Hey family,
Just got back from talking with Elder Bednar. He´s awesome. That´s 4 of the 12 that I´ve seen while I´ve been on my mission. I´m trying to meet the whole group. Anyway, he gave some super cool advice on how to learn about the Atonement. Read the BoM in 6 months as many times as you can and afterwards right a 1 page paper on what you learned about the Atonement. Legit.
And with packages, I did get the photos and the package. I hear that I´ve got another in the office so it should get here tomorrow. Thank you! The candy was super good! It´s almost all gone though... If you could send me candy every day I would love it.
So, here´s some cool stuff I learned about Brazil. 1) You can kill here and not even get in trouble. It´s kinda dumb. But there´s a dude here who´s friend killed, well a lot of people, and he just got isolated to one city. So with this please read Alma 19:22-23 and pray for me haha. Nah, the best part is I´m not even worried a bit. Being a missionary brings a lot of courage. I see some pretty bad stuff but we´re never touched. Our entire building was robbed the other day, except for us.
2) People here are crazy for not joining the church. The other churches here straight up rob people. The put people at the doors and take all of their money when they leave- like out of their pockets and bags. Our church doesn´t do that and it´s true. It seems like an easy choice to me.
Anyway, life is terrific. We´re starting to have a lot of success. It makes the mission fun.
But, that´s about all I got for ya this week. Everything is good.
Anyway, love you all. Be good. Read the Book of Mormon as many times as you can in the next 6 months. Elder Bednar also, whenever he has any question, gets a new copy of the BoM and reads it for 6 months and afterwards writes a one page summary on the answer. Oh, and he kinda reminds me of Dad. Like for real. I felt like I was at home for family night. It was nice.
Elder Hodson
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
This Is My Life Now!
Family!
Hello from the front lines! How are all of you? From the e-mails it sounds like things are going great. We just had stake conference too. They reorganized the stake here and everything. Two seventies came and my mission president and everything, it was absolutely fantastic. Our investigators loved it. One of them called it ´linda´ or beautiful. I wish I could´ve heard Dad speak though.
This week was weird. Like, it was super cool at first. I don´t think you would believe how much I´ve learned this week. The scriptures really are amazing. Sometimes I feel like some monk who knows about this like higher spiritual path in life. It´s sweet. The best part is that it´s real and it´s all true. I´ve gained such a testimony of the truthfulness and reality of this gospel. So, I´ve learned a ton this week, Cool part. And, we taught a ton of people too. Our teaching is getting to be really powerful. The Spirit is super strong. Another cool part. So this whole week I´ve felt on top of the world like everything is finally going perfect, everything that I ever wanted out of a mission. I had plans to literally baptize 25 people next week.
And then guess what happened? No one came to church. We had two investigators and a few less actives but our families didn´t come. I was so stoked. But, when we passed by to pick everyone up, they all came up with excuses like- ´well I said I was Catholic`, ´I´m tired´, or ´we´ve got visitors´. Just really lame excuses. We made it pretty plain why they needed to come but they all still stayed home. That was a humbler. I still don´t quite understand it.
Anyway, love you all. Do what´s right. It brings joy. IF it didn´t there would be no point to it. But I have you. You make me happy. Families really are what it´s all about. I can´t wait to be with you again. Until be good. Read your scriptures and pray. Serve people. Do everything you can to come to know God. And prepare for your mission know. It really does pay off.
Until next week,
Elder Hodson
Hello from the front lines! How are all of you? From the e-mails it sounds like things are going great. We just had stake conference too. They reorganized the stake here and everything. Two seventies came and my mission president and everything, it was absolutely fantastic. Our investigators loved it. One of them called it ´linda´ or beautiful. I wish I could´ve heard Dad speak though.
This week was weird. Like, it was super cool at first. I don´t think you would believe how much I´ve learned this week. The scriptures really are amazing. Sometimes I feel like some monk who knows about this like higher spiritual path in life. It´s sweet. The best part is that it´s real and it´s all true. I´ve gained such a testimony of the truthfulness and reality of this gospel. So, I´ve learned a ton this week, Cool part. And, we taught a ton of people too. Our teaching is getting to be really powerful. The Spirit is super strong. Another cool part. So this whole week I´ve felt on top of the world like everything is finally going perfect, everything that I ever wanted out of a mission. I had plans to literally baptize 25 people next week.
And then guess what happened? No one came to church. We had two investigators and a few less actives but our families didn´t come. I was so stoked. But, when we passed by to pick everyone up, they all came up with excuses like- ´well I said I was Catholic`, ´I´m tired´, or ´we´ve got visitors´. Just really lame excuses. We made it pretty plain why they needed to come but they all still stayed home. That was a humbler. I still don´t quite understand it.
Anyway, love you all. Do what´s right. It brings joy. IF it didn´t there would be no point to it. But I have you. You make me happy. Families really are what it´s all about. I can´t wait to be with you again. Until be good. Read your scriptures and pray. Serve people. Do everything you can to come to know God. And prepare for your mission know. It really does pay off.
Until next week,
Elder Hodson
Friday, November 4, 2011
Life Is Good
Family!!!
I´m gonna answer some of your questions that I remember. First, the language. It is awesome! I have such a solid testimony of the gifts of the Spirit. I studied them a lot this week. It´s super cool how much you can learn from the scriptures and how real it all is. I would recommend a deep and honest study of the gifts of the Spirit. They are literal blessings and power that we can receive from God when we keep all His commandments (D&C 46:8 I think.) I didn´t realize how important it was to be perfect until I got out here. I always kinda liked to do what´s right but now it´s different. If I sin it´s like I gotta repent right away. So I´m doing everything I can to be perfect. It´s hard though.
Anyway, with the language - yes I can speak it. I feel like I need to become fluent for the role the Lord has for me here, like the work I´m meant to do. I don´t like to waste the Lord´s time. It´s really frustrating to be helpless and not able to speak. I´m not fluent yet but I´m hoping by the end of my next transfer. . But, the Lord definitely helps missionaries communicate with people. My companion and I are actually learning sign language in Portuguese to help a deaf girl. She´s 11 and the only thing really stopping here from being baptized is that her mom wants her to understand our messages better. The mom´s been translating but she doesn´t know all the words we use, like, ´Holy Ghost´, so we went a learned from this other deaf girl that God put in our path. It really is cool all the miracles that happen out here. God wants people to join His church and he´ll give them the opportunity, they just have to accept.
OK so super cool news. The temple ground here is gonna be broken in two weeks and guess who´s coming? Elder Bednar! WHoo I´m sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stoked! I love Elder Bednar. He´s gonna do a mission conference thing e tudo. We just got the talks we´re supposed to study, today. It looks like it´s going to be on faith. Ah, we get to meet him afterwards too and probably do a question and answer session. I cannot wait. Two weeks from today and I´m gonna meet an apostle.
We, had our first rain shower here. It´s nuts. It´s kinda funny though because there´s a system to the rain. It´s starts raining in the morning and always stops whenever we need to leave. Then when we´re inside it rains and when we leave it´s sunny. God loves missionaries. I think we´re getting into the hottest month of the year. I´m pretty stoked but my companion definitely isn´t. He´s from Idaho and likes snow and stuff, gross. I love this sun. It´s so hot and feels so good. I wish I could go run and go to the beach and stuff sometimes. Temptation stinks.
Well, even things are exciting and fantastic and wonderful... they´re super hard too. Some days everything goes wrong and all our lessons fall. This week we found out one of our investigators, who we were super excited to talk too, died. Everyone else here is stubbornly Catholic or Evangelical. Sometimes it´s hard to teach them. But, despite all of the difficulties and failures, I love everyday. I know that this is where God wants me to be. I know that I´m talking to the people I´m supposed to talk to. Everyone needs an opportunity to change their life. Everyone needs an opportunity to break free from the chains of sin that are holding them back from walking on the path that leads to Eternal Life. I think some of the saddest moments in my life are when I see people who don´t want to accept the gospel into their lives our change. Everyone here professes to believe in Christ but they won´t do anything for Him. We just taught some people for the last time this past week who we were super excited about. They got an answer about Joseph Smith being a prophet. They prayed and asked God if the Book of Mormon was true and they got an answer. They straight up said that they knew the church is true, that is really is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again, but they won´t change. They won´t come to church. They won´t stop drinking coffee. It´s so sad. But I´ve realized that we really do get to make whatever we want out of ourselves. We choose to follow Christ our take another path. 2 Nephi 2:27 is straight up true.
And so, even though we get a lot of rejection, it´s awesome to know that I´m doing what God wants me to do. To follow the Spirit and feel it testify of our words so powerfully that they know our message is true. They just have to choose if they want it. It´s good to be a missionary. A literal messenger of Jesus Christ. He´s with us everyday.
Love
Elder Hodson
I´m gonna answer some of your questions that I remember. First, the language. It is awesome! I have such a solid testimony of the gifts of the Spirit. I studied them a lot this week. It´s super cool how much you can learn from the scriptures and how real it all is. I would recommend a deep and honest study of the gifts of the Spirit. They are literal blessings and power that we can receive from God when we keep all His commandments (D&C 46:8 I think.) I didn´t realize how important it was to be perfect until I got out here. I always kinda liked to do what´s right but now it´s different. If I sin it´s like I gotta repent right away. So I´m doing everything I can to be perfect. It´s hard though.
Anyway, with the language - yes I can speak it. I feel like I need to become fluent for the role the Lord has for me here, like the work I´m meant to do. I don´t like to waste the Lord´s time. It´s really frustrating to be helpless and not able to speak. I´m not fluent yet but I´m hoping by the end of my next transfer. . But, the Lord definitely helps missionaries communicate with people. My companion and I are actually learning sign language in Portuguese to help a deaf girl. She´s 11 and the only thing really stopping here from being baptized is that her mom wants her to understand our messages better. The mom´s been translating but she doesn´t know all the words we use, like, ´Holy Ghost´, so we went a learned from this other deaf girl that God put in our path. It really is cool all the miracles that happen out here. God wants people to join His church and he´ll give them the opportunity, they just have to accept.
OK so super cool news. The temple ground here is gonna be broken in two weeks and guess who´s coming? Elder Bednar! WHoo I´m sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stoked! I love Elder Bednar. He´s gonna do a mission conference thing e tudo. We just got the talks we´re supposed to study, today. It looks like it´s going to be on faith. Ah, we get to meet him afterwards too and probably do a question and answer session. I cannot wait. Two weeks from today and I´m gonna meet an apostle.
We, had our first rain shower here. It´s nuts. It´s kinda funny though because there´s a system to the rain. It´s starts raining in the morning and always stops whenever we need to leave. Then when we´re inside it rains and when we leave it´s sunny. God loves missionaries. I think we´re getting into the hottest month of the year. I´m pretty stoked but my companion definitely isn´t. He´s from Idaho and likes snow and stuff, gross. I love this sun. It´s so hot and feels so good. I wish I could go run and go to the beach and stuff sometimes. Temptation stinks.
Well, even things are exciting and fantastic and wonderful... they´re super hard too. Some days everything goes wrong and all our lessons fall. This week we found out one of our investigators, who we were super excited to talk too, died. Everyone else here is stubbornly Catholic or Evangelical. Sometimes it´s hard to teach them. But, despite all of the difficulties and failures, I love everyday. I know that this is where God wants me to be. I know that I´m talking to the people I´m supposed to talk to. Everyone needs an opportunity to change their life. Everyone needs an opportunity to break free from the chains of sin that are holding them back from walking on the path that leads to Eternal Life. I think some of the saddest moments in my life are when I see people who don´t want to accept the gospel into their lives our change. Everyone here professes to believe in Christ but they won´t do anything for Him. We just taught some people for the last time this past week who we were super excited about. They got an answer about Joseph Smith being a prophet. They prayed and asked God if the Book of Mormon was true and they got an answer. They straight up said that they knew the church is true, that is really is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again, but they won´t change. They won´t come to church. They won´t stop drinking coffee. It´s so sad. But I´ve realized that we really do get to make whatever we want out of ourselves. We choose to follow Christ our take another path. 2 Nephi 2:27 is straight up true.
And so, even though we get a lot of rejection, it´s awesome to know that I´m doing what God wants me to do. To follow the Spirit and feel it testify of our words so powerfully that they know our message is true. They just have to choose if they want it. It´s good to be a missionary. A literal messenger of Jesus Christ. He´s with us everyday.
Love
Elder Hodson
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