Milagros en todos los lados - Miracles from all sides

This week has been jam packed with things to do, and even better--WITH MIRACLES!!! So we have begun our first week as a Zebra area and we are very busy. But that's the best thing ever as a missionary! We've been running back and forth all over our area between appointments so it's kind of hectic at times trying to be on time to everything. But it has been so wonderful! This week we spent some time meeting the leaders in Melbourne, the English ward, just to find out the best way we can help them and to get names for people we should focus on. There are way too many people to try to see them all and actually get to know them. So we've talked a lot with the Bishop and the Relief Society President. We actually spoke at a Relief Society activity so we were able to get to know some of them a little bit better! Church was fun too. haha we were there all day just running back and forth between meetings, but it was so awesome. We're really looking forward to the amazing work that is headed our way!

 

A member from Louetta at the Spanish fireside

Something super awesome that happened yesterday was the Why I Believe fireside--the Mission President's Fireside. It was the first one held in Spanish!!! Ahhh it was so so amazing. We (as a missionary choir) sung A Child's Prayer, Called to Serve, I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, and the EFY medley in Spanish! There is something about singing it in Spanish that made the Spirit even stronger. Ahh it was so amazing! And the best part was it was in my old church building in Louetta, so I was able to see a ton of the members from over there! There were also members there from the other wards I have served in too. Ahh I can't even explain to you the joy that filled my heart being able to see so many of the people that I love so much that have changed my life all in one place. As we were singing I was just looking out over the audience overcome with gratitude for the opportunity I have been given to serve a mission and to know so many of the people that were there. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord and I was just filled with so much love. So that was definitely one of the major highlights from my week. 

 

 

Hermana Nunez's famous tortas

 

Okay now for the miracles. All of them that I am going to share with you came from fasting. We fasted from Saturday to Sunday and whoa...the miracles. Fasting is powerful! On Saturday night we had a Relief Society night with the Spanish ward as well...haha and they had lots of good food that we couldn't eat. We were very tempted by it but we refused to eat and break our fast. And we are SO HAPPY that we didn't. We got a phone call just a few minutes later from the Elders in our ward. They had just had a lesson with one of the investigators that both of us have been teaching, Pedro. They told us that they taught him an awesome lesson, bore testimony, and then he told them that he didn't want them coming back to teach him again. When I heard that my heart dropped and I was so so sad. But...turns out he was tricking them and actually HE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! WHOOO!!!!!!!! We are so so so excited! So we rushed right over to his house and congratulated him! So I don't know how much info I have given you about him, but he is the boyfriend/soon to be husband of a woman in our ward. He heard about how families can be sealed in the temple, and ever since that he wanted to learn more about our church. So we have been teaching him and really trying to help him receive his answer, and I guess he did! So they will be getting married this week, and then he is going to get baptized on Saturday! Yay!! We are so excited! I think it's so cool how he has the goal of the temple in his sights already and that it's his motivation for baptism. So yay!!! We are so so so happy for them!! Then here is another great miracle that came from fasting to find new people to teach...yesterday at church 5 members came up to us saying that they had someone that wanted to learn more about the church and wanted to meet with us....now that doesn't happen every day! A young woman also asked us for 500 mormon.org cards to put on the lockers at her school. That is so awesome! I can't even tell you! Ah so amazing all the miracles that you see on a mission! We are looking forward to all that will be happening in the next few weeks! 

I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support and your love! You are so wonderful! Good luck with everything that you have going on this week! You are in my prayers always! 

xoxo

Hermana Hoj 

IT'S GO TIME!!!!!!!!



 

 

 

A fond farewell to Hermana Hammar

 

Buenos dias! Muchas cosas estan pasando ahora, y muchos milagros estan en camino...y'all ready for this?

So it's transfer time and we are going through some big changes. First off, Hermana Hammar is going to be transferred to another area :( But I know that the Lord needs her somewhere else right now and that she is going to do amazing things throughout her whole mission. She's got this!  So here's the second crazy thing. You know inception? Like how they have dreams within dreams? So that's kind of what's going to happen to us...but with whitewashing! :) haha We are going to be doing a whitewashing within our whitewashing! How crazy is that!? So what happened is this--the English Sisters that cover the same area as us are both being transferred, and we are going to be changed to a Zebra area. So we will be covering both the English and the Spanish wards within our area! There is so much work to be done! So in the words of President Mortensen, "It's Go Time!" I think Heavenly Father knew I needed to finish out my mission busy as can be, so this last transfer we are going to be working sooooo hard! Amazing things are going to be happening....stay tuned!

So these past few weeks the whole mission has been focusing a lot on finding new investigators. We are contacting and knocking doors from 6-8 every night unless we have appointments with progressing investigators. I am so grateful for the revelation and inspiration that President receives for us, it is always spot on! Something that has been a little bit hard for us as a companionship this last week is that even though we are finding, when we go back to visit the people that we contact they are either not there, or have to reschedule again. We have had a really hard time getting in with people. Yesterday that happened to us with multiple potential investigators that we knocked into--we had 4 appointments and all four cancelled. We stopped for a minute and discussed what we needed to change about our approach. Our goal is to help them feel the Spirit so that they will want us to come in right then to share the message we have. We decided that we needed to emphasize how much the gospel blesses families--mention it with everyone that we contacted--and as well do all we can to relate to the people with whom we speak. We said a prayer right before our 6:00 contacting for help to do this, to find families, and to teach. When we changed our mindset on how we were going to contact, it made the BIGGEST difference! The moment we stepped out of the car we recognized an opportunity to serve someone by helping her take her groceries to her apartment and she said she would be interested in listening to our message another day. We also talked with a couple who was at the apartment complex selling food...turns out they are a family of 8!!! We found a potential family of 8!!!! And even better, they had been talking with Elders in El Salvador before they came to Texas just 4 months ago! We gave them a Book of Mormon, and they said that they would like us to come visit them. Then we continued knocking and found a woman who let us in so that we could share with her the message of the Book of Mormon. She wants us to come back too! It was a great night of contacting, and I know that it was because of the way that we approached our contacts and that we humbled ourselves before the Lord in prayer. We prayed to find families, we prayed to have someone let us in, we prayed that where we were was where we needed to be and the Lord provided. He always does. We did all that we could to testify of the blessings that the gospel brings us and our families--the happiness, joy, unity, etc. We are so excited to keep going, to keep teaching and sharing this special message with everyone! MISSIONARY WORK IS THE BEST!!!! I love it so much, and I know that these next 6 weeks are going to be the best yet. I love you all and pray for you every day! Have an amazing week!!!

Love love love love love
Hermana Hoj

The Start of A Great Year!

Buenas tardes!

What a wonderful week we have had--one full of the Spirit as a result of fasting, MLC, and Zone Meeting. So many good things in one week. MLC is always incredible--after every single one I leave feeling very humbled because I recognize how much I need to work on. It's so great to be able to counsel with President and the other leaders in the mission, there is so much revelation that comes in those meetings. I learn so much and I am always drained afterwards. It's hard work! haha but it is so worth every moment. The Spirit is so strong and we are uplifted and edified! As Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders we base our Zone Meeting off of the topics discussed in MLC. The Zone Meeting we had went so well, and we were so grateful for that! We had a lot of people share their testimonies of specific questions like "How has your mission changed your life?" or for a convert "How did missionaries find you?" We are working a lot on finding effectively in our mission right now so we talked a lot about that and also a lot about consecration and sacrifice. The Spirit was very strong, and I think we were all pumped up to work after that! There are going to be some really good things happening!

 

Here's a funny story for the week....

So there we were....knocking doors. Something kind of uncommon to missionaries right? haha We had to go, but I decided that we should knock one last door. As we stepped onto the porch, there was an eruption of barking--probably about 8 dogs barking from inside. I saw there was a pad lock on the door too and thought, they're probably hiding something inside...but I knocked anyways. A guy looks through the little window on the door and says "What do you want?" So I start saying, We're missionaries from the Church of...and then he cut me off and said something I couldn't understand because of all of his dogs. So I said "Sorry I can't hear you, what did you say?" Then he said it again...still couldn't hear him. By the third time I finally understood what he said--"Don't trespass again or I'll loose my dogs on you." hahaha I was cracking up as we walked away. 

 

 

                           Dinner with D and her beautiful children

Good news for the week--we set a baptismal date with D. Yay!! We went to dinner with her on New Years Eve and had a lot of fun with her and her two kids. They're so cute. They picked us out necklaces--mine was an angel because I was the angel in the nativity at the church Christmas party. haha We got some good fortunes though! These were mine...words of the wise here.

"Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools."

"Love lights up the world."

"You're not afraid of storms, for you're learning to sail your ship."

Who ever said you were limited to just one? 

Then, today was awesome because we got to go to the temple! Yay! It was so wonderful to be there, to be spiritually nourished in the house of the Lord. I love the feelings of peace and love that are always there when you enter. The temple is definitely one of those places where I want to be a lot. That was actually one of my New Year Goals--to go to the temple weekly (well I guess when I'm not a missionary anymore), so y'all are free to join me when that happens! But missionary work is the greatest. It's fulfilling as a full time set apart missionary, but you can receive that same fulfillment from doing temple work as well. It is the same great, redemptive work. Never forget that! I want you all to know that I know that this church contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that I am so grateful to have it in my life! Even more so, I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to dedicate to the Lord to share it with others. Do the same!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hoj

The New Year! What awaits us?!

Buenos dias!

 

All you need is love!!!!!

 

 

 

Hermana Hammar's birthday cake

 

It was so great to see you all and to talk with you all this last week! It made me so happy to see you all so well. I feel like I don't have much to tell you since I just talked to you...haha but I'll do my best. The 26th was Hermana Hammar's 20th birthday! Whooo! We decorated and I made her banana bread for breakfast. We had cake at our district meeting, and we celebrated for her. We also had a lot of really awesome miracles that day like finding a new investigator, receiving a referral, finally finding a less active we've been trying to contact for forever, etc. It was a good day! We also had an investigator come to church on Sunday! His name is Hilario and he was a referral that we received. We taught him the first lesson and he came to church, so we are excited to keep teaching him!
 

 

A Merry Christmas in our apartment

 

Now I'm going to share the experience that I had on Christmas Eve here as well so I have it in writing. 

 

As I was praying before bed on the night before Christmas Eve, I received the impression that I needed to fast. I didn't really know why...and I thought, "On Christmas Eve when I'm going to be with Hispanics?" (They celebrate more on Christmas Eve than they do on Christmas Day) As we visited members it was sure that we would be offered food. We didn't have anything planned until dinner, so I prayed to have help to not have to reject someone's food. Well, the exact opposite happened. The next morning we got a call and found out that we were invited to go eat lunch with a member. I didn't know what to do! I was fasting, but I didn't want to reject his food and make him feel bad. And it was Christmas Eve...I mean who fasts on Christmas Eve, right? haha I was struggling trying to figure out what I needed to do...if I should end my fast and fast on Sunday instead? But as I prayed and presented that option to the Lord, it was clear that it was not an option. I needed to fast. That was certain. So we get to the members house and I told him how sorry I was--that I didn't know we would be eating with him and was fasting. Luckily, he understood and was not offended and instead gave me a plate with un monton de comida (a mountain of food) to eat later on. I felt bad though still, because I didn't know if it would still be good by the time I would eat. Fast forward a little bit after caroling to members and visiting people to when we were on our way to our dinner appointment. We were stopped at a stoplight and I saw a man standing between the lanes walking towards us with a sign asking for food. My mind immediately went to the plate of food I had been given earlier, I turned around to grab it, rolled down the window and handed it to him just as he reached our car. He was so grateful--said thank you so many times, then I wished him a Merry Christmas and the light turned green. As we pulled away I looked over at him and saw him giving thanks to God. In that moment, my eyes welled up with tears and my heart was filled with love for this man. Hermana Saenz turned to me and said "Hermana that was why you needed to fast. If you hadn't that man wouldn't have had food." How grateful I was in that moment that I hadn't given in to the doubts of my mind and that I stayed firm in my decision to fast. It was a lesson to me about how I need to stay firm in all of my beliefs and how I cannot let the enemy sway me. I was so grateful that I was able to listen to the Spirit, and so happy that the Lord had trusted me enough to give me that prompting and that experience. Those experiences are what make Christmas on a mission so special. The next day I watched the Mormon message "The Old Shoemaker" (go watch it and it will make more sense with the story behind it) and they quoted the scripture in Matthew 25:35-40 which read, 

 

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 

 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 

 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 

As I heard that, it really hit me that the experience I had just had was so similar. That as we serve those all around us, we are really serving our Savior. I hope that all of you will make a New Years goal to add more service to your lives, planned and unplanned acts of service. That experience for me strengthened my testimony and filled me with joy.

I know that as we set goals, the Lord will help provide ways for us to accomplish them as we include Him in our goals. He knows our desires and He wants to help us! Always keep that in mind. I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week! Start the New Year off strong! 

Much love,

Hermana Hoj

 

 

It's Christmastime, Texas Style!

Hola mi familia!! Feliz Navidad!!!

 

 

I was recruited to be the angel in the ward nativity . . .

Gotta love my "ramen" wig

 

 

Can you believe that it's already that time of the year? It's hard for me to believe it...especially since for Christmas we'll have weather in the upper 60's. haha Definitely not something I'm used to, except I guess you don't have snow either, huh? 

 

 

Ward Christmas party with the Ward mission leader

 

I don't have a whole lot of time today, so I just wanted to share a miracle from the week and then my testimony as well. 

We went to visit a potential investigator that we had, D, and she was so excited that we came over. We watched the He is the Gift video with her, and no more than 10 seconds into it she said "Just by what I've seen, I already know that what this is saying is true." She felt the Spirit, and more importantly--she recognized it too! She is so incredible! She also came to our ward Christmas party with her 2 kids and we gave her a church tour as well. She is really wanting to learn more about the church and what we believe. She is searching for the truth, and at this time of her life, I know that she is ready to accept it. She recently separated from her husband and is trying to get back into church again. She is truly amazing and is so excited to keep learning, and we are excited to help her find more peace and joy in her life!

 

Missionary conference with Pres. & Sis. Mortensen and family

There is something so special about Christmas as a missionary. The things of the world become less and less important, and the only desire that you have is to show God your appreciation for His gift to us by sharing the gospel with others. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to have two Christmases as a missionary (even though I miss you all), I know I will always remember them. It's so amazing how your Christmas as a missionary truly does make you focus on the real reason behind the celebration. I've been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to be a member of this church and to have the knowledge that I have. Even more so to have the opportunity to share that message with others. I am so so very grateful for Heavenly Father--that He was willing to send His Son to the earth to atone for our sins. I am so very grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His willingness to descend from His heavenly throne to a lowly stable. He has set the perfect example for us and has provided the only way for us to return back to our Heavenly Father. Everything is made possible because of Him, He is the Gift.

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Cor. 9:15

I love you all so much and look forward to seeing you on Thursday! Merry Christmas, and share your testimony of why you celebrate Christmas with someone. I LOVE YOU!!!!

love love love love love

Hermana Hoj

White Christmas!

Hola hola !

 

What a miracle filled week we have had. I'm going to start of with one of the main highlights from the week, being.....

L WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!
 

 

Oh my goodness, it was one of the most spiritual moments that I have ever had. President Mortensen gave me permission to go back to Huntsville to see her baptism, and I am so very grateful for that. Ah. It was such a beautiful experience, one that has been ingrained into my mind and my heart forever. L has gone through so many trials, and she has stayed faithful through them all. I think that Satan knows the potential she has and was doing everything that he could to stop her path of progression, but with the incredible faith that she has in the Lord, she was able to overcome all of her trials and temptations. I cannot even come close to explaining the feelings that filled me as I watched her be baptized. It's just not possible. I think that those feelings are something so special, that we cannot describe them sufficiently while we are on the earth. She stepped out of the font with tears streaming down her face, and it was evident that she was filled with the Spirit. I gave her a towel and she looked at me and I asked her how she felt...she was all choked up and said, "I am so happy. I have been waiting for this for so long." At the end of the baptism she got up and shared her testimony, and that's when the tears really started falling from my eyes. I was so touched by the Spirit and I couldn't help but cry tears of joy. I love her so much, and to be able to have finally witnessed what she has been working so hard to get to was one of the most touching experiences of my life. She is amazing.

 

Some other miracles from this week...

We have two new investigators! One is C, he is 19 years old and has such a strong desire to learn. We were talking to him and he asked us "What do you do when you start to lack faith?" He was telling us how it's easy for him to give up on himself, and we were able to talk to him a lot about faith. We talked about faith as a seed, and also about how God never places limits on us, so we can't place limits on ourselves. If we do, we'll never get to what He knows that we can be.

The other is L. We knocked into her and she told us that we could come back and share a message with her. We asked her how God has played a role in her life and she shared a remarkable story with us. A few years ago, she had a brain tumor--it wasn't cancerous, but it needed to be removed. All of the doctors she went to told her that it was too difficult of a surgery to attempt. Finally, there was one doctor who said he would do it. It was the same doctor who had operated on Kennedy. During the surgery she said that she died for a few moments--she doesn't remember everything that she saw, but she remembers seeing her grandparents and hearing God's voice. It wasn't her time to die yet, and she came back. It was so cool to hear that experience from her! I am so so excited to teach her the Plan of Salvation, I know that there will be things that will be ever so familiar to her as we talk about it. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

 

                               Hermanas Saenz, Hoj, and Hammar

 

So, that's about all that I have time for this week. Solo quiero que ustedes sepan que yo se con todo mi Corazon que el evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero. Yo se que mediante las ensenanzas que recibimos de El, podemos encontrar paz, gozo, y felicidad. Yo se que Dios nos ama y nos conoce perfectamente y que quiere que todos regresen para vivir con El otra vez. Por eso, nos Ha enviado Su hijo unigenito, a redimirnos y salvarnos y ayudarnos encontrar el camino a volver a El.

 

I love you all so so so so so so much!!!!

 

xoxo

Hermana Hoj 

 

 

From the Country to the City

Hola !!!

 

The view from the parking structure at my apartment complex

  

So I have had a complete change this last week! I went from the northern most part of the mission, to the southern most part. From the country, to the city. I am now in the Heights! It is definitely a big change from where I was, but I already am loving being here! There's a part of our area that's pretty nice, and then the rest of it is pretty ghetto. It's so wonderful! We absolutely love it! So at transfer meeting I found out that I would be companions with Hermana Saenz and that we would be white washing our area! We've got a lot of work to do. I know that the Lord has incredible miracles prepared for this area. Hermana Saenz was born and lived in Mexico for 9 years, and then moved to Chicago and has lived there since. She is a convert to the church, and one of the most amazing missionaries ever! I am so excited to be here with her! But....there's also another surprise. On Thursday morning we got a call at 9:30 from President Mortensen saying "We have a surprise for you, the two of you are going to be training. We need you here in half an hour." Haha we were so excited! It was a big surprise to us too! So Hermana Saenz and I are training a new missionary and her name is Hermana Hammar--she is from Rigby, Idaho and is such a sweetheart! Her Spanish is already really good too--and she's already a great missionary! I know that she is here for a reason. I am already learning a lot from her. She is super wonderful and we are so excited that she is here with us. This week has been really busy. We have been running all over our area trying to get to know it and the members that are here as well. If the members that we planned to visit weren't home, then we would contact and knock doors around them and try to find those who are prepared to accept the gospel! We are working hard, that's for sure! There are 4 Elders in our ward as well and they have been a big help for us too. Needless to say, it was wonderful to go to church on Sunday and meet the ward! I already love them all so much! It was fast and testimony meeting on Sunday, and before the member of the Bishopric finished sharing his testimony, there were already about 15 people on the stand waiting to share theirs. They have big hearts and strong testimonies.

 

 

Hermanas Hammar and Saenz in the front

Hermana Hoj squashed between two Elders

Off to serve by shoveling a compost pile!

 

So yeah, I already love the members. We are fed by them lots and loved by them even more. They are wonderful! I learned how to make really good tortas this week too. :) Yum! We call the Hermana that makes them Hermana Torta because she makes them for us every other week. We also have one investigator from the Hermanas that were here before us who is progressing towards baptism, but she was supposed to have a baby on the 4th and the baby still hasn't come yet, so once her baby is born we'll be able to work more with her! We are really just so so excited to be here. Today during companionship studies we were all talking about what we had studied on our own, and we all were led by the Spirit to study about faith. It was not a coincidence! We took that as the Lord telling us that we need to up our faith and work in unity so that He can bless our area with the miracles He has prepared! We'll be praying and fasting a lot and doing all that we can to witness the miracles of the Lord.

 

That's about it for this week. We know that there are great things to come!!

 

Con muchisisisisisimo amor,

Hermana Hoj