Hey all!
You were right mom, all the libraries were closed yesterday so I had no where to email! Luckily, I get the opportunity today. I'm guessing that since I didnt get a long email from you, i will be receiving a letter or somethin. I probably wont be getting any mail in time to reply the following pday because the mission office sometimes takes a while to forward any emails. So I'm perfectly fine with you just emailing everything as well :) Ok so something big I've discovered in the field. The rules about music were the OLD rules that were changed like a month before I entered the MTC. So now, the rule is any good, uplifting music that invites the spirit. This includes classical, guitar, efy, josh groban, all that stuff. I would absolutely LOVE it if you could send quite a bit of music. Especially some really good instrumental guitar. And efy. Haha anyways, wow this week has been crazy. The past tuesday was not a fun day at all. I had a migraine from lunch till I went to sleep at night, all our appointments cancelled, and it felt like it was only ten degrees outside. It was a tough, tough day. But then the next day, we had an exchange. I went over to the Bushwick South pool (area of work) and worked with Elder Henstrom. That was a great day. It seemed like the Lord was rewarding me for toughing out the previous day. On the exchange with Elder Henstrom, we taught this fellow named Norlan. Doesnt speak any English at all. (Here in New York, there are a ton of Hispanics that speak english, but prefer to go to the spanish branch. So we have taught quite a few lessons in english). The lesson with Norlan went really well and Elder Henstrom committed him to be baptized and set a date. Such a cool experience to see. So wednesday was great. Another really cool thing that we did this past week was a street sweep. That was a really fun experience. All 8 of us english and spanish elders for Bushwick area met up at the corner of Moore st. and Graham ave. and set up a table and displayed all these different church materials. We had different DVDs, the pamphlets, copies of the book of mormon, and pass along cards out. In the middle of the table we also had a sign up sheet. So what we did is just wait on that corner and talk to everyone that passed by. The thing about New York is that everyone is in a rush to get somewhere so alot of people just flat out ignore us. But we would just talk to everyone and tell them that we have all this free stuff about Jesus. That got the attention about a lot of them. So we would talk to them for a bit and bring em over to the table and have them sign up to have some missionaries come over and give them the materials. I was pretty afraid to just go out there and start talkin to people, but its like jumping into a cold pool. You just gotta do it and go from there. So I just started talking to people. Like I said before, a lot of them just ignored me but there were some cool people that wanted to learn more. I was able to talk to some people that only spoke spanish. I actually kind of had conversations!!! So that was pretty sweet. That experience helped me be a little more fearless in talking to people. I love going to church every week. Its like a safe house from the outside world for three hours of the week. Such a relief. Even though its all in spanish, I'm picking up a lot of whats goin on and I can really feel the spirit. The members really like us members. Been eatin pretty well here. Rice and beans aint so bad. Last night we went to the house of a recent convert family and had tacos. Real hispanic tacos are awesome. So dont worry about how im eating. All is well haha. I think this week we have 5 dinner appointments so im pretty excited about that. Yesterday was the birthday of my companion, Elder Lewis. And it was pday so that was awesome. It was soooooo much fun. After doin all the morning stuff, we went over to the pad of some other missionaries in the zone and I made a cake. It was actually super delicious and everyone else was impressed with my awesome baking skills. Then all of the missionaries there played risk, uno, and phase ten. After working hard the entire week, its nice to have those pdays. I would absolutely LOVE to hear from all of you sometime. Dont hesitate to shoot off an email to me. We have quite a bit of time to write each week (usually) so I can usually reply. I wanna know how all of you are doin! Hilary I'm callin you out right now cuz you promised a letter a while ago!! ;p But seriously, letters and emails are the absolute BEST on a mission. Its about time for me to get going now. Thank you all for your support and love! Hope to hear from you soon!!
Love, Elder Hogge
p.s. sorry about my horrible sentence structure. i've reached a point of apathy about certain grammar and punctuation. I'm sure sarah would have a blast editing my letters :D
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