week 3- This is totally a foreign mission..tee hee

Hey!!!! this is so crazy! I'm in Hawaii:) I still can't get over it. We'll just be driving along and I'll be like "I'm on an island in the middle of the ocean!" But I'm loving it here! Okay, but before I get too carried away I need to catch you up on the last bit of my MTC stay.

It was the last Thursday night in the MTC and we had just come from dinner to go to our evening class. We were all having problems focusing and just weren't feeling well. Sister P asked if any one else's stomach was hurting and all but one of the sisters said that their stomachs were hurting too. We dismissed our complaints and went on with the lesson. Our teacher was talking, then all of a sudden  Sister O burped. It was super funny! We were trying to hold in our laughter but we just couldn't. The teacher asked if we needed a quick break and we all burst out laughing and agreed that we did. Out in the hall, we were laughing so hard that I started crying (I don't know why....we were exhausted :) ) but I knew it was stupid so I was laughing at myself too. Pretty soon I was on the floor sobbing hysterically and we were all laughing at that. Then sister P started gaging and ran to the bathroom to throw up. Sister F threw up too. It was pretty much the craziest five  minutes of my life! When we had finally gathered ourselves together we went back into class and had a testimony meeting- which was great! but it was just a really funny night. ....Our poor teacher:)

Anyway, that pretty much sums up the MTC. On Tuesday morning we took a bus to a train, then the train to a track/ monorail thing, then the track/ monorail thing to the airplane, then the airplane to our mission president's car, then his car to his home and Finally our travels were done!

We stayed the first night in the mission president's home. Of course my bed would be the one to have flying termite larva nesting in the sheets...... but the mission president's wife helped us change the bedding and we slept fine:) But I went to bed thinking No matter what they say....

 "This is totally a foreign mission". The weather, food, and houses also contributed to my conclusion. All of the windows here are made like blinds. They are a whole bunch of glass slats put together that you can tilt to let the air in...'cause Boy it is hot here! We haven't come across very many air conditioners..... Everyone just uses fans. (Except for the military but I'll get to that in a bit)

 Here in Hawaii, transfers are done a bit differently: instead of everyone coming to a transfer meeting on Wednesday and finding out who your companion will be and where you will serve, all of the missionaries get a letter Tuesday night with all of the information. Then, only the ones who will need to change islands will have to fly (because it would be way too expensive to fly everyone in and then back out again). We opened our letters Tuesday night. They call it early Christmas! It was so great! We went around the room reading who we would serve with and where we would serve. My new companion and trainer is Sister M! She is so great! She is 5'3", brown hair, super bubbly personality, and loves a busy schedule! We have so much fun together. Interestingly enough, she had a baptism lined up for this last weekend, so that was super exciting! So it has been a been joke in the area that I "got a baptism" on my fourth day in the field!

It is so crazy living with only two people in a home. Do you know how many dishes two people use?! Not that many.....like two.... So it has been really easy to keep the kitchen clean! 

okay, finally to the military. My area is mostly made up of military housing! So that means nicer houses, air conditioning and pretty "normal" food. In the other parts of our area we do have a few native Islanders who feed us Hawaiian food.

They other night we had a great dinner apt My trainer didn't tell me till after dinner, but the lady that we were teaching always feeds us food. So by the end of our lesson/ Second dinner appointment we were so full! She fed us Hawaiian food = a HEAPING plate of rice.... lots of meat and a Huge glass of soda! We ate all that we could to be polite then taught the lesson. but boy were we full! 

With all that said, I love mission life! It's all part of the experience, and I feel like I am learning so much! one more quick thought before I go- IN the MTC our teachers will role play as an investigator for you and your companion to teach. Our teacher played someone who was really open to the gospel, but had one main issue that she would need to resolve before baptism. She was living with her boyfriend. The first day that I here, the first appointment that I had, the investigator was someone who was really open to the gospel, but had one main issue that she would need to resolve before baptism. She was living with her boyfriend. It was neat to see that Heavenly Father knew who I would be teaching here, and knew how to best prepare me for that. He is so mindful of giving us exactly what we need. He has the big picture in mind and wants to always bless us.

Love you!

-Sister Hodgson