Família!
Oi, tudo bem? Eu acho que eu só vou escever em Portuguese hoje. Nevermind...
Well, reports for the week - it was a good one. We worked (honestly could´ve worked harder this week though I was pretty exhausted) but next week we´ll work even harder. We´ve got a wedding to restart and interviews with President, not to mention all the training studying everyday, but it should be a fun one.
We had a baptism for a man named Marcos. It was fantastic! Ha after he passed the baptismal interview I called the rest of his family in to invite them to the baptism. His mom, on hearing he would ´deny´ their family religion, flipped out. The man´s 28 years old though. It was funny. Anyway, I explained to her how no one can get baptized without an answer from God and that they were welcome to come see what the church is like ( a lot of people have weird ideas about the church because a lot of supernatural things go on here and they ´re fairly normal.) His parents and sister ended up going to church and watching the baptism! It was awesome! The service went really well too! We´re going there tonight to teach the rest of the family.
We´re also teaching an older woman who´s been Catholic her whole life. She has many family members in the church and is now going every week. She is also preparing for baptism. I´m excited for her. She used to hate the church and kicked out her daughter years ago when she decided to serve a mission. It´s amazing to see how the Lord prepares people - and it doesn´t always happen right away. But we can have faith and trust Him because He knows His children and what they need for their happiness. We just need to do everything we can and then leave it up to Him.
Well, this week I´ve been thinking a lot about the great men of the world and of God. There is a man here known as President Cabral. 20 years ago he was the stake president here. He´s a legend. The church grew SOOO much when he was serving. At the time he was called he had been a member for 2 years. He´s now on the high counsel and working with our weaker ward. I´m so excited to have him here working with us. Things should start happening now. He´s very practical in his thinking. W e have to act. It´s that simple. Work. I t´s something that I´ve come to realize in my short time in the field. We can change things. We can change the world. We are children of God with so much potential. If we just do it in accordance with His will, anything and everything is possible. We just have to act in faith. I thought about how Napoleon and Alexander the Great must have felt realizing that they could change civilizations and nations. The same power is ours. But we fight for good. We fight for righteousness. It is amazing to see the power and potential we have. I am realizing it as my 19 year old companion and I build up, not our kingdom but God´s here in this part of Brazil. The capacity to work and do is real. We just have to have the desire to do it an then JUST DO IT. So, work hard and accomplish things. Change the world. It´s more possible than you think. That´s why you need to be an influence for good to everyone around you.
Love you all,
Elder Hodson
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Times Flies!
Hello Home!!!! February 20th
Stuff here is progressing. I'm never content and always want more but I'm learning to recognize my limits while still working as hard as possible. Training is a blast though! My comp is great. The only down side is that we study for 2 extra hours everyday which results in a loss of 2 working hours. But that down side comes with the upside of 2 extra hours of study! I honestly cannot emphasize how much I study. I love it. I finished Jesus the Christ and I'm reading teachings of Joseph Smith right now (but that's just in my spare time.) When I finish that I'll go back to Jesus the Christ but this time in Portuguese.
You all keep being amazing and remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth by a prophet. The more I study about Joseph Smith the more I learn about revelation and just exactly what it means to be a prophet. It's a lot simpler and less magical than a lot of people think. And very real. I've found that many people imagine that spiritual gifts are cool powers that the ancient saints enjoyed but the fact it they are very simple gifts that God grants to the faithful TODAY. They are real and not a distant event to be enjoyed in the future. We have all the rights to the powers of heaven right NOW based on our own obedience to each law placed. Be worthy. Seek for the powers of heaven. We have all the rights as the patriarchs of old to knowledge, power, intelligence, and all the mysteries of God. The Church is Jesus Christ. We have covenants that bind us to Him.
See you all soon,
Elder Hodson
Family! February 27th
This week was fantastic! We are working hard and the Lord is blessing us greatly. I am loving my companion and the work he puts in. We are very busy and teaching and finding many people right now. At first I was a little intimidated with the senior companion role but I´m loving it more and more everyday. We are having the faith and courage to talk with everyone about the gospel - and striving to do it in a not overbearing, proud, selfish kind of way. We are meeting some very faithful people who are ready for greater light. It´s exciting!
I can see it in a woman here I know. I´ve known her since I got here 5 and a half months ago. She wouldn´t look at me or talk to me for the first 2 months because she thought we worshiped the devil. We baptized her husband and she opened up to us a little bit more. We baptized her grandson and she sees how he likes church. We talked to her this past week and she´s going to go to church with us on Sunday! It´s what happens with patience and a Christ like example. I´ve been here for such a long time that I´m getting to know a lot of these people and it´s having a very strong effect.
We also baptized a young woman this week who was just shining after the baptism. Her sister will probably follow her and her mom might too. I´m loving the renewed excitement in the area.
I love you all and know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. It is the path to eternal life and happiness. We should help as many as we can along our path reach exaltation with us. Think of how much sweeter it will be if we lead others onto the path! There is no greater reward that we can receive or happiness that we can attain. Serve others. BE examples of Jesus. Be obedient. Help the missionaries. Give them references and go teach with them. Especially Ben. I went many times with the missionaries and loved every minute of it. I wish I had gone more. Don´t miss any opportunity to go with them. Above all just follow the Spirit and seek to hear it whisperings.
See you soon.
Elder Hodson
This week was super fun. W've teaching a lot. I love how down my comp is to work hard. We start working at one in the afternoon and just go until 9 30 at night. It's awesome. The Lord is putting so many people in our path as we learn how to plan and look for new investigators using Preach My Gospel as a guide. Sometimes I wonder why President made me a trainer when I still have so much to improve on, but then as we rely on the Lord, He does His work through us.
Anyway, this was the end of another transfer. It marks the start of my last transfer here. At least I think it will be my last here. I've been here since the beginning. Now, I just stay one more and finish training and then I think I'm leaving.
The end of the week was good though. We baptized a young man that we met about a month ago. He'd been going to church with his neighbors and loves the church. After the baptism he started to cry and I thought maybe something has gotten in his eyes but he told me he just felt really, really good. It's sweet to see the Spirit bear witness to others that the church is true. It's a testimony builder for me to see.
Haha filling up the font was fun before the baptism. I had talked to the bishop of Parangaba (where the baptism would be) likle three times. They meet in the morning but wanted to have the baptism at night after Joquei. I saw him get there during the sacrament of Joquei so I figured everything would be alright. I went to check with him the 3rd hour of Joquei and he said he hadn't started filling up the font yet. I went in to check it out and it was pretty dirty with dead bugs and had only two feet of water. The plug also wasn't in. That's when I remembered "If you want something done, do it yourself." I rolled up my pant legs and went to go put the plug in. Unfortunately, I forgot about the phone in my chest pocket. It fell into the water along with my missionary handbook and was soaked. Luckily, it's rock solid and still works. But, the font was full on time and everything went smoothly.
Remember that the church is true. Remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in it's fullness by a prophet. Remember that obedience brings protection from all the powers of evil. Remember that God loves each and every one of us and wants what's best for us. All things really do work together for our good. Joesph Smith taught that those who receive ALL things with a spirit of gratitude will receive Eternal Life. Be grateful for your blessings and trials. Study the scriptures. The give THE correct perspective that we need to be successful in this life. Life, light, and truth are NOT relative. They are REAL. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and through His grace will we be resurrected and receive our eternal reward.
Love you all and see you soon,
Elder Hodson
Stuff here is progressing. I'm never content and always want more but I'm learning to recognize my limits while still working as hard as possible. Training is a blast though! My comp is great. The only down side is that we study for 2 extra hours everyday which results in a loss of 2 working hours. But that down side comes with the upside of 2 extra hours of study! I honestly cannot emphasize how much I study. I love it. I finished Jesus the Christ and I'm reading teachings of Joseph Smith right now (but that's just in my spare time.) When I finish that I'll go back to Jesus the Christ but this time in Portuguese.
You all keep being amazing and remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth by a prophet. The more I study about Joseph Smith the more I learn about revelation and just exactly what it means to be a prophet. It's a lot simpler and less magical than a lot of people think. And very real. I've found that many people imagine that spiritual gifts are cool powers that the ancient saints enjoyed but the fact it they are very simple gifts that God grants to the faithful TODAY. They are real and not a distant event to be enjoyed in the future. We have all the rights to the powers of heaven right NOW based on our own obedience to each law placed. Be worthy. Seek for the powers of heaven. We have all the rights as the patriarchs of old to knowledge, power, intelligence, and all the mysteries of God. The Church is Jesus Christ. We have covenants that bind us to Him.
See you all soon,
Elder Hodson
Family! February 27th
This week was fantastic! We are working hard and the Lord is blessing us greatly. I am loving my companion and the work he puts in. We are very busy and teaching and finding many people right now. At first I was a little intimidated with the senior companion role but I´m loving it more and more everyday. We are having the faith and courage to talk with everyone about the gospel - and striving to do it in a not overbearing, proud, selfish kind of way. We are meeting some very faithful people who are ready for greater light. It´s exciting!
I can see it in a woman here I know. I´ve known her since I got here 5 and a half months ago. She wouldn´t look at me or talk to me for the first 2 months because she thought we worshiped the devil. We baptized her husband and she opened up to us a little bit more. We baptized her grandson and she sees how he likes church. We talked to her this past week and she´s going to go to church with us on Sunday! It´s what happens with patience and a Christ like example. I´ve been here for such a long time that I´m getting to know a lot of these people and it´s having a very strong effect.
We also baptized a young woman this week who was just shining after the baptism. Her sister will probably follow her and her mom might too. I´m loving the renewed excitement in the area.
I love you all and know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. It is the path to eternal life and happiness. We should help as many as we can along our path reach exaltation with us. Think of how much sweeter it will be if we lead others onto the path! There is no greater reward that we can receive or happiness that we can attain. Serve others. BE examples of Jesus. Be obedient. Help the missionaries. Give them references and go teach with them. Especially Ben. I went many times with the missionaries and loved every minute of it. I wish I had gone more. Don´t miss any opportunity to go with them. Above all just follow the Spirit and seek to hear it whisperings.
See you soon.
Elder Hodson
Dear, dear family, March 5th
How is everyone? I´m sorry to hear that Sam was sick. That is always super lame. My comp and I haven´t gotten sick yet at all together, which is a blessing here in the field. President told us at a leadership meeting this week that 10-30% of missionaries, either specifically in our mission or Brazil or South America, are sick on any given day. Those stats where pretty unspecific and lame but they´re kinda somewhat reliable.
On Sunday, we went to church a little disappointed and very tired. At church we had one of the best fast and testimony meetings I´ve ever been a part of. It was over an hour and a half long. Just mentioning it I can feel the Spirit of the meeting. No one wanted to leave. The best and most touching part for me was that almost everyone mentioned ´´the elders´´ in their talk. I saw I man who was so far gone, drinking and indulging in the vain things of the world, go to the front and bear his testimony of the church, the restoration, and his desire to take his family to the temple.
I felt so at peace and comforted. God showed me that I need to have more faith and stop getting disappointed when things don´t work out the way I wan them to. That God has a work and He does it through us, and that we are having much success. One of the young women from this giant family who we´ve helped come back to church, literally almost brought me to tears. It was her first time bearing her testimony ever and she was so nervous but she did such a good job. I don´t know if all the love we received was deserved but it made up for the whole week of disappointment.
Then the ward poured so many references of their friends onto us. This week is going to be so good I know it. I´m so happy to be here in these wards. I´ve already been in this area for 5 months and I only have 1 1/2 left. I´ll be sad to leave but I hear they´ve got good plans for me after.
Anyway, training is a blast. My companion is a champ. He loves to work hard and helps me stay clean at home. He´s a good example for me.
Also I´d like to give a special shout out to Wall E. He´s awesome and speaks English. Eric too. They are fantastic men and very open to light and truth. And would love nothing more than to see them progress in the church and become the men of God that I know they can become. They have already been blessed with so many talents and skills, making covenants with God would only magnify and sanctify those God-given talents.
I love you all. I know that the Church was restored through a prophet. I know that the church is lead by a prophet. I know that God loves us and that His thoughts are higher than ours. I know that He has a perfect plan for the salvation of His children and that that plan was wrought out through the sacrifice and Atonement of the Only Begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ. I know that as we receive everything in our lives with gratitude (including the difficulties and trials through which we pass) we will become sanctified and exalted.
I love you all. Don´t sin. Write me letters (that´s a part of not sinning.) Help the missionaries in our ward. Talk to your friends about the gospel and INVITE them to partake of what you have.
Elder Hodson
Hello Family, March 12th
This week was super fun. W've teaching a lot. I love how down my comp is to work hard. We start working at one in the afternoon and just go until 9 30 at night. It's awesome. The Lord is putting so many people in our path as we learn how to plan and look for new investigators using Preach My Gospel as a guide. Sometimes I wonder why President made me a trainer when I still have so much to improve on, but then as we rely on the Lord, He does His work through us.
Anyway, this was the end of another transfer. It marks the start of my last transfer here. At least I think it will be my last here. I've been here since the beginning. Now, I just stay one more and finish training and then I think I'm leaving.
The end of the week was good though. We baptized a young man that we met about a month ago. He'd been going to church with his neighbors and loves the church. After the baptism he started to cry and I thought maybe something has gotten in his eyes but he told me he just felt really, really good. It's sweet to see the Spirit bear witness to others that the church is true. It's a testimony builder for me to see.
Haha filling up the font was fun before the baptism. I had talked to the bishop of Parangaba (where the baptism would be) likle three times. They meet in the morning but wanted to have the baptism at night after Joquei. I saw him get there during the sacrament of Joquei so I figured everything would be alright. I went to check with him the 3rd hour of Joquei and he said he hadn't started filling up the font yet. I went in to check it out and it was pretty dirty with dead bugs and had only two feet of water. The plug also wasn't in. That's when I remembered "If you want something done, do it yourself." I rolled up my pant legs and went to go put the plug in. Unfortunately, I forgot about the phone in my chest pocket. It fell into the water along with my missionary handbook and was soaked. Luckily, it's rock solid and still works. But, the font was full on time and everything went smoothly.
Remember that the church is true. Remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in it's fullness by a prophet. Remember that obedience brings protection from all the powers of evil. Remember that God loves each and every one of us and wants what's best for us. All things really do work together for our good. Joesph Smith taught that those who receive ALL things with a spirit of gratitude will receive Eternal Life. Be grateful for your blessings and trials. Study the scriptures. The give THE correct perspective that we need to be successful in this life. Life, light, and truth are NOT relative. They are REAL. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and through His grace will we be resurrected and receive our eternal reward.
Love you all and see you soon,
Elder Hodson
Friday, February 17, 2012
Training Now
Family!
Well this week had a little change up. I sent you the e-mail on Monday telling you that Elder Call would be my comp. Well about the same time that I sent that e-mail, President called the house. I called him back and he asked me if I would be a trainer for one of the new missionaries coming in the next day. So I have a brand new comp fresh out of the MTC and I love him! He just loves to work! I´m actually getting pretty tired because at this point I do most of the talking but he already speaks really well and in a couple weeks he´ll be fantastic! . Super good guy.
It seems like one of the big themes going around with the general authorities is that we are children of God and He loves us. The Liahona this month was super good. That is always such a huge comfort to me.
So this week we worked our butts off. I talked to one off the elders here. He has a step counter. He walks about 15 miles everyday. His area is a little more confined than mine. I wouldn´t be surprised if we walked 20 miles a day this week. We are teaching a lot of really good people. The problem is that we´re getting so spread out between the two wards.
But we´re baptizing a little girl this next week. We´re helping her family get baptized but we have to wait for her parents marriage which will take a little time.
Something else that was pretty cool. We´ve been working to bring a less active family back to church. We baptized a few of their kids and the mom saw how happy they are now. She is dating a man and breaking the law off chastity. She told me she wants to be baptized too and be as happy as her daughters. She already gave up coffee and talked to the father of her daughters. If he won´t get married and move in she is willing to stop having a relationship with him. I love finding these people who are willing to sacrifice everything to follow Christ and keep the commandments. It makes all the other heartaches worth it.
Elder Hodson
P.S. Tell Alex thanks for the singing Christmas card. I love it
The Next Weeks Letter:
Hey family!
I磎 glad everyone is doing great! Keep up the fantastic work!
Ha ha first off all, what is Valentines day? They don磘 have it here. All they have is Girlfriend磗 day in June. Actually, I think it磗 right after my birthday. What we have this week is Carnaval. I am not excited at all for it. Everyone goes insane. All of our investigators are going to out of town. Quite literally almost everyone travels. I hear that kids like to throw eggs and flower at people in the street too. That should be fun... Anyway, we磖e just gonna have to turn it up a notch this week. I just love being here though. I love speaking Portuguese and making these friendships that I have with all these people here in Brazil. I磛e spent a long time in this area and know everyone here in this area. By the time I've finished up here it'll have been 7 and a half months here. I'll leave here in April.
Anyway, spiritual experience of the week. We were following up on a 17 year old girl who we taught a couple weeks ago. We asked her if she had prayed about the message and she said yes. I asked her if she felt anything and she said yes! I was so stoked because it's been so long since someone has just known after praying. Usually we have to teach more and try yo get them to church or they forget to read and pray or something. Anyway, we gave her a Book of Mormon and by the next appointment she had read to chapter 10 of 1 Nephi (that quite literally NEVER happens, its usually half way through chapter one b/c the people aren't super fast readers). Anyway, we were teaching her again and her boyfriend dropped her off. He drove off on his motorcycle and we talked a little about him. She called him and he came and listened and loved it too! He went to church and we're meeting with them this week! They are just golden. I love it went stuff goes right.
The church is true!
I know that The Church of Jesus Christ is literally Christ's chosen covenant people here on the earth. That in it resides all the power and glory of the ancient prophets and holy saints. The priesthood and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are again her on the earth! We have so many reasons to be happy! God and angels have spoken with man once more revealing the mysteries of God that were lost. Today, we have prophets and apostles that lead us in truth and righteousness unto the overcoming of darkness and sin. The missionaries are spreading this light today in the world to fulfill all the prophecies of the prophets. But the missionaries really need the help of every member to get this work done.
O love you all. See you soon.
Elder Hodson
Well this week had a little change up. I sent you the e-mail on Monday telling you that Elder Call would be my comp. Well about the same time that I sent that e-mail, President called the house. I called him back and he asked me if I would be a trainer for one of the new missionaries coming in the next day. So I have a brand new comp fresh out of the MTC and I love him! He just loves to work! I´m actually getting pretty tired because at this point I do most of the talking but he already speaks really well and in a couple weeks he´ll be fantastic! . Super good guy.
It seems like one of the big themes going around with the general authorities is that we are children of God and He loves us. The Liahona this month was super good. That is always such a huge comfort to me.
So this week we worked our butts off. I talked to one off the elders here. He has a step counter. He walks about 15 miles everyday. His area is a little more confined than mine. I wouldn´t be surprised if we walked 20 miles a day this week. We are teaching a lot of really good people. The problem is that we´re getting so spread out between the two wards.
But we´re baptizing a little girl this next week. We´re helping her family get baptized but we have to wait for her parents marriage which will take a little time.
Something else that was pretty cool. We´ve been working to bring a less active family back to church. We baptized a few of their kids and the mom saw how happy they are now. She is dating a man and breaking the law off chastity. She told me she wants to be baptized too and be as happy as her daughters. She already gave up coffee and talked to the father of her daughters. If he won´t get married and move in she is willing to stop having a relationship with him. I love finding these people who are willing to sacrifice everything to follow Christ and keep the commandments. It makes all the other heartaches worth it.
Elder Hodson
P.S. Tell Alex thanks for the singing Christmas card. I love it
The Next Weeks Letter:
Hey family!
I磎 glad everyone is doing great! Keep up the fantastic work!
Ha ha first off all, what is Valentines day? They don磘 have it here. All they have is Girlfriend磗 day in June. Actually, I think it磗 right after my birthday. What we have this week is Carnaval. I am not excited at all for it. Everyone goes insane. All of our investigators are going to out of town. Quite literally almost everyone travels. I hear that kids like to throw eggs and flower at people in the street too. That should be fun... Anyway, we磖e just gonna have to turn it up a notch this week. I just love being here though. I love speaking Portuguese and making these friendships that I have with all these people here in Brazil. I磛e spent a long time in this area and know everyone here in this area. By the time I've finished up here it'll have been 7 and a half months here. I'll leave here in April.
Anyway, spiritual experience of the week. We were following up on a 17 year old girl who we taught a couple weeks ago. We asked her if she had prayed about the message and she said yes. I asked her if she felt anything and she said yes! I was so stoked because it's been so long since someone has just known after praying. Usually we have to teach more and try yo get them to church or they forget to read and pray or something. Anyway, we gave her a Book of Mormon and by the next appointment she had read to chapter 10 of 1 Nephi (that quite literally NEVER happens, its usually half way through chapter one b/c the people aren't super fast readers). Anyway, we were teaching her again and her boyfriend dropped her off. He drove off on his motorcycle and we talked a little about him. She called him and he came and listened and loved it too! He went to church and we're meeting with them this week! They are just golden. I love it went stuff goes right.
The church is true!
I know that The Church of Jesus Christ is literally Christ's chosen covenant people here on the earth. That in it resides all the power and glory of the ancient prophets and holy saints. The priesthood and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are again her on the earth! We have so many reasons to be happy! God and angels have spoken with man once more revealing the mysteries of God that were lost. Today, we have prophets and apostles that lead us in truth and righteousness unto the overcoming of darkness and sin. The missionaries are spreading this light today in the world to fulfill all the prophecies of the prophets. But the missionaries really need the help of every member to get this work done.
O love you all. See you soon.
Elder Hodson
Thursday, February 2, 2012
6 Months Down!
Family!
Wow! This week is my six month mark! I never thought it would come so fast. It scares me a little how fast it´s gone by. The time out here has literally been some of the best, most fulfilling time of my life. I´m just gonna keep working as hard as I can until the end.
This week has been great. We helped a bunch of families and had interviews with president. It all went super well. It was one of those happy, good, almost nothing goes wrong weeks. I like them.
A lot of people like the church and the Book of Mormon, and believe that they´re true, but don´t want to go to church every week or don´t want to leave their church. One family in particular has this problem. They live in one of the favelas around here. The mom died a couple years ago and the father is taking care of three daughters, ages 17, 13, and 4. But, the daughters are inactive and going to an evangelical church. The dad wants everyone to go back and be reunited. We got there one night and it was super obvious that they had been in the middle of an argument. The daughters go to church every night and don´t get back until super late. Well, we sat down in their one room and talked about the gospel. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and nothing really special seemed to be going on in the room. I had the impression to talk about the temple. So I did. Why it´s important. I asked them why their parents had sacrificed so much to go there. We talked about eternal families and the potential that they have. The Spirit in the room was so strong. The oldest daughter had tears in her eyes. They promised to come back to church and strive to get to the temple.
The story is still going. They still have problems and Satan is super trickery. It really is a battle everyday. Free agency is one of the hardest things to accept. I just wish sometimes that everyone would be obedient to the commandments of God. But, there are many people who choose not to.
There´s another couple that we´re teaching. It´s in our new area that we inherited 5 weeks ago from today (just before Christmas when we started taking care of both the wards.) The other missionaries had done a fantastic job preparing the husband. He loves the church and loves the scriptures. He says the Bible (which he´s studied since he was 8) makes a lot more sense now. He doesn´t feel good if he doesn´t go to church. He´s stellar. The wife, when we got there, did not want to go to church or get baptized. She is Catholic, like the rest of the world down here, but said the only two churches she believes will go to heaven are the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ. We spent two hours at her house teaching, very firmly, that this is the ONLY true church that has a FULNESS of the gospel. When we went back the next week she was a little more receptive, She´s listening to her husband read the Book of Mormon to her - that was a big point we used. The next week she told us she wanted to get baptized and sealed in the temple. She said it was out of love for her husband but now she´s going to church and preparing to be baptized. We should start their marriage process this week so I don´t know if I´ll still be around for the wedding and baptism but it was sweet to see her change.
We heard about a family that had been baptized a few months ago. The mom and son were still going to church. The older sister is married and her and her husband had fallen inactive. We went to their house and first taught the wife. She was pretty stubborn and scared at first but she has such great desires to do what is right. We talked about faith (how it´s dead without works), and how we only have two paths to follow in this life (2 Nephi 2:27). Those are some of the scriptures I use the most. It´s so simple and true. The scripture that really got her was 2 Nephi 32: 8-9. She hadn´t wanted to pray so ELder Henrie used it at the beginning of the lesson to motivate her a little. At the end she didn´t want to go to church so we asked, ´´Whpo doesn´t want us to pray?´´ ´´The enemy...´´ ´´So who doesn´t want us to go to church? Who will you follow?´´ She´s back at church and super strong. We´re helping her husband stop drinking and find his faith right now.
See ya soon,
Elder Hodson
Family!!!
Well this is the after six months mark and I would like to start it
off by thanking everyone for the love, letters, packages, and suppoirt
up until this point. With that, I also here that after 6 months
everyone forgets you so I guess now I can consider myself forgotten.
IT´s cool. I understand.
But, the mission is going great.
I´m with Elder Call now in my same area. He´s cool.
Righteous living is so much better than wickedness. We´re helping a
man return to church, get married and baptize his family right now. He
said he hates the sin that he´s in. Do what´s right.
Love you,
Elder Hodson
Wow! This week is my six month mark! I never thought it would come so fast. It scares me a little how fast it´s gone by. The time out here has literally been some of the best, most fulfilling time of my life. I´m just gonna keep working as hard as I can until the end.
This week has been great. We helped a bunch of families and had interviews with president. It all went super well. It was one of those happy, good, almost nothing goes wrong weeks. I like them.
A lot of people like the church and the Book of Mormon, and believe that they´re true, but don´t want to go to church every week or don´t want to leave their church. One family in particular has this problem. They live in one of the favelas around here. The mom died a couple years ago and the father is taking care of three daughters, ages 17, 13, and 4. But, the daughters are inactive and going to an evangelical church. The dad wants everyone to go back and be reunited. We got there one night and it was super obvious that they had been in the middle of an argument. The daughters go to church every night and don´t get back until super late. Well, we sat down in their one room and talked about the gospel. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and nothing really special seemed to be going on in the room. I had the impression to talk about the temple. So I did. Why it´s important. I asked them why their parents had sacrificed so much to go there. We talked about eternal families and the potential that they have. The Spirit in the room was so strong. The oldest daughter had tears in her eyes. They promised to come back to church and strive to get to the temple.
The story is still going. They still have problems and Satan is super trickery. It really is a battle everyday. Free agency is one of the hardest things to accept. I just wish sometimes that everyone would be obedient to the commandments of God. But, there are many people who choose not to.
There´s another couple that we´re teaching. It´s in our new area that we inherited 5 weeks ago from today (just before Christmas when we started taking care of both the wards.) The other missionaries had done a fantastic job preparing the husband. He loves the church and loves the scriptures. He says the Bible (which he´s studied since he was 8) makes a lot more sense now. He doesn´t feel good if he doesn´t go to church. He´s stellar. The wife, when we got there, did not want to go to church or get baptized. She is Catholic, like the rest of the world down here, but said the only two churches she believes will go to heaven are the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ. We spent two hours at her house teaching, very firmly, that this is the ONLY true church that has a FULNESS of the gospel. When we went back the next week she was a little more receptive, She´s listening to her husband read the Book of Mormon to her - that was a big point we used. The next week she told us she wanted to get baptized and sealed in the temple. She said it was out of love for her husband but now she´s going to church and preparing to be baptized. We should start their marriage process this week so I don´t know if I´ll still be around for the wedding and baptism but it was sweet to see her change.
We heard about a family that had been baptized a few months ago. The mom and son were still going to church. The older sister is married and her and her husband had fallen inactive. We went to their house and first taught the wife. She was pretty stubborn and scared at first but she has such great desires to do what is right. We talked about faith (how it´s dead without works), and how we only have two paths to follow in this life (2 Nephi 2:27). Those are some of the scriptures I use the most. It´s so simple and true. The scripture that really got her was 2 Nephi 32: 8-9. She hadn´t wanted to pray so ELder Henrie used it at the beginning of the lesson to motivate her a little. At the end she didn´t want to go to church so we asked, ´´Whpo doesn´t want us to pray?´´ ´´The enemy...´´ ´´So who doesn´t want us to go to church? Who will you follow?´´ She´s back at church and super strong. We´re helping her husband stop drinking and find his faith right now.
See ya soon,
Elder Hodson
Family!!!
Well this is the after six months mark and I would like to start it
off by thanking everyone for the love, letters, packages, and suppoirt
up until this point. With that, I also here that after 6 months
everyone forgets you so I guess now I can consider myself forgotten.
IT´s cool. I understand.
But, the mission is going great.
I´m with Elder Call now in my same area. He´s cool.
Righteous living is so much better than wickedness. We´re helping a
man return to church, get married and baptize his family right now. He
said he hates the sin that he´s in. Do what´s right.
Love you,
Elder Hodson
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Last Two Weeks
Hey Family!!!
How is everyone? Sad to hear that Ben got hurt. You probably shouldn´t be jumping into metal bars man. That is not smart. Are you gonna get a scar? Dude, if you end up looking like Scar that would be sweet! Be more careful though.
Oh so I´d like to apologize to Sister Henrie about the story of her son passing ill in one of my e-mails. The wording was very poorly thought through. After we were leaving the house he joked around about it being worse that it was. He just ate something bad and his stomach had a little pain. Everyone is safe and healthy here. We are definitely protected by the Lord.
Anyway this week was weird. I don´t have a whole lot of time to write because we´re busy tonight but the enemy is at work here in all of Fortaleza to hinder the work. Every since the temple ground was broken it seems like opposition to the work has increased. He doesn´t want this people enjoying the blessings of the temple and is doing EVERYTHING to stop us. I´ll explain it a little.
So here in Fortaleza Brazil everything you can think of can go on strike. The banks, the post offices, the schools etc. It´s ridiculous. So this week, right before new years, the cops went on strike. That´s something that no one´s every heard off before. So, what happened because off that? A bunch of really bad, bad people formed something called an arrastão which translated is more or less ´dragnet´. They just get a bunch of guys together with guns and rob the big super markets.
Down in the center of the city that have a bunch of stores like a huge outdoor mall. They had the military down there protecting that area.
It wasn´t so bad in our little area. We don´t have a whole lot for people to go after. The thing was, everyone was scared out of there minds. We would walk down the streets and they were empty. People heard bikes coming down the street and ran inside. We had to be inside before dark. It stinks because that night we would´ve met with a man who is trying to stop smoking and be baptized (and I think he stopped) and talk to a lawyer about a couple divorces. Now that has to wait until next week.
I also got to take a run at senior comp this week. We went in a division this week and I went with an elder fresh out of the MTC. He didn´t speak a lick of Portuguese. It was weird being n the other side of things. I had him teach a few parts of the lessons that he´s never taught before and he did great. Now, I have a lot more respect for Elder Henrie. I realize how hard it is to be senior and he does a fantastic job.
The next day we had a wedding in the center. The first of marriages worked perfectly! It´s cool to see people stop living in sin.
We had a bunch of people at church too. So, Satan may be working but so are we. And we have Christ on our side, against who Satan has absolutely no power and has to give way.
I know the church is Christ´s. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. We have prophets. The Priesthood is on the earth for man to use to bless the lives of others and further God´s work.
Love you
Elder Hodson
Family!
IT´s good to hear that everyone is keeping busy. Don´t waste time. Time is precious. Use it to improve and progress. One of Satan´s greatest tools to keep us from reaching our fullest potential in this life is procrastination and laziness. Don´t spend too much time watching TV. I wish I had spent more time before the mission reading my scriptures. Study them in your free time. You´ll be blessed with a solid understanding of doctrine.
Anyway, on the topic of the scriptures, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Portuguese. That means I´m fluent in Portuguese. An apostle made that promise. It´s true. But, I also know that the record is real. That it was written by the power of the God and the Spirit of prophecy and translated by the seer Joseph Smith. We really can come to know God through the teaching of the Book of Mormon than any other book. I was studying the atonement in the New Testament and it is almost silent on the subject. It has some good information but the apostles who wrote the gospels were asleep while Christ suffered in the garden. The prophets in the Americas saw It in vision and explain it clearly and simply. I love the Book of Mormon. It is undeniable proof of the reality as Jesus Christ as our Savior, Joseph Smith as His revelator in these last days, and the Church being the Kingdom of Heaven here on the earth in preparation for the 2nd coming of the Messiah. Go and read it.
Oh so thank you for all the letters and packages I´ve been getting. Tell the Fishers and the Millets thanks for me. Also the Fishers asked about getting on an email list. Dad´s parents sent me cereal. That´s the best gift I´ve ever received! It´s already gone. Tell Grandma and Grandpa Squires, and Aunt Barbara and Grandma Johns thanks for the letters, too.
This week I took a two hour bus to go on a division out in the interior. IT was my first time away from the city and it was sweet. I got to take a motor taxi (which was AWESOME!!! I´m buying a motorcycle when I get home...) and taught a bunch. It was out in Elder Baker´s area. He´s from California too. He went to the infamous Del Oro (think football section semi-finals my senior year) and he´s an awesome elder.
Anyway, love you all! until next week.
Com muito amor,
Elder Hodson
How is everyone? Sad to hear that Ben got hurt. You probably shouldn´t be jumping into metal bars man. That is not smart. Are you gonna get a scar? Dude, if you end up looking like Scar that would be sweet! Be more careful though.
Oh so I´d like to apologize to Sister Henrie about the story of her son passing ill in one of my e-mails. The wording was very poorly thought through. After we were leaving the house he joked around about it being worse that it was. He just ate something bad and his stomach had a little pain. Everyone is safe and healthy here. We are definitely protected by the Lord.
Anyway this week was weird. I don´t have a whole lot of time to write because we´re busy tonight but the enemy is at work here in all of Fortaleza to hinder the work. Every since the temple ground was broken it seems like opposition to the work has increased. He doesn´t want this people enjoying the blessings of the temple and is doing EVERYTHING to stop us. I´ll explain it a little.
So here in Fortaleza Brazil everything you can think of can go on strike. The banks, the post offices, the schools etc. It´s ridiculous. So this week, right before new years, the cops went on strike. That´s something that no one´s every heard off before. So, what happened because off that? A bunch of really bad, bad people formed something called an arrastão which translated is more or less ´dragnet´. They just get a bunch of guys together with guns and rob the big super markets.
Down in the center of the city that have a bunch of stores like a huge outdoor mall. They had the military down there protecting that area.
It wasn´t so bad in our little area. We don´t have a whole lot for people to go after. The thing was, everyone was scared out of there minds. We would walk down the streets and they were empty. People heard bikes coming down the street and ran inside. We had to be inside before dark. It stinks because that night we would´ve met with a man who is trying to stop smoking and be baptized (and I think he stopped) and talk to a lawyer about a couple divorces. Now that has to wait until next week.
I also got to take a run at senior comp this week. We went in a division this week and I went with an elder fresh out of the MTC. He didn´t speak a lick of Portuguese. It was weird being n the other side of things. I had him teach a few parts of the lessons that he´s never taught before and he did great. Now, I have a lot more respect for Elder Henrie. I realize how hard it is to be senior and he does a fantastic job.
The next day we had a wedding in the center. The first of marriages worked perfectly! It´s cool to see people stop living in sin.
We had a bunch of people at church too. So, Satan may be working but so are we. And we have Christ on our side, against who Satan has absolutely no power and has to give way.
I know the church is Christ´s. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. We have prophets. The Priesthood is on the earth for man to use to bless the lives of others and further God´s work.
Love you
Elder Hodson
Family!
IT´s good to hear that everyone is keeping busy. Don´t waste time. Time is precious. Use it to improve and progress. One of Satan´s greatest tools to keep us from reaching our fullest potential in this life is procrastination and laziness. Don´t spend too much time watching TV. I wish I had spent more time before the mission reading my scriptures. Study them in your free time. You´ll be blessed with a solid understanding of doctrine.
Anyway, on the topic of the scriptures, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Portuguese. That means I´m fluent in Portuguese. An apostle made that promise. It´s true. But, I also know that the record is real. That it was written by the power of the God and the Spirit of prophecy and translated by the seer Joseph Smith. We really can come to know God through the teaching of the Book of Mormon than any other book. I was studying the atonement in the New Testament and it is almost silent on the subject. It has some good information but the apostles who wrote the gospels were asleep while Christ suffered in the garden. The prophets in the Americas saw It in vision and explain it clearly and simply. I love the Book of Mormon. It is undeniable proof of the reality as Jesus Christ as our Savior, Joseph Smith as His revelator in these last days, and the Church being the Kingdom of Heaven here on the earth in preparation for the 2nd coming of the Messiah. Go and read it.
Oh so thank you for all the letters and packages I´ve been getting. Tell the Fishers and the Millets thanks for me. Also the Fishers asked about getting on an email list. Dad´s parents sent me cereal. That´s the best gift I´ve ever received! It´s already gone. Tell Grandma and Grandpa Squires, and Aunt Barbara and Grandma Johns thanks for the letters, too.
This week I took a two hour bus to go on a division out in the interior. IT was my first time away from the city and it was sweet. I got to take a motor taxi (which was AWESOME!!! I´m buying a motorcycle when I get home...) and taught a bunch. It was out in Elder Baker´s area. He´s from California too. He went to the infamous Del Oro (think football section semi-finals my senior year) and he´s an awesome elder.
Anyway, love you all! until next week.
Com muito amor,
Elder Hodson
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A New Year
What up Family!!!
Well this week was nuts. Running these two areas is going to kill me. We are literally running to almost every appointment. Not to mention the 5 marriages we´re working with. Just a word on marriages - they stink. You gotta go to the center like 3 times per marriage. The Center is a little over an hour away by bus. It takes up a lot of time. But, the good news is that these people are getting married and changing their lives to start keeping the commandments of God and become His saints.
Well, the holidays here are cool. New Years is insane. Everyone has fireworks in the street. We were leaving a lesson to walk to the chapel for a New Years party Saturday night and I felt like I was walking through some sort of Call of Duty war zone. It helped that there was a pile of garbabe on the street too and we walked through the smoke all slow and ´hero´ like.
So after that we went home and got to sleep by 10:30 and I was thinking ´´This is going to be the first new years that I´m not up until midnight for. I was wrong. When midnight struck we were awakened by the sound of what could´ve been World War 3. I cannot explain the wonder that ran through my mind. First, I was dead tired and was abruptly awoken. You know how that is, you don´t really know what´s going on at all. On top of that I heard B-15´s dropping bombs all around my apartment. It was pretty annoying. It would´ve been cool if it was the 2nd coming.
This church is absolutely 100% true. Along with Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon and all the Latter-Day prophets. I knew this already because I had received confirmation from God before the mission. That´s why I left. But now I´ve talked to so many people from so many walks of life and with so many beliefs and the Gospel of Jesus Christ confounds them all. There is not anyone that has anything of any value against the church. If I were just an observer of the missionaries and everyone they talked to I would know, through pure logic, that the Church is true.
I Also recieve affirmation almost every day that this is all true during my personal study and when I teach. It makes all the sacrifice worth it.
Oh and I got the package! Thank you! It was perfect! My favorite part was the quote book.
´´when the harder you try the harder it gets, take heart, so it has been with the greatest men in history.´´ Jeffery R Holland. I love that one.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Elder Hodson
Well this week was nuts. Running these two areas is going to kill me. We are literally running to almost every appointment. Not to mention the 5 marriages we´re working with. Just a word on marriages - they stink. You gotta go to the center like 3 times per marriage. The Center is a little over an hour away by bus. It takes up a lot of time. But, the good news is that these people are getting married and changing their lives to start keeping the commandments of God and become His saints.
Well, the holidays here are cool. New Years is insane. Everyone has fireworks in the street. We were leaving a lesson to walk to the chapel for a New Years party Saturday night and I felt like I was walking through some sort of Call of Duty war zone. It helped that there was a pile of garbabe on the street too and we walked through the smoke all slow and ´hero´ like.
So after that we went home and got to sleep by 10:30 and I was thinking ´´This is going to be the first new years that I´m not up until midnight for. I was wrong. When midnight struck we were awakened by the sound of what could´ve been World War 3. I cannot explain the wonder that ran through my mind. First, I was dead tired and was abruptly awoken. You know how that is, you don´t really know what´s going on at all. On top of that I heard B-15´s dropping bombs all around my apartment. It was pretty annoying. It would´ve been cool if it was the 2nd coming.
This church is absolutely 100% true. Along with Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon and all the Latter-Day prophets. I knew this already because I had received confirmation from God before the mission. That´s why I left. But now I´ve talked to so many people from so many walks of life and with so many beliefs and the Gospel of Jesus Christ confounds them all. There is not anyone that has anything of any value against the church. If I were just an observer of the missionaries and everyone they talked to I would know, through pure logic, that the Church is true.
I Also recieve affirmation almost every day that this is all true during my personal study and when I teach. It makes all the sacrifice worth it.
Oh and I got the package! Thank you! It was perfect! My favorite part was the quote book.
´´when the harder you try the harder it gets, take heart, so it has been with the greatest men in history.´´ Jeffery R Holland. I love that one.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Elder Hodson
Sunday, January 1, 2012
December 2011
OK...I've been forgetting to post Elder Hodson's letters because I've been busy with Christmas. It was so great to talk to him for 40 min. on Christmas Day! He sounded happy and is loving the work. Here are the highlights from his December letters:
Hey Family!!!
What up! So to answer you´re questions before I forget: no I can´t drink tap water - they have lots of places that sell the big bottles that you´ll see in offices and stuff, actually the water stand in THE OFFICE is a perfect representation (Ican´t tell you how much I miss that show)
.
But, this week was kinda weird, my comp got seriously sick and almost died. We went home for a while but I was like, ``No man we gotta go you´ll be alright´´, so we went out again. I was just gonna do all the talking but when we went to the house he had like a half heart attack our something. So we had to stay in for like 2 days. I just did a whole lot of studying and played a little guitar (I´ll talk about that next.) I can´t tell you how much I love to study. IF I have like any free time I just go study. IT is honestly the greatest thing in the world. The scriptures are the explanations of how to live like Jesus Christ. And you can just feel the difference when you read the scriptures. I read a little bit of ´Doctrines of Salvation´ the other day. It didn´t FEEL the same as the scriptures. When you read the scriptures you just know 100% that´s it´s true, even if the feeling is subtle. Elder Bednar left us a blessing here that the missionaries in this mission that studied the scriptures at every opportunity they had would be blessed with treasures of knowledge and inspiration from on high. Apostolic blessings are legit, so I´m doing my part to put in all my effort. I realized just how much time I wasted before the mission. Stop playing video games and watching TV. Study the scriptures instead. Or learn how to play an instrument or go workout. We don´t have a whole lot of time in this life and the more we do with it the better of we´ll be.
And yes I got a guitar. SO now I practice it for about 15 min to a half hour everyday. I´m getting better. I can play ´Hallelujah´ by Jeff Buckley (the song from Shrek.) It´s pretty slow but pretty cool.
Other than that I don´t have a whole lot to say. Things are going great here. We had one of our baptisms fall this week but that´s alright. We´re having some legit success with a lot of people and I love it.
I don´t think I can impress upon how real I know this gospel to be. LIke 100% without any doubt - this Church is the Kingdom of God here on the earth. We are preparing the world for Christ´s coming. Be good member missionaries. Give the elders references to all of your friends. Everyone needs to know about the restored Church of Jesus Christ with all of it´s power, keys, and authority. Live up to your potential as a member of the church and a child of the covenant. God has great blessings for us that we have to search and find by the Holy Ghost to understand. But, they´re there. When we make the Kingdom of God and obedience to Her laws our number one priority we are sanctified by the Spirit and quickened in every aspect. If you want to get better at soccer - read the scriptures, pray with real intent, serve other, keep the commandments, never sin - and you´ll get better. Same thing with school, singing, work or anything else. Do what God wants and he will bless you with whatever you desire. It´s kinda like Nephi in Helaman 10. In fact, go study Helaman 8-11and watch how obedience brings power and pride and disobedience bring a false sense of power followed by very real weakness. ACtually, the whole book of Helaman and really The Book of Mormon are full of examples of this. But, become a man (or woman) of God. The BoM is full of good examples of them too. It´s so sad to watch people here not be oedient to God, non-members and members alike. No one is perfect but why shouldn´t we be. God is our Father. We have so much potential. Go find it. I love you. Gotta go.
Elder Hodson
_________________________________
Hello Family!!!
Well, how is everyone. Another week has passed, more people have entered God´s Kingdom, and I am completely happy. To settle your worries, yes my toe is splendid now. I´m wearing shoes, which makes me happy because I hate sandals. i did have a pretty terrible experience this week though. I caught a tropical fever, and it´s the middle of summer here. Shoot, that was not fun. We have to walk quite literally 5-6 miles every day so I just about died. But it was totally worth it because we found some great people.
So we got transfers this week. I´m staying here!!! I´m so pumped! I´ve got some people I want to help get baptized before I leave. We finally got the deaf girl´s mom to give permission for her to get baptized. We just got interview her and whatnot. That family really loves us. They have an ice cream shop and always give us free ice cream. It´s fantastic. But, with our old ward we´ll also be taking care of another ward now. The other elders left and we inherited their area. They left us quite a few progressing investigators and their ward mission leader is AWESOME! I´m super excited about this next transfer.
But, as Christmas comes upon us, let us all remember the purpose behind the holiday. It´s not Just a good excuse to buy stuff and eat a lot of good food, not to mention stop all the schools and most businesses. It´s also, and primarily, a very good time to remember a Man known in history as Jesus of Nazareth. Remember what He did. Remember who He was and what He taught. Follow His example in all things because He is and was the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Each day we should try to know Him a little bit better ´for this is life eternal´ (John 17:3) and really isn´t eternal life what we all want. Just love people and serve them like He taught. It´s funny, I was thinking a lot about Christ the other day and why people don´t follow His teachings when they say that they love Him. Anyway, you have to be really dumb to not follow the teachings of Christ. Even if you are the most selfish person in the world, you would still want to follow Christ, if you had just a little wisdom. because living the gospel brings more happiness than anything else. If nothing else just serve everyone else and sacrifice everything you have for yourself ok? Kinda funny huh.
Anyway, love you all. Tell Alex hello as well as my other friends that are in town and out. I´d love to hear from them all. I wrote some letters a while ago so I´m hoping they all get home.
Keep being fantastic people and just do what´s right. We really don´t have any time to lose. Do you realize I´ve already been out for 5 months!!! that´s nuts. It´s been like two weeks. All see you all soon!
Lot´s of Love,
Elder Hodson
_______________________________________
Family!!!
IT was so goo talking to you yesterday! Thank you for all being there. Tell Alex it was great talking to him too and I'm sorry that we didn't have much time to talk, but like you said I do have a family.
Anyway, this week was good. It was pretty rough teaching wise because people are traveling or partying. Mostly the latter but tudo bem. We've working on 4 weddings right now. We're gonna be taking a lot of buses into the center, which is about an hour away, to get all of these weddings done. It's almost funny how NO ONE here gets married. Almost..... really it's just annoying and pretty sad. Everyone here is living in sin and you can just see it in there eyes and bodies. The chains of hell are not pretty. Don't sin if you don't want to literally and physically be old and ugly.
Anyway, Christmas was fantastic. After church we went to an old ladies house that we know. It was here birthday and everything so we sang her Happy Birthday in English and she loved it. She's always so happy. She gave us cake and we just hung out with her.
Have a great week and I will talk to you after New Years! Remember to be good and stay out of trouble. Keep the commandments and always listen to the Spirit because He's gonna keep you out of trouble. And if you want to make me happy, just never sin. That would be fantastic. And go with the missionaries to teach your friends. That will make the missionaries, and eventually your friends, happy.
Love
Elder Hodson
Oh! and Happy Birthday to Elder White. Hope it's a good one full of baptisms and happiness!
Hey Family!!!
What up! So to answer you´re questions before I forget: no I can´t drink tap water - they have lots of places that sell the big bottles that you´ll see in offices and stuff, actually the water stand in THE OFFICE is a perfect representation (Ican´t tell you how much I miss that show)
.
But, this week was kinda weird, my comp got seriously sick and almost died. We went home for a while but I was like, ``No man we gotta go you´ll be alright´´, so we went out again. I was just gonna do all the talking but when we went to the house he had like a half heart attack our something. So we had to stay in for like 2 days. I just did a whole lot of studying and played a little guitar (I´ll talk about that next.) I can´t tell you how much I love to study. IF I have like any free time I just go study. IT is honestly the greatest thing in the world. The scriptures are the explanations of how to live like Jesus Christ. And you can just feel the difference when you read the scriptures. I read a little bit of ´Doctrines of Salvation´ the other day. It didn´t FEEL the same as the scriptures. When you read the scriptures you just know 100% that´s it´s true, even if the feeling is subtle. Elder Bednar left us a blessing here that the missionaries in this mission that studied the scriptures at every opportunity they had would be blessed with treasures of knowledge and inspiration from on high. Apostolic blessings are legit, so I´m doing my part to put in all my effort. I realized just how much time I wasted before the mission. Stop playing video games and watching TV. Study the scriptures instead. Or learn how to play an instrument or go workout. We don´t have a whole lot of time in this life and the more we do with it the better of we´ll be.
And yes I got a guitar. SO now I practice it for about 15 min to a half hour everyday. I´m getting better. I can play ´Hallelujah´ by Jeff Buckley (the song from Shrek.) It´s pretty slow but pretty cool.
Other than that I don´t have a whole lot to say. Things are going great here. We had one of our baptisms fall this week but that´s alright. We´re having some legit success with a lot of people and I love it.
I don´t think I can impress upon how real I know this gospel to be. LIke 100% without any doubt - this Church is the Kingdom of God here on the earth. We are preparing the world for Christ´s coming. Be good member missionaries. Give the elders references to all of your friends. Everyone needs to know about the restored Church of Jesus Christ with all of it´s power, keys, and authority. Live up to your potential as a member of the church and a child of the covenant. God has great blessings for us that we have to search and find by the Holy Ghost to understand. But, they´re there. When we make the Kingdom of God and obedience to Her laws our number one priority we are sanctified by the Spirit and quickened in every aspect. If you want to get better at soccer - read the scriptures, pray with real intent, serve other, keep the commandments, never sin - and you´ll get better. Same thing with school, singing, work or anything else. Do what God wants and he will bless you with whatever you desire. It´s kinda like Nephi in Helaman 10. In fact, go study Helaman 8-11and watch how obedience brings power and pride and disobedience bring a false sense of power followed by very real weakness. ACtually, the whole book of Helaman and really The Book of Mormon are full of examples of this. But, become a man (or woman) of God. The BoM is full of good examples of them too. It´s so sad to watch people here not be oedient to God, non-members and members alike. No one is perfect but why shouldn´t we be. God is our Father. We have so much potential. Go find it. I love you. Gotta go.
Elder Hodson
_________________________________
Hello Family!!!
Well, how is everyone. Another week has passed, more people have entered God´s Kingdom, and I am completely happy. To settle your worries, yes my toe is splendid now. I´m wearing shoes, which makes me happy because I hate sandals. i did have a pretty terrible experience this week though. I caught a tropical fever, and it´s the middle of summer here. Shoot, that was not fun. We have to walk quite literally 5-6 miles every day so I just about died. But it was totally worth it because we found some great people.
So we got transfers this week. I´m staying here!!! I´m so pumped! I´ve got some people I want to help get baptized before I leave. We finally got the deaf girl´s mom to give permission for her to get baptized. We just got interview her and whatnot. That family really loves us. They have an ice cream shop and always give us free ice cream. It´s fantastic. But, with our old ward we´ll also be taking care of another ward now. The other elders left and we inherited their area. They left us quite a few progressing investigators and their ward mission leader is AWESOME! I´m super excited about this next transfer.
But, as Christmas comes upon us, let us all remember the purpose behind the holiday. It´s not Just a good excuse to buy stuff and eat a lot of good food, not to mention stop all the schools and most businesses. It´s also, and primarily, a very good time to remember a Man known in history as Jesus of Nazareth. Remember what He did. Remember who He was and what He taught. Follow His example in all things because He is and was the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Each day we should try to know Him a little bit better ´for this is life eternal´ (John 17:3) and really isn´t eternal life what we all want. Just love people and serve them like He taught. It´s funny, I was thinking a lot about Christ the other day and why people don´t follow His teachings when they say that they love Him. Anyway, you have to be really dumb to not follow the teachings of Christ. Even if you are the most selfish person in the world, you would still want to follow Christ, if you had just a little wisdom. because living the gospel brings more happiness than anything else. If nothing else just serve everyone else and sacrifice everything you have for yourself ok? Kinda funny huh.
Anyway, love you all. Tell Alex hello as well as my other friends that are in town and out. I´d love to hear from them all. I wrote some letters a while ago so I´m hoping they all get home.
Keep being fantastic people and just do what´s right. We really don´t have any time to lose. Do you realize I´ve already been out for 5 months!!! that´s nuts. It´s been like two weeks. All see you all soon!
Lot´s of Love,
Elder Hodson
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Family!!!
IT was so goo talking to you yesterday! Thank you for all being there. Tell Alex it was great talking to him too and I'm sorry that we didn't have much time to talk, but like you said I do have a family.
Anyway, this week was good. It was pretty rough teaching wise because people are traveling or partying. Mostly the latter but tudo bem. We've working on 4 weddings right now. We're gonna be taking a lot of buses into the center, which is about an hour away, to get all of these weddings done. It's almost funny how NO ONE here gets married. Almost..... really it's just annoying and pretty sad. Everyone here is living in sin and you can just see it in there eyes and bodies. The chains of hell are not pretty. Don't sin if you don't want to literally and physically be old and ugly.
Anyway, Christmas was fantastic. After church we went to an old ladies house that we know. It was here birthday and everything so we sang her Happy Birthday in English and she loved it. She's always so happy. She gave us cake and we just hung out with her.
Have a great week and I will talk to you after New Years! Remember to be good and stay out of trouble. Keep the commandments and always listen to the Spirit because He's gonna keep you out of trouble. And if you want to make me happy, just never sin. That would be fantastic. And go with the missionaries to teach your friends. That will make the missionaries, and eventually your friends, happy.
Love
Elder Hodson
Oh! and Happy Birthday to Elder White. Hope it's a good one full of baptisms and happiness!
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