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

Transfers, bible bashers, and mosquitos.‏

Hola hola!

I survived my first transfer! I am happy to say I am still in Aurora,
with Hmna Buehner. Thank goodness, we have so much work to do here! A
lot of things are on the verge of happening, and I can tell this will
be a crazy and amazing transfer. We did have our district leader and
one of our zone leaders go home though. That was sad. I've come to
love all these missionaries so much!

Satan is using every element possible to keep us from teaching. His
most recent tool: mosquitos. Also the wind. Also people mowing their
lawns right by us so we have to practically yell "DESPUES LA MUERTE DE
JESUCRISTO..." As we try to teach The Restoration. All in all, he
isn't winning, nor will he ever. :)

We started teaching Ana and Andre, a brother and sister that live
together. They are stellar, and have been taught before by
missionaries a couple years ago. But they weren't keeping commitments,
so the missionaries stopped visiting. Maybe it's now their time! We
have a return appointment with them next Saturday, so all is well!

I met my first bible basher, that was fun. He actually was a super
nice guy, that very strongly believed the bible is the only word of
God. He was awesome. While we were talking to him, a drunk guy came up
to us and sat right by us, and started talking to him. The bible
basher- his name is Ozzey- started talking to him in as much English
as he could muster about the blessings he could receive if he stopped
drinking and followed Christ. He pulled out his bible and laid down
the law. It was great! Ozzey turned from a bible basher to a protector
as he gave us a look that said " I'm not leaving you here with this
drunk man. Don't worry, you are safe." The drunk man eventually left
(he kissed my hand- it was gross. Beer is gross.) and we got to talk
more with Ozzey. We left him with a Libro de Mormon and he gave us a
flier for his church services. There are good people everywhere you
go!

I had my first encounter with member outside of church! We were
walking store to store, distributing fliers for our English classes to
anywhere that looked Mexican. An elder that just got home from his
mission, and attends our ward, was driving by with his mom and stopped
to say hi. It was great to talk to someone who knows about the church!
This is definitely not Utah, my friends.

We were walking down the street last Sunday and saw a man mowing his
lawn. He started talking to us, asking us about what we do, and even
turned off his mower. We talked for a few minutes and invited him to
church. He said he would come, and we left him with the address on a
pass along card. We hoped he would come, but most of the people we
invite don't end up coming. To our surprise, yesterday during the
opening song of sacrament meeting, someone came up and sat right by
us! We didn't recognize him at first, which was awkward. Then we
realized it was the man mowing his lawn. And that my friends, is how
Roger became our first investigator to attend church in a few weeks.
Pray for Roger please, baptism is in his future. He is so prepared!

We were driving one day and saw a van behind us. Hmna Buehner suddenly
gasped and said "it's Jesus!!" Jesus is an investigator we have been
trying to contact for a few transfers, but he is never home. And we
saw him driving down the highway! We determined it was fate, and plan
to visit him again soon.

We met a Mexican Man with bright, crystal blue eyes. It was really
cool. There are certain parts of Mexico where people are really light
colored, some even red heads or blond. So I guess someday, I could
pass as a Mexican! I already tell everyone I'm Mexican anyways, but
they just laugh at me (I couldn't imagine why). I'm surprised by how
many people here speak Spanish. Aurora has its own mini Mexico! So
many people are here for us to teach, it's wonderful.

On Saturday we decided to drop (stop teaching) a man named Juan Pablo
because we couldn't get in contact with him. The next day (yesterday)
we felt inspired to stop by Marina's house, which is right by his.
Marina wasn't home, but he was standing outside! We walked over to
him, and ended up teaching him the whole Restoration on his porch. It
went really well and the spirit was strong, despite the mosquito army
attacking us. We put him back in the system as being taught, and
thanked God for not giving up on him as quickly as we did.

We've made it our goal to be the favorite missionaries in our ward. So
far, so good. We're being fed nearly every day, and get passed treats
during Sunday school. ;) food is a very important thing here in the
Aurora ward.

I highly suggest you read the talk: What Are You Thinking? By Elder W.
Craig Zwick (Of the Seventy). I came across it in my studies and I
loved it.

Have a wonderful week! Thanks for reading my crazy emails. Love you all!

Hermana Hokanson

1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515

YOMO: you only mission once

Our mission president jokingly told us to write baptisms on our cereal

boxes. Well, we are obedient missionaries! ;)

Hello family and friends! This week was very busy, so buckle up.

Funny story of the week: remember that guy we met a couple weeks ago
that was riding his bike? Well, we got a phone call during studies on
Saturday and he wanted to meet with us- right then! We said no to
meeting at Planet Fitness, and he agreed to meet us at the library. We
hurried and stuffed sandwiches in our mouths and ran out the door.
About 5 minutes into teaching him, we realized he was completely
drunk! He repeated everything he read a few times, asked the same
questions over and over, didn't remember anything we were telling him,
acted things out dramatically, and asked us (after we had taught the
entire restoration) if we believed Jesus came to earth (yes, we just
told you that) and if Joseph Smith was Jesus (no, we just explained
that). In the end, we gave him a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet with
the address to the church. We asked him to say the closing prayer.
While he was praying, he was so sincere and genuine, asking to know
the truth and take the right path. But suddenly- and without ending
the prayer- he starts rambling about something and takes our hands,
and says over and over "Dios exisite! Dios existe!" Which means God
exists. Then he starts talking about how only God can grow a tree and
how we can't grow trees, and it pretty much just went downhill from
there. We tried to leave before the inevitable happened, but he went
for the hug and we couldn't escape. Thank goodness it was a double
hug, with all three of us! We promptly left, holding back tears of
laughter. Hopefully he actually made it home riding his bike.

Here is an update on a few of our investigators:
Gabriella- with Gabriella we had the perfect lesson! It was our first
time meeting with her so we taught the restoration. The spirit was so
strong, and she said she would be baptized when she knew it was true!
We are so excited for her. We have had trouble scheduling another
lesson with her though, so we pray for the best. Sidenote: during the
lesson with her, her young son came in holding a gatito! That's a
kitten. It was so cute! She was so stressed about it, haha. The boy
was so excited though.

Gino- he was unable to come to an appointment we had with him, but we
had an awesome lesson over the phone! That doesn't happen very often
so it was really cool. We helped him see the bigger picture more and
understand why we ask him to do things like read and pray. He had a
lot of questions about temples so it was great to talk to him about
that! Temples really draw people in. They are a beacon of hope.
Jesus- needs prayers. He has so much potential but feels like his life
is too busy.

Soyret- needs prayers as well. She is amazing and loves the gospel. We
are having trouble meeting with her though and getting her to church.
We know she will do amazing things and can't wait to help her realize
it for herself!

We taught a Noche de jogar (family home evening) at the home of the
Monrreals, with the Estradas attending as well. It was so fun! We
taught about keeping the sabbath day holy, and used the object lesson
of the rocks in the jar. When you try to put the small rocks in
(unimportant things) before the big rocks (things you need to do on
the sabbath) all the rocks don't fit. But if you put the big rocks in
first, everything falls into place.

I don't know if any of you have seen The District, the recordings that
they made of missionaries in action. We watch it all the time for part
of my orientation studies, and it gets funnier and funnier as my
mission goes on! It is seriously our favorite thing. It's so realistic
and so cheesy. Anyone who has been in any of the situations they show,
would know how funny it is. :)

We met 2 little boys while walking to the house of an investigator one
day. We started talking to them, and I asked them if they wanted a
picture of Jesus. One boy responded with "who's Jesus? I don't know
Jesus." I almost wanted to cry in that moment! Such a sweet, innocent
boy being thrown into his world, without even knowing the name of our
Savior, the only person who will help him find purpose and happiness
in this life. We started explaining to him, but his mom called him in
and we were never able to share this message of joy with him. Please
teach your children, we have a Savior and He lives! People deserve to
know.

I was studying in Preach My Gospel ch 10, about teaching skills. There
is a section that talks about using the scriptures while teaching.
Something really stood out to me:
"Your ability to teach with power from the scriptures comes in large
measure from the time you personally spend studying them. As you daily
feast upon the word, your ability to teach from the scriptures will
improve. In addition, your invitations to study and ponder the
scriptures will be more powerful because you are doing the same thing
in your life.... When people come to believe the scriptures, you will
be better able to help them understand doctrines correctly... You
cannot convert people beyond your own conversion”
This is so true! We must study for ourselves to be able to help others.

Love you all!
Hermana Hokanson

1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515

This is our new favorite treat: fresas con crema! It's strawberries
with a yummy Mexican yogurt drink.

We are actually nuns‏

Elotes!

 

An Awesome Rainbow We Saw

 While we were driving one day, I saw some real life, genuine nuns

walking down the street. In my excitement I just yelled "NUNS!" And
Hmna Buehner responded with "IT'S US!!" After laughing for a while, we
realized we seriously are nuns, just with more rules and better
outfits. :)

I now have a Facebook, under the name of Hermana Alyssa Hokanson. It
is for missionary purposes only. I am not allowed to friend people,
but you can friend me- and please do! This will help get the word out,
and I encourage you to share and like the spiritual posts on my wall
to help more people learn about the gospel. Social media is a great
tool and can be used to do so much good. This is just one of many ways
the church is using technology to share the Joyful News of Christ.
Please friend me, and have anyone else who wants to, friend me as
well.

Dad and Moni: Elder and sister Merchison (the mission nurse and her
husband) know Lon and Whitney and Kelsey from when they lived in
California! So cool right? You guys should tell Kelsey to email me and
I can give her the info.

Hermana Estrada is our mission mom. I sent a pic of her last week, but
didn't have time to talk about her. She is a convert of less than 2
years, and knows the name of every missionary that has passed through
the Aurora ward since she first met the missionaries. She is strait
from the Streets of Chicago, and has the guts and sass to show it. Her
husband is an educated landscaper from Mexico. She is a powerhouse and
one of the nicest people alive. I love her to death! She feeds us
every Friday, no matter what. She really helps us not miss the things
of home, and it is wonderful. Our ward is so wonderful!
We had zone conference this week, it was great! President Griffin is
amazing and I admire him and his wife so much. This is a great mission
to be in!

Savanna is a member from the English ward in our area. She is 17 and
has been studying Spanish for 4 years. We ask her all the time how to
say stuff! :) she is far more experienced than us. Wednesday when we
were tracking with Savanna, we heard the icecream truck coming (which
is pretty normal in this area, they pass by a few times each day). But
one of the trucks sells Elotes, or corn with toppings (mayo, butter,
chile powder, etc). We have been wanting to try Elotes for weeks, but
never had the opportunity. As we were writing a note to leave on the
door of an investigator, the truck was getting away and we decided to
chase after it. He stopped for us, we got our Elotes, and the nice
icecream truck man took a picture for us. Missionary life is the best
life! 

We were contacting a less active member one day, and on the way to his
apartment we saw a man grilling meat on a porch of the second story
apartment. We said hola, talked to him for a bit, and found out he had
attended a baptism before! Turns out the missionaries dropped him
because they couldn't get ahold of him. His name is Felix, and he
seems super solid! We set up a return appointment and he wanted to
give us tacos. We said no (even though they smelled really good)
because we were fasting for Gino. We passed by him again on our way
back to the car, and he insisted to give us tacos. So we took them,
and ate them later. People here are the best!

I got super creative today and marinated chicken in coke and
caramelized oranges, and cooked it on a foreman grill with pineapple.
It was super yummy! I promise I'm not this good all the time though,
it was just a fun change from smoothies and bagels.
Oh, we were fasting so that Gino would attend the baptism on
Saturday... But he didn't. He also didn't attend church. Any prayers
for him would be much appreciated. He has a lot of potential and we
are not giving up hope. We can see God's hand working in his life
already, and can't wait for him to see it too.

I never realized before my mission how much the members are involved
in mission work. The members are crucial! Without them, we can barely
do anything. It is so important for them to be involved. Good members
help investigators, support the missionaries, and keep converts-
simply by just being good people! It's so awesome. I would be so lost
without this awesome ward I am in. Thank you a million for your
prayers and your emails, that's all I could ask for! I can feel the
prayers of the members carry me in my weak moments- we really need
them. The work is progressing thanks to thousands of faithful members.
Ledezmas- if you are reading this, email me! I want to find that
family you told me about, that live in Chicago and need the gospel.
(Sorry, my email doesn't let me access my contacts, so unless you've
emailed me I don't have your email.)

Always remember who you are and what you can become. I love you all!
Hermana Hokanson

P.S.

This Is how Hmna Buehner described our experience in ward council this week:

The Ward is very passionate about certain things! During Ward council
we always do a half an hour where it's just dedicated to missionary
work and this Sunday was pretty intense...so to kind of help this all
make sense let me explain. last Sunday Gino came to church and in
priesthood apparently the lesson was on tithing and from what we
heard, it didn't go too well! The elders come up to us afterwards and
tell us "you might want to teach Gino about tithing because all they
did was argue!" Haha so yesterday at Ward council we were talking
about the people we had on our progress record and we didn't put Gino
on it this week because we haven't had any progress with him last
week. Anyway, a member raises his hand up at the end and is like
expressing to us his concern about how we need to put Gino on the
progress record so that we all can really focus on him! We are happy
that this member is really excited about Gino, we think he is like
really stressed or something cause it didn't come out as nice as I'm
sure as he had hoped, but he sure made a point! Haha but the
conversation quickly switched to how Gino probably didn't come to the
baptism, canceled his cita, and isn't coming to church all because of
the tithing lesson last week. Ward council became an all for all brawl
on who's fault it is that priesthood ended up having a terrible class
last week! Us 6 missionaries were just sitting there laughing ( us
hermanas shedding a few tears!). Obispo had to step in and take
control, mainly cause sacrament was supposed to start like 5 minutes
before! Haha it was quite the experience! There are just so many
things you experience here in a Spanish Ward that you miss out in an
English Ward!