The Blessings Of the Temple

Another week gone by! It's been a pretty equal mix of rain and snow and sun this week, which has made getting dressed in the morning quite difficult. But it thankfully hasn't gotten below zero again, so all is well! This week has been a bit different teaching wise. We've started teaching some new people and re-started teaching some older people. One of the new ones is Maria, the woman we contacted while we were walking door to door sharing the Christmas initiative last month. We taught her and her husband Aldolfo once a few weeks ago but weren't able to get a return appointment until this week. It went alright, but we aren't sure how interested she really is. We have another appointment set so I'll keep you updated.

We've started regularly teaching Norma and Karina. Norma is a former investigator that has been taught all the lessons and was almost baptized, but for some reason wasn't. Karina is her 11 yr old daughter, who was baptized. They are a wonderful family but are terribly stubborn when it comes to church. They warmly invited us into their home though, and we taught them twice this week. The second time Norma made us posole (yummy Mexican soup) so that's a good sign.
:) they have a lot of faith and desire, they just need a little help in the right direction.

Our investigator Edgar has been in the hospital so we haven't taught him. He's alright though, he got home a couple days ago! We have an appointment for Friday.

Ción and the girls had family over this whole week and didn't want us to come by, which made us sad but makes sense. But! Ivan said we could teach him! So, we got Hmna and Hmno Gutierrez and taught Ivan at the church, sitting on the benches in the chapel. It was a powerful lesson and we feel like it made all the difference. We talked about temples,
focusing on the saving ordinances that can be done there. We talked about baptism, the sacrament, and being an example to others. He says his dad passed away when he was very young and he wants to do his temple work for him so he can meet him again after this life. He also asked about doing it for his grandparents. The spirit was so strong as we had the opportunity to testify that he will see his family again, and can be sealed to them for all eternity. That was one of my
favorite lessons in my mission! I'm almost crying just typing this email. This church is so true, I could never deny it.
Also, Clarita and Omar came to church! That was a miracle and we were so happy to see them. Also a less active member named Carlos!

That's about it with investigators. We've been working a lot with active members to help them get more involved in missionary work. Hmna Gutierrez also made us huaraches preparado de chorizo con nopales. It's basically a thick tortilla, with chorizo meat and cooked cactus, and toppings (lettuce, cream, salsa). It was super yummy!

We also had a zone conference that was amazing. They announced a new schedule for us, so that has taken some getting used to, but it's been great! It gives a lot more time to teach and also take care of our health.

Are you reading your scriptures every day? If not, do it!
Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Hokanson

Live the gospel and eat lots of pizza

Friends and family,

Today Is my 10 month mark exactly. 10 months serving as a missionary! It's starting to hit me that I only get 8 more months, then I have to go back to being a normal person, and I don't really know how I feel about that. But, I'll live it while I can!

What a week it's been! I don't have many pictures to show for it though. Here are some highlights:
Our branch leadership got completely changed: our branch president is now presidente Ruge, with Hmno Avila as his first councilor and Hmno Motta as his second councilor. So as of now we don't have a branch mission leader, at least for the week. We made some no-bake cookies to encourage people to come to branch council. It would have worked, but
we ended up not having branch council. Next week it will work! :)

We were able to meet with 5 less active members and all of the lessons went really well! Our branch is picking up speed really quickly and doing very well. We had more members at church this week than I've ever seen! The Frias family, Clarita (investigator) and Omar (less active), the Camaro family, Ruby, and Carlos. The biggest miracle was probably Carlos- this was my first time teaching him and I've been serving here for over 3 months! When we knocked on his door, his sister-in-law told us the usual; he's at work. But before she could close the door on us we saw him come running from the back room saying " I'm here, come on in!" We then had an awesome lesson where the spirit was super strong and he opened up to us, explaining why he hasn't been coming to church and his desire to change. It was awesome. We live for moments like this! 

The lesson with Clarita and Omar also went really well, Omar's sister Hmna Montesinos was there and bore her testimony, then Omar ran to the back room and came back, holding a painting I had been admiring a few weeks earlier. He then gave it to me, saying it was from Clarita- I almost cried. We also had a relief society activity, and we were in charge of spiritual bingo, it was awesome. :) then Hmna Frias taught us how to make lasagna, Mexican style. It was amazingly yummy.

We taught a few investigator lessons as well. Edgar, where we read from the Book of Mormon and helped him understand the importance of prophets. Ción and the girls and Ivan, where we taught the 10 commandments. And the coolest part was that Ción's WIFE came to the lesson!! Her name is Monica, and she is very nice, but in the whole
history of teaching this family we have never had the opportunity to teach her. It was a huge miracle!

All in all, it's been a great week. Super busy and crazy and completely worth it. I love being here, I love how obedient and hard working and consecrated these missionaries are. I love how fun and talented these members are. I love seeing the light grow in people's eyes as they read the Book of Mormon for the first time and realize how beautiful and valuable it is. I love seeing people return to church and take the sacrament for the first time in months or even years. It's worth it to be a missionary. I highly suggest it. :)

Love you all,
Hermana Hokanson

Our car got attacked by an army of birds, so we got a really nice car
wash because we couldn't scrub it all off...

 

Charity

First Sunday Together

Did you know the gospel is true? Well it is. And I love being a missionary, because I get to just tell everyone about it all day. Plus, I have a brand new excited missionary with me! Life is good here in Bloomingdale, and I have a feeling this new transfer is going to bring some miracles!

Hmna Ward (or Hmna Barrio in Spanish ) is AMAZING! She already speaks so much Spanish, way more than I did when I first got into the field. She is from Spokane Washington and I love her. She is super motivated to work and fun to be around, and she loves pizza, so I haven't found a downside yet! We took her to Lou Malnati's, the famous pizza place
here in Chicago today to celebrate her first preparation day in the field with traditional deep dish pizza. 

Lou Malnati's Chicago style pizza

This has been a busy week, we spent a lot of time visiting different members. We also spent a lot of time explaining who each member and investigator is to hmna Ward so she wasn't completely lost. But for the crazy amount of info she has received in the past 5 days, she is doing super well! I'm super proud of her, she just throws herself out there and talks to people in Spanish even if she has no idea what to say.
Update on driving: I've got the hang of it! I picked it up a lot quicker than I thought I would. I still don't have a sense of direction though, so it took 30 min to find the gas station, but I'm improving! Also the weather has been very dry so the roads aren't very scary.

Investigators:
Ción and the girls: we had a really good lesson with them this week. We had hmno and hmna Avila (Branch mission leader and relief society president) with us, and their testimonies made al the difference! We read 1 nephi 2 and talked about the importance of sacrifice. We think
their main roadblock is realizing they have to give something up to get something better.

Bety: we stopped by to visit an inactive member named Rebekah. She wasn't home, but her mom Bety was visiting from Ecuador and let us in! It turns out she is not a member, but her husband is a super active member and does temple work all the time. We had Hmna Rendon with us and they really connected. She is only visiting til the 8th of January so we won't be able to teach her much, but hopefully the missionaries in Ecuador will catch up with her soon!

The area book missionaries use who don't have tablets, being used
as a weight for our morning exercises. :)

Something really cool president Griffin was telling us about at the trainer meeting was about judging. Making judgments has so much power- it puts up a wall between you and the person you are judging, therefore making it impossible for charity and love to flow through. But if you break down that wall, you open up to so much love and
charity for that person, even if you know nothing about them. Basically, don't judge people! It doesn't help anyone, it doesn't solve anything, and it makes it nearly impossible to truly love that person. Christ is the ultimate example of pure, unhindered love for every person He met. I know that as we follow His example, we will find so much more happiness in our lives and strengthen our relationships with all those around us.

Moroni 7:46-47

Hmna Ward and I!

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-- But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Love,
Hermana Hokanson