Here is his last letter from the MTC!
Family!
I'm going to Spokane, WA!!! I'm super excited. I did not think i would be going there at all. Everyone in my district was getting places like N. Carolina, Long Beach, Florida, and stuff like that - so I was thinking I would be going someplace warm. Then, i got called to Spokane which is like right next to Canada. But, I'm not worried. I hear that there are great missionaries up there and that the mission president is awesome! I talked to a sister that is from the area. She said that going teaching with the missionaries and talking to the mission president is what motivated to serve a mission. She couldn't stop talking about how great it's going to be! I'm super pumped!
Our last Friday here we did in-field orientation which is basically a huge all day pep talk. I am SOOOOO excited to get out there. I don't care where. I just want to go. I want to talk to everyone. I know it's going to be great i can just feel it. I know not everyone will want to hear but I know I will find people to teach in WA for however long I'm there. I just want to do the best I can.
Ha I can't really stand not doing anything anymore. It was P-day today and so we had like hours of nothing to do. It was super boring. So I started to clean our room. Weird huh? It didn't feel right... but now we have a clean room.
So, my companion left on Fri. He's in Anaheim now. One of my roommates left too. So, I'm paired up with my other roommate now, Elder Smith. He's awesome! I love to study and work with him. At first we needed some practice teaching together but we're getting pretty good now. He's just as excited as I am to get to the field and has a lot more faith. i just love how he pushes me. He'll be in Fortaleza with me so maybe we'll be companions there too.
Ok so super cool - another apostle was here this week! Elder Nelson came and talked about the Book of Mormon. It was absolutely awesome and I wish I had time to talk about it. I was in the choir with Elder McNeil. It was a lot of fun. We sang "Consider the Lilies". I love that song. Especially now that I'm a missionary. I'm gonna need his help and support a whole lot pretty soon.
President Brown, our MTC pres, spoke to us yesterday at mission conference - which we have every fast Sunday fir about two hours - and had a cool object lesson. Two people who he introduced to the gospel 51 years ago had come by the MTC on Thurs. to see him. he had not seen them since he had taught them, excpet once in 1972. He lwt them come up and talk about how much 'Elder' Brown meant to them. He wasn't the one who baptized them, they had move before he had the chance, but he was the one to knock on their door. Because these people had joined the church many were blessed. they've had 4 children and 5 grandchildren serve missions. I just can't wait to help people as a missionary and bring them the joy that is in the restored gopel of Jesus Christ. Oh and they know Jimmer because they are from Glen Falls NY - his hometown!
But we are just so different from any other church. There are so many reasons from priesthood authority to revelation and or knowledge of who God is and the Plan of Salvation. I could talk about all of them for a long time. But the biggest difference between us and other churches is that we can bring others to God through making covenants with Him. We are not just another church that is trying to make peoples lives better and teach them to love one another. It's not just about service, feeling content with life, and reading about Jesus. We have all of that, everything that any other church can offer, and so much more. We have ordinances that will bind us to Jesus Christ. If we are faithful they will carry us into the Celestial Kingdom of God where we can live will our families forever and become like Jesus Christ, having a fullness of joy (3 Nephi 28:10 I think). that's why it's so important for me to be out here. Eternity is a long time. The work done now will have very lasting effects in the lives of others.
love you,
Elder Hodson
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