Week 14

Honestly I didn't think I would get to write a letter this week but I have the opportunity so I will.

The Christmas devotional with President Flores was a lot of fun. We watched Despicable Me 2 in Spanish, not quite the same but still really funny. Then we had a gift exchange and President Flores gave us all an interesting gift.... parasite pills. Not exactly what I was hoping to get this Christmas but good to have anyway.  Getting home was interesting trying to balance all of my packages, yes I got all of them, and my bag but I had a lot of fun opening them that night. 

We have one investigator who is just amazing. Her name is Violeta and she was a street contact from the week before I got here but I have been part of most of the lessons.  We texted her to make sure that she would be able to make it to Church this Sunday and in her response, was something along the lines of ''Yes and can I be baptised already?!''. It broke our hearts to tell her she needs to wait another couple of weeks since she has gained her testimony and is ready. But rules are rules.

Also found out this week that we are dividing our area and next cambio (companion exchange) there will be Compastre 2. We are uber excited to get to be able to focus on a smaller area and to have more help here. We still have a bunch of prep work to do before they get here.

 

Love you guys, y Feliz Navidad

Elder Hokanson

Elders Downtown

Week 13

I have learned a lot about my new area and it is huge, probably twice the size of my first one.  The bottom of my area actually is in Torreon but the other side of the city from Colon.

Otherwise, this week was full of random moments

-The lady cutting my hair was shocked that my hair was naturally brown. It was an odd conversation.

-One of the Elders in my zone, Adam Barnes, was good friends with Makenzie, my aunt, in high school.  The world is small, even here in Mexico.

-Last night a couple in our ward brought us a Christmas dinner since they bring one to the missionaries every year but they will be out of town this year.  It was a good old Thanks giving feast. 

no really, I felt like I was at grandma's it was that good. Turkey , stuffing , mashed potatoes. and even a Jello salad. (Elder Villega is from Costa Rica and has never had it before) It was a very pleasant surprise.

 

Feliz Navidad

Elder Hokanson

Torreon

Week 12

Well I have survived my training and my fisrt transfer. It has been an interesting day to say the least.  I am now in Gomez which is the city right next to Torreon, but it feels like a a hundred miles away from my home in Torreon. I know that will change once I am able to get to work.

But notes from my other area.

-Cristian and Hna Concha will be baptized this next saterday (Sad that I will miss it but I am thrilled that it is going to happen)

-There have been these parades that happen every morning and night right infront of my apartment. They are realy laoud but interesting because they are all dressed up in myan and aztec stuff and dancing to the drums. It is selebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe or something like that (Don't know, didn't really ask).

Week 11

This week has been packed with meetings with members. And looking at our schedule this next week, we have seen the results. I am excited since we received about 30 new references to try and contact this week.

Thanksgiving was just another day of work for us. But that is pretty normal.

Really the highlight of the week was when my companion stood up to bare his testimony. That ment i has to go up to. I was suprised at what I said and how i said it. It was actualy pretty fun.

Next week I will have more storeis sice we will talk to a lot more new people.

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

New Companions

Week 10

This week has been a good one. To start it all off, I went a bought a new camera. It is a good one and I am excited to get you guys some more pics.

We were doing a lot of contacting this week and finally got an appointment with a family that is actually pretty close to baptism, or at least so they have said.  They lived here about 3 years ago and where taking the lessons but moved before they where baptized. Now that they are back we where able to get a lesson with them. In the first lesson on Thursday it was me and a elder form another district, while Elder Alvarez was doing some baptismal interviews, and i got the impression to ask her to be baptized. This was not part of the plan originally and as I was half way through the question she interrupted me and said yes and then explained the background  of them moving and all that. Only problem is that she didn't come to church this week (none of our investigators made it so we have to push baptisms back another week) and wasn't there for the next lesson. We will try again this week. The joys of missionary work.

Saturday was very interesting. I got invited to a big meeting for the leaders of the wards, well OK, my companion got invited since he is district leader and i just got to go too. It was with Elder Lopez, our area seventy, and he and President Flores are changing some things for how we do a lot of our missionary work (so heads up other Torreón elders).  We are gong to be focusing a lot on using the future investigators form and actually sitting down with every member and filling it out. In this form they right down everyone they know that could benefit form the gospel, nonmembers and less actives. then we go though each person and figure out what we can do to help them.  This has the potential of skyrocketing our baptism and retention rates, so I am excited to get started. And this is how it is suposed to be, my job is to teach, and the members to find.

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Week 9

I think I might do a little shopping today. The last few days have been Buen Fin, the equivalent of a Mexican Black Friday. So most things are 30% off or more and since this winter is going to be colder than normal, I am going to stock up a bit.

I found out this week that my math skill are really only useful in English. I was trying to help Christian with a math problem and had no idea what is was talking about, even after i translated it. Needless to say, it was not a big confidence booster to how my abilities will be when i get home.

I finally got a letter this week that my mom sent me on my birthday. I laughed that it took so long since i got a email copy the day it was sent.

We have been struggling to find new people that will listen to us. We had a contact yesterday that that loved calling me ''gringo''. She liked a lot what we where teaching her and when we handed her a book of Mormon, she was afraid we would come back to get it from her.  Problem is she is almost never home but we wil see what we can do.    Christian's baptism got pushed to the 7th of december, just 2 days before exchanges so it is close.

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Week 8

I think the main thing that I will remember about this week was the fact that it was COLD. I should have been expecting this since this is a desert and the temp. fluctuates a lot but I unpacked my coat form my suitcase and everything.

Everything is really beginning to just blur together and if i didn't have my journal, I would be lost. so here is my little push for keeping your personal record. Journal writing is our account of how we used the time we have been given. “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

–President Thomas S. Monson

We had a surprise in the last little while, we went to check the records of Christian's family and the record for his mom does not exist anywhere. salt lake or Mexico.  this means that according to the church, she was never baptized (even though we have a pic of her at the baptism, it is not enough evidence) and we will get 2 baptisms on the 30th. Excited doesn't seem to sum it up. 

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Week 7

I think that my family is going to have to make a trip to Mexico in about 21 months so that they can drag me back home.  Yep I think that sums up how i feel about Torreón right now. I understand a lot more this week why the mission is considered the best 2 years in that, this is the accelerated course for learning about the Gospel and just life in general.

I got put in a trio for a couple of days while we waited for the new missionaries to arrive. I will admit that i felt off with having 2 native speakers and me but it kinda forced me to interact better. 

Christian is doing awesome and he was actually the only one of our investigators to make it to church yesterday. we have also been talking to another member of his family and she seems to be accepting the lessons so far. The fun part with her is that we are going to have to have a wedding before her baptism. It is interesting and here is sorta common.

We have been teaching the ward counsle, as an assingment from Pres Flores and hte stake president. It is awesome to teach them and here their stories. they alsways like to talk about their conversion.

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson

Week 6

Well i survived to my first 6 weeks. Today is the day of companion exchanges but I get to keep my companion and area for a while longer at least. It was Elder Alvarez's birthday this week and, as with most birthdays, it was another day of work. The funny part was it was his birthday but i got the present, my bag that took a trip to Africa. When he first told me I didn't really believe him but we headed to the airport and there it was. The reason it took so long: the tag was broken. Needless to day though, I was extremely grateful to get it back after this long month.

That ten year old I mentioned last week is named Christian and he is awesome. He is just absorbing everything that we have taught him. We have him scheduled to be baptized on the 23 of Nov. and we are excited for him.

Yesterday was stake conference and guess who got to do a special musical number, the missionaries. Actually it was different because this was coordinated by President Flores and we had a cue in his talk that we all, my zone of about 20, stood and sang.  then durring a meeting we all walked in and sang again. It was fun because it was so unexpected and realy put an amphisis on the face that was missionaries are there to help. 

Love you guys, 

Elder Hokanson

21/10/13 Week 5‏

This week went really fast. I actual can't believe that it is Monday again. Tuesday i finally got to have my interview with President Flores and he sends his greetings and told me to say just how amazing i am. I am doing my best to live up to that but this work really is a lot of work.

 

We have had to do a lot of searching this week because just don't have very many investigators. One thing that we have been dong is working with less active members. we got 3 more to attend church this last Sunday so it is working. Also through one of our less actives we found out that her son is 10 but has not been baptised yet so we will start working with him this week.

 

I kinda goofed up last week. after emailing i left my camera sitting on the table. Yep, I am gong to have to get all my pics though the other missionaries now unless i find a really cheep one. I seem to be good a loosing things but at least someone will get to use a nearly brand new camera now.

 

Had a funny thing happen on Saturday. I got my new missionary name Elder Guarito. We went to a ward hamburger sale and they had a list of those who had bought one. when i look at the list I saw my companion's name and the other 2 missionaries but not mine. I am not sure why i feel suprised to be called ''the little white guy'' but we all had a good laugh about it.

Well that has been my fun in Mexico this last week, love you guys.

Elder Hokanson

Picures From Chance's apartment in Mexico

One of these pics is out of my window of my apartment. Yes that is the Christus statue that I work around.

The other is of us in the Colon 1/2 areas. My companion and I are on the ends with the other companionship in the middle.

October 14, 2013

I guess I might as well give you all a look into my daily life here in Mexico.  I get up at 6 30 and exercise, get ready for the day and make my breakfast, usually a packet of Quaker oatmeal. Also i drink what is call Yakult which is a pro biotic Hermana Flores 

has told us we need to drink, it is actually pretty good. next i get to study until about noon when we leave for the day.

 

Our apartment is a bit form my area so we walk over and get to work. there are 3 parts to my area and it is actually really long and some days we walk probably 10 miles. At 3 we always eat at a members house. they have a schedule set up so we don't have to worry about it. which a little side note about the food here, they like spicy food. this is kinda different but I am getting used to it. Oh and i wouldn't suggest the Chinese food here, it is just not the same. I was thinking about you guys last week as i sat in a carls jr and had Manzana Lift (Yes Lyssa, i have it all the time just for you) and a western burger, but that is not a normal thing at all. There is this soup that i have had a few times that is really good, it has cut up hot dogs and ham. I will try and remember the name later.

 

We will usually go with a member after that and go visit people until 9 when we go home.

One of the people we have been working with this week was Mario, who i mentioned last week. He sells what is called chicharon which is this deepfried meet that is realy good. We got him to come to a baptism but not to church and we will try to talk with him today.

 

Love you guys,

Elder Hokanson