The Words of Christ

Buenas Tardes! How is everyone? I hope this email finds you all well :) 

I´m doing well. In these past weeks I´ve gotten to know Nacaome and it´s people much better.  It´s been hot as usually but we´ve had a few days with clouds and spurts of rain. It´s not what people need, but it´s better than nothing. 

     This has been a week of testing and a few trials, but I know that tests become testimonies and trials can be triumphs. We´ve seen obstacles but also many blessings. 

      We´ve been teaching a father of one of the members, who is an elderly man with a love of the Bible. He´s a good person, but thinks that we´re completely lost. In one small visit that we had with him, he invited us to look up a scripture - I did, out of curiosity and respect for the man. It was a scripture from the new testiment, a warning about following the traditions and words of men. Ouch, hermano, I thought. But it left me feeling a little confused - this is a  very spiritual man. I wondered why, if he has often felt the Spirit  in his life - could feel our message is not true. I felt troubled, but decided to turn to the scriptures. I felt prompted to read in Doctrine and Covenants, and I opened to section 18. I read the chapter and felt inspired by these words:

 33 And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it.

 34 These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man;

 35 For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one toanother; and save it were by my power you could not have them;

 36 Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words

I not only read these words but felt that the Spirit confirmed that they are true. I know that all those who seek can find answers, and that we can read in the scriptures the words of Christ - In the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the words of living prophets are truly the words of Christ. I know because I´ve read and prayed and asked. 

       It´s such a beautiful experience to help others do the same. Kelva is progressing a lot. She told us that, even though she had so much studying to do, reading a little from the Book of Mormon before she studied helped her to have a clear mind. She´s praying, but not out of obligation to us.  There´s also an investigator we are teaching that is the mother of a member. Her name is Ilaria, and due to their ditance from church it´s hard to attend. We always have invited her, but she hadn´t showed up. But, her daughter´s example and I´m sure spiritual help from Heavenly Father helped her to take that step. When Hermana Aguiñada and I drew near to the church, my companion said to me - I think that´s Hermana Ilaria. I doubted at first - but to our pleasant surprise, she had come! Not only that but another sister in the ward imediately reached out to her. I was very grateful for that. 

         I got to give a talk in church yesterday - I gave it on charity, and based a lot of my talk from a talk from General Conference - Truly Good and Without Guile. It´s a very good talk and helped me to understand that position and status aren´t as important in the sight of God as being truly good and without guile. The best acts of service are often the ones that only God sees. I know that it´s true. I know we all have the potential to develop the atribute of charity, it we seek it. 

        This week are transfers, but we don´t know if my companion will go (she has almost 3 months here ) or if we´ll both stay. As I´ve only got a month and a half here It´s pretty sure I´m staying, but you never know. I´m also looking forward to this saturday because we´ll be having a special conference. All the missionaries from the Honduras Tegucigalpa mission and the Comayaguela mission will be together (over 400 of us). I´m amazed they found a place big enough! But I´m excited and will be able to tell you more next week. 

        I love you all! Remember to keep doing the little things that are important, spending time with each other, and learning from the words of Christ. I love this gospel. I know that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored. It is on the earth and Christ is at it´s head. I hope you all have an awesome week!!

Hermana Hogge

One Week in Nacaome, Too Many Blessings to Count!

Here in Nacaome it´s been another hot week full of wonderful blessings. I think my faith and diligence is tiried sometimes - like life is asking me how much I really want to go out and work. But Heavenly Father has given us more strength than I thought possible and has helped us achieve more than we could on our own. This gospel really changes hearts, which is why I am always motivated not to give up. It´s true that we are here to help people be baptized, but it´s also true that many times we are here to sew and others are here to harvest. I just received news, for example, that an investigator from my first area was baptized recently. She´s actually the little sister of Rocio, the first person I saw baptized 8 months ago. When we tried to teach her - she was frank with us that, right then she just wasn´t ready and didn´t really seem interested. But, just look at where she is now. 

       We keep working with the people here and finding new people to teach. Gabriela wasn´t home when we passed by, but we´ll keep trying. We had a lesson with Daniel and his mother - who surprised us by intently listening to what we had to say. As I´ve discovered, there really are miracles in this gospel. They often aren´t miracles that the eye can see, but they really do exist. Little by little, I believe her heart will soften. Kelva is awesome. She reminds me a lot of Rocio in a way because she´s very inteligent and absorbs everything, does the reading assignments we give her. Right now she can´t come to church because of her studies but she´ll be in vacations in a few weeks so - cross your fingers and say your prayers :) 

        And  - best story of the week. We found a family! It´s hard to express just how happy that makes me. The Lopez family we found just by opening our mouths one evening with Hermana Lopez - she was sitting outside the gate with her little girl, we started talking. Then her husband and son showed up. And they´re about to have a 3rd  child really soon. They invited us to come back the next day, but when we showed up they weren´t home. We wrote a note and as we left we felt we need to talk to a woman on the street, so we did. As she was telling us how catholic she was, the Lopez family showed up!   We knew that Heavenly Father wanted us to share a mesage with them that day.  They´re both really mellow, kind people. I admire Hna Lopez for even being willing to listen to us - she´s about ready to pop. (makes me think of my own sister´s belly growying :) The sister of Hno Lopez is actually a member. He´s had his doubts about the chruch in the past, but thanks to his sister´s good example he opened up to us. And we´re very grateful to be able to work with them. 

         So, other things. Last night it rained. I heard about your storm in Kaysville, which was a lot worse than our shower here. Though it rained pretty hard for about 20 minutes, it didn´t take down any trees.  

        One day we were street contacting and we began talking to an elderly man  - well we were trying to explain what we believe and I started talking about the apostacy, how the church was lost  - he cut in and started telling me he wasn´t lost.  My companion suddenly developed a cough. We couldn´t stop laughing for about 10 minutes.

         We have a little pet gecko in our apartment. It runs and hides whenever we walk in. We should give it a name. I´m rambling because I don´t know what else to say. My companion and I were feeling a little under the weather yesterday (in more than one sense of the phrase) but today we´re doing a lot better today.  So - that´s been my week. I hope you all have a good one! I love you all so much!!! 

This is me learning how to make tortillas. I hope to perfect it before I get back so we can eat honduran food :)

This is home right now. Thought you all would enjoy!

HERMANA HOGGE

Zone Conferences & Answered Prayers

Good afternoon - Buenas Tardes a todos. How are all of you? I hope this email finds you all well. And this email also hopes to leave it better than it found you. Because - you´re awesome. 

          This week, we saw some challenges and answers to prayers - and not just our own prayers but the prayers of others. And that, in this work, is even more important. On Tuesday we had a Zone Conference which was really great. We often do practices in conferences and meetings to help us learn how to teach better - this time we did something a little different. To practice balance in our teaching  with a companion, we taught blindfolded. That really helps you learn how to listen. Listening is always really important. We recieved counsel from President and Hermana Bowler, and President also has a new couneslor, Elder Espinal, who shared his testimony with us as well. We were also able to watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. The message of the restoration is a lesson that I´ve taught many times, and for many it seems hard to understand. It`s the most critizeds lesson we teach. But it´s also something I find joy in teaching, and the joy grows when you can see the investigator understanding it too. 

            We found one of these investigators this last week. We had contacted a young mother in the street, who told us we could come back, but when we did she wasn´t home, but her sister was. Kelva is 16 years old and is really absorbing the message we are teaching. She´s very inteligent, and also speaks a little English, which is fun for me because we get to practice. We hope she continues progressing - so far she´s read everything we´ve given her. 

            On Thursday we were leaving a lesson - which hadn´t gone as well as we´d hoped but we still tried to do our part. We had actually found this little family - well actually they had found us. A mother with her two sons approached us and asked if we speak english. When I said yes I do she asked if we could help her son with his homework. Daniel is a 14 year old and he really does understand when you explain the grammer, the books they have here to teach english just aren´t very helpful. So I helped him with his homework, and later we returned to see if we could teach them the gospel. The mother is very religious and not convinced about the message we have - but surprisingly Daniel went to church all by himself. So, we´ll keep doing what we can. 

             Anyway, we were leaving that lesson with them, and a man stopped us and said he was looking for a church to attend. For a second I was in shock because - people just don´t do that. There might have been angels singing in the background. (Hi, we´re missionaries, will you be baptized?) We told him a little about who we were, where and when we had our meetings. We invited him to an activity that night. And he came - we surprised us again, and made us very happy. He works in the police so Sundays are a little hard for him, but it wasn´t an accident we found him. He said he had this empty feeling inside him - but when he came to the activity, he was able to feel peace. We the hermanas misionaries also were in charge of the game, which turned out well. 

                 With Gabriella, we keep moving forward. Maria and her cousin Claudia are still working on their personal progress, they need all the support and help they can get and we´re doing our best. 

                It´s very hot here. I´m just grateful we gave a little air conditioning in the apartment, or I think I would melt. But I keep getting to know the people and the area and learnign to love it. I know that as we use patience and persistence, wisdom and love, we will be able to see little miracles along the way. We can feel the peace that the Savior can give us even if we can´t see how things will resolve.  a new family moved  into the branch and we went to help them move things in. They joined the church 4 years ago and have powerful testimonies of missionary work and this gospel. We love them already. 

            We get around walking, in buses to farther parts of our area, and it moto taxi (like in Santa Lucia) when we´re running a little late. But they´re kind of fun. Um, what else. I don´t know. i´ll end things here with my love and prayers that you will all have a great week and keep the gospel close in your life. Thank you all for your examples and support!!

                    Hermana Hogge  

Honduran Chef Hermana Hogge

Hola! How are my beautiful family and all friends and loved ones?

It sounds  like there have been several adventures lately, and I hope that we can hold on to all the good memories. 

A lot of times I sit down at the computer and wonder - what on earth even happened this last week?!  

      Well, this last week, we have sitll been working with Maria and her cousin Claudia. Claudia isn´t quite ready for baptism yet, but I know that the Young Women´s program is good for her, and she´s learning a lot.

         It´s been good to work with the members this week. It´s a much better way to find and build up the ward. Through we´re still overcoming hurtles, we have a few activities planned and hope to go out with members more often this week. The young men and women of this branch I admire a lot for their willingness to help us. I wish I had been more like them. We visited a recent convert yesterday, a 16 year old young women named Michelle - we were talking about how sometimes it´s not very easy to endure to the end, but as we remembered the reason why we are members (and as I remembered why I am a missioary) you could see a little more hope return to her. She gave us four references - she´s already a missionary herself! The members often confide in us - it´s humbling even when returned missionaries ask for counsel. That kind of counsel always has to come by the spirit. 

           We´ve been talkign to so many people this week because we seriosly need more people to teach - it´s not an easy thing, but we have found some people. One is an elderly man named Bertilio. He´s been a little sick, but the good thing is he lives right next the church. He basically told us his whole live´s story - sometimes when they get going my ability to speack spanish seems to diminish a little. But, the language is much easier than it used to be. 

           We also had divisions this week - where we have an interchange with the sister training leaders - one comes to our area and one of us goes to their area. So, I got to go to la obrera with Hna Garcia - I haven´t been there in about 8 months. (which reminds me how much time has flied). We found a garrobo (big lizard) outside the apartment in the morning. Those thing are fast! They way they run is so funny. 

           One woman in the ward I really admire is the president of Relief Society. Hermana Toñita. She´s a very Christlike person - very forgiving and full of service. She is a firm believer that charity never faileth. She´s a convert of four years, and her brother is now investigating the church. (he doesn´t live in our area, but we´re excited for them both). On Saturday we helped her make food for a Releif Society activity, making cheese fingers. I heard they were in high demand. I also attemted to make tortillas this week - they turned out alright. I hope to improve my honduran cooking skills before I get back. 

What a beautiful day we had at the temple!! I wish we could go there more often, but I was grateful for the oportunity. The feeling of peace is the same no matter which temple you attend, no less in Tegucigalpa. I love it! 

It was a beautiful night that we had with hermanita Maria (obvioulsy she´s the one in white) and, again, sorry I couldn´t get pictures to you earlier. But, here we are - Tada! Me, Claudia (Maria´s cousin, that we´re also teaching) Maria, and Hermana Aguiñada. They both are progressing a lot, and we´re very happy for them.  ---- Yo, Claudia, Maria, y Hermana Aguiñada, en el bautismo de Maria - estuvo muy bonito. Ellas estan progresando mucho. Les amamos, tenga una feliz semana! ----- 

           I love you all very much and hope and pray that you are all safe and have a wonderful week. Remember that the love of our Savior is always there for you, whenever you need it. It just blows my mind sometimes how much He loves us. But I am absolutely certain he does. He really does. I love you all, and hope you have an awesome day!

       Hermana Hogge

Remembering Covenants

This week was full of blessings. I´m still getting used to Nacaome. Still getting a little lost, but I´m learning.  The city is nice and usually busy. There are things to get used to in every area - the people, the apartment. in Santa Lucia it was how to turn on the shower and in Nacaome it´s how to open the door. (I say that you need magic, and my magic skills are slowly developing. It´s an achievement if you can open the door in less than a minute.) The apartment is all pink on the outside and bright green inside, so it´s perfect for an hermana. I´ve had to also learn about the pot that spills everything - but Hermana Aguiñada is very patient with me. And in the aparmtent there{s a great map of our area - and we have put some zombie stickers that come in cookie packages for where we live and on the houses of our favorite members :) My companion and I have things in common, we like to cook and eat healthy, and we both like to work. We stopped to help a woman pull the weeds out in front of her house- she protested saying we would get our hands dirty. I thought "my parents didn´t raise me to turn away from pulling weeds, or turn away from serving". So, we helped her pull out weeds. 

      This week had two very special surprise blessings: A Temple Trip on Tuesday and the baptism of Maria on Saturday. I say the baptism was a surprise because we were tingking for the 25th but during a lesson we suddenly felt that she was ready and there was no reason to wait. The temple was absolutely beautiful. and even though we had to leave in the early morning and travel on an old school bus, it was all the more fun because we were all together. I was able to better remember the covenants I made for the first time in the temple and receive peace and inspiration I needed - a peace that lasts when we do what we can to be obedient. 

       The baptism was actually a double baptism because the elders in the branch also had a young man that they baptised as well. It´s good to see the support that these young men and young women give to each other. Maria is shy but through her actions I can see her love for the hope that this gospel offers. I know that the hermanas were lead to her and we´re here to help her continue on the path.  It was satisfying to see the Personal Progress that Maria and her cousin Claudia had in their hands on the way home from church. This gospel is so miraculous. I´ve heard a little progress from people in my first area, and that makes me really happy. What we just need to keep doing is keeping the covenants that we have made, and love God with all we are and love our neighboor as ourself.  Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of the universe and Father of our spirits has only asked this of us. Doing the little things is so important.  

       Remember how loved you all are! 

       sorry I don´t have a lot of time, the power went out when I was almost done with the first draft, and now we have to go. Pictures to come! Thank you for all your patience! I love you all so so much and know that so many blessings have and will come. If we don´t see evidence of blessings at first, or evidence of the testimony that we are pretty sure we have - remember that believing is a very brave thing. Jesus Christ said that those who have not seen and beleive are blessed. That is true faith. Always doubt doubts before you doubt faith. Never doubt that Heavenly Father wants what is best for you. Be safe. Be strong. I´m rambling now, but I love you all and HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Hermana Hogge

Onto Nacaome!

Buenas Tardes familia y amigos. I hope everyone is well. 

        Well, it was time for me to leave Santa Lucia. I loved it, and a big part of me didn´t want to leave, but the Lord knows what´s best for every missionary and the people we will be meeting. I hope that many of our investigators in Santa Lucia progress and I will let you know if I hear news of them. That was one thing that I enjoyed after leaving my first area,hearing news of baptisms, temple trips, etc. I am so grateful for the time I have had in each area, and I know I will love Nacaome just as much. 

          Nacaome is the name of my new area. It reminds me a LOT of Choluteca. I´m here, in the South, getting used to the heat again. The first few days were nice because I brought the rain with me from Santa Lucia. But now, well we´re getting pretty swetty. But I like it here. My companion is Hermana Aguiñada. She´s also from El Salvador, from San Salvador.  I´m finishing her training, she only has two months in the mission. She´s very sweet, mellow, and loving. We work well together, which is important. She reminds me a bit, even more because I, like her, had two trainers and had to show my second trainer Hermana Arango around the whole area, and there was still a lot I didn´t know. So we´re doing the same here.  Nacaome is pretty big, we share the branch with a companionship of elders. 

              The elders had a baptism on Saturday, and we went to support them. The problem was, as the hour of the baptism grew closer, the power went out in most of the city. We went ahead with the baptism, trusting in the lights of candles, flashlights, and cellphones. We were a little nervous, but we went ahead and as we started singing the first hymn, the lights came on!  So, Heavenly Father blessed us there. It was a really great baptism because it was one young man, about 16 or 17, who was being baptized by his friend of about the same age. It was a great opportunity for him to use the priesthood he had been given. 

              We are also preparing for a baptism which we hope will happen either this week or the next.  She´s a 14 year old girl named Maria. I´ll be happy to get to know her better this week, I was only able to meet her once.  There´s also a couple that are members and are reactivating in the church, and they´re great, we had lunch with them on Sunday. I´ll hopefully be able to send pictures next time, right now the computers are a bit slow (sorry). 

               Well, besides the changes, which are always a bit challenging but I´m more adapted to them now, not much is new. Here, like I said is similar to my first area, but busier. There´s a street in the center which is like a market - selling jewelry, fruit, vegetables, tortillas, clothes - you name it. There´s a bus station too so it´s a little loud, but we´ve still managed to do some contacting.  There´s lots of dogs everywhere, as usual. But they´re used to the people and don´t do anything. It´s often the dogs that have owners, not the strays, that are meaner, I´ve learned. Especially if they don´t know you. I actually got bit by a dog in Santa Lucia and don´t want to repeat the experience, because it kind of hurt. So, I´m being careful, but here there doesn´t seem to be as many problems. 

                 We got together with the zone today to play soccer and watch How to Train you Dragon. It was good to relax a bit. In my zone is my former companion Hermana Araujo, which is fun.  And there are a bunch of poeple I still don´t know and will be getting to know over the next weeks. 

               I just want to say that I love you all and hope that we all can recognize how blessed we are to have the gospel. I hope we can all remember that no one is perfect and everyone needs a friend, that the church is like a hospital and a school, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way - we must follow Him if we are to become like Him. If we make the effort to keep our covenants we will be able to achieve that. I like to read the sacrament prayers (D and C 20:77) to remind me of those covenants, as well as Mosiah 18. As we keep our covenants, we are putting on the armor of God. We might make mistakes, but the adversary will not have power over us. Of that I truly testify.  I love you and hope you have an amazing week!

              Hermana Hogge

I'll go where He wants me to go

Dear family and friends,

This week was a good one. We worked with members, had a nice family home evening with a good family that invited two of their nephews - we hope to keep on working with them in the future, they´re 14 and 17. The 17-year-old is a twin, and we have yet to meet the other twin, but we´ll keep working with them. They´re still new. Working with members is much nicer, and I know every member is important in missionary work. It´s important to consider how each one of us fits in, whether we take time to explain a princple to someone who doens´t know the church, invite someone to an activity, or  help someone stay in the church by sharing our testimony - it´s all important.

       On Wednesday we visited the hermana that I told you about last week - that was baptized when she was little but basically never was an active member, that we shared the restauration with last week. Well, this week we were able to share a little with her husband. He belongs to another church, but has a good spirit about him. We hope to give them a Book of Mormon and share more - we´ll see how things go. 

       On Thursday we went with an hermana to a part of our area that´s farther away to visit an hermana who is a little less active, but really I admire her a lot for the distance that she walks to come to church, even more because she comes with three small children. 

       On Friday to Saturday we had divisions with the sister training leaders, the hermanas Garcias. Because they´re both named Garcia. It was great and we learned a lot, we´re getting better at opening the mouth, trying to teach everyone we can. We also had a lesson with the familia Doblado on Friday during the divisions, and we shared the restauration with one of the daughters of Hermano Eugenio and Hermana Mirta, Mary. She paid attention and the spirit was there, she´s reading the pamphlets that we gave her. She hasn´t come to church yet but I feel she will be baptized one day, especially because her little 6 year old girl loves the church and primary very much. Other members of the family are faithfully attending church as well and although they aren´t ready for baptism right now, we hope they soon will be. Hermano Eugenio and Hermana Mirta were called as ward missionaries on Sunday, and they both shared their testimonies. I love this family so much and I´m so happy for them!

        I was, of course, saddened by the news of President Packer. I was with Hermana Garcia when we received the news. We paused for a moment and were comforted by knowing that he has passed to the other side because he has completed his mission here on earth. 

        I know that the Plan of Salvation is real. I don´t remember the preexistence, and I can´t see into the spirit world, but I can feel the Spirit testifying it´s true. I also want to give a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Annette and Bryan and the whole family, and I´m so excited - becuase I guessed right :) hehe. Anyway, I love you all and I´m happy for you all. 

 Oh, and Happy Fourth of July. Though that doesn´t mean a lot here. And Happy birthday grandma Hogge! I love you! 

           Well, not a lot more to tell about this week. We have some activities planned in the ward and we´ve been finding new people, so I hope I stay in Santa Lucia, but whatever the Lord´s will is fine with me. I´ll go where he wants me to go.    

            I´m also glad that my family shares a lot of love for one another, and always says their family prayers ;) I´m grateful that I´m physically doing well, and that we´ve been blessed to find and know the people we´ve come to know here. 

         I love you all so much and I pray for you! Have an awesome week!

         Hermana Hogge