I prefer my fruit with seasoning‏

Hmna Cuevas, who we eat with on Tuesdays

Hmna Training Leaders

Fransisco and fam

Have you ever tried it? There is a wonderful seasoning called Tajin

from Mexico, that is specifically for fruit. I love it a lot,
especially on watermelon. Also an idea I stole from Hmna Osborne, one
of our Hmna training leaders, is to put cinnamon on my fruit, which is
equally yummy! I might not ever be satisfied with normal fruit again!
I hit my 6 month mark this week! It's a bit strange to think I've been
out for 1/3 of my mission, and I'm already seeing the change in myself
that can only come through working hard and serving God. As the
far-from-perfect missionary that I am, I am coming to value every
moment I have here and how I see it changing me, and those around me.
Every moment is an opportunity to be that much better, that much
closer to who you want to be. 

Something that I love about this mission is that it's obedient. We
follow the rules, and we do everything in our power to push forward
the work of Christ. Being in a disobedient mission would be so
frustrating- I am honestly blessed to be here!

The area has been doing great this week! Andres is progressing
rapidly. Hmna Sorensen is awesome, and we're getting a lot done. We
get along pretty well and are completely exhausted every night,
especially the past couple nights! ¡Qué obra! ¡Qué cansado!
We've been reaching out a lot to members this week, and helping them
get involved in the work, specifically with Andres. We hope to help
Andres meet as many people as he can so he has friends in the ward,
and they can help him stay active and involved in the ward. We taught
him in the Monrreals home with Hmna Rodriguez, and at his home with a
young adult in our ward named Ixya. (She is super cool.)
We've also been connecting with a few less-actives and helping them
back into the fold. I feel like the ward is really starting to unify
and feel motivated to participate and help, especially with
less-actives. 

 I've taken up the unhealthy habit of telling everyone I'm from
Jalisco, Mexico. People say there are a lot of light skin/hair/eyes
Mexicans there, so I would fit right in. Usually people give me a look
that says "wait really? I don't believe you" and then they laugh at me
(which is the point of me saying it). But this week, Someone believed
me! She is an older lady, and a bit hard-of-hearing. After we and her
son all explained to her that I'm not Mexican, we thought she
understood. But a couple minutes later she turned to her son and said
(English translation) "but her parents are from Jalisco, right? She
was just born here in America." I was pretty excited that someone
finally thought I was Mexican. :) 

 Some people from this week: 

 Tomas: someone we contacted on the street, turns out he has been
taught by missionaries before! We found him in our records after we
taught him. The cool thing is, when we contacted him he wanted us to
teach him right then, under this tree on someone's porch (not his
porch) in the apartment complex. We had 30 min before curfew, so we
taught him the restoration! He seemed to like it, and we're teaching
him again tonight! 

 Angela: Angela is a miracle investigator. We decided to do something
called Inspired Tracting where we pray and look at a map, and
personally choose some streets that stick out to us, and compare our
lists. Whichever ones we have that are the same, we visit. We ended up
with Archer st, but when we got there it was all businesses! So we
drove around the corner, and saw a Latino lady. She wasn't interested,
but told us her neighbor spoke Spanish. We knocked, asked if we could
show a video, and 10 min later we were teaching her the whole
restoration! It was a great lesson and she has a lot of potential. 

 Eleasar: so. We are dropping Eleazar. Partly because he is moving back
to Mexico, and partly because it was nearly impossible to teach him.
We love him, and hope he finds the gospel some day. We will miss his
harmonica skills! We got a selfie for memory's sake. 

 Cecilia: we taught her a restoration review, and talked about baptism.
She said she's never considered it before, and so we will be working
with her to help her understand it better. But she is going great!

Alondra and Paloma: they are still doing great! We taught the plan of
salvation and talked about the talk from Brad Wilcox called His Grace
is Sufficient. We are eating with their family this week! 

 Fransisco: we had a much happier lesson with Fransisco this week! We
were on exchanges (I stayed in Aurora with Hmna Osborne). Hmna Osborne
has worked with Fransisco in the past and helped him to understand and
remember his testimony. She bore a powerful testimony and helped him a
lot! We also had a lesson Lupe (from the Rodriguez fam) with us, and
they knew each other from when he joined he church. We will continue
to teach him, and probably start from the beginning. We love him so
much, and are excited to see how he progresses. 

 Marcelino: awesome lesson! We weren't sure if he was really
interested, but by the end of the lesson he was asking questions and
the spirit was strong. It also helped that I had Hmna Osborne with me,
and she is a powerhouse missionary. We have high hopes for Marcelino! 

 Love you all! God is good!

Hermana Hokanson

Eleazar selfie, with Hmna Sorensen

Fransisco and fam (selfie) with Hmna Osborne

Hmna Osborne and I!