First Transfer: Complete

Hello All!

How are all of you doing? I hope life is going well! As of today, I am
officially on my second transfer as a missionary. I will be staying
with Elder Lewis here in Bushwick because he is training me right now.
But there will be change going on all over the mission. Six weeks from
now I will probably have a new companion. This week went really well.

Mom, I am super super suuuuper jealous that you and pops are in
mendocino right now!! But I guess I'll forgive you guys ;) I hope dad
gets in a lot of good writing for his research. And I'm sure Jack Jack
will very much appreciate the quilt that you are working on for him.
P-day was great!! We didn't end up having time for the watchtower, but
we got to walk out on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was such a cool
experience!! We had an amazing view of Manhattan and I saw the Statue
of Liberty out in the distance. Then we enjoyed some good ol' Brooklyn
Style Pizza. I remember Sarah talking about some pizza place in
Brooklyn I hafta go to. What was it called again?
If you really wanna know what its like to be in my stomping ground,
theres actually a part in the movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" that
was filmed in my area. Remember the part when the kid is getting
chased by the wolves? Well he is up on a train platform. You can see
that it says Marcy Avenue in the movie. Well yup, I use that train
station at least three or four times a week. And if you go downt the
stairs from that station its literally a thirty second walk to the
church building that our branch meets in. Cool huh?
I'm glad willie got my letter. I hope to hear from all my siblings asap haha :)
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to the mission office last week.
From where I'm at, its about a 45 minute travel time with three
different trains. Hopefully I'll find some time to get out there this
week. But I'm very excited to get that package from ya mom:)
I was so excited to get mari's letters!! I'm so glad that she still
remembers and loves me :) And hearing how cute trudy is really makes
me happy. I'm gonna start callin her Smiles from now on haha. Im glad
Alice is always quick to cheer people up haha. And jack jack, I cant
wait to wrestle around with that little guy when I get back. He's
growing up to be such a stud.

As far as food goes, I absolutely LOVE Dominican food. Fried plantains
are for sure my favorite food right now. They're called tostones in
spanish. I will definitely show all of you how to make it when I get
back. Basically all the hispanics here eat are beans, rice, plantains,
and chicken. But thats because its all Dominicans and Puerto Ricans
haha. Absolutely nothing like taco bell haha.

Our investigators are doing ok. Angel is kinda struggling to figure
out his priorities. We hope to go over there today to help him figure
everything out. We made an amazing amout of progress with Zaida this
week. And its all because we brought a member to the lessons. They
built a very strong friendship. And now Fior (the member) is really
helping her figure out her concerns and doubts. We hope to be able to
set a baptismal date with her soon.

This week we got about eight of us missionaries together and did a
street sweep. It went really well. I'm happy to say that I can
somewhat have a conversation with people in spanish now. Though I wish
I could still understand better. An odd thing happened during the
street sweep. A gentleman came up to Elder Lee (from Korea and
learning English) and just started mormon bashing him. Poor Elder Lee
didnt really understand all that was going on so I got in there and
started talkin to the guy. He just went off on how we are condemning
all these souls because we are feeding them the wrong spiritual
medicine. He asked me why I thought my religion could possibly be
true. I responded that I have actively studied it and prayed for an
answer. I told him that by faith I recieved a feeling of confirmation
in my heart that it was true. This gentleman told me that its not
about feeling, and that I was just flat out wrong. It was very odd to
hear someone reject my testimony like that. Poor guy had such a closed
heart that there was no opportunity for the Spirit to manifest the
truth to him. After throwing out all these "evidences" of the
falseness of the Book of Mormon, one of the other elders walked him
away just bearing his testimony. Just goes to show that even though
the Gospel is for everyone, not everyone will recieve it. But thats
just one of the facts of missionary work. People have their agency and
that will never change haha.

This week we really focused on working with members and involving them
in missionary work. Yesterday we ended up teaching the grandma of one
of the members in the branch. She is a very active Jdubb but was
agreeing with everything we talked about. We will be teaching her the
story of the Restoration this week so hopefully that goes well. In
missionary work, its ALL about the members. They make the absolute
best finders. I know that the more we get the members involved here in
bushwick, the more successful we will be.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Just as an fyi, the
library will be closed next monday so you'll probably end up getting
the letter later in the week. I hope all is well. I love you all!!

Love, Elder Hogge