Wedding!

Dearest Everybody,

 

Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you, memorial day coupled with a greenie exchange yesterday left me lacking sufficient resources to use a computer. But alas! Here I am :)

 

Sounds like this past week has been quite the week. I'm sad that I missed it, but I wouldn't rather be anywhere else than here. I got the package from mom last wednesday or thursday (i cant remember haha). My absolute favoritest thing in there was the tie!!! Though the reeses cookies did come in a close second. I made sure to wear that tie loud and proud all of saturday. I did a little celebration at twelve on saturday to commemorate the wedding. I just felt super happy and uplifted all day. It was fantastic! Sounds like all went well and that the reception went fantastic. If only all that left over food could be sent over here to new york ;) I am so excited to meet my newest brother in law! I guess I am kinda warming up to him haha.

 

I thought you'd all like to know that Elder Neal Hogge and I have started corresponding. He sure has a lot to say! I was expecting maybe a couple sentences but it was a fantastic email. He recounted his plane ride story. (I'll make sure to not eat panda in the airport before my flight) Its been great because I feel like I have been able to relate some of my mission experience over to him. I really hope all goes well.

 

This has been a good week. We went to ward counsel this sunday. That was the first time in about a year that I had been invited to ward counsel. Everything they spoke about related to missionary work. It was fantastic!!! We have an appointment this evening to meet with bishop Yanez. This will be the first time the missionaries have been able to get into his home for a very long time. I really feel like things are looking up in Woodside. We are really starting to see strong member support and I am so happy for how everything is turning out.

 

Unfortunately Sergio and Pedro have disappeared from the radar. We really dont know what has happened to them. Thats kind of how new york is. People just disappear out of nowhere. It can really be frustrating. But luckily we are still seeing good things happen. Just yesterday a random guy on the street fearlessed us and asked us if he could come to church with us on sunday. So I know that the Lord is still 100% involved in this work. Even though we think we know what we want to happen, its great to know that the Almighty still directs the work. I love a quote by president Calderwood. He says "if the lord really wanted to punish us, he would give us every single thing we asked for". This has been such a humbling experience for me. Things that have happened over the past few weeks have fortified my testimony and relationship with God tremendously.

 

I love you all a ton! I am so happy to hear that all is going fantastically well back home. I will talk to yall next week!

 

Love, Elder Hogge

Real Progress

Dear Everybody,

 

This week we have seen some real progression in our area.

 

I am super duper uber stoked for the wedding on saturday! Tho I shall not be there in physicality (i dont think thats a real word), I shall be there in heart and spirit. I'm sure by now Sean full well knows what he is getting himself into as he joins the Hogge clan... What a brave soul. I know this will be an experience that they will never forget. In other news, it sounds like mindy, jon, joey and jules are making a combined push to match sarah and aaron. I'll have gone from 3 nieces and nephews before I left, to 6 by the end of the year!! A lot changes in two years I suppose. 

 

This was a marvelous week for a couple reasons. One, we got a great visit from a general authority. And two, we had an unexpected call from a less active and his non member amigo.

 

Thursday through Saturday, Elder Paul E. Koelliker of the first quorum of the seventy made a visit to our mission. We have nine zones in our mission so friday, we (zone 4), zone 5 and zone 6 had a mega zone conference. Elder Koelliker had all the zone leaders come an hour early for a special leaders meeting. It was very cool and humbling having an intimate meeting focused on us from a Seventy. We had an open discussion about some of the things that would make us better leaders and push the mission forward. It was fantastic. Afterwards we had the general meeting with all the zones. We learned how powerful prayer can be for investigators. We were promised by elder Koelliker that if we made prayer a priorty and really taught them well the power of prayer, baptisms in this mission would double. that was pretty cool to hear. I took a lot of great insight from that meeting. After all the sessions were done that day, Elder Heaps needed to get his temple reccomend renewed with President Calderwood. It just so happens that when he and president went into the office, it was me and Elder Koelliker left outside to wait!!! I believe this was the first time I had ever had an opportunity to strike up a conversation with a General Authority so I jumped at the opportunity. After exchanging pleasantries with him, we started talking about my plans for when I go home. I mentioned that I wanted to work in the temple when I get back but I didn't know how to "enlist". He explained the process and then counselled me to start working in the sacramento temple as soon as I got home. I think it would be wise to heed to his advice haha. After about ten minutes of conversation,  the interview ended. We said our farewells and Elder Heaps and I went on our way. Though it was a simple ten minutes, it was a conversation I will never forget.

 

The second great experience was completely unexpected. And it was actually on the same day as the mega zone conference. That night we had a family night at the church with some of the members of the ward. At the end of the family night, I got received a call from a number from pennsylvania. Perplexed at the lack of people from pennsylvania I speak to, I answered the phone. A member starts speaking to me in spanish on the other end. He notes that he had just recently moved from pennsylvania with a friend and they had become lost in the city. As they had but the slightest clue as to where to go or what to do, this member noticed an English class poster that we had put up the day before. Recognizing the church logo, he jumped at the prospect of connecting with the missionaries. So we got this call and met up with Sergio (the member) and Pedro (the non member). The explained that circumstances had been tough and Pennsylvania left no more opportunities to stay. Many hispanics believe that coming to the United States offers a greater life with greater benefits, but sadly for some such is not the case. Unfortunately, they have had to live in a shelter until they can find somewhere to work to be able to pay for rent. But Sergio's long drought of inactivty had been cured by this humbling experience for him. He and Pedro came to church on Sunday and we were able to provide comfort through prayer and the book of mormon. Pedro at first seemed rough around the edges, but he is warming up to us. He sees how willing the church and God are to help him and I believe he will grab hold of the gospel. Everything is still developing and they are still trying to get on their feet, but the hope is that soon enough the church can help them out. It has been a whirlwind of an experience.

 

As seen, this week has included some interesting experiences. I have really enjoyed everything that is happening and this next week we have some great people to teach. Today for P-day I believe we will be playing games at the church. I am really excited for how this week will go. I wish all of you the best of luck back home and I am pumped to hear about the wedding next monday. Talk to you soon!!

 

Love, Elder Hogge

Day After Mother's Day

Dear family and friends,

 

Sorry but I think this is going to be a short letter haha. It was so so so sos os so so sos so sos os so sos os sos so soooooooooooooo cool to be able to talk to the fam. Man, its nice to know how strong everyone is in the gospel. And its cool because out here in the mission the gospel has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I love it so much! This week was good, pretty normal I suppose. I got another little cavity filled so that was cool. The dentist liked me so much that he is gonna give me professional teeth whitening for free! That was a nice surprise. Well, besides that, not a ton has happened. We continue our quest to work hard with the members. I think they are just starting to kindle the fire. We will see how that goes. But I am workin my heart out and I am really seeing the inward changes take place. Its so cool to experience. Well, I love you all and I'll talk to you next week. (and I promise my next email will be longer than ten sentences haha)

 

Love, Elder Hogge

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Hey Everyone!

 

This was a pretty good/unorthodox week in the mission field.

 

Believe it or not, there are plenty of mexicans here but absolutely none of them celebrate cinco de mayo. Turns out this day is actually to commemorate a battle that happened in one of the states of Mexico, Puebla. So most Mexicans dont even know that it is a celebrated holiday, let alone in the American culture. So sad to say, there was no cinco de mayo celebratin going on. But I was definitely quietly celebrating Hilly's 22nd (man she's old).

 

This week was an eventful week. I got to go alllllll the way out to Riverhead!! That was quite a surprise. I also got to drive a huge 15 seater van full of house supplies, this being my first time I had driven in 10 months. If one has ever tried driving a huge fifteen seater van through the middle of New York you'll know what kind of fear I was confronting haha. But after many a prayer we got through it. We were sent there on a mission to help set up a new pad out there. So that was fun. I got to see other missionaries and have a wicked fun shopping experience at Ikea (yep, I got lost). So that was pretty fun but took up basically all the day.

 

Another cool experience this week was Mission Leadership Counsel on friday. All the zone leaders had a meeting with President Calderwood. What he was teaching came directly from a meeting he had with Elder Christofferson. What a treat! Too bad i dont have my notes or I would expound. But that was really really good. There are some awesome changes going on in the mission soon (like working more effectively with the members) and I am excited to see the fruits.

 

Missionary work wise, it was a semi challenging week. We are having a minor drought of people to teach. That is why we are trying to work super super hard with the members. As mom definitely knows from her recent experiences, working through the members is the best way to bring others into the waters of baptism. So we will see how that goes this next week.

 

This is the last week of the transfer, but it sounds like Elder Heaps and I will be staying together for his last transfer in the mission. I am gonna work him into the ground (mwah hahahaha). Hopefully we can really get stuff to start picking up so that he can have some fantastic experiences before he leaves.

 

Well, I love you all tons. I'll talk to you next week!!

 

Love, Elder Hogge