Mr. Darci and Mr. Bennett are Brasilian.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     I spent awhile writing a couple of my siblings today, they are great. I love them a lot. What is Nic doing in Newfoundland? I really like the pictures, but what is he doing way up there? Some snow would be nice though (just saying). Shoes don't tend to last so long down here because the sidewalk melts the soles and they wear out really fast. I bought new shoes twice; they just don't last, not even a month, not even nice shoes. I think what I have will last a few more months though. 

    This week we started mission choir practice. Our mission choir director, Elder Ruberson, listened to lots of people sing last week and we are now in 24 preparing for a Restoration-ish fireside. Among the music we have "Consider the Lilies of the Field" and "O Divine Redeemer." All of the music is, of course, in Portuguese. At least one piece they couldn't find in Portuguese, so one of the office elders translated it. We started this morning about 9 and are singing until 6. We have 4 p-days to prep. Here in about 3 months or so we are going to sing for the stakes of Ribeirao Preto. It should be great.

    Debora was confirmed this week! I just love watching people make covenants with Heavenly Father; its just such a tender experience. Tiago was confirmed too. We sang `Daughter of a King`with Debora in Sacrament Meeting the same day. Tiago commented afterward...she is new and already sharing her talents. He was handing us photos he took at his baptism. He is an awesome photographer. Alena, you probably would love to see his pictures. Ok, so my time just ended and I didn't even notice. I have to go, but I love you both a Brazilian.

    Have a great week and keep up the great work sharing the gospel. Quick idea, something we do here is that we have Family Home Evening in members' homes. We bring a friend, volunteer to share a thought or to bring dessert, and the member family does the other parts. Its pretty awesome. We have lessons with members and members meet our investigators without having to leave their home. Just a thought.

 

Love you, 

Sister Hoggan

B...b...b...b...baptism!

Dear Mom and Dad,

     That's right, I hit my year mark this week. Quinta feira...whatever day of the week that is in English. I think it means Thursday, but you stop thinking about the days of the week having real names when you only call them by number for so long. But yep, a year...eeek! My departure date is set for September 15, just in case you wanted to know. That's when the next transfer starts. 

     We had a baptism this week! Our friend Debora was baptized yesterday, juntos com nosso outro amigo Tiago [together with our other friend James]. We had a double baptism with the elders and it was AWESOME. You work and work and work to help people prepare for baptism. You just want them to understand that you feel so amazing when you get baptized by priesthood authority...please just read and pray about what we say. If people only understood how great the blessings of the gospel are from the beginning, more people would chase after it. But, that is part of agency and part of the process. We have to let them find it for themselves. 

     Her husband was able to watch her be baptized. It was the first time he had entered into one of our chapels. It was really special. Really, really special. The elder who baptized Tiago is now serving in another area (he was from the companionship to first find Tiago) and actually taught Debora while he was here too. He had no idea that she too was going to get baptized. What a wonderful surprise it was. It was truly a tender experience. When he complimented us on our special musical number at the end, I asked if we were going to sing at his baptism too...? I think I caught him off guard. But that's ok.  

     That was the highlight of my week. Just so you know, I love you both a ton and am glad that you are having a great time back in California. 

Com um grande abraço, 

Sister Hoggan

God tries those who try

Dear Mom and Dad,

     The office elders sent me an e-mail asking for my information so they can buy my plane ticket home...6 months and I'm back eek. They like to tease me about having to send in my information to go home, but one elder teasing me is finishing in about 3 weeks so he can't laugh at me too much. Man, watching someone you work with be so close to the end is strange. 

     Just so you all know, I did by myself some Brazilian shoes, so I can walk again. I actually have had to buy shoes twice now. Brazilian dress shoes aren't quite as good for walking, but that's ok. I bought red shoes with red bows...I click them together and say there is no place like home. Actually I don't, but I do feel like Dorothy. 

     I don't know about you, but I am beyond stoked for General Conference. Can it come any faster? It seriously is like Christmas...and this time the stake center is in my area so it will be easier to coordinate watching it in English. [For those of you who would like to check out General Conference, it will be broadcast live on April 5th and 6th at LDS.org.]

     We were suppose to have the baptism of our friend Debora here this week, but her husband needs a day off so he can watch her be baptized and he finds out super last minute when he gets time off. We called her Sunday morning and she told us it would have to wait another week. Que triste! We had even made brownies for her baptism. First time I've made brownies in Brasil...its ok though, we were troopers and ate them for her. We gave her husband a Book of Mormon this week too. He believes that we want the best for his family and that we are called to preach the word, but he has lots of questions that he asks her but not us. He won't sit down and talk to us because he is always working, so we wrote our testimonies in the front of a Book of Mormon and left it open on his treadmill (his wife said it is a guarantee he would find it there). He thanked us for it later, I sure hope he reads it. It really is the only way you are going to know if its true, you have to read it (just like any other book) and then ask God (because its his book) if it is true. Its a guaranteed response too. I love the Book of Mormon and I'm currently reading it for the first time all the way through in Portuguese....other than the Isaiah chapters it is pretty simply written. Even without natively speaking the language I understand 95% of the words.

      I am really glad my memory card got to you, I was starting to get nervous about that it. I said a prayer that it would get to you this week, and God responded pretty fast. I love you so much. Dad, you are the best member missionary I have ever known. High five. Have a great week!

Muito amor, 

Sister Hoggan

The sister missionaries in my zone.

 

Missionary shoes that have fought the good fight. 

 

Fastest email ever

     Fastest email ever. This week was incredible. Our ward Relief Society President came home from traveling and decided she wanted to visit every single sister on our ward list. We are hopefully going on divisions with her this week. My companion from the MTC is arriving tomorrow and will be living at my house. We had 8 people at church this week (I was so happy I almost cried). Two teenage girls we are teaching decided they want to wear skirts too. Yay! That means they want to keep coming to church!

    We are going to have a baptism this week. Our friend Debora is going to be baptized this weekend and the elders are going to have a baptism next week. We got a reference for a teenage girl who wanted to come to church. We arrived at her house not knowing what to expect....my companion recognized her as someone who she had taught once and never been able to return to teach her. This young girl told us about she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true and got a really, really special answer. Really special. The Lord is blessing us so much. Missions are purifying kilns, put they are also full of such joy. 

     Thank you so much Mom for sharing about the virtue scarf with me. Can you give Sister Olsen a hug for me the next time you see her?

I love you both!

Sister Hoggan

P.S. Did Mom's birthday envelope ever get there?

Hello Baby... He said something!

March 3, 2014

Hello Wonderfully Enlarged Family of Mine,

     I was the happy recipient of many photos of my nephew Broderick today...I got lots from Ben and a few of the hospital from you. Ben and Monica are blessed with beautiful kids. Congratulations! I have been telling everyone in this city `Meu sobrinho vai nascer essa semana` ['My nephew is going to be born this week'] or `Ele vai nascer em 2 dias` ['He is going to be born in 2 weeks']. He is going to be really handsome. Just saying. 

      This week we were in a trio with Sister Rodrigues, and we will continue working with her until next Monday, and her companion along with the rest of my MTC district arrives in Brasil. We have been getting along really well as a trio and so far the work has been great. This week Carnival began....everything is closed. The shops close, school closes, etc. Everything closes and the people have about 5 days off. Basically its just a huge party. Closer to Rio de Janeiro (pronounced Hio, not Rio) and other large cities, the parties get bigger, but so far here its been pretty tranquilo here. I think mostly, people are just glad to not be working. 

    By the way, Mom, how was your birthday? Did you receive the envelope I sent you with lots of photos. I took a huge risk with that envelope, so if you could tell me if it got to you that would be great. I guess we can say that you got Brody for your birthday, which must have been the greatest present of all. 

     This week we had lots of people come to church with us which was great. I was pretty excited. A mom and her daughters, along with another woman we are teaching and her daughter...they seemed to have liked it which made me happy. 

     Eu sei que o evangelho de Jesus Cristo esta na terra e realmente tem tudo. Tem um profeta, tem 12 apóstolos, tem poder, tem tudo, e sou grata que tenho esse conhecimento. Parabems Papai por compartilhando o evangelho com todas as pessoas. Voce e um otimo exemplo para me. Amo voces! [I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and that it really has ever everything. It has a prophet, it has 12 apostles, it has power, it has everything, and I am grateful to know this. Congratulations Dad for sharing the gospel with others. You are a great example to me. I love you!]

Sister Hoggan

P.S. Hi Brody!

Count your many blessings, name them 2 by 2...and it will suprise you what the Lord can do

Hi Mom and Dad!

     This week was the week of miracles! We made a street contact a few weeks back that neither my companion or I thought would come out to anything, but this week it did and it was a blessing from my Heavenly Father. The woman we talked to apparently felt, after we left, that she really did need our message and really wanted to talk to us. She tried to chase us down but we had already disappeared. She called people trying to find out how to get us back. She got a hold of us and back we went. We taught her and then came back a few days later and taught her whole family about the Restoration. She has 2 teenage daughters and one that is almost teenage.Eeek, that's a lot of teenage girls in one place! It was truly a special experience. Heavenly Father blessed us with a miracle and I knew that I had been in the right place at the right time. It was truly a tender experience to be in their home. 

    We had transfers this week. Sister Marchant and I were really nervous because we don't want to get separated. And we are...going to stay together! I am so happy about this! We have lots of sister sleeping at our house tonight because the new missionaries get here tomorrow. We are receiving another dupla (companionship) to work in our area. 3 duplas here, its going to be great! One of the new sisters is Sister Rodrigues--she's Brasilian, and wonderful. The other is a secret for now until she gets here....actually, I already know who it is. Shhhh. They will make a great team.

     You should have gotten lots of emails with lots of photos this week. I hope they all came through. Parabems to Grant and David for making it home alive. You two are great.

I love you lots! Congratulations for Stake Conference, it sounds like a whirlwind of an adventure.

Sister Hoggan

 

Missionary action figures!

Playing "Ninja"

Sister Hoggan (L) and Sister Marchant (R)

Housemates

The Transfer Board in the mission office

 

She`s from Argentina....she`s from another planet.

Mom and Dad, 

So I am trying to send you photos again and the computer is being difficult. I hope you got at least one though...it looked like it sent before the problems started.

     Yesterday was, well, interesting. We had been fasting to have investigators at church because people seem to have such a hard time with that. Especially because it is at 9 in the morning, that is really early for many people here. Anyway, there were 5 visitors at church; the only catch is that we didn`t invite any of them.... I only knew who was one of them was. But it was still an answer to my prayer. 

      Yesterday was also the day for getting hit on. Yay! My companion and I stopped to talk with 2 men in the street. One started talking to my companion and he was interested in learning more about the church. I shook the other man`s hand and he kept trying to hold on! He even tried to put my hand to his face. I nudged my companion like 6 times to go. But the other man was so interested in our message. Finally I was just like "Sister, if you are going to grab his address you have to do it now... and a lot faster." She did and we walked away. The man I talked to kept trying to say lots of nice things to me about beauty and virtue, etc. We talked to another man on the way home last night who noticed that I had the last 3 bites of an apple I was eating in my hand. He asked if he could have some. Um, I slobbered all over it... But he still wanted the apple. He reached up, grabbed it, took just a nibble, and handed it back. We said good bye as fast as possible. What a day!

      Other than that part, this week was great. The members in this area make extra-delicious food, we are really blessed. We had family night at the bishop`s house and invited all of the recent converts in our ward. It was a lot of fun. We also found this guy in the street, about 25 years old, who spoke almost fluent English, just with a Portuguese accent. He wanted to practice his English, and we let him. We even invited him to hear about the gospel in English. It was a tender experience inviting someone to hear about the gospel in MY own language. I started tearing up. 

       Three of the people from my MTC district arrive next week including my companion from the MTC (finally da certo, yay!). They will have 2 weeks of Portuguese lessons in the Sao Paulo MTC because they only have 7 months left on the mission and are just now arriving. 

     I loved the photos, you all are looking great. Alena, you are a doll. I love you all lots and lots and lots. Have a great week and keep looking for opportunities to share the gospel. And keep me updated with Monica, 2 weeks, really?

Sister Hoggan

P.S. Dad, the elder you met that speaks Spanish is actually Hispanic, which is why he speaks so well. He spent only 12 days in the MTC. I served on Get Connected Council with him along with the other girl you met a few weeks ago, Megan. I'm glad you got to meet my friend Jared (i.e. Elder Lopez Currasco).

Sister Marchant (L), Sister Hoggan (R), and friends

Sister Marchant and Sister Missionary action figures!

Sister Hoggan with Star fruit.

Sister Hoggan and Sister Marchant with (part) of a loaf of chocotone. Chocotone is like the sweetbread, pantone, but with bits of chocolate instead of bits of candied fruit. There would be more bread to see if they hadn't EATEN so much of it!