Opposition in all Baptisms

Good Afternoon folks!!

I hope this email finds you all, and leaves you better than it found you. Just know that I love each and every one of you and hope that you can feel that love and remember the blessings that God has given us. There must be opposition in all things. And it´s healthy, in fact I believe eternally important, to learn to find out how to endure well opposition. And then come experiences that bring great joy.

Knowing there must be opposition, just know that the rule of missionary work is that there must be opposition in all baptisms. But, the ones that are meant to work out will, and often end up as good stories later. For Example -

       We had to change the baptism to friday and not saturday for the Women´s Conference. So, we had to also change the day of the interveiw before the baptism. But the baptism worked out fine - it was really very beautiful. We had great support from the branch. Maria, who was baptised 2 months ago, was also there, along with many other members. 

       Rachel was baptised first and then Xochil. We struggled to find clothes that fit Xochil, she´s ten and is tiny! But we ended up being grateful for safety pins. But then the unthinkable happened in Sunday - we realized that we were all confused about Rachel´s name. In Spanish cultures, everyone has two names and two last names. We confused her two first names - it´s really Ivana Rachel and we had put Rachel Ivana. But, as baptisms must be correct in all things, we had to run to her house, grab  the baptismal clothes, come back and do hers all over again! What a Sunday it was! 

       But everything worked out alright in the end. 

       So they are now members of the church - and all because we were lost trying to find another investigator´s house and stoped to ask directions. They let us in, and let us come back. They came to church. They read the Book of Mormon. They prayed. It´s simple, though many would make it more complicated. It isn´t always easy, but Heavenly Father helps us every step of the way. 

        Other things of the week - Hermana Dubon is still finishing filling out her mission papers(like i said she is a mini missionary) so we had to go to Choluteca. We even passed through my first area and it was all I could not to run to find the people I love there! But that all turned out alright as well. We had to wait sometimes but we filled the time learning English - me teaching, Hermana Dubon learning. I´ve found that teaching English to speakers of other languages is something I enjoy very much. One hospital we went to had a collection of dolls from different cultures and we gaped at them for a while, they were so pretty. That meant speanding some time away from Nacaome, but it was necessary. We also went to Wedny´s there and - surprise - ran into President Bowler (not literally, he´s fine)

            Yesterday I nearly broke my umbrella when a dog started barking at us. I don´t know what I was thinking, but it was the only thing that popped into my head because the umbrella was the only thing I had! But don´t worry, the umbrella and I are fine. No more dog bites. Hermana Dubon and I just laughed for a while about my reaction. 

            Today we spent some time with the zone. This week are changes, but it´s 99 percent sure that hermana Dubon was only going to be here for this change - so It´s pretty sure I´m staying and she will go to her house to keep getting ready. Maybe I´ll train again but who knows. 

         I really enjoyed the Women´s conference and I am super excited for this weekend. I hope you are all too. I love you and want you to always remember it. 

          Hermana Hogge