Re: Oregon!

Hello Family and Friends,

Mom (and others), I am so glad that you were able to go to Grandma West's funeral. Sounds like it was a lovely service. Being in a neighborhood such as New York, I often miss the small town feel.

This week was a great, snowy, root canal free week.

Tuesday I made a rendezvous with Dr. Lerman for part Dos of the root canal extravaganza. It was definitely less harsh that part 1.0. Dr. Lerman was quick and effective. I think the worst part for me was not being able to have an active conversation with him haha. But all went well and I am without cavity and without pain.

Thursday night we heard about a two storms colliding in the New York area. Though all the missionaries clearly remembered the last big storm that came our way, we were assured that it would not be as bad. Though we were indeed grateful for the opportunity to serve others during the aftermath of Sandy, we were glad to see that Nemo wasn't nearly as bad. We were very safe, and though the snow did pile up we did not see any harsh effects. The next day we had some opportunities to help out people in the snow. One of the more interesting things that happened was on our way to church. As we were walking to the services, we noticed some hasidic jews having a bit of trouble. One was in the car giving it all the power he could, and the other was hopelessly pushing it. As we saw these two men getting nowhere fast, we offered some help. Naturally, they politely declined. So naturally, we just helped anyways haha. we got behind that car with the more unfortunate jew and we began giving it some good heaves. After a couple minutes of slipping and struggling, we finally got that darn car out onto the street. They were both very grateful for our service.

We met with Evelyn, Ileana and Kenneth on Saturday evening. Just as a reminder, Evelyn (30ish) and Ileana (16) are sisters and Kenneth (10) is Evelyn's son. Evelyn and Ileana were baptized when they were 8 but went less active because their mom had a bad experience at church. We are really trying to help them see how the gospel truly changes each and every one of us. So we showed them a few mormon messages. Those were super cool. We showed the one with Elder Brown talking about the Currant bush. That one always gets me. And we also showed the one when the drunk driver killed almost all of the man's family yet he still forgave. That was very powerful to them. I think it really helped them understand why God allows things to happen in our lives and how we can really benefit from the trials that He gives us. Evelyn has school on Sundays for now, but Ileana and Kenneth came to church on their own! They are progressing bit by bit, and we hope to see Kenneth make the decision to get baptized soon.

It was a nice week. I feel like I am growing bit by bit, grace by grace. I can still very clearly see my imperfections, but I know that through the Atonement I am growing. I love the Gospel and I love all of you!!!

Love, Elder Hogge