11 November 2007

Happy Birthday Mari! Sorry I couldn't get message to her sooner. I think she will be super athletic.

Japanese is going well. Only two out of eight missionaries in my district didn't take Japanese before coming, but I seem to remember a whole lot somehow...my sensei in high school taught us a lot of different things that randomly pop up every once in a while. I have decided Japanese is the prettiest Asian language and way better sounding than English. I will have to speak it for you sometime.

The vest fits. Very well. The elders in my district seem to love me for some reason, and they actually laugh at my jokes! When I put the vest on, they couldn't help but laugh because deep down inside, they were jealous they didn't have a nice fitting sweater vest! Haha, or something like that.

Last Tuesday, we had Elder Bednar come and speak! It was soooo reallly good. He talked about something that really caught us off guard in our studies. He said: "any question you will be asked while you are on your missions, the beginning of every answer will be rooted either in the content or sequence of the Articles of Faith." Wow. Super profound. So now I'm on to re-memorizing all thirteen, first English, then Japanese.

Well, in response to Mindy's companion, the only time I really sang was with the whole choir once singing "This is the Christ," which you can imagine has become quite popular since the passing of Elder Faust. If she saw and recognized me then, I would be super impressed.

Well, the MTC is still treating me fine. I think I have picked up a bunch of weight, but I'm an elder, so I don't really care. My district is becoming really jyoozu in volleyball. We actually know how to play and expect the good old bump set spike. Oh, the little things.

I really enjoyed the packages this week!! Fantasia and Peter and the Wolf came last Tuesday after I sent off the email. Thank you! It makes me happy inside.

Thank you as well for the ties. I was desperately needy of some variety. I wore the Christmas tie on Halloween. It was wonderful. Thanks for the Airbourne. i don't really know what it is or how to use it, but thanks! I hear it is really good.

So my Preparation day ends at 6. So if you try sending an email past six today, I won't be able to get to it until next week. Just a heads up. All is well...

So, the elders in my district are awesome, I have decided. We are all either from Utahr or California. The 2 other elders from California are half Asian, so I almost feel left out. One of them lives in Clovis, and he knew Sarah Taylor back in the day. His name is Elder Elledge. Super funny, half Asian, doesn't know a lick of Japanese. We have a lot of fun as a district.

Teaching in Japanese is a piece of cake. Considering I'm not the one teaching! :-) The Teaching Resource Center visit this past Thursday went super well. I asked the investigators what they thought about God. The lady responded that when she looks at beautiful nature like the ocean she knows there is something bigger than us. The spirit loosened my tongue with the response: "God created this earth. When we look at a beautiful ocean, we feel peace. This peace is God's love."

A chord was struck, and the rest of the appointment went well. I almost have the Joseph Smith experience down in Japanese. That is something I will have to work on. But as a district, we have memorized James 1:5, the missionary purpose, and called to serve in Japanese. We are progressing very rapidly. We now speak only Japanese on Saturday, Monday, and Thursday. It is a blessing.

Well, the sky is blue and the church is true.

~Elder Hogge