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
Friday, February 17, 2012
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
_______________________________________
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!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Last Three Weeks
Sorry, I haven't posted Spencer's letters the last couple weeks because we were having a problem with our computer, he is doing great...here are the highlights from the last three weeks:
Letter 1:
Family!
Happy Thamksgiving! Would you like to know something very sad? Brazil´s never heard of Thanksgiving. This was like one of my favorite holidays of the year full of thanks (giving it) and food. I bet you´re going paintballing on Wednesday... So jealous. But it´s ok, like every other day here is a holiday for something seriously they have a lot. I don´t think they like to work a whole lot. Missionaries don´t get holidays though. We work a lot.
Well this week was legit. You know when you´re just doing everything right and you feel good? Like when you just work super hard and keep all the commandments and just feel so confident. I love it. We didn´t have a whole lot of success in numbers this week but we worked our tails off. I´m starting to learn how to listen to the Spirit and really testify. When I first got here I was scared to talk in Portuguese. Now, I can´t stop. Remember Yulka? She´s deaf and we´re trying to teach here about the church and get her ready for baptism. Well, we´ve had people come from hours away to talk with here but now here parents (who were born and raised Catholic) aren´t letting her get baptized. Her dad lives in another state I think he has another family and stops by here about once a month. The mom said she would talk to her husband about it. She did and he said no. So, we asked to talk to him. He said he didn´t think she was ready and we said ýeah she needs a responsible parent to help her´ and taught him about the church (just in like 45 seconds - we were late for a meeting) and invited him to pray about it. He was like ´no no I don´t think anyone can know if a church is true. They´re all good because everyone is looking for God.` And stuff like that. We just bore such solid humble testimony about the Church of Jesus Christ, that it´s perfect and absolutely true and that we know it because we´ve received a witness from God. He changed. I don´t know what will come of it but I´m hoping for a miracle. But, whatever happens it´s just so cool to literally be the instrument of the Spirit. To have it flow through you and let God talk to His lost and wayward child.
Oh, so other cool news! I´m buying a guitar! I know I´m stupid but I had 50 american dollars and there´s an elder going home next month and he was looking for american money. He was going to sell it to a member but I was like Ì have american money´and he was like ´´sweet deal.´´ so I´ll be getting it just before Christmas. Also, my comp has a harmonica and it´s sweet and i think I´m gonna buy one of those too. I´m gonna come home super talented. Get excited.
I do not get to play soccer. Mission rule. Too many elders were getting hurt so President took it away before I got here. I´ve seen some soccer on the bar TV´s when we walk by though. They´re pretty dang good.
They have this little bug zapper things here that are awesome! They look like tennis rackets but they´re electric. You turn it on and just pass it over the bugs and they get obliterated. It´s SUPER satisfying. Thought you´d like to know.
So missionary time. Read your scriptures every day. Pray morning and night with REAL intent. Not baby prayers. Establish a relationship with God. Keep all the commandments and ALWAYS do what´s right NO MATTER WHAT. I promise that if you do this your eyes and ears will be opened and you will learn and understand truths that you had never thought of before. Read John 8. It´s super good. Verse 32 (I think) is baller. The truth will make you free. Think about it. Don´t sin. Read Jesus the Christ chapter 8, 9, or 10. It´s on page 112 about how Christ progressed. D&C 93 is helpful and the JST to the end of Luke chapter 2. Get to it.
Love you all. Missions rock. I´m just about as happy as I´ve ever been. Stop watching TV and wasting time. Go buy a harmonica and get better than me.
Talk to you next week,
Elder Hodson
Letter 2:
Letter 1:
Family!
Happy Thamksgiving! Would you like to know something very sad? Brazil´s never heard of Thanksgiving. This was like one of my favorite holidays of the year full of thanks (giving it) and food. I bet you´re going paintballing on Wednesday... So jealous. But it´s ok, like every other day here is a holiday for something seriously they have a lot. I don´t think they like to work a whole lot. Missionaries don´t get holidays though. We work a lot.
Well this week was legit. You know when you´re just doing everything right and you feel good? Like when you just work super hard and keep all the commandments and just feel so confident. I love it. We didn´t have a whole lot of success in numbers this week but we worked our tails off. I´m starting to learn how to listen to the Spirit and really testify. When I first got here I was scared to talk in Portuguese. Now, I can´t stop. Remember Yulka? She´s deaf and we´re trying to teach here about the church and get her ready for baptism. Well, we´ve had people come from hours away to talk with here but now here parents (who were born and raised Catholic) aren´t letting her get baptized. Her dad lives in another state I think he has another family and stops by here about once a month. The mom said she would talk to her husband about it. She did and he said no. So, we asked to talk to him. He said he didn´t think she was ready and we said ýeah she needs a responsible parent to help her´ and taught him about the church (just in like 45 seconds - we were late for a meeting) and invited him to pray about it. He was like ´no no I don´t think anyone can know if a church is true. They´re all good because everyone is looking for God.` And stuff like that. We just bore such solid humble testimony about the Church of Jesus Christ, that it´s perfect and absolutely true and that we know it because we´ve received a witness from God. He changed. I don´t know what will come of it but I´m hoping for a miracle. But, whatever happens it´s just so cool to literally be the instrument of the Spirit. To have it flow through you and let God talk to His lost and wayward child.
Oh, so other cool news! I´m buying a guitar! I know I´m stupid but I had 50 american dollars and there´s an elder going home next month and he was looking for american money. He was going to sell it to a member but I was like Ì have american money´and he was like ´´sweet deal.´´ so I´ll be getting it just before Christmas. Also, my comp has a harmonica and it´s sweet and i think I´m gonna buy one of those too. I´m gonna come home super talented. Get excited.
I do not get to play soccer. Mission rule. Too many elders were getting hurt so President took it away before I got here. I´ve seen some soccer on the bar TV´s when we walk by though. They´re pretty dang good.
They have this little bug zapper things here that are awesome! They look like tennis rackets but they´re electric. You turn it on and just pass it over the bugs and they get obliterated. It´s SUPER satisfying. Thought you´d like to know.
So missionary time. Read your scriptures every day. Pray morning and night with REAL intent. Not baby prayers. Establish a relationship with God. Keep all the commandments and ALWAYS do what´s right NO MATTER WHAT. I promise that if you do this your eyes and ears will be opened and you will learn and understand truths that you had never thought of before. Read John 8. It´s super good. Verse 32 (I think) is baller. The truth will make you free. Think about it. Don´t sin. Read Jesus the Christ chapter 8, 9, or 10. It´s on page 112 about how Christ progressed. D&C 93 is helpful and the JST to the end of Luke chapter 2. Get to it.
Love you all. Missions rock. I´m just about as happy as I´ve ever been. Stop watching TV and wasting time. Go buy a harmonica and get better than me.
Talk to you next week,
Elder Hodson
Letter 2:
Family!!!
What up? Good to hear Thanksgiving was good. I´m starving. We don´t get lunch on P-Day. I ate like all my food today too. I make some good eggs and toast though. And sometimes I butter this little cream crackers that they have here and toast those too. It´s actually super good.
This week was rough numbers wise. Lot´s of appointments fell through. But as far as learning and self-inprovement goes it was solid as always. Elder Costa, who was just released as a President of the 70 had a zone conference with us this week. It was ridiculously good. He taught us a bunch about the Atonement - it was amazing. That´s 5 General Authourities we´ve had here this month. We´ve learned a lot. I got a letter from Corbrett this week that said something I really liked. He said he has a great love for the General Authorities because they´ve made obedience their goal. I really want to do that too. They´re just solid, solid men of God.
Oh so cool story, today we found a house that sells 20 mangos for $1. We bought 50. There are so many ways to eat this things. You can make juice or eat them like an apple (the skin isn´t super good but it´s not terrible, I like it more than most people do), you can cut it in a grid and eat only the good stuff, or squish it all up until it´s like a waterballoon and suck out the inards. We´ve been eating like all day. I love mangos.
We had our first legit bible bash this week. My comp said he´s always liked to do it but since he´s been with me he´s tried top calm down. But she was really asking for it. We stopped by to contact a reference from some other missionaries. THe mom wassn´t there so we told her daughter that we would come back another day. As we were talking to her the neighbor blasted some evangelical music super loud (I honestly think their pastors tell them to do it when talking to the Mormons because it takes away the Spirit SO fast.) Anyway, she leaned out her window and started to talk to us. It was so obvious that she was trying to nicely show us that we were wrong. So we nicely showed her that we´re right, with a little conviction, power and authority. It was kinda fun. But the more I talk to people the more I know that Church is true. It is perfect. All the others were founded by men but the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was established by God and Jesus Christ themselves through a modern-day prophet. I just want to tell everyone! IT´s so said though to see people not accept the truth when it´s right there in front of them. And like I said this week was rough numbers wise.
But, some good news - I bought a coconut this week. You just buy the whole thing and drink the juice right out. It´s pretty good but not as good as you´d think.
Oh yeah, I forgot... I got an ingrown toenail this week. We went to the hospital to get it removed. Ha i wans´t too worried because I saw ny comp at the MTC get one taken out but I guess I forgot that I´m in Brazil. They layed me down on a bench in the hospital with one of those totally officialy, medical, dentist-looking lights directed at my foot. They gave me one of those sticks to bite down on and then started tearing the infected toenail out of my toe. It hurt like heck but the good news is I´ll be alright and I won´t loose my toe. That night we had some important appointments to go to so we still had to walk a bunch. It didn´t hurt to bad though.
K totally kidding about the bite bar. They number me up so I didn´t fell a thing. But my comp was watching during the operation and I was just laying there with my eyes closed cause I didn´t want to watch. About half way through I looked up to talk to him and he was gone. That didn´t reassure me. Then I just closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pressure in my foot. My comp said that it was pretty bad. The first thing he did was just shove the scissors into my foot and take out the infected part. But I have some med´s now and I´m cleaning it with alcohol every night. I just have to wear flip flops for a while which is probably the worst part.
But life is good. I´m working and finding the balance on beinf perfect and having fun. I know we´re meant to be happy here but is it more important to be obedient? Won´t obedience eventually bring the greatest happiness thoiugh it may not be immediate? Alma 27:17-18 is Ammon´s happiness after successful, self-less service. That´s the joy I want. D&C 59 talks about fasting being pure joy. I´ve been trying to figure it out. Let me know what you think on the balance between obedience, fun, and true, pure joy.
Anyway, love you all. Thank you for being awesome. Josh, McKayla and Alex thank you for writing. i miss you too. And Ben and Samantha... But you guys rock. See you soon.
Love
Elder Hodson
Letter 3:
Family!!!
What up?! Christmas is nearing but with the attitude here you wouldn´t really know it. Ha I was talking with one of our investigators and said that Christmas is my favorite time of the year because everyone is super happy and giving, you know Christmas spirit stuff. She just looked at me like I was an idiot and said that not everyone´s happy. Apparently Christmas here is different and everyone just drinks. I´m a little bit sad about that but I guess it´ll be ok going two years without Christmas.
Anyway, this week was great. We were on fire. We taught a lot this past week. Ha on Saturday we saw these ladies carrying a super heavy bag, it took like 3 of them to carry it, and offered to help them out. We ended up carrying it like 2 miles for them and walked right past the church so it was super easy to talk about the gospel and everything, and we were wearing our name tags which makes it easy to talk about the gospel too...
But we´ve had some good experiences this week. You know how you´re faith in something slowly builds up over time like a tree, talks about it in Alma 32- you know what I´m talking about. Well, my testimony of fasting is getting to be a pretty solid tree. Things just seem to go right when you fast and you can just feel the Spirit flow through you a lot easier. It´s sweet. And someone gave us a pizza while we were fasting so that was cool too.
But, we had a super cool baptism this week, not that they´re not all cool cuz they are but, this one was cool. The guy is 62 years old and he used to be a homeless drunk. He´s living with his sister now who´s a member of the church. We had a family night over there last week and got to know him. He´s a super cool dude. Anyway, we passed by everyday and taught him everything and he was baptized yesterday. But, I could see the change in him over the week. The hope that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brought him. He´s a super quiet guy but he´s got the light of hope in him now. He´s so humble and sincere, ah I love him! But the baptism was cool.He´s the last member of that family to get baptized so everyone was super happy. His brother baptized him and everyone was crying and the Spirit was so strong. It made me think about how important families are, how lucky I am to have such a good family, how I want to be a better brother and son, and one day a great father. I love the fact that families can live together forever. I think it is one of the most beautiful parts of Heavenly Father´s plan. Just think about it,ponder it.It´s amazing. Eternal Life is going to rock.
So I found out something interesting.People think we can brainwash them.It makes so much sense to me now. Sometimes we´ll have awesome first lessons and then they´ll ask us never to come back again. I was so confused. But I guess people tell them just not to listen to us at all. They tell them that the Spirit they felt is us brainwashing them. It´s ridiculous. I was wondering why we weren´t baptizing like everyone we talked to. But, just so you guys know, I do not know how to brainwash people. Sorry. Only how to open up the windows of revelation so that the God they profess to believe in can talk to them for like the first time in their lives through the Spirit. They don´t understand what it is though. Ah, the enemy is so smart. We just gotta work harder and trust in God to beat him. He wins a lot of battles though. It´s super sad.
Anyway, the mission is going great. I love it out here. I´m learning so much, doing my best to develop attributes linked with men of God- both to prepare personally for the future and the responsibilities I´ll have and to be a more effective tool in building up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and meeting and sharing my testimony with so many people.I´ve got a lot of friends here in Brazil.And even though a lot of them are lazy and full of sin, I love them so much.The people here are different from back home but, they are children of God and I love them all. It´s something I realized just the other day but it´s made a big difference for me.
Anyway, be obedient. Keep the commandments.When we make obedience our goal, when obedience comes from a desire to please God and do what is right, when it´s our journey, we are made free from the weight of sin.It no longer has power over us.We are free to learn and develop like nothing else. Just trust in God and always do what is right. Remember that through Jesus Christ, and only through Him, all things are possible.
I love you all so much. Thank you for supporting me and not forgetting me :)
See ya soon,
Elder Hodson
P.S. Scripture of the week 2 Nephi 2:8-9
What up?! Christmas is nearing but with the attitude here you wouldn´t really know it. Ha I was talking with one of our investigators and said that Christmas is my favorite time of the year because everyone is super happy and giving, you know Christmas spirit stuff. She just looked at me like I was an idiot and said that not everyone´s happy. Apparently Christmas here is different and everyone just drinks. I´m a little bit sad about that but I guess it´ll be ok going two years without Christmas.
Anyway, this week was great. We were on fire. We taught a lot this past week. Ha on Saturday we saw these ladies carrying a super heavy bag, it took like 3 of them to carry it, and offered to help them out. We ended up carrying it like 2 miles for them and walked right past the church so it was super easy to talk about the gospel and everything, and we were wearing our name tags which makes it easy to talk about the gospel too...
But we´ve had some good experiences this week. You know how you´re faith in something slowly builds up over time like a tree, talks about it in Alma 32- you know what I´m talking about. Well, my testimony of fasting is getting to be a pretty solid tree. Things just seem to go right when you fast and you can just feel the Spirit flow through you a lot easier. It´s sweet. And someone gave us a pizza while we were fasting so that was cool too.
But, we had a super cool baptism this week, not that they´re not all cool cuz they are but, this one was cool. The guy is 62 years old and he used to be a homeless drunk. He´s living with his sister now who´s a member of the church. We had a family night over there last week and got to know him. He´s a super cool dude. Anyway, we passed by everyday and taught him everything and he was baptized yesterday. But, I could see the change in him over the week. The hope that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brought him. He´s a super quiet guy but he´s got the light of hope in him now. He´s so humble and sincere, ah I love him! But the baptism was cool.He´s the last member of that family to get baptized so everyone was super happy. His brother baptized him and everyone was crying and the Spirit was so strong. It made me think about how important families are, how lucky I am to have such a good family, how I want to be a better brother and son, and one day a great father. I love the fact that families can live together forever. I think it is one of the most beautiful parts of Heavenly Father´s plan. Just think about it,ponder it.It´s amazing. Eternal Life is going to rock.
So I found out something interesting.People think we can brainwash them.It makes so much sense to me now. Sometimes we´ll have awesome first lessons and then they´ll ask us never to come back again. I was so confused. But I guess people tell them just not to listen to us at all. They tell them that the Spirit they felt is us brainwashing them. It´s ridiculous. I was wondering why we weren´t baptizing like everyone we talked to. But, just so you guys know, I do not know how to brainwash people. Sorry. Only how to open up the windows of revelation so that the God they profess to believe in can talk to them for like the first time in their lives through the Spirit. They don´t understand what it is though. Ah, the enemy is so smart. We just gotta work harder and trust in God to beat him. He wins a lot of battles though. It´s super sad.
Anyway, the mission is going great. I love it out here. I´m learning so much, doing my best to develop attributes linked with men of God- both to prepare personally for the future and the responsibilities I´ll have and to be a more effective tool in building up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and meeting and sharing my testimony with so many people.I´ve got a lot of friends here in Brazil.And even though a lot of them are lazy and full of sin, I love them so much.The people here are different from back home but, they are children of God and I love them all. It´s something I realized just the other day but it´s made a big difference for me.
Anyway, be obedient. Keep the commandments.When we make obedience our goal, when obedience comes from a desire to please God and do what is right, when it´s our journey, we are made free from the weight of sin.It no longer has power over us.We are free to learn and develop like nothing else. Just trust in God and always do what is right. Remember that through Jesus Christ, and only through Him, all things are possible.
I love you all so much. Thank you for supporting me and not forgetting me :)
See ya soon,
Elder Hodson
P.S. Scripture of the week 2 Nephi 2:8-9
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Meeting Elder Bednar
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
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
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