Aloha from el CCM

Hola mi familia! (y amigos of course)

First off, thank you ALLLLLL for the support. You all are da best! I hardly go a day without a letter, or dear elder, or package or whatnot. These gifts from all of you always bring a smile to my face and brighten my day (speaking of which it looks like a storm is a'brewin.) I will always do my best to send a letter to those who write me or dear elder or send a package. (if I get it before friday i will most definitely be able to write somethin on friday to send back. :) ) Life at the MTC is great! I'm learning a lot, feeling the Spirit like crazy, and know that I am doing the Lord's work. Nothing better than that.

Dad I hope you are feeling better. Colds are no fun and I have been lucky to stay away from any such illness since being here. Thanks for getting me that thing to sign and i sent it off yesterday. Tell Coleen and Neal that I miss them dearly and that I hope that all is well with their moving adventures. I'm glad our family has so much support in what we do :) Thanks for your dear elder mucho. I love recieving treasures of wisdom from my old man ;)

It was sweet getting a letter from willie!! I'll be writing him later today so he can expect somethin from me by next week. (there will also be pictures included for all y'all.) (also I'll include my p-day schedule in it so that you all can know what im up to)

I am sooooooo excited for baby rogue to enter this world. I expect a letter with pictures ASAP when the little darling finally gets here. I pray for Sarah to be in good health and I know that the Lord will watch over her. Please please please give Mari and Alice a great big hug for me. Those two cuties are in my thoughts all the time and I want them to know that even though I cant be with them, I still love them immensly.

Mom, you did an amazing job in preparing me for the mission. I didn't need any shots at all. Its been really cool hearing what you've learned from the Missionary Moms. Please tell them I'm grateful for the support that they provide for all the missionaries :) Also, I am ECSTATIC to recieve the package soon!!! Theres almost nothing better in a day than getting a little slip in the mail that says a package is waiting for you in the post office. Its gonna be fantastic :)

Life here is good, but hard. Waking up at 6:30 is really starting to take its toll. I'm having absolutely no problem falling asleep at night though so thats cool. The spanish is coming, slowly but surely. I might have already said this but my english is deteriorating quicker than my spanish is picking up. My communications are starting to get all weird haha. But I absolutely LOVE my teachers. Hermano Harker and Hermano Lucero. They are really helping me develop an understanding of the spanish language. Its weird here at the MTC. Almost all study time is devoted to preparing to teach our investigators. I didn't realize how much time I would spend doing this. My expectations for the MTC were different than what actually happens here. I thought that we would be focusing on our own knowledge of the Gospel. But its all about learing how let the Spirit manifest the truth of our words to others. Our purpose here is to invite others to come unto Christ through faith in His Atonement and his Ministry, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Spirit, and Enduring to the End. I think thats why one can never be fully prepared for the MTC. Because no one is perfect at knowing exactly how to bring others unto Christ. But thats where the Spirit kicks in. There's something about the experience of the Holy Ghost talking to one's own spirit that no earthly words can explain. I know that without the Spirit, I am nothing. I can teach all I want but if I'm not living a life that allows the Spirit to be my companion, then I will not be an effective missionary. It's not me that converts people, it's the spirit. Before the MTC I understood that concept, but now I live by that fact.

I love ALL of you and I am so glad that I have the support that I do. Yo se que nuestras familias son eternal. Yo se que a traves del Espiritu Santo, podemos ensenar con autoridad y amor. Yo se que con Jesucristo en nuestras vidas, podemos vivir feliz. Yo amo mis amigos y mi familia mucho. Ustedes son el mejor!! Mi espanol no es fantastico, pero con la ayuda del Espiritu Santo, puedo hacer muchas cosas.

amor,
Elder Hogge