We went to the Billy Graham museum

C S Lewis museum!

The original wardrobe from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe!!

Original first edition of the Book of Mormon!!!!

All of my favorite things in this world!

 

Tan gran la obra del Señor

Temple with Maria!

Sometimes I wonder why we even do all this. If God wanted to, he could snap His fingers and everyone would have all the knowledge about the true church they could ever need right in front of them, with a priesthood holder already filling the baptismal font. But then I have experiences like this:

On Friday Maria went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for her first time! She loved it so much. She said that while she was there she heard or felt something tell her that what she as doing right now would not only bless the people she was getting baptized for, but her and her family as well. When we walked out she said this is a "gran obra" which is a big, very good, or important work. She said she felt completely at peace, especially about some difficult family situations she has right now. At church she told everyone in the class that she went to the temple and wishes she could go back every single day. I can't explain my joy. This is what it's all about- all that door knocking and tracting and talking to people. Every rejection is worth it if the result is someone like Maria.

Andres, Irving's Cousin

We went on exchanges in Prestbury and Oswego this week! We also covered the mission office for a day, that was cool. Good thing none of you called the office, or I would have answered the phone! We did lots of other stuff this week but here are some pictures instead.

Con amor, hermana Hokanson

Oswego exchanges! That's their investigator Antonio. He's Italian.

Our crazy neighbors!

US

"I 🌵Mexico"

Cool painted wall in downtown Naperville!

I might just have to write the highlights day by day for this week..

Monday: we had dinner with the Workman family and Ricardo. Bro Workman doesn't speak Spanish so that was a bit awkward but it all turned out well. Sis Workman has a great testimony and her Spanish is still good
from her mission.

Before that we got a text from our neighbor Michelle who has been going through some intense legal things pertaining to keeping custody of her son. We offered her a priesthood blessing, so after our lesson with Ricardo we headed over to Michelle's with bro Workman and bro Kolbaba and they gave her a blessing. It was super cool- she said she could feel it going into her and that the rest of the night she had so much hope. The priesthood is so real.

Tuesday: The coolest thing that happened (besides our countries independence of course) was that we sent a text to Ricardo to remind him to not drink when he's with his friends celebrating. He then told us that it was strange we texted him right then- only 10 minutes earlier he had gotten a text from one of his friends to invite him to a party where he knew they'd be drinking. In the end, Ricardo did not drink at all! Also we stopped by a less active member named Dora and she let us right in. This was also perfect timing, her son was getting set apart that night to serve as a missionary! She had so many questions about what it's like, what we learn, how it changes us, etc. the spirit is so good at guiding us to the people who need us!

Wednesday: we had a difficult lesson with Maricela- she is no longer on date to be baptized. She seems to have become content with unhappiness. It's super frustrating. But she still has desire to learn, so we hope to get some good members into her home so she can feel the spirit and understand that there is so much more for her in life than being content.

Thursday: another great lesson with Ricardo, this time with a member named Daysa who actually speaks Portuguese but her Spanish is great too. :)

Cute little Mexican man in
the Mexican restaurant. I 🌵Mexico :)

Friday: we taught Maricela with Hmno Bramasco, who helped a lot. We found Jennifer a less active member right as she was leaving her house- perfect timing! We set an appointment for next week. We decided to stop by a Mexican restaurant to ask if we could put our English class fliers there. We ended up talking to the workers for a while- they were super nice and really wanted to come to the class. They gave us free churros (what more could you want in life?). We also met two real live gypsies from the Canary Islands that also spoke Spanish and
had dreadlocks and were so nice! I felt something so special while I was there- such a powerful love and charity and friendship. I had to drag myself away when we left (it was getting close to curfew)- I honestly wish we could have stayed there forever and gotten to know these amazing people. I think the Lord gave me that moment to remind me why I'm here and why I'm Spanish speaking. These Hispanic people have stolen my heart and will always be a part of who I am. 

Saturday: we did lots of street tracting and visiting former investigators. Everyone was nice to us Saturday! That always a pleasant surprise. We even had a guy we met once come out of his house and offer us water! Then he told us he sells drugs, which isn't true, but you could have fooled us because we talk to a variety of people here. He turned out to be a super nice, good guy and we talked to his wife for a while too. :) Well, there was one guy who was mean- we said "hi!" And he responded with "I'M CATHOLIC 100%" and walked into his
house. Other than him, the whole world liked us! We also helped Maria fill out her family history tree, she wants to go do baptisms for her ancestors in the temple!

Also Tacos

Sunday: We went on splits so that Ricardo could try out the YSA Ward. I stayed in Wheaton with a member. We helped Maria create a family history account but she doesn't have enough info about her family to take the names to the temple yet. Records in Mexico are a bit crazy. But she did pass her interview to receive a temporary recommend, and will be doing baptisms this week! We are so excited for her! She also brought 4 of her adorable grandkids to church. We taught Ricardo again in the Workman home and read in the Book of
Mormon with him. His studies have improved significantly since he started doing the 21 day Book of Mormon challenge. He reads and prays almost every day and seems to be super self- motivated! It's awesome.

That's my week! Thank you for the prayers and love! This work is worth it.

Con amor,
Hermana Hokanson

💕🇺🇸 happy 4th of July!

Prestbury: sisters Andersen and Wilson
Mission staff: elder and sister Matthias, elder and sister Busher

Great week! So busy!

- We got a new investigator named Beatriz! She is so cool! Her boyfriend is André, the less active member that saw us walking down the street and called out to us. They are both so ready to change, we're super excited to be working with them! André got baptized in Idaho just a few years ago and completely turned away from a life of crime. We haven't really figured out Beatriz's story yet, but she seems super willing to learn!

-We had an awesome lesson in a member's home (the Kings) with Maria about the temple. She is so excited to go do baptisms for the dead! We hope to get her in before the temple closes for cleaning in a few weeks.
-We got to participate in a research project where people came from SLC and we talked about missionary problems and came up with crazy ways to solve them. It was super interesting. The volunteers that I
worked with were Matt from Kaysville and Julia from Provo. :)

Aurora: hermanas Krebs and Allison

-We had two exchanges this week in our area, with the Prestbury sisters and the Aurora hermanas. Both were awesome, these missionaries are amazing! Sorry we didn't take a ton of pictures.

- Maricela and Jocelyn came to church this week, and Angel (Maria's grandson! ).

Cool quote:
“I would invite all members of the Church to live with ever more attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the love and hope and compassion He displayed. “I pray that we might treat each other with more kindness, more courtesy, more humility and patience and forgiveness. We do have high expectations of one another, and all can improve. Our world cries out for more disciplined living of the commandments of God. But the way we are to encourage that, as the Lord told the Prophet Joseph in the wintry depths of Liberty Jail, is ‘by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; … without hypocrisy, and without guile’ (D&C 121:41–42).”
- President Howard W. Hunter

This is so important! The way we treat each other says a lot about who we really are. We need to make sure we are viewing others with the same compassion that Jesus Christ has. Love before anything else.

Con amor,
Hermana Hokanson