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!

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!

Tamales, tostadas, tacos- loving the Spanish program!‏

Cleaning Selfie!

Paulina and I

Hola hola! Feliz Dia de Labor!.... Or something like that. :) hope
you're all having a great Holliday!

 We just got back from cleaning the church with the ward, with a picnic
and volleyball afterwards! So fun! *see selfie* what a fun week! We've
done a lot with members this week, and Hmna Sorensen and I are seeing
miracles!

 Andres: Andres has a baptismal date for September 24! We prayed, we
talked with him, we prayed some more, and we asked him to pray. We
called him the next day, and he decided the 24th! We have been so
excited as we've seen the light grow in his eyes as he understands
more and more. The only concern we have is making sure he has a real,
solid testimony in his heart, not just his head. We had a Noche de
hogar about Joseph Smith, and watched the Restoration video. We
thought him about the 10 commandments and keeping the sabbath day
holy. We taught him a lesson with our ward mission leader, Hmno Rios,
who said that he thinks Andres is ready! He loves church, and comes
every week now. Funny side note: the person that drives him to church
is a less active member named Hmno Zelaya. This is a great set up- get
the investigator AND the less active member to church, and help them
become friends- except for one detail. Hmno Zelaya has told us that he
no longer wants to come to church. So he picks Andres up, drives him
to church, drives home, and comes back for Andres! He has done this
two weeks in a row! We're hoping next week he'll go inside the
building. :P
Andres' nephew Isaac calls me Miss Hokanson. It makes me happy. :) 

 Cecilia: she is doing great! We had an awesome lesson with her about
the plan of salvation, which she really liked. We helped her out again
with a yard sale, and she somehow manages to give us tamales every
time we come, even if we try to sneak away before they're done!
Hispanics have a way of never letting you leave without food or a
bottle of water. I love it, as much as my waistline doesn't. :) 

 Eleazar: we had a real lesson with him! ... Kind of. He doesn't let us
talk much, so we may have to stop teaching him soon. 

 Ester: we were looking in our records and found Ester, who had been
taught a few years ago. We knocked on her door, she said we could come
back the next day. That morning before we visited her, we were looking
in our records again and found out she is the niece of one of the
members of our ward! The lesson went really well (we taught the
Restoration) and we would have a return appointment, but she was
getting surgery two days later and would be on bed rest. So pray for
Ester, that she will recover soon and we can visit her again! She has
a lot of potential! 

 Aline: remember Aline from about 1 month ago? We got in with her
again! She is doing great, and wants us to come by regularly. We are
super excited! 

 Fransisco: an inactive older man in our ward that we have been
visiting the entire time I've been here. We had a sad lesson with him
this week. After the first prayer, he informed us that he can no
longer be part of our church because he wants to return to the Jehovah
Witnesses. We weren't surprised- we have been helping him answer many
questions that are directly connected to the beliefs of the JWs. We
know he is very sincere, and we usually get along great with the JWs.
The sad part is how confused and conflicted he is! We hope he can find
peace, and we will of course respect his decision. 

 Rodriguez fam: the noche de hogar was great! We played games, shared a
lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and ate tostadas. I love this
family! They are so sweet, and a bit crazy. :) they kept asking when
we can come by again, and when they can feed us. Both Berta and Lupe
came to church Sunday!!!! They both loved it as well. Step by step,
this family is coming back to activity! What a huge blessing. 

 Paulina: one of the ladies in our ward (who is leaving on her mission
in Dec. to the Dominican Republic!) is exactly 1 day older than me!
*see picture* don't we look like twins?? 

 Some fun things this week: drinking my new favorite drink: Agua de Sandia!
Effectively using our exercise time by running in the rain!  English
class: we had 4 students at our class this week! It was super busy and
super fun! We had a Zone training , which was amazing of course! Our
main topic was the Book of Mormon. We also went to the library to use
the wifi for Area Book, and saw an Art Gallery! The security guard Joe
(our friend) invited us to see it, but we were "on the clock" (meaning
not on a break or during a meal) so we went through super quickly to
not be rude. But I could have stayed for hours!! It felt great to be
surrounded by art again. 

 Trust God, work hard, and never say no to tamales! 

Have a wonderful week!!

Hermana Hokanson  

 1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515