February!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Welcome all to another edition of "The Elder Hogge Chronicles"

Happy Birthday Pops!! Hate to break it to ya, but you're more than half way to 100. Pretty sure that is defined as "old" ;p I'm already starting to feel a little old, even though I'm not even 1/5 of the way to the century mark. But what I've learned is that age really doesn't matter to our Father in Heaven. What does is obedience, diligence, faith and commitment. As long as we are doing all these things for Him, He will be pleased in us. And that's exactly how Dad has been. I know that us kids have been so blessed being strong in the faith because of Maw and Paw :)

Sounds like the quick wedding trip was a success! Congratulations to Michael!!! Such a sweet time of life.

Unfortunately, We weren't able to head to south brooklyn last week for p-day. The other missionaries had other stuff that they had to do. But for sure we are gonna go today. I really hope the J-dubs give a neat tour of the Watchtower, though with my name tag on they'll prolly be a tad biased haha. At least the Brooklyn Bridge wont be biased against us haha. But I'm really excited to be able to visit these places today.

Mom, it's just Elder lewis and me in our pad. Angel is doing well. He came to church yesterday!! So that was really cool to see. If we can meet with him a few more times this week and he's showing that he is commited, we'll most likely set a baptismal date with him. If you could keep him in your prayers that would be fantastic :) We have another investigator that we have been working with for basically the entire transfer. Her name is Zaida. She's in her late fifties and is from Ecuador. She has been showing great progress. Believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, and she knows that she needs to get baptized into the church. But every time we bring up a date with her, she refuses to set one. She tells us that there are some very personal things holding her from getting baptized. It has been like this for a couple weeks now. We fasted with her yesterday, have clearly explained the necesity of baptism with her, everything we can think of. But she just wont tell us whats holding her back. We really want the best for her but we just dont know how to help her. So if you all could keep her in your prayers as well that would be fantastic.

The finding here is tough. The only buildings that arent locked are the projects, and the only way we can get into any other building is if someone buzzes us in. Everyone is so busy walkin around Brooklyn that they hardly give any time to us. We are struggling to find people to teach. Any suggestions on what we could do to get more investigators?

Mom, thanks for sharing that outline of your lesson. It's definitely something important to be a man like Lehi tells us to. Thats how you gotta be living here in New York haha. And I'll try to get over to the mission office as soon as friday :) Thank you so much for the packages. They sure do brighten up the weeks here :)

I'm glad Hil was happy to get my letter. That package that she sent me was awesome! I absolutely loved the CD with her songs. And the one song from Lari's funeral is so beautiful. How is the family doing? I hope they're all doing well.

So funny story. Yesterday, Elder Lewis and I were on our way to our dinner appointment. We were taking the J train. I was talking to him and noticed something bright green out of the corner of my eye. I look over, and there is a life sized BRIGHT GREEN ARMY MAN toy frozen on the other side of the train. I could not belive my eyes!! And at the following stop, it just walked off the train. Definitely one of the coolest things I've seen here yet. And I am thoroughly convinced that I will see anything and everything in this mission haha.

Well, its about time for me to head off. Life is going well, I've conquered my fear of beans, and I gotta get goin and change my laundry. Love you all!!

Love, Elder Hogge