Friday, November 25, 2011

thanksgivings, apostles, and a new baby!!

Why Hello there my family and friends :)

This week has been AWESOME!! First off, I just wanna say sorry because the letters I sent last week probably never actually arrived at their destinations. I included pictures last week, and silly me forgot that pictures weigh more, and more weight requires more postage. So, hopefully the postal service will return them to me and I can get them back out before too long.

Trudy Kimberly Clift :) I already love that little girl. And that is quite a FANTASTIC name if I do say so myself. Family, I neeeeeeed pictures of this little darling! I'm not sure how much longer I can go without seeing her! I am so glad that Sarah and Trudy are doing well. If I were back home, I would buy Sarah a nice big Winco muffin :)

That was some scary news about Jackie. From what I was told, she is doing better now right?

Thank you momma and grand momma for the thanksgiving packages!! I feel so loved :) I kinda have the reputation in my district as the one that gets mail all the time. Which I am totally ok with because of how much love and support I have back home. What a wonderful feeling to know that my entire family and friends are supporting me. Makes the mission an easier experience for sure.

So I suppose ya'll wanna hear how my thanksgiving went. In a nutshell, it was absolutely fantastic!! Backtracking to tuesday, we had a devotional that night. Elder Christofferson spoke to us. What a wonderful man! He told of how he had seen the Lord's hand in his life. It was super cool. And yesterday was thanksgiving. I can suppose what you all did. Maybe some raking leaves, spending time with Trudy, having delicious turkey and probably awesome pie. I hope it was as wonderful as my day. Yesterday morning, we had a continental breakfast. Wasn't the best I've ever had but it was good. After, everyone went to the devotional. Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke on giving thanks and how much that concept appears in the scriptures. Really cool. Afterwards, we had our thanksgiving dinner for lunch. Now that was pretty good. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing... mmmmmm... Good stuff. After lunch we had the opportunity to walk up to the temple and walk around for a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Next, we had a special devotional on the service project we would do later that day. Not necessarily the highlight of my day but it was good to listen to. Next was a thanksgiving program. Ten elders sang this barbershopish version of Amazing Grace. Wow. Very impressive. Then one of the wives of the mission presidency put on an interactive thanksgiving skit. Then, a few people got up and told what they were thankful for and picked a hymn for everyone to sing. After that program was the service project. For about an hour everyone worked together to make these emergency kits for third world countries. That was a cool experience. Then afterwards, we all met in the big room and the Mission Presidency put on 17 Miracles for the entire MTC. My opinion on movies may be biased because I haven't seen one in about a month but that movie was so good!!! It was nice to be able to just sit back and relax for a couple hours. So thanksgiving was great :) I am sure I will always remember it.

Life keeps chugging along here at the MTC. I'm getting more comfortable with the language (Definitely understanding more than when I first started) and I love being able to teach the gospel. Teaching it has only strengthened my testimony. I have seen Elder Trent Lewis quite a few times already. He seems to be doing great! We always give each other a big hug when we meet. I am excited for next week because there will be quite a few people from the stake entering the MTC. I'm so excited for them!

Not that I wanna sound greedy or anything but if you are ever in doubt on what to send in packages or for Christmas, TIES! (especially of the paisley persuasion) And goodies of course :) Getting letters and packages are like manna from heaven. Well, I love you all and hope the best. Till next time.

Love,
Elder Hogge

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