WEEK 28- Thanksgiving and Football

haha so the story lives on...I was talking with a new sister in the zone and the hon-west hanging story came up and she was like "no way! that was you?" and I was like "you had heard about that before?" and she was like "ya,...but like everyone knows....news spreads fast in a small mission"   

We taught the law of Chastity to C last week. He's 18 years old and we really wanted to help him to understand why this teaching  is important to us. We had one of C's best friends there (who is a  member of our ward ) and we ask him to share his testimony on the law of chastity. He was like "dude, it's so good, because when you look at a girl, you don't want to look at her like a piece of meat. You want to look at her like a woman, like a daughter of God. so.... ya." Great testimony!!!!! We can say whatever we want but it is so much better to just have his friend share how it has blessed him!

So, Thanksgiving was this week! We were told to not proselyte all day....so people could just have their family time. We were invited over to Hawea's house (W in Hawaiian is pronounced like a V, so it sounds like Haveya) Hawea is our ward mission leader's daughter. She has three kids, ages 12, 10 and 6 I think. Hawea invited us over to bake pies all morning so that was fun!

Then we went and had a missionary turkey bowl! and played some Frisbee and rugby. My companion taught all of the sisters to do a "line out". it's that thing in rugby where they lift up someone and that person up in the air catches the ball.. I was the one they lifted. it was super funny. it took us forever to get it right but we did do it and catch the ball successfully once:) then we were all ready for thanksgiving dinner!! We went to our ward mission leader's house and helped them to take family photos. Our ward mission leader and his wife have like 7 kids and they are all grown, most of them married with a few kids, so it was crazy!!!! They have a huge house though. It was really fun to be a part of their family for thanksgiving. The food was delicious and we just felt so at home watching all of the little cousins chasing each other around and everyone passing around plates of pie and laughing and chatting. It was nice. After dinner, we went back to the church and played a bit of volley ball then played murder in the dark again.  we have a great zone!

On Saturday, we had a tri-ward turkey bowl. It was so much fun!!!!!!!!! the team I was on was led by JR(not junior, but jay-are). so we called ourselves the jaredites:) there was another team captian named nephi....needless to say they were the nephites:) Our team actually did really well!! We won five out of the seven games that we played! it was soooooooo much fun!!! I love football! during one of the games, a tall guy from the other team, named matt, rushed at our QB so I ran at him to block him but he jumped up and hit the ball down, and when he came down he landed with his elbow right on my forhead and then fell into me and we both got knocked over. So there I was lying on the ground in the grass, looking up at the bright sun holding my forhead....once again! haha just my luck!! kept asking me if I was okay. I told him I was fine, and the best part was that apparently he had hit the ball right back into the QBs arms and then the QB threw it right to JR and he ran and got super far! awesome!! but I missed the whole thing! haha I love football

We were super sore the next day haha!

uh oh.............the tsunami siren is going off.........................well....this is awkward....................ummmmm..................okay it just stopped......... oh, so they usually test it on the first of the month but they tested it today, presumably because yesterday was a Sunday.

okay, so question time:

what does a NORMAL Pday look like now a days?? Wake up.....clean the house, car, etc. do some laundry, maybe some exercise, and then we email and hang out with the zone!! Usually rugby and some letter writing. Then we shower get ready and head out to work at 6:00. It’s just cruise day!!!!!!!!!!

How do you see/use play theory in your mission?

haha when you go into a lesson, but you and your companion didn't discuss what you will be teaching you just try and "yes and" what ever they say...... Also, we have to "let go and play" when plans change or when you say something dumb...you can't dwell on it, but you just have to "let go and PRAY" so that you are more focused on what the Lord wants you to say instead of focusing on yourself....so that's looking outward too... it's all about helping the person you are teaching. They say all the time that we "teach people, not lessons" it's not about getting through the material; it's about inviting and helping others to come unto Christ. We have to be "100% present" when we are teaching and not focus on "I wonder what we are going to have for lunch?" we have to have our thoughts be centered on helping the person we are teaching.


well, I guess that's it for this week:)

love you all a bunch!

love, Sister Hodgson!

Week 27- we need spare keys

Okay! so this week is saw Anne Allen!!!! She showed up at the church on pday and got to meet everybody!!! and then on Wednesday, sis p and I got to go down to her fancy house on the golf course! I was so beautiful! The view was amazing! Then she and Brother Allen took us out to lunch at a cute litte beach side cafe! O my goodness they are just the sweetest! It was super fun! 

Also, this week I hit my 6 month mark! crazy right! I know! We did a lot of service this week!! We helped on family to sweep out all of the dust from their new house. We helped another family to move out of their house, and we scrubbed the floors sparkily clean! we also helped a cute old couple to revarnish??? their wooden house.....we painted on a shiney stain/paint thing and it looked super nice!

We got a referal from the H family a few weeks ago. They told us that it was just up the road from them and they kinda described the house location. We did the best we could to find the correct house ( as I have said directions are ‘different” here) so we knocked on the door.......and were rudely turned away. So we thought a little bit and said "okay, even if the referal is not going to work out, we were still meant to be here for a reason!" so we decided to go one house down the street and try them.......also rejected. So we moved on. When we spoke with the H family again to tell them that we had contacted their referal, they were like "oh no, not the two story house, its the one beyond the two story house!!!" so we went for round two of contacting the H family's referal and we met Elsie who is super nice! they had just moved from oahu! so I was like "oh cool, what part of oahu?" as we got talking I found out that she lived in my last area!!!!!! And she lived next door to some members that I had gone to for dinner appointments before!! I was so neat to relate to her in that way. when sis p and I left we were like "well, Heavenly Father orchestrated that well!!!"

So, on Wednesday night sis p gave our house keys to the elders because they didn't have a dinner appointment, so she was like "just go in and grab something to eat". Well, when we came back from our appointments, the door was still locked....and the elders were gone! so super awesome.....we were locked out of our own house! Sis p was like "that's okay, we have had this happen before so we opened the window above your bed and we put a ladder back behind the house" -because our house is elevated, and these are super high windows! So we went around back, and guess what wasn't there? that's right- the ladder. So we decided that sis p would lift me up and I would dislodge the screen, open the window, hop inside and unlock the door. well, i can tell you that is a lot easier said than done! I tried to reach my finger down to the bottom corner to see how much I was even moving the screen when I was wiggling it. And then, my finger reached right through the screen! The little black rubber tube thingy that holds the screen to the frame was not all the way to the corner! so I grabbed the black stringy thing and ripped it out, freeing the screen from the frame! I pulled out enough to climb through, and sister p pushed me up so that I was high enough to get in the window. I reached my hands down to my bed and because my bed is parallel to the wall with the window on it, I had to do a sideways tuck and roll down the length of my bed! The momentum from the height of the window was awesome and I FLEW!  But I ended the roll standing up on my feet next to my bed! Haha I felt like a secret agent or Sydney Bristow or something! it was super fun! I unlocked the door for sis p, and I walked back outside... then we saw the elders with our key in the parking lot...........................sigh............... 

So, mom asked about the people we're working with right now:

Lahi- Rb's mom! she is super smart and she calls us her adopted daughters! She does a lot of research on mormon.org and lda.org. the last time that we came to her house, she had printed out a 20-30 page packet of research and she went on to teach us the law of chastity and the law of tithing as she understood it from her studies!!! that doesn't happen to missionaries very often! she is so prepared and she loves the gospel!

C- he's mr "sure".....when ever we commit him to something he's just like "sure! why not". but in all reality, he is super solid. His testimony is strong, and he is good friends with a lot of the young men in our ward so they are giving him all the support that he needs!

Alex- wants to be baptized.....needs to get married to his girlfriend.

KO and KA are waiting for their families to be on board.

C - smartest little 10 year old i've ever met! Waiting for grandma who wants to be there when she is baptized

Sh- is a little afraid of change but is just the sweetest lady!

I don't have time to name all of the rest....sorry...next week:)

well, love you all!!

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 26-Yes...its geting cold in Hawaii!! and we are both staying here in Waimea!

So last night we were supposed to get the infamous transfer news phone call......but instead we got a text message informing us that president and the assistants needed to make some last minute changes so we wouldn't have news till today. But we already kinda knew who was leaving because everyone just called the airlines. And today the knews was confirmed. The last minute changes didn't affect our zone. So sis p ands I are staying in Waimea!!!!

This weeks questions:

What is your exercise routine? We try to run, and do some ab workout every morning. We have about a half hour and since we live right by the church, we can run in the parking lot, so that is super nice!
what is one goal that you have set for yourself in the mission...and how are you doing with it? I set the goal to read all of the standard works. I'm doing pretty well. I'm still plugging away in the book of Mormon. I have started the Old Testament. I'm almost done with the pearl of great price, and then I will start the New Testament. I'm saving doctrine and covenants for the end.

Describe what you see out of your window? A tree!!! and dirt....our window is dirty:) and from our other windows, we see a lot of dead grass. That basically sums up Hawaii. Believe it or not there is CHOKE dead grass here!

 So this week's food situation: I ate octopus. That was fun. Also, two nights this week we had two dinners!!!!!!!! What da heck! it was crazy! One night was planned because we already had a family planning to feed us, and then we scheduled a lesson with on of our investigators, which was turned into a dinner lesson. So for that night we knew to pace ourselves But the other night was unplanned. Our dinner appointment took us out to dinner at a restaurant!!! (And i got to have pizza for only the second time on the island! boy i miss pizza!) then we were so full and they even bought us a dessert. Then we were super full and we went to our after dinner lesson and we walked in the door and the investigator said "my son made dinner for you!" oh boy! on the outside we were like "wonderful!!! That's so sweet!" and on the inside we were like "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" anyway we just ate and ate and forced ourselves to eat and we prayed a ton that we wouldn't puke during the lesson , we were both okay! prayer works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we gained 5 pounds that day but we lost it already. 

We had a musical fireside after the Saturday night session of stake conference. The missionaries did our number of "Onward Christian soldiers and Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel" Sis p was the pianist and I was the conductor again. We love to sing praises!

The zone leaders car is in the shop so they needed to borrow a car, and we we're like "oh you can have our car. we'll bike" and they we're like "no we'll get the waikoloa elders to bike" and the waikoloa elders we're like "no we don't want to bike.....make the sisters do it!" the zone leaders were like "wow elders" and we all laughed at their lack of gentleman-li-ness. Then I was like "really, we'll bike. we want to!" and the zone leaders looked me right in the eyes and said "let me make this very clear- you will not be biking!" so we didn't get to bike. It's because our area is along a highway anyway, we tried.

:

 We did a zone service project this week down on a ranch! We mowed and raked an orchard! We drove to the member's ranch then we piled into the back of her truck and she drove us out (about 10 minutes) on her property. It was super hill-y property so it was like a miniature roller coaster ride but it was so much fun! and it was so beautiful! just acres and acres of rolling grass hills.

We had our pad inspection this week. (MOM-don't worry, we got 100% :) 

and we got new hats from AUNTIE June

auntie June is a sweet old lady that we have been visiting. we talked about faith and then when we were leaving she gave us chips, bananas, bread and hats. she is so cute!! she made the hats herself!

 

It has been getting pretty cold up here so we turned on the two space heaters and my little night light was on and I was walking back to get into my bed and then all of a sudden the lights went out and the heaters shut down...... we totally blew out the power.. so I guess we're meant to be cold at night. haha. just kidding, I took a bunch of clothes from my closet and laid them out on my bed and I stayed nice and warm. And this week a family from our ward is moving so they gave us a bunch of blankets and we're all good now. I know that it sounds totally dumb to complain about being cold in Hawaii, haha but it's a little bit true, because it usually so warm, so all of the houses are built with really thin walls and no insulation and the only pjs I brought are short sleeve and not warm at all. Anyway, they said we should be able to see snow on the mountains in a few weeks. we're excited!

The zone leaders car is in the shop so they needed to borrow a car, and we we're like "oh you can have our car. we'll bike" and they we're like "no we'll get the waikoloa elders to bike" and the waikoloa elders we're like "no we don't want to bike.....make the sisters do it!" the zone leaders were like "wow elders" and we all laughed at their lack of gentleman-li-ness. Then I was like "really, we'll bike. we want to!" and the zone leaders looked me right in the eyes and said "let me make this very clear- you will not be biking!" so we didn't get to bike. It's because our area is along a highway anyway, we tried.

:

-Sister Hodgson

WEEK 25-Diet Coke and Stick bugs

Monday: We played volley ball and rugby. I so super love Rugby!!!!!!!!! that WAS Monday.

Tuesday: We went on exchanges again. I went down to Kohala with the sister trainer. She is so sweet. She’s almost done with her mission. I learned a lot from her and we did my first chapel tour!

Wednesday: Still on exchanges, and we got to go to her ward's bishopric meeting!? probably the first and last time I'll ever be invited to a bishopric meeting. We were just in the foyer, bishop opened the door and was like "oh hey sisters! Come in." and we were like "who? us?" we looked around and since there were no other sisters...or people for that matter.....we assumed that he was talking to us. SO we went to the bishopric meeting. And for dinner this night, the lady gave us diet cokes to drink. I was like "Oh no.... not soda....OH NO.....Not diet soda!!!" that's like spot on exactly what mom said to avoid! and it had caffeine......boy oh boy.......my body probably thinks that I hate it.....sorry tummy.

We exchanged back Wednesday night, and ALSO I slept without a night light on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That hasn't happened in a while. I am finally getting to be okay when it's dark again. It’s been almost three months since the incident and I feel much better about it all. Blessings

Thursday: I also slept without a night light on this night! Fabulous!!!!!! Okay and I got to try LAU LAU for dinner this night  (Lau Lau - steamed boneless pork, chicken or beef salted and wrapped in taro or ti leaves, is a favorite at many Hawaiian luaus.

....me no likey.

Friday: it started to get super cold here.....well let's get real. ….Super cold here is like 60 degrees, but when you have clothes for 90 degree weather, you feel a little ill prepared.

Saturday: We cleaned the chapel and the ward members were playing what we missionaries like to call "world music"- aka anything unapproved for us to listen too.........so, Shout out to justin timberlake singing while we cleaned!

Sunday: the primary program was today! so cute! I love when all the little keiki ( Hawaiian for baby)  sing and share their testimonies! and this night we had a HUGE rainstorm!!! We got soaking wet but really really enjoyed it! It was the first rain we've had in a long time. We are so glad the drought is over. The farmers were starting to get a little worried about their animals not having enough grass to eat.

 

Okay extra stuff: Daddy! the oil that you sent with me has been used for like a bajillion blessings. There are a few elders who don't carry oil with them, and a few that had just left it in the car when the blessing was needed. SO thank you for getting me all prepared with the oil.

Oh and this morning, we woke up super early to drive up to mauna kea! but the road was closed because of the rain so we didn't get to drive up all the way to see the sunrise. SO we just waited in the parking lot til the sun came up….beautiful.  . It was pretty cold so we were all bundled up in our own blankets and stuff. at one point I was so cold that I climbed into our trunk to get warm, then and elder shut me in the trunk! I was like "hey don't shut me in the..." and BAM i got hit in the head by the little metal bar that attaches the trunk to the car. He later told me that he was like "hmmm that's weird that she stopped talking so abruptly...I hope I didn't knock her out or something" haha no...but close. I have a cute little welt on my forehead now. but it's tiny and not that noticeable

 

. oh, and the elders that we picked up to carpool with, brought their pet....wait "mascot" (because missionaries can't have pets) so we drove up to mauna kea with a stick bug in our car. yup. it totally climbed onto my head on the drive up. and i'm pretty sure it's still in the car right now...oops.

well that's about all for this week.

Ofa atu!   ( Tongan for I love you)

-Sister Hodgson