, I creid .  I still can't believe I'm almost pau. ( Pau = finished or done)

Wednesday one of the elders was sick so we tried to cover our appointments and theirs....so that was pretty busy!

Thursday, we helped a lady in our ward to can a bunch of jam. it was super fun!

Friday, was a SUPER SPECIAL day!!!!!!!!!!!!  But not much I can really share…just know that somedays the spirit is so strong you want to explode!

Saturday we had a neat experience. We only had a few minutes to go tracting before our next visit, so we could have just gone early but we decided to go and tract a few houses. we didn’t know what street to tract so we drove around for a bit then found one and turned back around to get to it. we picked three not super scary looking houses and the first one we went to we got invited in and we taught a lesson and we are going back this week for another appointment. super cool!! Some people want to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they are just waiting for us…

Sunday was busy. well that's just life I suppose:) but we are practicing a song for the musical fireside and it's a super great song. we are all excited.

Love you family!!!

Love, Sister Hodgson

PS anyone remember Brad Snell from TNT...many years ago...his little brother came to the best mission !!

Week 77- Miracles every day

ALOOOHA!!!! So…God works miracles every day!  Find yours!

Our zone leaders gave training to us about having faith and not doubting and boy it changed my life!! Because a lot of times I think I have faith that God can do anything, but I doubt and think "maybe He just doesn’t want to do that right now" or "maybe this is just too high of a goal" and sometimes those doubts have some truth to them, but that's not the point. The point is we should have faith that not only does the Lord have the power to bless us, but He WILL bless us!

For example: As missionaries, we keep track of how many lessons that we teach each week. This helps us to see when improvement is needed, what works and what doesn't work, how the ward can help more, etc. Here in the Ewa beach ward, with the elders lessons and our lessons combined, we had been teaching about 16 lessons a week (about 8 per companionship). We were like "wow this is kinda a hard area". BUT this week, our combined total was 41 lessons!!! That was a small miracle! , proving he is there …Because, it's not about numbers, but each one of those numbers represents a person who we met with, talked with and shared more about God's love, His plan, our Savior's sacrifice, etc. It was an eye opening week for me to see again that the Lord has more blessings than we are sometimes even able to imagine for us!

Also we met a lady and we asked her if we could come by again and meet with her family and she was basically like "no. i'm always busy". Then we ended up talking about some things she's done in her life and asking her about her experiences and getting to know each other and by the end she was like "come back any time!! I’m home during the day on weekdays!" it was really neat to see the change as we took time to talk with her. As they say "people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!"

 

We had some Filipino food this week including ground up pig's face.....nice!

Also we met a lady who let us try on her Indian saris?  It was totally fun to play dress up:) (memories of the Hilton girls and Claire Poore)

People have starting setting up Christmas decorations. and a family we had lunch with even gave us Christmas gifts because , as she said "I have to give them before you leave!!" I’m not leaving yet!!!! haha but it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

In Yoga this morning I FINALLY figured out how to stand on my head....cant wait to show you family:)

lots of love,

Sister Hodgson

WEEK 76- whatewa ( Ewa is pronouced eva)

HEY! so I love life everyday here!

today we kicked off the week with our Yoga class again! 

 

 

 

 

then we went as a district to get our flu shots......I almost passed out.........shots stress me out! then we all got shave ice because we didn't pass out getting our shots haha.

funny moment this week: we were going to meet some new families. we finally found the address of one and we knocked on the door. the dad eagerly opened the door, then his face changed as he said "you're not the pizza man"........sorry sir..... haha.

We had a dinner with a wonderful family this week and they invited their friend over to dinner. after dinner we shared a little spiritual thought and invited the friend to meet with us to learn more about the gospel. he said he'd think about it. Then we invited him to pray and ask God if it was a good time for him to learn more about the gospel....my companion  promised him that if he would read the scriptures and pray every day that blessings would come into his life. the member added his testimony and said "you have just been promised, by an authorized servant of the Lord, that if you do these things blessings would come into your life. and I add my testimony and promise to that that not only will the blessings come into your life but you will be able to see them and recognize them IF you are willing to do these things." the spirit was so strong........ it was such a privilege to be in that room and feel the spirit.

We had a Japanese dinner this week. my companion is Japanese and one of the elders is half Japanese so they loved it.....the haole elder and I made it okay....we struggled a bit with the chopsticks but not too bad. mom and dad- thank you for teaching me how to use chopsticks!!!!!!for real! life skills! so we got to try a bunch of little colorful pickled veggie kine things that I have no idea what they were.....but they tasted alright.

This Sunday was fast Sunday......the last fast Sunday on my mission! so next fast Sunday, I want to have a spot saved in the Rocklin chapel right in between mommy and daddy! well, I'm out of time, but I am loving it here!!!  time to SPRINT!!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 75- EWA beach....and a little trunky

So we love EWA so much!!!!!!!!! it is a kind of harder area.....we work our little bottoms off to get the result of a lazy week in other areas. but it is so great. we love the ward. the bishop and ward mission leader are so on top of it! we get fed every night! oh, and here in Ewa there are like a million airplanes all the time.............which does tend to make one a little trunky but I'll keep focused and keep working. ( I am looking forward to a hair cut and pedicure- those little things that have just not been the focus …)Seriously though, we see like 20 airplanes a day! we are right in between two airports so it's busy!

so funny story of this week. the day of our ward trunk or treat I guess sister Yasufuku and I were both thinking Halloween themed when we got dressed so we both wore black dresses. then we drove out to our area and got out of the car to start our visits. I looked at sister y's dress, then looked at mine then I was like " *gasp* we look like nuns!!!!...........we changed later but we had a good giggle.

 my earache turned into like the trial of my life last week haha. It was seriously one of the most painful things I've ever experienced! Then just as my left ear got better, I got it in my right ear too. but the right ear healed much faster…..dodging some fast balls…but I have gotten tough!

the ward trunk of treat was so fun!   We dreseed up as each other...hahah  ( so creative) One of the less active members that we have been working with came to the activity with her daughter and grand son. and then she came to church on Sunday! yay!!! It is so good to see people making great progress in their lives in spite of hardships or struggles.

we met with a lady this week and she asked about the ten commandments, so we went through the commandments then she asked a question, she said "what happens if we dont keep the 10 commandments" to which we replied. "well, then we can't have the blessings, we want to  live with our Heavenly Father again." she replied "oh okay....that's it?" and I was thinking "THAT"S IT????? what other it is there??? isn't that the only it we should ever be interested in obtaining??? eternal happiness and Joy with our families, living in the presence of our God for all of eternity?!"???

So it just reminded me that that really is the most important thing. we really should try to keep our focus on the eternal perspective. that is our goal- to live with our Heavenly Father again. and we need to not loose focus on that! It is amazing how when we are "teaching" other people, how much I learn.

well, we are finding more people who want to meet with us. Heavenly Father always answers prayers. we have seen many miracles this week….as mom says  time to SPRINT!!

I  want to give every last bit of my heart and mind to this work!!

love you all!

love, Sister Hodgson

WEEK 74- Ewa Beach!!

ALOHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so this week has been great! like I mentioned last week, we found out that we would be going to the Ewa beach 2nd ward. then on wednesday at transfer meeting, they were announcing the changes and they said "and elder D and elder N will be serving together in the Ewa beach 2nd ward" and I was thinking "WHAT? isn't that where we are serving?" then they announced "and sister Y and sister Hodgson will also be serving in the Ewa beach 2nd ward" so we are all four white washing into a new area! 

Ewa is so great! the area is pretty small. the elders walk, and we bike. the only problem was that when we first got there, we didn’t have any place to stay. so the zone leaders arranged for us to sleep in the pad that the elders would eventually move into. then the elders stayed with the zls for the night. So we kept getting calls from the mission office like "are you living with the elders?" "our records indicate that you and sister y are living with elder N and elder D" and we were like "NO!!!!!!!" haha. so anyway, the next day we moved into our new pad and elder d and elder n then moved into their pad. So our new pad was MESSSYYYYYY!!!!!!! ….cluttered and lots of unorganized junk. Our sister training leaders came and helped us to clean it up. …Elders and sisters seem to live very differently (haha)

anyway, It looks much nicer now! we have a front entry way and hall closet on the first floor, then a stair case, because our apartment is upstairs! we have air conditioning and a kitchen, dining area, living room, bedroom, washer and dryer and bathroom!!! so it's a very nice place.....but the shower doesn't work!!!!!!! The handle to turn the hot water on is broken....so we have hot water, we just cant get it. and secondly, the water comes out the faucet into the tub, but it wont come out of the shower head!!!! I have no idea how the elders lived here! they didnt even mention anything! so what we had to do was fill up a bucket with warm water in the sink then carry it to the tub, step in, and pour it on our head. like 20 times.....haha so there's our little adventure for the week…..we are looking forward to getting  ahold of a repairman.

We have loved getting to know the ward here. the leaders in this ward have been SO helpful to us! We don't know anyone or anything about the area, but they have really worked with us and taken such great care of us.

We met with a new family this week. we had a really hard time finding their house in the rain from the tropical storm!! we didnt have an umbrella and we were walking around everywhere to find the house. we were soaking wet when we got there, but they welcomed us in and got us towels to dry off. we discussed what the previous missionaries had taught them about and they knew a lot. They knew all about the book of Mormon and had even read from it. but we asked them if they had ever prayed about it. they said they hadn't. so we invited them to do that this week.

If we really want to know truth, who better to hear from than God. He will tell us what is true. I KNOW that the book of Mormon really is scripture from our Heavenly Father. I know it. I can feel it whenever I read it. I am so thankful that God loves us enough to give us guidance through His prophets in Jerusalem (bible), the ancient American continent (book of Mormon), and even from our Prophet on the earth today. Isn't it great! Heavenly Father is so consistent in His love and in His blessings which He gives to His children.. I love this scripture

mormon 9: 19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

Even today!

Okay so one more story: on a more sadly note...... yes I have a really bad ear ache!!!! like super bad!!!!! But it's okay, I got a blessing and I am taking these little ear drops that the mission nurse had me get and I am surviving. But MAN!!!!! It is super painful! It hurts my jaw too but hey, some people break their femurs and such so I really shouldn't complain. I have just been living off of soft foods and advil haha. the advil makes it feel good enough to move my jaw and eat the dinners that people prepare for us so it's all good. Missionary work rolls forward!

oh and our ward mission leader's wife is a yoga teacher so we all went to the monday morning class and sweat like crazy! we are all gonna be some tomorrow! but it was great!

I really love being a missionary! I am so happy here! I love this area and the great people we've met, we are going to do our best to work super hard this week! Faith + works = miracles

Love you all! read the book of Mormon and Pray about it!! even if you already know it's true it's nice to know again (like how I already know I like cafe rio quesadillas, but when I get back home, I am gonna try it again just to be sure haha)

love,

Sister Hodgson