Posted a week late:
Family and Friends.
Well, I dont even know where to start. This has probably...... well definitely been the absolute craziest week of my life! But I and all of the other missionaries are safe and sound.
New York got hit. Hard. The four points most affected by Sandy were Lower Manhattan, Staten Island, Coney Island, and Far Rockaway. So the Sunday before last we received news that Sandy was headed our way. We were told unexpectedly that starting Sunday in the afternoon we would go into a complete lockdown. So by Sunday night all of us were in the pad. We didnt come out till wednesday. Thats right. We were on lockdown for threeeeeee daaaaaaaaays. It was a long three days. The good news is that our part of brooklyn was completely unaffected by the storm (besides some pretty harsh wind). So no damage was done to any of us or the members here.
On Wednesday we recieved a call from the AP's that we were going to start doing service. So by Wednesday noonish we were out to an area called Broad Channel. I could not believe the destruction. Luckily (most) houses were still standing. There was (key word being "was") a Yacht Club in this town. But there were boats in the most random places. Some were parked out on the street, other boats were leaning on houses. I overheard a pretty funny but sad conversation from the locals. It went like this: "Hey Jimmy, Bob finally found his boat. It was in John's yard four blocks down". As more and more of us with the yellow mormon helping hands shirts stared piling into this town, people started questioning who we were. Every single person in this community had a house in shambles. As we started just getting to work by knocking on doors and offering assistance people began to be absolutely astounded by what we were doing. Our main efforts were concentrated on getting all the junk affected by the flood out of the house so that sanitation could come and remove it. At a time like this these people felt absolutely helpless. Then we were able to come in and do something for them that they had no way of doing for themselves. We went into this one lady's house to help her out and she just burst into tears. She expressed such deep gratitude for what we were doing and it turns out that she was a writer and wanted to make sure people knew what we were doing. On Thursday we were able to return to Broad Channel. By this time EVERYONE knew who we were. Being such a tight community, word got around that the mormons were here to help. One person said "in this moment of need, everyone has failed us but the Mormons." Every single person we helped out said that they would be honored to have us back sometime when the circumstance wasnt so bad. These people's hearts are turning!!! President Calderwood told the mission that we are planting fields and fields of seeds right now. And I know it.
Friday we were assigned to work in Staten Island. And the part we worked on got the brunt of the hurricane. People's basements were completely flooded, first stories were destroyed, and in most circumstances, the water level went up at least four feet into the second story. Everything here was destroyed. I could tell by the people who lived there that it must have been a nice neighborhood, but it looked like a third world country. This is probably my favorite experience yet. The first man we went over and helped out had water still completely surrounding him in the street. Us missionaries had to wade through knee deep water to reach his house and help out. He had no idea where we came from and was in disbelief that we were here to help him. his yard was completely trashed and had been out all morning trying to throw everything in a junk pile. He hadnt even made a dent into the work. But then twenty of us missionaries came over and helped out. We came to find that he had been a very lonely man that wishes he had more company in his life. Just us being there made him so happy. I got to talk to him for a while. His name was Dan Boyd. He had grown up in Brooklyn but moved to Staten because he thought he'd like the peacefulness. We helped him out and were able to clear out his entire yard in under an hour. He was so joyous that he just gave me a great big hug! He said he had never seen this type of service in his life and that what we did had convinced him that he wanted to start coming to our church. This is just a miracle. And this isnt even rare. These people are beginning to realize who we are and that there is definitely something special about us.
I dont know if you heard but there is currently a drought of gas in New York. The Oil companies havent been able to get gas to the coast because of all thats been going on. So friday night we found out we were stranded in Staten Island. SOOOOOOOO it was a giant slumber party of elders at the Staten church. That was pretty cool. I got to sleep on the floor of the primary room. Just like old times haha. But the church was able to get gas from members going all the way to Philadelphia to fill up tanks. So we did some more service in Staten on Saturday. While working on people's houses, I got into a conversation with this one fellow. He was so grateful for all that we did. He expressed that he didn't even know that people willing to give such extreme service like us even existed. And it turns out that he is the Student Body President for Wagner University. He said he was so impressed with what we were doing that he wanted the missionaries stationed in Staten Island to come to his school and give a presentation about what we are doing. HUUUUGE windows of opportunity are opening up for us here in this mission. I am incessantly amazed at how much this service is affecting these people. Finally Saturday night we were able to get back to Bushwick. Sunday was good. A nice sacrament service. Most of the other missionaries went to the english branch to be able to head out sooner but I stayed back to be able to tend to the spanish branch.
And that puts us at now. All is well. We are all suuuuper tired. But we are so thrilled because President calling all missionaries to provide service this entire week. So our week is lookin pretty good right now.
Now to other stuff.
I am soooooooo excited for Rachel!! She is going to do great! It was a surprise, but not at the same time, that she is going to Thailand. And I am so happy for Adam! Give him a congratz for me.
So last friday I hit my year mark. Oh man that was weird. I absolutely cannot believe that I am more than halfway done. I really try to avoid talking about time here on the mission but I am starting to realize that two years is not that long. I gotta work harder!! haha.
Ernesto, that one guy I fearlessed on the street, has come to church three weeks in a row! He is a stud. Even tho he's not in my area I am still so excited for him. He has been committed to baptism for next sunday but because of the hurricane itll probably be pushed back.
So being a district leader, I had the opportunity to interview someone for baptism. His name is Victor and he is from Buenas Aires, Argentina. It was such a special experience. I cannot wait to be able to interview more people. I could tell that he was truly converted and I felt such a powerful confirmation from the Lord that he was ready to be baptized. He was able to receive baptism right before we all had to go into lockdown before the storm. It was fantastic!!
Things that I need... Well I dont need anything haha. But there are some things that I want. 1. Hot chocolate. 2. New jeans. My old ones aren't in the best shape after all this service. 3. Christmas music. Tons and tons of christmas music. Its the Holiday season!!!!! (hilly if you could please send me a mix with modern christmas music while still being spiritual that'd be fantastic. please include relient k haha)
Whew. That was a long email.
All is well. This mission rocks. I'll include pics. I have nice socks.
(sorry thats all i could think of that rhymed with rocks)
Love you all!!!
Love, Elder Hogge
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