Bienvenido a Honduras!!!

Jessica made it safely to Honduras!! She is currently in a city called Choluteca, Honduras, which she will tell you about in her email. 
We received an email from her Mission President upon her arrival. This is what it contained: 

Hello from Tegucigalpa! 
 
We want to let you know that Hna Hogge has arrived safely in Honduras. After spending a night with us in the mission home she is now in her new area with her trainer.
She is going to be a great missionary.
I have attached two pictures. You won´t be surprised to know that she spent hours helping in the kitchen her first night here. 
 
Sincerely,
President and Hna Bowler

The Hogge Family had a good laugh over this. Although us siblings don't like admitting it, Jessica always did the dishes at our house without whining and complaining and she always did the most work. So no. We were definitely not surprised.

Hermana Hogge and President & Hermana Bowler

Jessica's new P-Day is MONDAY! So we received our first email from our Honduran. Here is what we received: 

Hello Everyone!

I think I just have time for one big email today. These past few days have been very long, but I have already seen many blessings from being a missionary. It`s so awesome. I love being a full-time missionary (and outside the CCM, as much as I loved it). 

As you know I have a new  companion. My trainer`s name is Hermana Molina. She is from San Pedro, Honduras. So, she knows the culture, the language, and she has been here for 17 months. I have already learned a lot from her. She is so great. 

Hermana Hogge & Hermana Molina

There have been some times with people that has been a bit scary - not dangerous, just that we meet a lot of people that belong to different churches and it's hard to know what to say. And they talk a lot. We met an evangelicist man the other day. That was interesting. Doesn't help that I don't know what they are saying either, but the language will come. I know it will. I am already learning how to speak more in our lessons. It's been a little ovrwhelming but also very rewarding. 

One of the biggest blessings has been a girl our age that lives on our street. She has been looking for a church! She has great goals in her life and one is to serve God. Many of the people here are very humble. Last night when we visited her, she was waiting for us with her Bible in her lap! We love that! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she gave us a little copy of the New Testament, it was so sweet. I hope she continues to progress and feel the Spirit and get to know the ward.

We need to know the ward a lot better, but many members that we have met are great. They tease me sometimes, but it's all good fun. And I'm always so grateful when they offer to feed us. We have a lot of work to do with retention here. My companion taught me that it's like a tree, and the members are the roots. The roots need to be strong and deep so the tree can endure hard things and grow. 

It's mostly hot and humid here. I just realized I didn`t tell you where I am yet! There are three main areas in the Tegucigalpa mission: the city - Tegucigalpa, the Orient - which is the mountains, and the South. The hottest place. 

Can you guess where I was called?

Yep. I am in the South, in Choluteca. Our area is Nueva Esparanza (New Hope).

Our dad calls Hermana Hogge "Jessy Bug", so I thought it was appropriate to use a little lady bug to point out her current location. :)

I really do like it here. Everyone says its good to start in the south because this is real Honduras. It's very poor, and it makes me sad. But we have been blessed with air conditioning and running water in our little casa. :) 

Jessy standing on the porch of her "little casa." 

I love you all so much, thank you for your updates. I`m still getting used to things here but I pray a lot and I know who I have on my side here.  And I know He is there for all of you, too!

Love, 

Hermana Hogge

She also sent one more picture of her CCM District because she still loves them.