Monday September 6, 2010 Another change? FINALLY PICTURES!

Elder Hoglund & Elder Quebbeman with Antonio! Both with new haircuts! Cute Antonio cutting Elder Hoglund's hair! Elder Hoglund in The Offices with his family!
Elder Figuera getting his shoes shined. Cost? 4 Pesos.

Dear Family:

I want to start out by saying that I feel that there are more miracles that happen on the mission than I have room to tell in this or in any letter. I know that the lord is blessing me every day with experiences that are helping me gain experience and know how to handle life and bring others to Christ. This week we had a really special experience with Hugo and his family. Hugo is a man that really wants to change his life. He let my companion and another member in for the first time about 2 weeks ago and we have steadily been working on him and finally got a lesson with him and his whole family. He really wants to quit smoking, drinking, and doing drugs and his family wants to read the Book of Mormon and change their lives. The rest of the family is motivated to read and Augustin, their 10 year old…(I think) is really excited to read the Book of Mormon and has a goal to read the first 10 pages by Wednesday. The mom is reading and I love the family, we have such a fun time with them.

We have little commitment cards that we are giving out to people that I absolutely love and I feel that with these commitment cards people feel much more self-committed and driven to complete with their goals. I know that goals are so important and I feel like I say that every week, but I am realizing the importance of knowing what you want and understanding how to get it.

Antonio is progressing along really well, he came to church again this week and also came to our family night we had about temple work and doing family history. He has such a family history and shared so many little stories about how he found important dates of his ancestors. He feels like he´s part of the family.

We met a man on the street the other day named Sebastian. We were walking to another appointment and passed by a house where we have been working for the past 2 or 3 weeks. I felt like we should pass by and say hi and see if the people we had been teaching were there or not. The man that attended us said the lady we were looking for was there but asked if we could wait a minute for her. We agreed and began talking to him. He was very open and we had a wonderful chat with him. He at the end invited himself to church this next week and we have a return appointment with him Tuesday night. I know that the Lord has a plan for us that many times we cannot see but that we should seek to do His will and the way will open.

I feel like the mission has thrown me yet another curve ball, something I didn´t see coming. I was informed by President today that I will be out of the offices in a week working full-time in the area of Trapiche, which is very close to the offices. The former pensionista that designed the program I am using now is coming in to combine three office jobs into one computer and me and Elder Quebbeman are going to be on standby and have phones so they can call us to the office if they need us. I feel like this is going to give me a great opportunity to practice being on call and being willing to roll with things as they come. I feel it´s going to be a great opportunity and I´m feeling good about what´s coming around the corner.

To answer some questions about the Nopes, they´re incredible! they invited us over for lunch today and really helped us to feel at home. they really take good care of us. In the offices there are 4 elders there permanently. President wants there to always be two Elders in the offices. Things are changing a lot here and I love how every day teaches you to roll with what comes. I feel like it´s preparing me for life after the mission.

I feel that this week is going to be spent a lot on training and organizing things for when I leave next week. It should be pretty fun!

I love you everyone!

Love, Elder Hoglund