Family and Friends

Family and Friends,

First off, I just want to let you know how stoked I am because of the broadcast last night!!! It was music to my ears as the apostles taught us of our responsibilites as members and missionaries. That was one of the highlights of my week.

Sounds like everything is going just fine back home. I would gladly trade your 100 degree weather for my 90 degree weather. It is just unbelievable how muggy it feels out here. I am dreading the day when it hits 100 degrees and 100% humidity here. But alas, I will continue to put my shoulder to the wheel and my feet to the pavement.

Seems like after all the hooplah before and during the wedding, things have quieted down a ton. Its lookin to be a peaceful summer back home.

Today Elder Heaps and I are being taken to lunch by Elder and Sister Bottomfield. Elder Heaps wisely joked about how young Sister Bottomfield looked and Elder Bottomfield shouted in exclamation "Well that deserves some five guys!!" (five guys is a burger place out here. I hadn't ever seen it back home) So we are reaping the rewards of Elder Heaps tactful comment this afternoon. After lunch, we will head back to the pad so that Elder Heaps can finish packing. It'll be a pretty chill day.

Pedro came to church yesterday. He is really enduring right now. Because of his family situation, he has to find a new apartment so he has had to dedicate a lot of time to that. Our hopes are that as he finds a new apartment and settles down, we will be able to more actively involve him in the gospel. Our ward has been fantastic with staying up to date with him. We have a couple solid members that have been contacting him every couple days. He is very much a part of the ward now even though he isnt a member yet.

Last wednesday we had the opportunity of meeting with a family that hasn't been active in a long time. Its a mom and dad with two daughters, 10 and 13. Their name is the Parra Family. Missionaries have knocked on their door hundreds of times but they have just never answered in the past. We were able to meet them on the street a couple weeks ago and once again we have gotten into their home. The father really has a desire to come back to church. He set his own personal goal to return to the temple by next May to be able to do sessions once again. The mothers isn't as motivated or excited as him but I have faith that we can really see a change of heart in the entire family. We now have a set appointment to meet with them every thursday so hopefully we can involve the ward and help reactivate them together.

Tomorrow is transfer meetings. I'm going on my fourteenth transfer. I will most likely be the oldest missionary in my zone. It all just feels too weird. If anything, it gives me even more desire to persevere and push to the end. I will most likely be training a new zone leader. I'm sure it will be a blast. At the transfer meeting I'm going to be playing on guitar and singing a musical number with a sister in my district. We are doing "Oh My Father" in spanish to the tune of "Come thou Fount." I am really excited.

Well family and friends, I love you all. Families really will be together forever through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thats basically the best news EVER!! If we aren't sharing that with others we are pretty selfish. Thats why I love this work. It makes me happy! Hope to hear from you soon!!

Love, Elder Hogge

Technology

Dearest family and friends,

 

Sounds like a bunch of fun stuff is going on back home. I was excited to get those pictures from mom on father's day. Looks like you all are having a blast back home! I cannot believe how big the new generation of cousins is getting! When I left they could hardly speak or walk and now it looks like the have their own social club haha.

 

Mom thats really cool to hear about your lesson. Technology sure is a great blessing, when used the right way. there is a companionship of sisters in our zone that covers the Queens YSA branch. They have their own facebook and use it to share cool stuff with others. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, but word on the street is that our mission will be getting iPads in the next few months. The way it was explained to us, the iPads will be used to store all the info we create for our investigators, it will have all the pamphlets in digital form, and it will provide us with really cool videos to show people we teach. Technological advancement is very exciting when used in the Lord's favor.

 

I got an email from Brittany about her mission call. That is super exciting! Knowing what kind of person she is, I'm certain that she will be a fantastic missionary.

 

Sounds like you all heard about the special broadcast too. Elder Koelliker mentioned it when he was here so it has kind of been the talk of the mission for a while. I am pumped to hear what he will speak about. It can only be good for the Work.

 

I'm glad to hear Neal is doing well. I have been praying and fasting that he will be able to keep going strong. The mission is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. It was never meant to be easy. But looking back I can see how much I have been changed and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

As for the field, everything is well here. It has been kind of slow though. It has been really hard to meet with Pedro. He's had a lot of work on his hands and he is going through some pretty serious family problems. But the ward is well aware of him and they are all ready to help out. Woodside has been just spectacular as a unit. They've shown the most support I have seen here in New York. I feel so blessed to be working side by side with them. Our newly called ward mission leader is awesome and fired up about the work. They are making plans for how to more effectively fulfill their role as the finders in the work. I am excited to see the results.

 

This is the last week of the transfer. Elder Heaps heads home next week. It has been really cool to work with him. I hope his transition back to normal life in Cedar City goes well.

 

I love you all. The more I hear from back home, the more happy I become. But that doesn't detract from the effort I put into the work here. The thing that motivates me most is hearing about how my family and friends back home are involved in serving the lord through serving others. It is fantastic! Have a great week!

 

Love, Elder Hogge

Woodside Ward

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Sounds like everything is settling down back home. I'm glad all the receptions went well and that everything went nice and smooth. There isn't really too much to report this week. This following week is full of some pretty cool stuff though.

 

Pedro came to church yesterday. He showed up with a nice white shirt and tie. It'd be impossible to tell that he wasn't a member without prior knowledge. He is fitting in very well to the woodside ward. Members are really getting attatched to him and we have had multiple members share desires to come teach him with us. In fact, I believe there are going to be home teachers assigned to him within the next week. The ward is on fire right now. It is amazing to see how they are helping us out as opposed to even a transfer.

 

Everything is going in our favor. Just yesterday, a new ward mission leader was called. The previous WML was a fantastic and humble member of 5 years and he worked so hard for us. It will be sad not to be able to work as closely with him. The new ward mission leader just called is an RM of about three years. He was AP for ten months. He knows preach my gospel like the back of his hand and is already making preparations to find more people for us to teach. He is going to work wonders for Woodside. He suggested quite a few people as ward missionaries and we should be seeing them get called in the next couple weeks We missionaries are so excited!

 

Today we have our zone activity. We will be making burgers and playing minute to win it games. I'm pretty excited. Elder Heaps and I have been planning this with the district leaders for a few weeks. I think it will be really fun.

 

Well, sorry its short but I hope it was sweet :) I hope you all have a fantastic week!

 

Love, Elder Hogge

 

p.s. Mom i got the otter pops. I have one for a treat each night while planning :)

 

p.p.s Grandma buck I got your dear elder package. thank you so much!!

Pedro

Hey Family and Friends,

 

I am doing really well. Things are really moving here in Woodside. I'm excited to let you all know what has been happening.

 

Sounds like the Chino Hills reception went smooth as a baby's bum. Its awesome to know that Hilly and Sean are well taken care of by both families. Grandma Buck sent me a really nifty photo of us siblings with Hilary and Sean. With some nice photoshopping it looks like I was actually there haha. The photo also reminded me of how short us Hogges really are. Sean looks like a giant compared to all of us!!! I think he raised the average height of the clan a few inches all on his own. But I most certainly welcome him into our family.

 

As for this week in the mission field, we have had a pretty sweet chain of events happen. It all started on Tuesday. I was on exchanges with a new missionary named Elder Coca. As we were heading back to the church, a random man on the street fearlessed us. We walked over to him and he told us his name was Pedro. He expressed his desire to come to church with us on Sunday. That doesn't necessarily happen every day in this mission haha. So we agreed to give him a tour of the church on saturday so that he would be more aquainted with the facilities. I then left him with a Restoration pamphlet and we parted ways. That saturday, we took a really cool member, Jonny, and gave Pedro a tour of the Woodside chapel. Pedro thought it was amazing! He told us that in Peru over twenty years ago he had visited the church a couple times and remembered the good feelings he had. That was why he talked to us on the street. He knew we were missionaries and that we were willing to help him.

 After the tour, we sat down with him for a few minutes and got to know him a bit better. He explained to us that the reason why he fearlessed us was because he recongnized distant his relationship with God had become and desired to fill the emptiness inside of him. He told us that he was going through tough times in his family and decided that if he was going to see any changes with them, it had to start with him first. Pretty solid, eh? Jonny fellowshipped him super well (they are both from Peru), and invited Pedro to sit with him at church.

 

Sunday came, and Pedro walked into church fifteen minutes before the services started. Jonny showed him where to go and what scriptures to turn to for the next three hours. We met with Pedro again after church with Jonny and another member. We taught Pedro the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he accepted a baptismal date for the 23rd of June. Thats Elder Heaps' last sunday in the mission. We have another appointment with Pedro in him home tomorrow, though I will be on exchanges in a different area. Pedro has been so solid through this last week. We are really excited for him and hope to see real growth within him.

 

Obviously I am really excited about Pedro haha. The rest of our district is doing really well. There are three of us companionships in Woodside. All of us are developing strong relationships with the members and we should have 10 new ward missionaries before too long. I am sooooo pumped for what is going on here. I'm really becoming a better missionary through all of this and I have seen great changes in the people I have been around.

 

This upcoming week should be great. I'm grateful for all of your love and support. I hope all goes well. Talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Elder Hogge