Running

OUR HALLOWEEN COSTUME: LAMPS

Well, it's been quite the week! I love being a missionary! It's the craziest and weirdest thing I have ever done, and we often end our days laughing so hard due to exhaustion and stress overload. But I wouldn't have it any other way! The Lord's work is moving forward and upward, and we're running to keep up!

POPCICLES FROM HERMANA SALGERO

We got our car back, and we've been making up for the time lost by visiting a bunch of inactive and less active members and inviting them to the Branch party this weekend. Some significant members are the León family, Camaro family, Ruby, and Omar.

León: this family hasn't been to church in a long time, and missionaries haven't visited Hmna in forever because she works every day, almost all day at KFC to single handedly provide her 3 children. She is a powerhouse! We stopped by their home to invite them to the activity, and talked to her sons. They said she was at work. We decided that since we've stopped by multiple times and haven't been able to contact her, we might as well try to visit her at work! We went to KFC and awkwardly stood there looking for her, and we decided we should buy something so we could talk to her, and we made the mistake of buying a big chocolate cake because we hadn't eaten dinner yet and we were super hungry. Well, we ate the whole cake while plotting how we could get in contact with Hmna León. We decided to... ask the guy at the front desk if she was there. She was, and she was happy to see us! We talked for a bit and she wants to come to the party Saturday! Yay for miracles!

Camaro: this family makes my heart melt. A mother and father, two sons, and one grandson. One of the sons is mentally disabled due to his own previous mistakes, and his son (the grandson) is also disabled because of it. His brother lives with them to take care of the disabled brother, because their parents are older and can't do it all on their own. They were so happy to see us, and all sat down on the couch to listen to us and talk to us. I wanted to cry at some points- they are all so genuine and have so much on their plates. We plan to visit them at least once a week, and also bring the hmnas visiting teacher with us.

Ruby: Ruby came to church!!! We had an awesome lesson with her Friday, and we were sure she was coming. But we received a text Sunday morning saying she was leaving to visit someone in the hospital. But 30 min later, she came into sacrament meeting and sat by us, and stayed all 3 hours! She is making so much progress and the branch welcomed her
warmly back.

Omar: the less active brother of President's wife. (Could you follow that?) his wife Clarita is not a member, and we've been trying to get in with them both for weeks. We went over yesterday and had a great time! We got to know them as they shared all their experiences traveling to church history sites, Salt Lake City, and visiting family. We shared a message about Christ and showed a mormon message. All in all, they like us now and want us to visit again!

We've taught some fun new people this week, along with our normal amazing investigators.

OUR PUERTO RICAN RICE!

Diomara: she has been sick this week so we haven't been able to teach her. But we stopped by and brought her cookies, and ended up being a translator between her and the cable guy setting up her wifi. :) she also taught us how to make Puerto Rican rice, and gave us half the ingredients (even though we insisted that we could buy them ourselves). We made it that night, and it was so good! (See pics)  

Ción, Ivan and the girls: what miracles! This family is so prepared. Monday we forgot to ask the other hermanas to drive us to our appointment, so we started walking while frantically calling every number we have for them to say we will be late. No one answered at home, and Ivan said he wasn't home yet so he didn't know if they were home. A few minutes later we got a call from Ción "the girls are waiting for you, they miss you! are you coming?" At this point we started sprinting! We got to their house and the girls were outside waiting for us. They saw salvation running at them full speed! Needless to say, we were pretty gross by the time we got there and we got asked about 3 times if we wanted water. Haha. When we got inside,
the girls had drawn us a picture!! (See picture). I pretty much melted with happiness at this point, and we had a great Restoration review and watched the first vision video. We taught them again Thursday (This time with a car) and talked about Repentance. We know this lesson was inspired, because it was touching some hearts, including ours. Ivan told us he decided to come to our lessons on Thursdays instead of go to the bar like he usually does. All in all, it was great.

THE PICTURE DRAWN BY THE GIRLS

Daisy and Mari: after that lesson, we were walking down the street and remembered that a potential investigator lived nearby. So we went to visit Maria. But Maria wasn't home. We instead talked to her daughters Daisy and Mari. After a long awkward conversation on the doorstep, we asked if we could show a video and they invited us in. They are super cool! Their brother has cancer and so we shared a message of hope with them.

Vanessa: the daughter of Karla (member). She was almost baptized a few years ago but something happened and she decided not to. We have been trying to reach out to her and help her feel loved. She is graduated and going to college,
and loves art (so we have a lot in common!). We got icecream with her and saw some of her drawings. It was good, and we hope we opened her up a bit to coming to church.

Wow, that was more than I thought I would type. Thanks for reading all that! Love you all, have a great week full of miracles! God loves you a lot.

Hermana Hokanson

IT GETS REALLY COLD SO WE STUDY BY THE HEATER

3 GENERATIONS OF MISSIONARIES!

 

New Assignment

No Car, No Problem!

We ate with the Zambonino Family from Ecuador!

Branch Noche De Hogar

Crazy week! So we haven't had a car for the past few days because it's getting fixed from something that happened before I got here (I can see my dad giving me a look right now, I promise I wasn't involved😇).
So, we've been walking and sharing with the other hermanas in our branch! It's been great actually, I LOVE Hmnas Cleveland and Nogueira (there are plenty of pictures). It's been pretty good weather too.

So I forgot to tell you this crazy story from last week: we were eating at this members house, and she doesn't have a lot of money, and she gets a bit offended if we don't eat everything she gives us, so Hmna Eldredge ended up eating way too many tortillas and I ate way too much pineapple, to the point that my tongue swelled up! It was hurt for a few hours but then got better. I think I am forcing my body to have an allergy to pineapple. Speaking of crazy food, we had chow-mein in tortillas with salsa at a memeber's home, Hmna Smith from Guatemala. #spanishprogram We also made an industrial amount of cookies to bring to less active members to invite them to church and activities. It's worked ok so far.

We went to support the young women at their yard sale, and got hot cocoa!

We ate salads because we ate too many cookies!

Carroll family: We had a Noche de hogar with the Carroll family, the one white family in our ward. They are so cool! They both served Spanish speaking missions and decided to raise their children speaking Spanish. It was great to get to know them! Hmno Carroll also gave us a tour of the library at the church and he pretty much knows everything there is to know about church material. I'm super glad that people like him exist so somebody knows what's going on. :) a bunch of us
missionaries and members were talking and someone asked if there are any temples in the Philippines. No one knew, but 20 seconds later a guy walked into the library to do something. One of us asked "are you Filipino?" He said "yes, I am." Turns out there are two temples in the Philippines!

Karla: I don't remember if I mentioned her last week. She is a member that is in a wheelchair and has some disease that makes her forget things quickly. It's super sad because she has the biggest heart and is always smiling. We visit her every week, and this week we brought the other Hermanas and sang Karla some hymns. She started crying, and it was super sweet. We love her dearly. She is the only member in her family, but her husband will drive her to church and wheel her into
the building every week. Pray for Karla!

Ruby: we finally got to teach Ruby! She is a less active member that's our age, and has gone through so many challenges in her life. We love her so much! We talked to her about the atonement and she is really wanting to come back to church. She also loved the cookies! We are excited for her!

Diomara: we taught her the Restoration and it went really well! She loves our message and wants us to teach her whole family!! She shared some cool experiences she has had, there were tears and the spirit was strong. She is such a genuine person and so intelligent, we are excited to see her progress in the gospel. She doesn't want to come to church yet because she wants to know more. But we can tell she is genuine and excited!

Ción and the girls: we taught the Gospel if Jesus Christ and have a lesson with them tonight! Goodness, they are doing so well! I can't explain how much I adore this family. The girls want to be baptized, but we don't have a date set yet. Ción is a bit more hesitant and wants to learn more. They didn't come to church though, so that was sad. We will see how we can. Help them tonight.

Noche de hogar with the Branch: we had a branch activity where we had a Noche de hogar with everyone, teaching them how to have a Noche de hogar (meta? I think so.). We were pretty scared it was going to fall apart but God works in mysterious ways and we had a great turn out! We had each family build houses out of popsicle sticks, marshmallows,
straws, tape, twine, and newspaper. Each house was different but each had a Book of Mormon as their foundation. We read Helaman 5:12 with them and talked about the importance of having our homes set on the foundation of Christ and His teachings.

"Truth is a knowledge of things as they really are, were, and will be.It does not change with conditions or time. Truth is the same in every age and culture. God is the source of all truth. We can have faith in Him because we know He will teach us only truth. God wants all His children to know the truth. Therefore, He reveals the truths necessary for salvation through prophets and apostles. He reveals truth to us personally through the scriptures and personal revelation."
-Preach my Gospel

I know that Christ lives and that He guides His people! The church is true! I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Hokanson

The Hermanas of Bloomingdale 2nd Branch

Being Adorable!

Hola From Bloomingdale!

At Steak N Shake

 They gave us a whole chicken after the baby shower...

Hola! Crazy week over here in Bloomingdale! Sorry there isn't much to write. But I'm really excited for this area! It seems that there has been a bit of a disconnect in the past between missionaries and members, but that's about to change. We are meeting with at least one active member every day this next week, and visiting 2-3 inactive members each day (with cookies of course). We are excited to get this going! 

My new companion Hmna Eldredge is adorable! I love her to pieces. Training is the funnest thing ever. We get an extra hour of study time, and we use it doing practices and studies together, and watching videos called "the district" of other missionaries teaching. Hmna Eldredge is hard working and super motivated, and loves the people a lot. She also knows the area super well, which is awesome because I literally have been here for a week and don't know anything. I got to know the Branch (we have a branch!) pretty well because we helped out with a baby shower on Saturday. I've also spilled dramatically 2 different times at members homes, so I guess you could say we've gotten to know each other pretty well! :)

Justa: an investigator that has been taught for a few months now. We taught her twice before she dropped us on Saturday, because her husband (?) says he doesn't want us to visit her anymore. So sad! But we lover her and pray for her. 

Asunción, Ivan, Belinda, Neydi, and Aleida : what a beautiful family! Hmna Eldredge met Asunción (Ción, pronounced 'Chon') and Ivan tracting a few weeks ago, and taught them the restoration. Ción is the dad, Ivan is a family friend, the others are Ción's daughters. The dad came to one session of conference! Then I met them, and we taught the plan of salvation. The three girls were there and loved participating! We then came back and read in the Book of Mormon with them, which they loved as well. They all wanted to take turns reading! And Neydi, the oldest, has been reading on her own and got to chapter 4 of 1 Nephi!! We have fallen in love with this family and their faith. Ción and the girls came to church on Sunday too! We have not met Ción's wife yet though. We are bringing marking tabs and scripture markers to the girls tomorrow for their Books of Mormon. 

Our Halloween cups!

Diomara: a referral from the English elders on our area! We had a weird feeling that we needed to visit here asap, and we had just finished with a lesson, so we headed right over. She requested a Book of Mormon and the elders didn't have Spanish. We brought one to her, and ended up teaching a lesson about prophets, the Book of Mormon, and a bunch of other things! She is from Puerto Rico, and super curious. She asked so many questions we didn't know where to start! We are super excited to teach her again tomorrow. While we were teaching her, her husband walked in with a bouquet of flowers for her... pretty awkward but kind of cute to witness. Haha. 

Eloisa: a referral from church headquarters! We tried to contact her but the person at the door said she is sick. So, next week. But we're still excited!

We ate with Hmna Smith from Guatemala, Hmna Paredes and the Gutierrez family from Mexico, and hmnas Rendón and Ramirez from Columbia!There is definitely a lot more variety of countries in this branch than Aurora, which has been super fun! 

Love you! Have a good week! Read your scriptures!

Hermana Hokanson

 Free day with the hermanas in our ward! #sodaonmondays

Transfers...?

English class students + Elders

Food pantry volunteers Angel and Stanley (yeah, they're all crazy)

the *one* yellow banana

Alondra and Paloma (really bad selfie, sorry)

Wait, I don't get to serve in Aurora my whole mission??
I guess not! Tomorrow I'm heading up to Bloomingdale Central! I will be follow-up training the beautiful Hermana Eldredge!! (which means it's her 2nd transfer in the field, so I get to finish up her training with her!) I am beyond excited! Hmna Sorensen will be training a brand-new missionary here in Aurora! I had a feeling I was leaving, so I've had a while to prepare. We learn to love these people so  deeply and in such a different way, that leaving can be heart-wrenching. but I know that God's hand is in all things, *especially* transfer calls.

Conference was so amazing! I felt so many talks touch my heart and remind me of how much God loves me personally. If you didn't watch it, do it as soon as you can! It was so inspired.

Here are some investigator/member updates, for the last time from Aurora!


                                                                  Andres: we taught Andres more about prophets and priesthood power, in preparation for conference. He watched some of the sessions online, and watched some at the stake center. He said he loved it! He was a bit distraught when we told him I'm leaving, and has decided he is making posole (amazing Hispanic soup) for us tonight. I might have cried a little,  leaving our new convert. But all is well, and Andres
is doing great!

Cecilia: we had a GREAT noche de hogar at the Yep home, with Cecilia and the Arana family! Turns out Hmna Arana and Cecilia went to high school together! What a small world! We taught about the Sabbath day, and putting God first. Hmna Yep invited her to conference (yay for
members!). Cecilia is really opening up and searching for the truth, which has been super awesome because she asks a lot of questions. We taught her again this week, this time about priesthood power. She asked us "can I go to one of your baptisms to see what it's like?" She even talked about how she wants to be an example for her children, and how she wants them to be baptized together if she changes religions!
We were so excited! She used to be completely opposed to the idea of baptism, but step by step is seeing the blessing this gospel can be in her life.

Cuevas: we eat every week with Hmna Cuevas, a super great member in our ward. Her husband is not a member, and missionaries have been trying to convert him for years. This week he stayed long enough for us to teach him! We taught about faith and prayer. the lesson went really well, and he is warming up to us again!

Abraham: we brought Abraham a large Book of Mormon (because he is almost blind). He was so excited!! We taught him all about it and read a bit with him. He really wants to come back to church and we gave him directions. But we have stake conference next week, and that's a bit
far for him, so we'll see what happens.

Fransisco: he came to general conference Sunday! He is really warming up to the other members more, and feeling more comfortable. Also we taught him the restoration. This is three weeks in a row he has come to church!

Angela: we received a text from the miracle contact we made a few weeks ago! She has been struggling with some things and reached out to us for help. We visited her Monday morning, and had a solid lesson
with her about prayer and scripture reading. She is so cool and a really great mom to her 4 kids. We are so excited to work with her more!

Banana update: the elders showed us a picture of their bananas. We now know why someone was getting rid of them all- they aren't ripening! But the elders were blessed with one yellow banana. :) *see picture*

So I finally met someone from Torreón México (shout out to my brother Chance!).

"Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism...When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast a devil out as they had just witnessed the Savior do, Jesus answered, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove” (Matthew 17:20). I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed."
-Richard C. Edgley, Faith- the choice is yours (general conference Oct 2010)

I can add my testimony to his: I have seen mountains removed here in Aurora. Miracles are real. Faith has power. Mountains can be moved. I testify that God has a plan and we are blessed to be a part of it. I am so grateful for the time I have had here in this area, for Hmna Sorensen and her amazing example to me (I'm going to miss her!!).
Adventure is out there!

Love,

Hermana Hokanson

The trio! Hmna Roberts and Webb

Our District

Our last photo together:) Courtesy of Hmna Sorensen.

Life's a garden; dig it!

Life's a garden. If you don't prepare the ground or plant anything,
all you'll have is a pile of dirt. But if you till, level, and prepare
the ground, you have something to work with. Then you plant the seeds,
water them, pull out weeds, protect them from the weather- and you see
results. Basically, if you want something out of life, you need to put
some effort into it. Plant those seeds of hope, pull out those weeds
of negativity and doubt. Water it every day. And eventually, you will
have the fruits of your labors. Life's a garden; dig it! Do you want a
better life? Do something about it!

That's all the wisdom I have for today. Let me tell you about my week!!

Andrés: Hmna Buehner and I met Andres in the parking lot of a Mexican icecream store called Michuacana. Hmna Sorensen and I had the amazing and sacred opportunity to help Andres make one of the most important
decisions he will ever make, and enter into the waters of baptism. No
words can explain it! It really hit me when he was confirmed the next
day. Andres is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints! He even bore a little testimony right after his confirmation,
thanking us for helping him find his way from darkness into the light,
and calling the ward his "new family". It was so sweet and genuine!
Miracles are real, and God prepares people.

Abraham: did I tell you about Abraham from the food pantry? We found a
long lost member from Puerto Rico at the food pantry, and decided to
visit him this week. He is super cool! We plan to see him again soon,
because he is leaving to visit Puerto Rico next month. While we were
looking for his apartment, we accidentally knocked on he wrong door-
and he was a member!! That is like a 1/1000 chance! He goes to the
English ward, so we might see him at conference this weekend!

José: so we still haven't gotten in with Marcelino, but we've taught
Jose! It was good. Not super eventful, but he still wants to come to
church!

Rodriguez fam: we had an awesome noche de hogar! Yummy enchiladas and
we read a story with them from the children's Book of Mormon. They
loved it, and we're getting super involved! They all wanted to read
and participate. They are an amazing family and I'm excited to see
them return.

Fransisco: we taught him about the restoration, and we had Lupe with
us again, which was great. But they like to get off on tangents
sometimes, so we didn't get much lesson in. But! He came to church
again! And he ate dinner with us at bishop's house! Progress!

Bananas: so funny story. We were at the food pantry and somebody had
dropped off over 50 boxes full of green bananas to give to people!
There were so many bananas! We were giving away 4 bunches per person,
and by the end we were giving away boxes at a time. When it closed for
The day, we still had probably 30 boxes left! So we took 1 1/2 boxes,
and gave them to the elders the next day. :) they were overwhelmed
with happiness, and frustration because we kept giving them more. We
still have 5 bunches of unripe bananas sitting in our kitchen.

Women's conference: it was so good!!! I loved all the talk of
developing ourselves personally in the gospel, and having a firm
testimony so we can better serve others. That is something I've
learned a lot about on my mission, is strengthening my own testimony
to be a better missionary. I'm excited to watch more this weekend! I
challenge you all to watch all 4 sessions!

Raquel: We met a really cool lady named Raquel last week. She was in
our records as a less-active member. When we knocked on her door, she
invited us right in! Turns out she has been going off and on to the
English ward, and the English elders visit her every week! Oops. This
happens occasionally. But she talked with us for a good 30 min, and
she has such an amazing story. She moved here from Cuba when she was
12-13yrs old. She was shipped with a bunch of other kids who's parents
wanted them to have a better chance at life than Cuba could offer at
the time ( the government is some radical something, I'd look it up
but I don't have google). I think they called it "Peter Pan". She
hasn't had any contact with her parents since! (And I thought it was
hard leaving for 18 months...) she had a few foster homes and learned
English, and hasn't looked back. She says sometimes the other kids
that she was shipped with reconnect and have reunions. Anyways, she is
awesome!

Love you all! Keep working hard and Loving God!

Hermana Hokanson

Me, Hmna Sorensen, Andres, Homn Monrreal (who baptized him)

Us at women's session of conference!