5 Months In!

At The Zoo

Hello!

Just so you know, I have the best mission presidents ever in the
history of mission presidents. I love Sister and President Griffin so
much!! Sister Griffin came out with us for a few hours on Saturday,
and it was a blast! We knocked a lot of doors and talked to some
pretty crazy people. Which was super fun, because Sister Griffin is
the nicest most innocent person ever, and would be testifying of
Christ while people are yelling at us that they are atheist and "ya
can't change what I believe!" I hope all of you get to meet pres and
sis Griffin one day.
 

Some investigator updates:

Andres: he came to church!!!! We were so happy! He said he enjoyed it,
and we barely saw him the whole time which means he was hanging out
with the members and other missionaries. We are teaching him the word
of wisdom tonight. I'm not super nervous about it because I think his
only problem is tea. We are super excited! We want to put him on date
soon as well, the teaching environment just hasn't been the best this
past week. Hopefully tonight or later this week. We had a pretty
touching moment during weekly planning. We didn't know what date he
would be ready for baptism, so we decided to pray. I did it in English
and the spirit was super strong. I realized how much I love Andres and
wish so much that he knew the truth for himself. I cannot stress how
important every single soul is to God! I've had the opportunity to
feel that love of God for other people (In a Small degree) from time
to time, and Andres is definitely one of them. He is so special you
guys. Pray for him please. 

Aline: we have not had any contact with her, but we saw her mom at the
food pantry! Step by step. 

Gabriella: we taught the restoration at the home of the Ortiz sisters,
two single sisters in our Ward. Gabriella is their friend from work.
It was a powerful lesson, there were tears shed and scriptures read.
We had a follow up lesson with her Sunday but she canceled. Prayers
for Gabriella!! 

 Wil Paul: a man we met while contacting. He is college age and speaks
English, so our next lesson is a pass-off lesson to the English
elders. He is amazing though! He had so many genuine questions, was
very respectful, and we could tell he really was searching for the
truth. He read the whole pamphlet before our lesson, which only
sometimes happens. We are excited to see how he progresses with the
elders. 

 Cecilia: we love Cecilia! She is the sweetest! We stopped by to visit
her and ended up talking to her for nearly 30 min about some struggles
she is overcoming, and what to do. We set up a time to come back
because we had another appointment. That day she called us a few hours
before to see if we were still coming! That may not seem like a big
deal but that never happens with investigators. When we arrived she
gathered her whole family in the living room and asked us to pray with
them. We said a prayer, and talked to them for a bit, expecting the
older kids to leave (they didn't want to be there originally). But no
one left, and we ended up teaching the whole family the restoration!
It was awesome! We talked to Cecilia for a bit alone after the lesson,
and we asked if there was anything we could do to help her. She said
she was having a huge 3-4 day yard sale and had a lot of stuff to move
to the front yard. The next 3 mornings (not 4 because we can't do
things like this on Sunday) we went to her house and
moved/organized/cleaned stuff for her yard sale. It was so so fun!
Plus we bought some random shirts for local and not-so-local sports
teams from her sale. You can never have too many workout shirts! :) 

We were leaving an appointment on Friday when a huge white van pulls
over to the side of the road right by us. We were a bit surprised, and
a little worried until we saw a beautiful smiling face of a Latino
lady in her late 30s. She started excitedly talking Spanish to us, and
it turns out she is a member from California! Her name is Hermana
Janet and husband (in the drivers seat) Felix is not a member. They
are in the area for a few days for work, and wanted to visit the
Chicago temple. We sadly didn't have the address they needed, but we
gave them the address to the church for if they were still in town by
Sunday. And they came! It was so awesome to sit by them and talk to
them about their son who is serving a mission right now, and about our
investigators. I miss them already! What a great blessing to have met
them. 

We just had a great zone activity where we did the usual: soccer,
volleyball, Frisbie, Football. It was at a forest reserve park, super
pretty. 

Hmna Walton had a dream that we were in Mexico and Dwayne The Rock
Johnson bought us tacos. A prophesy? I think so. 

Have a buenísimo semana! 

 Hermana Hokanson 

 1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515

Exchanges and The Miracles of Walking

Yep Family

Fun Hermana Exchanges

Another crazy awesome week here in Aurora! I'll touch on some highlights: 

Some significant lessons: We had another noche de hogar with Andres at
the home of the Monrreals. This time we taught about the spirit and
listening to his promptings, to help him receive an answer about if he
should be baptized or not. He seemed to enjoy the lesson, but not be
any closer to baptism. He has been baptized into 3 other churches so
he doesn't want to be baptized again. A bit of a pickle, but we have
faith that he will know for himself that this is true! 

We taught the Cortez familia (inactive members with 2 non member kids)
the plan of salvation, and it went really well! They seemed to like it
a lot, and Destiny (age 16) was participating and asking questions. So
fun! We love this family and hope for the very best for them. 

Exchanges: for exchanges this week I went up to Wheaton and I was with
Hmna Osborne! It was insanely fun. We taught a new investigator that
we will be passing off to the English elders because she is English.
But she was way cool and loved the Book of Mormon! We had a solid
contact with a Latino lady on the street, and talked to her for nearly
30 min about the Book of Mormon and having a sure foundation. She even
gave us a referral! We ate dinner with a single older lady in Hmna
Osborne's ward and had amazing burgers with sweet potato fries, and
home made rice crispies. I would call that very successful.

Rain at the food pantry: Friday it rained harder and longer than we've
seen in a long time! We were at the food pantry as usual, and spent
the whole time running people to their cars with umbrellas over them
and their food. About 5 minutes in we were completely drenched, and
that isn't an exaggeration. It was pretty fun for the first hour but
the 2 hours after that were a bit cold. :) people were so grateful
though! Even just a little protection from the loco tiempo made them
smile. There was a small boy with his mom there- Hmna Walton was
helping her and I was helping the boy. He was pretty scared of the
rain and was covering his face with his hands, but he felt a bit more
safe as I encouraged him and held the umbrella close to him. It was so
sweet and genuine and I loved being a part of this work. We also had
one of the workers come up to us and say "they can help you" referring
to a lady who looked really upset. We were confused, but she said she
just needs prayers for someone named Tim. The worker referred her to
us because they knew we could pray for Tim. We kind of tried to
explain that everyone can pray for Tim, but we ended up just agreeing
to help her relax. It is so interesting how much people turn to us for
religious leadership and guidance, even though we are the youngest
people there. #HolyGhost #MissionaryLife

Walking Miracles: We did a lot of walking this week because we have a
limit for how many miles we can drive, and we went over (partly
because we are super bad at planning but also because our gps is
broken so we have do do a bit of exploring). But it's alright, because
we've had lots of little miracles due to our efforts to walk more and
drive less! We've met lots of cool people, gotten some appointments,
given away some Books of Mormon, and waved at a lot of people.
One of the cool people we met was Chris, the son of Fernando
(Fernanado is a man we set up an appointment with, but he texted us
and canceled the morning of and we haven't been able to get back in
with him again). We saw Chris park in front of his house and get out,
still wearing his uniform from work (McDonalds) and holding a bag of
food. We talked to him for nearly 30 min about religion, the Book of
Mormon, prayers, how super heroes are stories from the bible, etc...
It was a great conversation and we have a return appointment for this
week.
We also met Isaiah Christmas, a friend of a member of our ward that
Hmna Buehner and I taught one time. He is a retired African-American
man who rides a motorcycle and loves God. He was excited to see us and
we talked for a while. He said he still thinks about what we taught
him (we taught about service, using the scripture in the Book of
Mormon from King Bengamin). After a pretty in depth conversation about
our testimonies and service, we gave him a Book of Mormon and a
restoration pamphlet, and said a prayer with him. We walked by a
minute later and saw him reading the pamphlet! I also got a genuine
100% leather jacket at a yard sale for $3. 

 Wow, you read the whole thing! Thanks, that means a lot to me. :) I
love you all- remember who you are!

 Hermana Hokanson

With Hermana Osborne!

Have miracles ceased?‏

Have miracles ceased?

Moroni 7:27-29 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased
because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the
right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he
hath upon the children of men?

For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those
who have faith in him... And because he hath done this, my beloved
brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither
have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men."
I can add my testimony to Moroni! Miracles have not ceased, and nor
will they ever! It has been a week of small but significant miracles,
and there is no way to really tell you all what we are experiencing.
The bad and the good, combined with Illinois weather, has make this
week memorable.

Speaking of the weather: we had both heat waves during the day and a
ton of storms every night- so you can imagine how the humidity has
been. :) one night the thunder was so loud a car alarm went off in our
parking lot! We thought buildings were falling all around us, it was
intense.

We dropped Armando- and we feel ok about it. He wasn't ready, and we
pray he will find the missionaries again. We started teaching 6 new
investigators: Marta and her boyfriend Noah (Noé), Eleazar and his
wife Imelda, a man named Manuel, and an older man also named Eleazar.
They are all awesome! We don't know much about them, but they all seem
genuinely interested and we pray for the best.

We had a Noche De Hogar with Andres at Bishop's house Monday. That
went really well. We taught Andres again Saturday. We are a bit
worried he isn't understanding what we are teaching him because of the
medicine he is taking to help his hurt knee. He says he can stop
taking it at the beginning of August, so we aren't giving up yet! His
sister Ana has been friendly but says she is busy when we want to meet
with her. Prayers!

We had the opportunity to do a ton of service this week! We had our
usual visit to the Food Pantry, but we stayed an hour longer to clean
up because many volunteers needed to leave. We heart attacked an
inactive members door (the Cortez family) leaving them notes and
cards. We have been meeting with the mom and daughter, Sarai and
Destiny, for a few weeks which has been so great! We Made and ate
dinner with our investigator Aline and her mom, and shared a story
form the Book of Mormon with them. Aline is amazing! She is 15 and so
mature beyond her age. We made cards to thank members that have helped
us.

Quote of the week:

"...Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for
abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will
be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."
-President Thomas S. Monson
Oct 2007 General Conference (three goals to guide you)

Go be the miracle! I promise you that the Lord has something planned
for you that is far bigger than you could ever imagine!! We're headed
out to go to the zoo with the other hermanas in our district, so have
a wonderful week!!! 

All my love,

Hermana Hokanson

My Zone

Prayers, Fasting, and Love

Pictures with the Arredondo family!

Hello!!!

What a crazy week! Having a new companion is really weird. It's
alright though, we seem to click pretty well and I've adapted to a new
routine. We've been dropping lots of investigators, so sorry there are
very few updates. Jackie dropped us because her parents won't let her
read the Book of Mormon. :( we are praying for her.

Our area is doing alright, definitely not as good as we hope. But we
will be changing that! We have had a big movement lately of working
with the ward to get our goal of 36 baptisms this year. This has been
awesome! We have a special sacrament meeting planned with a church
tour after, and we are working full force with the members to invite
everyone to it! We will be fasting, praying, teaching lessons about
it, handing out fliers with the members, etc.. We are very excited and
we feel the bishop was inspired.

Hmna Walton cooks! She is amazing and I get fed way too well now. She
is also pretty healthy so it's been a good week as far as food goes!
We met a woman named Cecilia a few weeks ago, when trying to contact
her son. She didn't seem super interested, but we gave her our number
and set up an appointment. It fell through, and she kind of slipped
through the cracks as we were focusing on some other investigators.
Tuesday she called us and asked if we could come over. We were super
surprised (it took me a minute to remember who she was, and Hmna
Walton had never met her before). We visited her that night. She was
really upset about a problem she had with work, and how it would
affect her ability to take care of her 4 kids as a single mom. We
didn't know what to do, and said a gazillion silent prayers. We felt
like we should fast with her. This seemed a bit far fetched, because
no one wants to not eat for 24 hrs. But we followed the spirit and
thought her about fasting. To our surprise and delight, she said she
would! All 3 of us fasted until the next day, when we visited her with
cookies to break the fast. It was so cool! She has so much faith. We
have an appointment with her this week so we hope for the best!!

The next day we went to eat with an active member in our ward. When we
started teaching our lesson, she started crying- it turns out she is
having a lot of trouble with her husband and doesn't know what to do.
We again felt so lost as to how to help her, and again said a
gazillion silent prayers. And again, guess what our answer was?
Fasting! I didn't want to fast again, at all. I actually pushed the
prompting away. But then I heard Hmna Walton say "ayuno" (fasting) and
I knew what we had to do. The spirit told both of us, but I was too
selfish to say it first. So we fasted again- this time for a broken
family. Both experiences were very good for me, and I am so thankful
for the spirit.

Quote of the week:
"Depression is being in the past. Anxiety is being in the future. Give
it all to God."

I can testify that the Lord knows you personally and wants you to be
happy. We are given trials in our lives to help us rely on the only
source of power that will never leave us: our Loving Heavenly Father
and His son, Jesus Christ. I know, with all my heart, that God loves
His children. He will never leave you. He will always help those who
are willing to act in faith. So turn to Him! He hears you and He loves
you! 

Hermana Hokanson

Trios, Transfers, and Tacos.

Our new TRIO!

A member of the English ward visits with us.

 Hello to anyone who still reads my crazy emails!

Trio: This was an exciting week, and the start of an exciting new
transfer! Firstly, we got a phone call last Monday night telling us
that we would be in a trio for the next week, and we need to pick up
the third Hermana the next day! Her companion was finishing her
mission a week early, and so she needed a home for the next week until
transfers. We went to the mission home Tuesday and picked up HERMANA
WALTON! We got to eat dinner with President and sister Griffin too,
that was fun! The past week with Hmna Walton has been so fun! She is
super sassy and a hard worker, and one of the funniest people I have
ever met. She is from Idaho falls and has been serving for 8 months.
My grandma Janalee Garn actually helped her with some family history
before she left on her mission! What a small world. 

Transfers: Saturday night we got our transfer call: Hmna Buehner is
moving to Arlington Hights as an Hermana training leader! And I am
staying here, with Hmna Walton!! I'm super excited, but I will
definitely miss Hmna Buehner! I will be doing something called 'taking
over the area' which means even though I am the Jr. Companion, I kind
of take the lead because I know the area, and Hmna Walton has never
served here before. That's a bit scary but exciting! 

Tacos: we were finishing up our weekly service at the food pantry,
when we met the farmer that takes the food that goes bad and uses it
for his farm. He was very nice and coincidentally Mexican. He offered
to buy us tacos at the restaurant next door, and since he was 60 yrs
old and shorter than me, we felt safe saying yes. :) the tacos were
super good and we talked to him about life, family, religion, and his
farm. We told him thank you with a Libro de Mormón and a Restoration
pamphlet. Sadly, he lives out of our area so we can't teach him. But
we will pray someone will! 

We went with the Monrreals from our ward to visit and teach some
people. We went to the park by the Hesed House, the homeless shelter
in our city. It's somewhere we wouldn't go without a man, but it was a
really cool experience. We talked to a group of people sitting at a
picnic table. Hmna Walton ended up sharing a lot of her story, and
explaining how God helped her throughout her life. This seemed to
really click with the people there, who also seemed to not have had
the best lives or experiences. Everyone needs Jesus! It was really
cool and we hope we made their day better.
We taught a lesson at a members home to the parents of one of our
investigators! That was interesting. We taught about the promptings of
the spirit. They were very involved and bore their own testimonies a
lot! So cool.

This is a cool quote I found:
President David O. McKay promised every man who uses the priesthood in
righteousness that he “will find his life sweetened, his discernment
sharpened to decide quickly between right and wrong, his feelings
tender and compassionate, yet his spirit strong and valiant in defense
of right; he will find the priesthood a never failing source of
happiness--a well of living water springing up unto eternal life”
(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay [2003], 116).
I can testify that this is true! I have seen this manifest in my life
many many times, including on my mission. When men use, respect, and
live worthy of the priesthood, everyone's quality of life increases
and God's work moves forward that much faster. 

 I also found this really awesome song in the hymn book. You should all
find it and sing it! 

 297: From Homes of Saints Glad Songs Arise: 

 1. From homes of Saints glad songs arise,
For there the Lord is King.
There faith is learned and prayers ascend,
The Spirit’s peace to bring.
For homes where scriptures old are loved,
And living prophets, too,
All thanks we give; the Father praise
For guidance sure and true. 

2. God’s truths protect the hearth from wrong
When error’s ways allure,
Lift minds from self to nobleness
Keep thought and action pure.
Then sing, O Saints, in hymns of praise;
Sing thanks to God on high,
Whose counsels kept in homes on earth
Bring heaven’s glory nigh.

Hermana Hokanson

This is our gang (the SAENZ)

Slow down and smell the cornfields‏

The corn is growing! It's almost as tall as me! What an exciting time
to be in Illinois. ;)

Feliz cuarto de Julio! I hope everyone has a fun Holliday and eats
lots of burgers for me! I'll be over here, eating Carne Asada! Our
ward is having a picnic in the park, and since it is our Preparation
Day, we can go party! We actually have an investigator family and a
part member family coming, so we still have work to do. We don't mind
though! All our time is the Lord's, so we don't feel bad at all giving
some of "our time" back to him. Plus, we get Carne Asada. So win/win!
Something strange and surreal happened: No rain on Wednesday! This is
the first time this has happened since I got here. I guess it's the
true sign of summer!

We had a noche de hogar with Ana and Andres in the home of la familia
Monrreal. The Estrada familia came too. It was great! They are
progressing pretty well. It has been a bit of a rocky week for them
church wise, but we know God has His own timing and he is working with
them. We love them so much, and can't wait to see how they progress!
We kind of got Stopped by the police, technically speaking. Well, we
were already stopped, parked in a parking lot of a strip mall, making
phone calls to investigators and putting info into our iPads. They
came up to us on their bikes and asked us what we were doing there. We
explained our innocence, and ended up talking to them for a while.
They just got back from a meeting in Salt Lake City, and said they
loved the temple! One of them knew a lot about the restoration too,
which was awesome! We offered to have the English elders visit them,
but they declined. The whole thing was a bit awkward, us sitting in
our car and them on their bikes, but in the end we planted a little
seed of interest and hopefully they will learn more one day. They also
told us to stop parking in that parking lot because it was "not the
highest quality". We will be finding a new parking lot! :)

We were leaving the home of an investigator that canceled our lesson
with him when we got to his house, when I felt Inspired to talk to
some older guys sitting in their driveway. I really didn't want to-
they were far away and didn't look super nice. But we did, and they
ended up giving us 4 referrals of people to visit!! We have been
struggling lately getting referrals from people, so this was a huge
blessing. The Lord blesses us when we do His will!

I suggest you read the talk Our Precious Families by pres. Loren C
Dunn (October 1974). It is amazing! I came across it one day during my
studies. It applies to all ages and situations.

I love you all. This church is so true. And if you don't know it, find out!
Loves!
Hermana Hokanson

We got some matching shorts to support the local hockey team‏

Tornadoes, exchanges, and old companions

We received roses from a worker lady at the food pantry!‏

Hola,

I am happy to tell you that of the 4 tornadoes that touched down in
our mission this week, none of them were in Aurora. It w

as a bit
exciting though when we finished teaching English class and the sky
was green. I was told that is a sign of tornadoes. But all is well! We
are safe.

What a week! I wish you could all experience the miracles and crazy
moments we have here. Everyone should go on a mission! It is the best!
I don't have much time today because we have a zone activity today,
which takes up at least half of our preparation day time. We are
playing volley ball, frisbee, and soccer.

Last week I sent a picture of us with two girls- that's the Del Toro
sisters. They haven't been to church in a long time, and we have been
trying to visit them every week to help and encourage them. We had new
missionary training on Tuesday (which was amazing) and as we were
driving home, Hmna Buehner asked if we had anything on the phone. I
jokingly said that Alondra texted us to have us come over (because
that's what we were hoping for). When I checked the phone, guess
what!? ALONDRA TEXTED US TO COME OVER. We were so excited!! This is a
huge step for her and the lesson went really well. And to top it off,
she came to church yesterday!! Miracles are real.

We had exchanges this week- I stayed in Aurora with Hmna Osborn. It
was so fun! She is an amazing missionary and a great example to me.
She only has 2 transfers left, but is still so powerful and
enthusiastic.

Ana and Andres are doing great. Ana is very set to not read the Book
of Mormon, so we are going to back off a bit and pray her heart is
more open as time goes on. Andres on the other hand, has been reading
a bunch! He said he prayed to know if it was true, and felt peace. He
also came to church yesterday! We have a noche de hogar with them
tonight, so all is well!

After months of trying, we finally got in with an inactive recent
convert named Francisco! He is a wonderful older man, but seems to be
very confused about the fact that he was baptized and is a member of
the church. He also has some different influences in his life, trying
to steer him away from the church. He is so sweet and genuine, and
wants us to come back next week and teach him about how the bom and
bible work together. We are very excited!

We stopped by the Rodriguez family to bring them children's Books of
Mormon, and ended up staying and teaching the plan of salvation! It
went very well, especially with their non member friends there. They
were busy this weekend so they weren't at church, but we hope to see
them next week.

We've started teaching a man named Manuel. We saw him one day outside
his home, and got an appointment for that weekend. He is amazing! He
has such a strong testimony of God, and a genuine desire to learn
more. He said he would come to church this coming week! He has a wife
and two young kids. We know this message will change his life, so any
prayers for him would be great!

I am so lucky to have you all in my life. Keep being awesome. And love life!

Hermana Hokanson

We "cleaned the sink" at Colonial cafe‏

So much icecream!! These are the hermanas on our district.

One of the members fed us comida de Peru.

‏

There are angels among us, and they have cookies.

Illinois Sunset

Some Awesome Members of Our Ward

Familia y amigos,

Thursday night we didn't get much sleep, and by 4 pm Friday we were
dragging our feet. An inspired and wonderful worker at the food pantry
gave us 10 homemade chocolate chip cookies, and they literally saved
us! The sugar gave us just the boost we needed to get through the day.
Your prayers of protection and strength are being answered, in the
form of delicious treats. :) 

We decided to set our iPads to Spanish to help us practice, and it is
much easier than I thought it would be. I guess I actually am
learning! 

 This has been another week of miracles! Last week I mentioned that our
English students were coming to a Noche de Hogar (family home evening)
at the bishop's house Monday night. That went far better than we ever
could have planned! Not only did Irene and Ricardo come on time, but
they brought their 4 kids and Irene's parents that are here visiting
from Mexico! The bishop invited some ward members, and we grilled
hamburgers and just sat outside on the back patio, talking and
laughing. Everyone got along really well. Hmna Buehner and I shared a
message about eternal families and temples. The spirit was strong and
everyone (especially Irene's parents) were involved and paying
attention. Bishop piped in at the end and shared his testimony that
Irene's parents will be able to live with their children again who
have passed away. Other members shared their testimonies of eternal
families and temples. It was so awesome!!! It was a missionary's dream
FHE. The spirit teaches so much better than we can!

 A miracle I forgot to mention last week- we had 2 investigators at
church! Ana and Andres, a brother and sister. Ana is very dedicated to
her church and doesn't like the idea of reading anything except the
bible. But they both agreed to come to church and they seemed to enjoy
themselves. Andres is definitely more interested than her, but they
both participated a lot in Gospel Principles. When one of the elders
asked "who was the prophet of the restoration?" Andres answered "José
Smith!!" We were so proud! 

 This week we also had an inactive part member family come to church!
The Rodriguez family is so awesome. We were driving by their house and
Hermana Buehner felt inspired to stop because she recognized the
grandmother who was in her front yard. We've met with them twice, and
they came to church and the Father's Day activity! They are amazing
and want us to come over and do a noche de hogar with them. Guadeloupe
(the grandmother) and Berta (the daughter) really want to start coming
to church regularly and be a good example for their kids (who are not
baptized).

 Life is good here! Keep working hard and loving God!

 Hermana Hokanson

Banana Boats

Molcajete Salsa

Wait, it's Monday?‏

This week was so fast and so busy!

This was a week of miracles! It's hard to explain what this week has
been like. Many of our miracles were tender mercies, things I can't
even remember now, but in the moment meant the world to us. One big
miracle is that our English students Irene and Ricardo, who have had
no prior contact to the church, are coming to a noche de hogar tonight
at the Bishop's house!! We've never taught them religion, but we have
taught them English for almost 2 months now and they trust and love
us. We invited them as their friends, not missionaries or teachers.
And they are coming! We are teaching a lesson on eternal families and
temples, and we pray it will touch their hearts and make them want to
learn more.

Something that I never thought would be a problem: I have a Utah
accent! Teaching English class has made me very aware of this. I have
had to practice saying every 't' in every word I say. MounTain. LighT.
EvenTually. I'm really bad at it. :)

We have a New dress code for missionaries! We can now wear
professional hats and sun glasses, and long skirts during mosquito
season. No pants though (I'm ok with that, it's too hot for that
here). I got asked on a date for the first time, that was exciting! He
was much older than me though. We explained that we don't do that as
missionaries, and after inviting Hmna Buehner to come along too, and
saying he would buy the first pitcher of beer, he gave up. The mission
life is the most awkward thing I've ever done!

We had a Zone training this week. It was very spiritual and power
packed! We talked about how to better plan for our investigators and
members, and avoid pride. It was great!

The Monnreal family fed us this week, and we had quite the surprise.
There is an infamous food in the Spanish speaking Mission world called
Chicharrón. It is basically raw pork fat in a sauce. It definitely
wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I did feel sick for a
while afterwards.

Stanley is a worker at the food pantry we volunteer at. He is awesome
and a great friend. We all decided we would wear blue, so we were
matching this week! (Refer to picture in next email) a quote from
Stanley: "Be a blessing, not a lesson" - Stanley from the food pantry
We made Banana boats: bananas with marshmallows and chocolate chips.
So yummy! We ate them while we watched Meet the Mormons during our
dinner hour. Who said Hermanas couldn't have fun? Speaking of fun, we
bought a house plant. (See picture) her name is Platunia. Also
speaking of bananas, did you know if you rub the inside of the peel on
your mosquito bites, it helps with itching? It really works! It has
been a life saver this week with the summer temperatures coming in.
All my love!!!

Hermana Hokanson

What a week!‏

WE DID CHALK ART TO PREACH THE GOSPEL

FUN AT WALMART

Hello! 

 We have a New district and zone after these past transfers. A bunch of
great missionaries! They made it so our district is Spanish only, so
now we hold all district meetings in Spanish and do all communication
within the district in Spanish, even texts and phone calls! 

 Some people from this week: 

Saenz sisters: a woman and her niece live in our ward. That are
amazing, and fed us twice this week. They are so funny and witty and
help me laugh at myself and my broken Spanish. They might move back to
Utah, so keep and eye out! 

Roger: remember Roger? Well he called us one night, and said the only
time he was available for an appointment was the next morning at 10am.
His aunt is not very open to us teaching in her home, so we scrambled
and found a member who was available the next morning so we could
teach in their home. We got everything set up, but he didn't show! We
were a bit frustrated. But we know he came to church for a reason, and
in God's time we will be able to teach him. Prayers! 

Guadelupe: we were referred to visit a house by the English elders.
They didn't give us a name, so we didn't know what to expect.
Guadalupe answered the door, an older and very kind looking woman. She
told us she already had religion, but as we got talking she invited us
into her home and showed us all her birds, pictures of her kids and
grandkids, and warmed up to us very quickly. We said a prayer with Her
and asked God to help her family member that's really sick. She was
very appreciative of that and told us we could come back whenever we
wanted. As we were leaving, she exclaimed "i know why you are here!"
And pointed to the ground by her bushes. There sat a duck. A real life
duck, in her yard, sitting on 11 eggs. It's not her duck, it just
decided a few years ago to make its home here. She says it hasn't
eaten in 22 days. How that is connected to us I could not tell you,
but it was pretty crazy. Are ducks an omen? 

Juan Pablo: we got another meeting with him! Thank goodness. He is
progressing well and might come to a noche de hogar tonight! Fingers
crossed.
Tom: we were walking down the street and a man with no shirt yelled
from his front doorway "hey! Mormons!" I responded instantly with
"como?" He admonished me for speaking Spanish to him, and pointed to
his white skin. We were a bit unsure what to do in this situation, but
he smiled and said "come on over! Let me get a shirt on!" We ended up
talking to Tom for a half hour. He is Roman Catholic, and love the
sister missionaries because he says we are always the most friendly
people. He is a great guy and it was so fun to meet him. 

Armando: a new investigator! He seems very genuine and wants to study
and know for himself the truth. Prayers!
Yeps: a family in our ward that is so amazing. We taught them last
night after dinner, all sitting around a camping stove fire pit in the
back yard, and I felt like I was home again. It was a powerful lesson
and the spirit was there. People like this make being away from home
not so hard. 

Joe: a security guard at the library we go to almost every day. He is
so friendly and nice, and is our new buddy. He is religious and loves
that we are serving missions. 

 Something I saw this week was that no matter who we are talking to,
and if they accept our message or not, they recognize us as servants
of the Lord. It is amazing. We can see it in the way they treat us and
the way they act, they instantly respect us and what we do. What
better testimony that this work is true? 

Love you all, Bauticemos a todos! 

 Hermana Hokanson 

 1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515

MY ZONE BEFORE THE "BREAKUP"

DINNER WITH THE YEPS