May 31, 2010 600+ inactives OH MY!

Hola mi familia!

How it going up there in the wonderful warm weather of Utah? We are doing well here in Palmira and are starting to see some success. We have been working a lot with Alberto Mendez this week and have seen him quite a few times in the streets. He is progressing quite nice, but we ran into a little snag with his progression. He won`t be able to get baptized for quite a while. But egual we`ll keep working with him and he lp keeping him progressing along the road to baptism and get him started in the road to Eternal Life.

We are going to have something very special happen tomorrow that I want to be prepared for. We are going to have a member of the 70 come and speak to us. We have Zone Conference with Elder Zivic of the 70. It`s going to be a fun experience and I`m excited for what I am going to learn. This week was a week of miracles. Elder Scoville and I keep working hard and keep finding incredible people to teach that want to change their lives.

We`re working hard with the ward to have some activities and bring the less actives back to church. We had a meeting with the ward activites leader last night (he was the bishop before, so he knows a lot about the ward and it`s functions) and we plan on having an activity (as they say here) this Saturday, no, but the next Saturday. It`s always funny how they give addresses here, I love it. “You know the big house with the nice gates, plants and big palm tree out in front? It`s not the house, but the next house.” Very descriptive, it`s quite nice. You definitely know the house when you see it, or at least you know what house it isn`t. It`s funny, I love it!

Anyway, we were going to have the ward activity on the Saturday that I just mentioned, but the problem is that there is a very big game that day...Argentina plays their first game in the world cup I expect the world to stop that day and watch the game so we`ll see what happens. We`re going to do it another day for sure. We went to San Martin (the neighboring city) the other day basically to walk around and find out that we could have the bill for our gas in the bank right next to our house. But we got to talk to a lot of people and found one guy interested in the gospel that lives in our area; that was definitely a blessing!

The blessings are coming and I am working hard and loving every second of it. It`s hard, but I`ve never had so many blessings before in my life. Yesterday in a Stake Conference I got to see a ton of people from my first area. It was so touching and I will write more about that as well.

To share a quick message about what`s going on, the weeks pass really fast. There`s lots to do and I am really happy! I was just about to send photos today when the battery on my camera died. Next week will have to do. Keep working hard everyone! Love you all! Bye!

Love, Elder Hoglund

May 24, 2010 New companion: Elder Scoville ~ 600 inactivies?

Hola Family!
My companion is incredible! I love him already! He is an obedient Elder and excited to work and I love it! We`re going to have a good time in Palmira.
Elder Scoville is from El Dorado Hills, California and attended the same High School as Austin Collie. He said that he was really good. He is a new Elder, in his third transfer of the mission and speaks spanish really well and has an incredible attitude and desire to do right. I love him! We are working hard, being obedient and looking for ways to improve every day.

As you know, every day in an adventure and there are new things to do every day. The ward is great! There are about 20 strong members and the rest are inactives 600+ people. So we have our work cut out for us. I feel that the best thing for this district to do is to focus on the inactive members. That is what we are going to do, and that is what we have to do. I feel we will have a lot of success here. We are being obedient and trying hard

Well, Palmira really isn`t the big city, but it is a big city compared to General Alvear. I`m still getting to know the area, but there is an awesome panaderia right around the corner that I love and have already been to three times. It`s pretty incredible, I need to stop going. Anyway, back to the point.

Today was a pretty incredible day! We went to Mendoza, the big city and played around getting documents done went shopping, I bought a new vest for winter that is coming up. It`s hace frio here in Palmira and I will enjoy my sweater. Anyway, it`s good to tell everyone that things are going well and that I love you all.
Until next week, I love you!

Elder Hoglund