Last From MTC

Well it seems that my time at the MTC is running short. This last week has
been difficult but not impossible. I will admit though that I could have
done better with my Spanish. I found my self slipping back into english as
those around me where not speaking spainish, an interesting phenomenon
really.

things are getting crazy for me at the moment with having to repack and
make sure i have every thing ready. It feels like that week before i left
all over again. One of the sayings we, those in my district, have is "La
lucha es real pero es el mejor".  Google translate it if you wish ;)

tomorrow i get to sit in classes prepping me for out in the field. You will
get a lot more stories once i get there i am sure.

And a note to Grandma and Grandpa Robinson,  YOU ARE AMAZING!!!  The cake
has been the best treat any of us have gotten and it sent my mind right
back to your basement where i usually enjoy it.


Love you guys,
Elder Hokanson

Beginning of the hardest week yet

Beginning of the hardest week yet

 

From:	Kennington Hokanson (kennington.hokanson@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Thu 9/05/13 2:07 PM

In explanation for the subject line, today is the first day of 1 week of only spainish AKA consecration week.  This is to prepare me for mexico in just a week and a half. It really is getting close and I can't believe how quick it has gone.  One of the sayings around the MTC is that the days are long but the weeks are short. I don't really remember much of the last week even though every day takes forever though it seems to be speeding up for the most part.  

I am beginning to get that antsy feeling of wanting to get to mexico but every day that I am here I am learning more and more about how to really teach, I can't wait to show you guys just how much i have learned and how I have changed so far.

Lets see,  highlight of the week (that I can remember at the moment) was the incident with our flag.  My companion had brought a mexico flag form home and we hung it up outside of our apartment. Someone had the bright idea of stealing it. we reported it to security and, as we were told by some of our friends, they alerted the branch presidencies. we had it back a couple of days later but we don't know who it was.     yep, it gets pretty exciting with all this studding going on.

Other news, I should get my flight plans today so I will let you know if I will get to call home while we wait for the flight.

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Chance in the MTC

August 2013
What an amazing group!

Thursday August 29th

Well so I have made it though the first half of my time at the MTC. It has been interesting to see how I have grown in just the last while. I am more able to understand not only Spanish but a lot about the gospel as well. I feel more tiered but at the same time have more energy than ever.

Thank you guys for the packages. The other Elders and I loved the cookies and we have not had a chance to dig into the stuff yet (I got it this morning). It is always awesome to feel your love.

Spending my P day last week in Vegas was not all that fun as it turned out. We got up at 3 only to sit at the front runner station until the 5:15 train. Then once in Vegas, the only food we got for about 6 hours was Del taco. The consulate its self was fine and I have my Visa so on the 16th i will be shipped strait out.  The 4 hour lecture on the old testament was actually interesting (I think i am one the few that stayed awake). Then to top it off, you know that lightning storm, it was in full force as we were landing.   So it wasn't all bad, but it wasn't how i would have liked to spend my P day.

One important thing that I learned was that once i get to Mexico, it will be very difficult and expensive to got me packages. And mail will also be hard since it is pouch mail. So this will be the best form of communication once i am gone.

I am sending some pics of me and my district since i know you want to see who i am hanging out with

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Wednesday, August 21st

Hey guys, 

Thank you for the letter, I didn't get it until after i had already written so i sent it too who i could remember. That was really not much unfortunately.

 

It has been a really interesting experience so far.  i can't believe it has been 2 weeks already. When i first got here i found out that i would be at the west campus, which is in the apartments by Brigham's landing.  we have a bit more freedom here and are able to be outside quite a bit.  

 

Spanish is going well so far. It has been sort of a baptism by fire with it. most of the lessons are in Spanish and we are told to SYL, speak your language, as much as possible outside and inside of class.  They have done their best to make the MTC as similar to the field as possible. my companion, Elder Johnston, and i have been doing our best to keep up and work hard.

 

P day is on Thursday but i get to wright you today since I get to go to Vegas at 3:30 AM tomorrow. i will be speaking to the Mexican consulate to get my visa approved so i can go to Mexico.  it is great that it is this soon but i don't like giving up my day off.

please send letters and emails. i really do love to get them

and i apologize for the pore english grammar, i was bad at it before and now with drilling spainish, it is worse

 

thanks for everything guys

 

Elder Hokanson

PS could you send me my dad's email, i dont have his

Letter sent to Alyssa because he forgot the rest of our email addresses.....

From: Kennington Hokanson <kennington.hokanson@myldsmail.net>
Date: Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 3:44 PM
Subject: Fwd: hey guys
To: iamsoninjedi@gmail.com

Well since I am so bright, I forgot to get something very important.  A list of emails and addresses. I can only remember a couple so this will have to do.

This first week has gone by really fast. it has been very intense but very rewarding. The language is going pretty well so far, there is a lot of learn as you go since lessons are mostly in Spanish but it is not too bad. We, Elder Johnston and I, have been teaching a progressing investigator the last few days. Last night we where able to commit him to be baptized and tonight will be our final lesson with him. Even though we know that he is our teacher (one of them at least) it still feels like a real investigator and we are learning a lot about how to teach in Spanish, since he doesn't speak English.

I have been at the west campus the entire time I have been here so far. We have a lot more freedom to walk around and it is a lot less crowded. The food here is really good. 

One thing that I have found interesting is how much time I actually have in a single day. I really only get maybe an hour of free time and even then that is usually cut short so i am constantly going. It is good and it is a lot of fun.

thanks for your love and support,

       Elder Hokanson

 

PS hey sis, i remembered your email shortly after sending this. I have a question for you though, why michal jackson????!!! i mean really! you could have at least found a good photo :P  but thanks though i wasn't expecting to find those things and I am still finding them.  make sure to look at the letter i sent and send me any questions. though i wont respond till next week  

love you sis

Off to the MTC!

Our great neighbor Kent Astle took some pictures of Chance in his Mission suit.  What an amazing grown up young man!

 Chance was getting nervous as we drove to the Missionary Training Center.  2 years seems like a long time, but everyone says it goes fast.  I believe them, the first 18 years sure did!!!

Getting ready to go in to the MTC!  I made him stop and get a few pictures.  NOT what he wanted to do at that moment...all packed and ready to get going inside.  Thank you for making me happy Chance:)  I love having these pictures of that day.

Important mail

Chance got a letter addressed to "Elder Kennington Chance Hokanson"  Not what we usually call him at home, but something he'll be getting used to.  The letter called him to the MEXICO TORREON MISSION.  He was so excited to open it.  We had family on 3 different computers with Skype and google plus.  So much cheering!  We were all proud and excited.

Hanging out with Aunt Kenzie...

We got some fun family pictures this spring.

New Puppies

Mishka had 3 puppies yesterday.  She was due on Christmas, and we all hoped she'd have them then, especially since she was born on the 4th of July- we wanted to continue the holiday birthday tradition.  But she went in to labor and stopped, then the same thing happened Dec 26th.  Finally we took her to the vet, and she had a torn uterus and had to have a c-section.  Good thing we went in, all 3 puppies are doing great.  No names yet, but the are all very wiggly and squeeky.  Mishka is a gret mom, she licks them and keeps them warm all day.

Shoshone Falls

Add caption

 We went on an impromptu trip to Idaho last week to have uncle Steve do some dental work on the kids.  Of course the trip included a stop at Dairy Queen in Burley (more business for uncle Steve). Abby couldn't keep her ice cream in the cone, but that didn't seem to bother her.

We heard that the Shoshone Falls (in Twin Falls) had a lot of water this year, so we drove out to see.  It was amazing.  Probably the widest waterfall I've seen.  I love the rushing water mixed with fine mist in the air.  It makes you feel happy to see the beautiful streams and falls, but humbled at the size and power of that river.
We then went to visit Grandpa & Grandma in Idaho falls- with stops to see the lava rocks.  It was a great way to spend a couple days off.

Easter Surprise

For Easter this year the little girls woke up to the sound of chirps and some fuzzy new friends. They didn't know, but the chicks had been smuggled the night before, from their cousin's house in Harrisville, in a little box. We put the box under the front seat and turned the radio up so they wouldn't hear the chirping. It worked great, and the Easter Bunny was able to come through Sunday morning.

Pictures from Monterey

Here are some pictures we took last November before we moved. We were near Lover's Point in Monterey, and it was raining and misty. A little cold for the kids, but the pictures turned out amazing. Thank you to our wonderful friend Sam Baily, an excellent pro photographer, who took them for us. There were some huge waves coming in with a storm. Check out the water splashing up the rocks in some of the pics with Justin and Chance!

We Moved!..OK, 5 months ago

We Moved!..OK, 5 months ago. I have been a blog slacker, but we moved to Orem, UT & it's a kind of crazy story. The kids & I really wanted to finish out the school year in CA- they loved their new school & I loved the weather & our ward. Justin had a couple job possibilities but it was a year contract, & then we'd be in the same boat: middle of the school year with no job. Then his unit in Ut said they could give him a position in Draper that hadn't even existed before, and could turn in to a permanent thing. We decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

We thought we had a house to rent in Lehi (10 min from Draper), so over Thanksgiving we packed up & moved. The Lehi owner called & said she was giving it to someone else, so we found another one in American fork. The owner there wasn't able to move because his paperwork didn't go through for his new home, so we took all our stuff to my parent's home while we worked on a house. The kids were just hanging out, not going to school, & Christmas was in 3 weeks. Then the Lehi owner called back and said the renters didn't work out & wanted us to please rent her house. We thought it was the answer to our prayers, but the day we were supposed to move in, she said someone offered to buy her house and she was selling. We decided to just look at houses to buy, but after all day in UT county, nothing worked out. One house we wanted even got an offer while we were looking at it.

Discouraged and lost, Justin, Emma & I went to Arby's in American fork (food always helps), and said a prayer right in the restaurant. We needed somewhere to live. After eating we decided to check a newspaper. We saw an ad for a house to rent for less than he others, but it was in Orem. Justin said: "we have to see it, it has TWO fireplaces." I said " I don't want to go to Orem, it's too far south." We decided we weren't going to rent it, but we were already nearby so why not quell Justin's pyro curiosities. Well, the manager just happened to be nearby, and could show it to us right away so we drove down. It took about 5 seconds after walking in to know that we were home. We signed the contract @ 5:00, drove back to Ogden for our U-haul, and were back by 9:00 to move in. There were neighbors and young men waiting for us when we got there to unload our truck, tell us how to find the schools, and offer whatever we needed. It was a very happy ending.

The very next day as I was registering the kids for school, I got a phone call from the owner of the American fork home saying his paperwork finally went through and we could move in, and a call from a Charter school in American fork I had been trying to get the girls in to for weeks saying they has space for all 3. I also got a call from Hill Air Force Base saying they had a house for us, when they had said the week before there wouldn't be anything for 2 months. We had either jumped the gun, or found where we are supposed to be right now- (we are sticking with the latter since we can't change it anyway).

It has turned out to be a great house, great location, and great schools. The Elementary is literally in our backyard, and several of the teachers are in our ward. Alyssa loves her Junior High, and Chance's High School has classes correlated with UVU that will help him get a LabTech certification, and a jump on the classes he needs for pharmacy school. It is a very quiet street, but close to everything (I can walk to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Old Navy). We have a garage for the first time (still filled with boxes...) and our front window has an amazing view of Mount Timpanogos. For some reason, we have been very blessed, & we hope to give something back to this new area.