Monday, September 28, 2015

Week 4

Hump Week


Uhhhhhh what happened this week.  Elder lewis and elder Hecker (both from cht) left this week which sucks, but at the same time elder Olsen came in to my zone, and Elder dunn is here at the mtc now.  Super dope.  It's so much different to have been here a few weeks and see the new people coming in.  They'll be just fine.

So after district a left, I stole their mini fridge, so now our district has a mini fridge hahahaha. 
Uhh our song last sunday went super good.  Call me the motab director, because yeah.
Wednesday I was a little off, and I just didn't have the spirit in any of my lessons, and it was a good humbling day.  I learned that I can't speak for crap without the spirit, so ever since then, my lessons have been going a lot more smooth.  Learning a ton here though.  Super excited to actually get in the field and understand no spanish.
 
Being district leader kind of is dumb in the mtc.  Basically I just have an extra 4 hours of meetings on sunday.  At least i get to pick who does prayer and stuff in class every day /s hahaa.  But my district is super good at spanish.  Our teachers can be a little strict, but we love them.  I don't have any super cool stories to tell, besides it's hump week and I'm already ready to get out of here.
Oh and I still don't have my visa, so i'm just praying that if i get reassigned I get reassigned to idaho hahaha.
 
Uhh nothing crazy this week, no cool story of haircuts.  Every day just feels like a year, but at the same time like 5 minutes.  Time doesn't exist.
 
Oh and my entire district has yoyos now, so you could pretty much call us pro's lol
 
Love you all,
Elder Hodson 2

My camera sucks half the time, so Yeah.


 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Week 3

THE SAMOAN HAIRCUT


Hello everyone,

Before I get to the normal missionary crap I want to tell you the story of my haircut.
So the Mtc has hair school people here that are interns and give crap haircuts, and I didn't want to ruin my beautiful hair by the hands of hair school girls, so i kept my eye out for the best haircuts in the mtc, and it is always the samaons. So after our tie exchange, I went to the other side of the building and it's all of the samoans in two or three rooms.  So i asked who cuts hair, and they went searching for the kid, and it turns out that the elder that cuts hair is the same elder that I play vball with every day haha.  The blessings of 1 year of high school vball.  So were already buds, and I ask him if he does a good job, and he said yes.  Then another elder came out and started yelling "no go to barber shop, I testify that barber shop is better" and all of the samoans were dying, and it made me a little nervous.  Then the elder that was yelling said fine I'll get mine cut first, then you cut yours.  THE SAMOAN GAVE SUCH A GOOD HAIRCUT.  So i decided wth why not get a haircut, it's the mtc, yolo.  He ran his fingers thru my hair and said in samoan to an elder in my zone that is also samoan "This will be my best haircut because i like his hair"  So i continued to get the best haircut of my life, (not really chelsea) and I didn't end up like a horror story like all the other elders that get haircuts in the mtc.  It's hilarious how bad the haircuts in the mtc are.  But that's my story for the week.
 
Besides that nothing really happens here.  We get in a class, and learn a whole ton, then sleep and wake up and repeat.  Oh I do have something.  Our zone is doing a choir for the departing district, and were singing till we meet, mixed with the song see you again by wiz khalifa.  It's super dope, and I'm leading the music this week.  It's really good sounding.  
 
I also realized something cool in the book of mormon that relates to me a lot.  The reason Nephi was so upset over his brothers leaving, wasn't because they beat him etc., it was because he knew the truth, and he wanted his brothers to have the same feeling, and he grieved over that loss.  That's how I feel as a missionary.  I want everyone to know how awesome it is to read in the scriptures, and get new knowledge, or how it feels to pray and truly know there is a loving heavenly father that wants to bless us.  God is just waiting for us to come to him with a humble heart, so that he can bless us abundantly.  Until we give up our pride, and truly come to know our Heavenly Father, he wont be able to bless us like he wants to.  So that's my challenge for everyone.  Get to know your heavenly father, and pray with a sincere want to have an answer.
 
LOVE EVERYONE A TON
Elder Hodson 2
 
Sadly this is the only pic i have of my samoan haircut.  It is actually really good, but another elder in another district has the pictures during.  Super funny, but i have the best hair in the mtc hahaha.
Oh and a flower power tie pic with the mason garret twin himself, Elder Ainge
Much love, if i get my pics from the other elder Ill send them, theyre funny
 


 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Week 2

The Coat Hanger Experiences


So sorry everyone for last weeks email.  They really shouldn't let you email before the first sunday hahaha.  It's gotten a ton easier.  The blessings of being on a mission are starting to flow.  Spanish is getting super fun, and our district is mellowing out.

We finally got our two teachers today, hermana anderson and hermano wolfe.  They're both super dope.  Learning spanish is super fun, but at the same time super tiring.  I Love being on a mission though, just super excited to be in mexico.
 
Also thanks to everyone that sent me a dearelder package, or something, I managed to get 7 packages in one day hahaha.  I was so excited.  I have so much food now.  But I wrote letters back to everyone, But thank you all so much.
 
So the reason for my title, is in last sundays priesthood class we had one of the branch presidency with us, and he shared a super cool way of thinking about things.  He said we need to have Coat hook spiritual experiences, that we can always look back on.  So anytime I start to struggle, I can look back at my Coat Hook experiences.  It reminded me exactly of something my dad would say.  The mission really does get super easy after the first sunday.  I'm so much happier now.  I love learning spanish.
 
Getting to meet with "investigators" is super fun..  It gets me really excited to teach real people.  The investigators we teach here are so easy to love, and it makes the lessons really easy and fun.  I'm having a much much much better time now that I've settled in.  The anxiety is gone, and I'm eating good (thanks to all the packages)
 
I love you all so much, and I'm so stoked for this next week.
 
Elder Hodson 2

1.  finally found sis Sylvester

2.  a plethora of boxes
 

Monday, September 7, 2015

Surprise pic from Sis Sylvester

Kayla & Hunter shared their farewells & entered the MTC on the same day!  Love this pic! #thumbsup

Week 1

My first Pday

Dear Everyone,
People always tell you, and tell you, and tell you that the MTC is hard, but man you don't even know until you get here how hard it is.  First day it's like Bam just throw you in to the fire, and start going.  Luckily enough when I got here I got greeted by Christian Clark, who is Weston's older brother which was super nice.  Even then, the first day you're here the only thing they do is talk to you in spanish.  Then once the first day is over, they put you in another 12 hours of class.  I'm so tired here, but for some reason can stay awake in class.  Then the second day you're here they make you teach an "investigator" in spanish, which for my Companion and I was a mess.  We had some stuff planned, but as soon as we got in there, my Companion froze a little bit, which is okay because he never took Spanish in high school, so he had no idea what was going on.  But I'm sure all of that will get better.
I'll tell you a little bit about my companion.  His name is Elder Harley, he is from Spanish Fork Utah.  He's 6'7 and plays basketball.  Fairly shy, but overall a pretty chill guy.  He doesn't say too much so I can't get a gauge of how he's feeling yet, but I'm sure I will eventually.
 
The rest of my district is pretty different than me.  We have 7 Elders in our district including myself.  There's only 1 other Elder not from Utah, and he is from Boston.  If you know mason garret, he looks exactly like him.  Apparently his dad is Danny Ainge, and I have no clue who that even is, but everyone just says he was a pro basketball player back in the day.  Doesn't matter much to me though.  
Uhh I don't really know what else to write about, I've been here three days.  Obviously I'm homesick, and some anxiety is flaring up, but it's okay, I'm sure its going to go away sometime soon.  Preferably today haha.  It's pretty fun at times here.  I feel like we waste a lot of personal class time playing games and stuff, but there's no way to read spanish for 4 hours without a teacher.  I think we have another lesson with our investigator Tomas tonight.  But at least it's p-day, where our whole zone plays soccer, then we get to have a temple trip.  Super excited for the temple.

If anyone has some words of wisdom, or some things they want to tell me email me or send me a Dear elder or anything.
My Mailing address Is
Elder Hunter George Hodson
OCT12 MEX-XLP
2011 N 900 E Unit 320
Provo UT 84602

LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Hodson

 
Pictures:
My Companion, on the first day of the mtc.
 

 

Tender Mercy

People can be so kind.  Especially those who have sent out missionaries.  I received a random text from someone letting me know that Hunter had arrived in slc & was waiting for his shuttle to the MTC.  Yay!  Then later that evening, just as we both thought we were going to burst into tears with worry, we received this picture.  Knowing that he was struggling with a little anxiety, the smile on Hunters face calmed a multitude of fears for both of us!  Tender Mercy for sure!

Departure

I don't think this is ever an easy experience for anyone!  Lots of nervous energy.  All packed up & got to the airport on time!  The ticketing agent allowed Derrick & I to have passes to go to the gate with Hunter.  We were all good till it came time for him to line up.  Lots of hugs, kisses, tears, more hugs & more tears.  Walking away had both mom & dad crying like babies ;)!  So PROUD of our boy!  I had been thinking a lot lately of just how huge a sacrifice these boys make to spend these two years of their lives living in white shirts & ties & bearing a name tag representing our Savior Jesus Christ & preaching His word to total strangers in a foreign land.  HUGE sacrifice.  HUGE blessings.







Setting Apart

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015, Hunter was set apart a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  What a remarkable experience to share our personal thoughts & our best advice for Hunter & to have him share his testimony!



 
Then we headed off to Geisha House (of course) for our final family dinner before he left.  Goodbyes are always hard.
 





 
even lola got in on the goodbyes!

 

Farewell & Open House

We are so blessed to have so many loved ones & friends that are more like family than some of our family ;)!  It was a truly a wonderful day filled with music & the spirit during Sacrament Meeting.  Hunter did a remarkable job.  Then began a day full of feeding hundreds of people!  Yummy food (including Hunters favorite...Chipotle!) & such fun visiting with so many! 

Temple

Hunter received his endowments on Thurs. July 9, 2015.  It was a truly wonderful evening having family & friends there with us.

The Call

Hunter received his call on Saturday April 25, 2014.... a surprise!  We weren't expecting it until the following Thursday!


We gathered together as family & lots of friends & ward members on Sunday April 26th for the opening.  His reaction says it all: