We went to the Billy Graham museum

C S Lewis museum!

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

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

All of my favorite things in this world!

 

Tan gran la obra del Señor

Temple with Maria!

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

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

Andres, Irving's Cousin

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

Con amor, hermana Hokanson

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

Our crazy neighbors!

US

"I 🌵Mexico"

Cool painted wall in downtown Naperville!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also Tacos

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

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

Con amor,
Hermana Hokanson

💕🇺🇸 happy 4th of July!

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

Great week! So busy!

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

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

Aurora: hermanas Krebs and Allison

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

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

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

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

Con amor,
Hermana Hokanson

Being a missionary is cool.

All of my areas! It's like I never moved!

This has been a good but kind of sad week. I guess I'll tell you the sad part first to get it over with. 

We started teaching Catalina a couple weeks ago, and this past week started teaching her 3 grandkids, Michelle, Ariana, and Elvis. They are little rays of sunshine! We love them so much. We gave Michelle a child's Book of Mormon and within 3 days she had read over 80 pages!! Our goal this whole time has been to teach the whole family. In fact, when we first visited their home we were looking for Catalina's daughter Cira. So, we talked to the kids and found out that their parents are home Sunday mornings. We went yesterday morning, and within 3 minutes we were back in our car driving away. Cira (the kid's mom) doesn't want us to come back or teach the kids at all. We were completely heartbroken, but we know that the Lord has His perfect timing and sometimes that just isn't right now. 

Hermano Sierra's birthday 

But besides that, it's been a good busy week! We did lots of service and taught lots of people. We had one day where we had 5 lessons in a row and got 3 new investigators! That was a crazy day. We've started teaching Angelica's two daughters, who are the cutest girls. We had exchanges with the Oswego sisters, which was awesome. Sis Vescovi and I got to celebrate the birthday of an adorable man named Hmno Sierra, who is disabled physically and mentally but his heart is as big as ever.

We got to help move in a part-member family that the English elders are teaching- the husband is a member and the wife isn't. They are so so cool! Amy (the wife) is so smart and talented, and very honest about her journey and studies with the elders. She would fit right in with this awesome ward. 

Us helping the part member family move in!

That's it for this week! Here is a spiritual thought:

"Although one can meet the demands of justice by suffering for his own sins, such suffering will not change him. Just as a criminal can pay his debt to justice by doing time in prison and walk out unreformed, suffering alone does not guarantee change....Lasting change, here and hereafter, comes only through Christ."

Brad Wilcox

Hermana Hokanson 

Commitment

We went on a nature walk (it wasn't a hike because there aren't any mountains here...)

This is what happened this week:

- We went to a dog funeral. 

- We were almost interpreters at a wedding.

-Maricela and her daughter Jocelyn came to church! Maricela is super excited to get baptized! July 22 (fingers crossed)

- Andres is no longer on date because he hasn't come to church sufficient times. Super sad. He needs prayers. 

- Elder Gavarret from the quorum of the 70 came to visit us! He is so cool! I had the special opportunity to have an interview with him, and I can testify he is called of God. We also got to teach Ricardo with his wife sis Gavarret, who is equally amazing! Sister Griffin and Elena came too (there were 6 women and Ricardo, haha). Right before we ended, Elder Gavarret and Pres. Griffin walked in and Elder Gavarret gave the closing prayer for us. It was such a cool day! 

- Ricardo is no longer on date. He started pushing back a bit and seems scared to take that jump, even though he comes to church almost every week and every event we invite him to. Speaking of, we had a really cool miracle on Saturday! We invited him to a baptism in Geneva (Aurora Ward) and the church building there has a weird address that doesn't show up in the gps. So he was running late, and then got lost, and we were freaking out a bit. We said a prayer and asked specifically that the spirit would inspire him to know where to go, and he would get here in time for the baptismal ordinance. We were waiting by the door and heard from the room that they were starting the baptismal ordinance, and in that exact second Ricardo pulled up! We ran out to get him, ran to the room, and got there just as the elder started saying the baptismal prayer! It was a Christmas miracle. We then stayed for the food and of course, the Aurora Ward is full of people I love. So that was a tender mercy. 

This chip looks like Illinois!

This week I've learned a lot about the importance of commitment, and keeping that commitment well. I love this quote:

"Immersion in the scriptures is essential for spiritual nourishment. The word of God inspires commitment and acts as a healing balm for hurt feelings, anger, or disillusionment. When our commitment is diminished for any reason, part of the solution is repentance. Commitment and repentance are closely intertwined."

-Quentin L Cook (Can ye feel so now? Oct 2012)

If that commitment is honesty in business, your marriage commitment to love and support your companion, your commitment to serve a worthy full-time mission, or to come to church this week- when we keep our commitments, we are blessed. When we don't, repentance needs to be involved. We need to keep our commitments, and not only keep them, but keep them well. 

Have a wonderful week!

The shirt burning! (And liter fluid)

Hermana Hokanson

We had a BBQ with Ricardo to burn an inappropriate shirt he had. :)

The luckiest hermana ever

Half off pizza on Mondays! Woo!

I am The luckiest hermana ever because I get to stay here in Wheaton, with my wonderful and amazing companion Hmna Wixom!!! It really is so crazy that we got to stay together since we practically go home at the same time. But God has work for us to do here! 

I don't have much to say for this week, since I did just send an email on Wednesday. But we had sisters conference which was AMAZING. We gave a training on how to work with members in their homes and feel more comfortable. We learned a lot of different things, but probably the topic that helped me the most was perfectionism. The spirit chastised me a bit, and told me that the Lord only needs me to be the best I can be, and leave the rest to Him. There is no need to worry about my weaknesses or what others think, only my relationship with the Lord and how well I am following Him. This is the Lord's work, not mine. 

We still have 3 investigators with baptismal dates, but none of them were at church Sunday. :( so we may be moving some dates soon. But we haven't lost faith and we're excited to see what this next week will bring. 

Seeing old friends in Aurora

We did find some cool new investigators though! One is named Catalina, her daughter was a referral from the English elders. She is super cool and we found out afterwards she had taken the lessons before! We also met this cool family, Eva and José. We were talking to Eva by her house and offered to teach her family how to do family home evenings. The conversation ended in her making us tacos de carne asada (the ultimate sign of summertime here) and us having a little BBQ with her family! We are headed back next week to have a family home evening with them and their three kids! 

Irving and Maria are doing great. Irving got on the stage again this week during sacrament meeting, we almost had a heart attack! But he didn't do anything, and when we asked him afterwards why he went up there he said "to comfort that guy, he needed to be comforted" referring to the man who had given the last talk, and had cried a bit while telling a touching story. :) he is a big teddy bear! 

Here is a cool quote that president Griffin sent us this morning:

"All things shall work together for your good. Do you believe it? Have you really thought about his wonderful promise, given through the prophet Isaiah, that he will give you “beauty for ashes”? (See Isaiah 61:3) Ponder that one for a minute. Think about ashes, about what is left over after the most horrific destruction has occurred. Then picture the Lord taking that devastation and turning it into something beautiful. That is the sure promise of the Atonement: that all our losses will be made up to us. When a foundation such as that is in place, nothing that can happen in mortality could ever shake us. "

-Emily Watts

Have an amazing week! Read your scriptures! 

Con amor,

Hermana Hokanson

All the sisters of the Illinois Chicago west mission! Plus pres Griffin

 I got to see sis Campbell, who I came into the mission with! 

Sis Petty and Hmna Allison and I accidentally
 looked like a sunset so we decided to take a picture.

 Feat. Sis Ivie photobombing