Apil 10, 2010 Bread Making Lesson and Walking around lost!

Hello my wonderful family!

This week has been quite a learning process. I am learning more and more every day.
We had Zone Conference and President just blows me away. He is such a successful man in life and watns us to follow him in his success. Everything he doe is to prepare us for what is going to come after the mission. A thought he shared with us is that the storms are coming and they are going to get worse. This is definitely no reason to be scared, but a challenge and a reminder to prepare for what is going to come in the future. It`s fun learning more and more every day. The Lord is really teaching me...I just hope I can be a good student. :)
So, we got word this morning that we are most likely going to be moving penches tonight. If everything goes well we should be settled into our new pench in a few days. This is going to be a big blessing! I`ll send some pictures when I get in there and are able to settle in.
So these thoughts are a little bit scattered, but President yesterday in Zone Conference really opened my mind and helped me to realize how I could change things up and do better.

So, to continue the randomness of this e-mail...this week and last week have been two of the most trying and proving times in the mission. I definitely should have seen it coming with so many things going smoothe for so many months. The Lord just couldn`t let me coast now could he? This is a time to grow, a time of trial and I know I will grow immensley. I can see a little bit of that growth now and I feel that the Lord is proving me to see if I will be obedient in all the things he wants me to do. That`s what the Lord does to us. He hits us with challenges that He knows that by ourselves we cannot overcome. He knows that the only way we can overcome these challenges is to turn to Him. I think that is a purpose to our challenges in life, to learn how to come closer to Christ. Sometimes we need difficult experiences to remember that he is the One in charge and that without Him, we really cannot overcome anything. He is the Man upstairs who really sees the end from the beginning and I know He loves me.

I really should keep a journal of random experiences that happen to me here in Argentina, but the thing is that so many things that maybe when I was at home would have blown my mind are common place here. For example getting lost on the way to an appointment and walking around for about an hour in the Finkas before heading back to the city. This was actually a huge blessing! We ended up finding an investigator that was walking from his house in the finkas to the city. We decided to walk with him and he and I had an awesome chat about how the Spirit was guiding us... (ok, after we got lost, the Spirit was defintely guiding us, I know that) and how God wanted us to talk to him that night. He came to church yesterday and was way happy! I am excited for what the future holds for him.

Sunday in church Matias Pichel and his friend that just recently got baptized as well, Jorge, as well as Diego Pichel, all got presented to received the Priesthood. It is so awesome to see them progressing and see their desire to remain firm in the church. I have grown so close to this family over the past five months and I know that one of the reasons I came on a mission was to find and teach them and bring them into the gospel. I am even more excited now because Mercedez, Diego`s wife, has a goal to get baptized this weekend! We`ve got to prepare her for her baptismal interview on Thursday and then get everything ready for Saturday, but I am so happy because this is going to complete their family! Frederico who has 7 years (yes that is a very spanish way to say that phrase, but we`ll leave it like that) really wants to get baptized and if his family continues faithful, he`ll be baptized and raised in the church, as well as their little baby Ingrid. I can see Matias, Pablo, Jorge, and Fredrico serving missions here in the next few years an am so excited for the happiness that their future holds. I am beginning to see the effects of the mission and I know it will only get bigger as time goes on. I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to get to know the people here and teach them the gospel and I pray that they will continue faithful until the end so we can all meet each other after this life in the Celestial Kingdom.

I know it sounds like a lot but it`s all been on my thoughts lately and I`m excited for all this to happen. We`ll get the final preparations ready for this week, do some work, and I`ll give you the update next week.

The bread here is incredible! I LOVE the homemade bread they make here. I don`t know what makes it so incredible but I am learning how to make it today. We have an hermano in our ward that worked in a Panaderia (bakery) and he is going to teach us how to make bread and little crackers today. I am excited for that and to cook bread for everyone when I get back.

Thank you so much for the birthday package! I opened it last night and absolutey loved finding all the spciey crackers, the books of "To Eres Especial" to give out. I loved the laminated pictures of everyone`s faces. I am going to put them up on my wall so I have them all where I can see and I`ll take pictures and send them to you. I have enough fruit wraps to last me a lifetime! That was so fun to get and I love the birthday sign. I didn`t have time to get through it all last night, but you are all incredible! I love you all am so appreciative of the sacrifices you all made to get that to me, mom especially. It doesn`t matter to me that I got it late, I`m just so happy that finally I got it. Happy birthday to me! Thank you!

I love you all! Take care! Until next week,

Elder Hoglund

April 12, 2010 New Companion and Armadillo's

New companion:
Elder Cody Wilson from Fairview
Tennessee




Friendly little Armadillo
at our investigator's house.


Dear Family and friends,

This week in Argentina has been incredible and I have grown a lot. I have felt the Spirit guide me in every little thing I do and I am learning a little bit about being a parent with being a trainer. I am sure there a lot of parallels, but being a parent is harder!

I am having new experiences every day and my Spanish is improving. I am in charge of the majority of the communicating and it is providing me a chance to grow and to learn even more. I learn a ton talking with so many people every day. As a mission we have a goal to talk to 141 people every week about the gospel. It`s called an Open the Mouth. Ten people every day for every companionship. This helps me build my confidence and I know the Lord is blessing me. There are people out there waiting for us to talk to them and it makes things exciting.

I have learned that little tiny thoughts and impressions that come to the mind are promtings from the Spirit. I am learning to be more in tune with the Spirit on my mission and I have come to realize and I know and bear testimony, that if I have a small spark of an idea to do something, it is the Spirit telling me that it is something I should do. I am learning to hearken to these promptings from the Spirit and although sometimes they scare me, they help me grow and I know that by following them I am conquering fear and developing more faith.

The best news is that we got to watch ALL the sessions of conference in English! It was awesome!Woo hoo!

Love you, Elder Hoglund

April 5, 2010 ME? A Senior Companion! Welcome Elder Cody Wilson from Tenessee

Hi Family!

This week has been quite a whirl We started the week saying goodbye to all of the families in the area because after four and a haf months of andando in General Alvear together Elder Ramirez. It was a rather quick goodbye, but we both realized that we had learned a ton from each other and that it was time to move on. I will never forget the good times I had here in General Alvear with Elder Ramirez. They are times never to be forgotten. We really tried our best here and I am satisfied with our effort that we gave here.

Now onto the new challenge... The Lord has trusted me to be a trainer. I don`t know what He is thinking but I know that His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts higher than my thoughts. He knows that I am ready and I am excited for this new adventure. This week has been wonderful. I left General Alvear Wednesday morning at 3:30 and got to Mendoza at about 7:30 in the morning. All the missionaries who were to be training that next transfer had a training meeting with the Assistants to the President and then we waited and talked while the New Missionaires were trained by the Assistants. It is a big responsibility to be training a new Elder and I am feeling a little bit of the weight right now. This is also my first time being Senior Companion so I am making a few mistakes here and there and learning from them. I know I wasn`t designed to be the perfect missionary, but I am sure going to do my best, learn from my mistakes, and keep the confidence and faith that everything is going to be ok. I know that the Lord will support me in this new trial and I feel His love for me daily.

My new comanion`s name is Elder Cody Wilson from Fairview Tennessee and he is a stud! I absolutely love him! He is so dedicated to being obedient and is not afraid to make mistakes. He is so friendly and talks to people on the streets with a huge smile and lets them know that he is happy. I am excited to learn from him. He has already taught me much. He is going to be and incredible Elder and learn Spanish very rapidly because of his faith.

Conference was incredible! I was so excited that Elder Wilson had conference weekend as the first weekend in his mission. I absolutely loved President Uchdorf`s talk on patience. It really encouraged me to stay with things until the end, even when the going get`s tough; to be patient and calm and trust in the Lord.

This week has been somewhat of a humbling week, and I am extremely grateful for the new challenge the Lord has placed in my way. I know that with His help I can do all things and that if I am attentive to the promptings of the Spirit I will do what He wants me to do, learn what He wants me to learn, and say what He wants me to say. Thank you so much for all the e-mails, letters, and love. Please know that each of you are in my thoughts and prayers. I love you!

Love, Elder Hoglund

March 29, 2010 Dispedido for Elder Ramirez

A VERY HAPPY DAY FOR US!

Antonio Pichel's Baptism! WOW!
Elder Ramirez and I absolutely LOVE this guy.




Hola Mi Familia!

I think I say that every single week but that`s alright. I`ll try to think of something new next week.

So this week the miracle happened. Antonio Pichel got baptized. Included are pictures of his baptism. This man is incredible and has such a strong testimony of the restored gospel. He knows it. He got confirmed Sunday, got presented before the ward to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be sustained to the office of a Priest, and got called to be the new first counselor in the newly formed Young Men`s Presidency. He is absolutely incredible! We spent today with he and his family fishing, working on the farm, having lunch, and having a dispedido as they call it here for Elder Ramirez. Tomorrow we are going to have a going away dinner for him at their house. We absolutely love that family.

So I kind of gave it away in that last paragraph, but we found out transfers today. I am staying here and will be training a new gringo. It is my first experience being a Senior Companion as well as a trainer so we`ll see how it goes. I`m way excited! I don`t know who he is yet. I am going to Mendoza Wednesday morning to have an interview with President and will be paired with one of them based off of who he feels should be with who. I love the church and modern revelation that tells us what the Lord wants us to do in our lives. More to come on that next week.

This week Jorge also got baptized. He is so included with the Young Men and I feel that Antonio will be a big help for him with the activities they will do and with the personaliy that Antonio will bring to the Young Men`s Organization.

This week I learned about love and law from a talk entitled as such given by Dallin H. Oaks this last conference. I sometimes have problems telling someone when they are wrong and when they need to be corrected. But I learned from this talk that if I have love for people I will teach them correct principles and correct them when necessary to yhelp them realize that they are sinning. By helping people in a loving way realize that they are sinning, I am showing them that I am loving them and helping them come closer to Christ. Humility does not mean backing away from principles that you know make people happy. Humility is courageously putting the Lord as your first priority and not backing down when your back is against the wall of truth. The truth will set you free.

About the pench situation, we are still looking for a new pench, but I love our Pench. I`ve kind of gotten attached to it. The one pench that we wanted fell through but we`ll find something soon.

Thanks for all the love! Love from Mendoza Argentina,

Elder Hoglund

March 22, 2010 A Dive into the Ditch / An Ice Cream Party

Hey Family!

How`s everything going this week? I hope everyone is doing so well. So here`s the layout of the week.

I fell into an asequia which is the equivalent of a ditch with lots and lots of water!! I know this happened last week, but it was pretty funny and I`ll share it anyway. It was raining really hard and the level of the water in the asequia was equal with the level of the water in the street. I misjudged my step a little bit and next thing I know I am standing in about waist deep water gasping for breath beause the water was pretty cold. We threw my bag of stuff I was carrying (scriptures, pamphlets, etc...) out of the asequia and just started to laugh as I took off my shoes and emptied out water. I laughed so hard and it was nice to change things up for a bit!

This week Antonio decided to get baptized! This is so exciting and probably the highlight of my week! We had a baptism this Friday and Jhoana Sosa, her little sister Julietta Sosa, and Diego Pichel, yet another member of the Pichel Family got baptized. The service was incredible! There were a lot of people there and the Spirit was really strong. Afterwards the bishop spoke with Antonio and he mentioned that he wanted to get get baptized before Elder Ramirez leaves next Wednesday. This man is so sure about what he wants to do and has such a big heart. We had a really good conversation Sunday after church and we talked very openly about how he has really helped me learn things about my life. I love that guy and am so excited for this week to finish getting him ready for baptism this Friday.

This leads me into one of my other funny experiences for the week. After the baptism on Friday we had ice cream for refreshments, but the problem with this was that as soon as the closing prayer was given at the baptismal service, all the kids went sprinting out of the sacramental (I can`t remember what it`s called in English, the room where they hold sacrement meeting) and sprinted to the serving area. I kind of felt like I was in a zoo! The kids were screaming, the parents wanted ice cream and there was quite a bit of havoc. I laughed about it later and learned that never again am I going to give refreshments at a Baptismal Service. I don`t want to do it again if its going to be so out of control like that. Anyway, we had a good laugh and moved on. :)

So about our pench, we were going to move penches in a few weeks. Elder Campbell and I went out during a siesta and found an incredible pench that was within our budget. We met the owner of the penches and had everything arranged it seemed, but the pench got bought, so we are now in search for a new place to live again. The roof leaks and the pench was made for two, but we`ll see what happens. I really don`t mind catching water in buckets and stuff.

Here`s another funny experience. In the middle of the night it started to rain and Elder Ramirez woke me up and asked me if I wanted to move my bed because it was raining (usually when it rains, there is a spot that leaks directly over where I ususally put my bed). Anyway, I got up and moved my bed very quietly (because the floor is REALLY loud; almost any movement made upstairs can be heard magnified about two or three times downstairs where the other two Elders are sleeping) and went back to sleep. No worries though, we`re in the process of finding another pench and everything will be alright. :)

To finish up, I really want to testify of the importance of reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Satan will try to tempt us and try to get us to fill our time with other things, but reading the Book of Mormon is something we cannot afford to miss. It helps give us the drive, the motivation to do those things that we need to do and teaches us what we need to do with our lives. We open the door to personal revelation when we open the Book of Mormon. I know that by reading the Book of Mormon ten minutes everyday will help you feel more happy and ready to face what the world throws at us every day.

I love you all! Thank you so much for the Happy Birthday e-mails! I`m turning 21 in Argentina! I`ve heard that it takes about 11-14 months for every cell in your body to replace itself, so in a few months, I WLL BE COMPLETELY ARGETINE, how cool is that!? Until next time!

Love, Elder Hoglund

Cowboy Hats in Front of the Supermarket! More Hail and Leaky Roofs! March 15, 2010

Hi Family and Friends!

It is always so good to hear how everyone is doing! I love getting the e-mails from every one of you!

Let`s start with the good stuff...here is the photo that everyone has been waiting for, the cowboy hats in front of Vea, the local supermarket. It`s a little crazy, but hey, you only live once right?

This week was incredible! We have another member of the Pichel family that is going to get baptized this Friday as well as two teenage girls. Their Mom would have been baptized a while ago but she is waiting for some divorce papers to go through and then has to get married in order to be baptized. But she is way on top of that and is absolutely incredible! She is helping her daughters prepare so well for baptism. They are reading the pamphlets, reading the scriptures and absolutely loving it! One of the girls is 15 and the other is 8, Jhoanna and Julietta. Their family is so incredible!

Diego Pichel is the other member of the Pichel family that is getting baptized this Friday. I love this guy! We were at his house on Saturday doing some service and out of the blue he tells us how he`s on a fast. We haven`t taught him about fasting yet and so we were a little bit confused and asked him why he was on a fast. He said that he has read the whole pamphlet on the Word of Wisdom and that in the pamphlet it said that he couldn`t drink hot drinks, so he was giving up drinking hot Mate (pronounced Mah teh) and all other hot drinks. We explained to him that it meant Tea and Coffee but he said that since it said hot drinks he was going to give up all hot drinks. This is just a little example of how willing he is to change. Also, this Sunday, Antonio, his dad, couldn`t get gas for their truck and so he and Nora, Antonio`s wife, came to church on bikes yesterday and made the sacrifice. He has a very strong testimony and he and his mom are very special.

I want to tell all of you about a miralce that happened on Saturday. I know that miracles happen on the mission and that your prayers in my behalf are being answered. Thank you to everyone who has me in their prayers because I know this was an answer to prayer. The Hermanas in our ward had a baptism on Saturday and we had someone very special show up to the baptism. His name is Nahuel and he is 20 years old. He has been looking for some truth to hold on, an anchor in his life to fill this void that he feels in his soul. He was brought up in the Catholic church but he didn`t feel satisfied and was looking for a place to belong. He looked like he was so desperate and was so spiritually hungry and was just looking for truth. When he explained his situation to me and his desire to feel loved, I gave him a huge hug and said “Lo encontró”. Which means, “you found it.” He embraced me back very strongly pretty much the key to this whole story was the amount of love I felt for this kid. (I call him a kid even though he`s my same age...oh well). It was incredible! Anyway, he came to church on Sunday and is such a bright kid! He was answering questions in class and is not afraid to let people know that he`s looking for the truth.

This reminds me of a scripture Romans 1:16. Look it up, it`s a good one.

We had yet another hail storm this week. It wasn`t near as bad as the one we had a while ago, but it was pretty bad. We hid out in a local Kiosko (a little town shop) and chatted with the owner while the storm passed. The hail did some damage to the roof and water started to enter the Kiosko, so we helped her some some buckets around to catch the water. Our pench roof got a little damaged again as well and if we get another rain storm soon we`ll be playing the bucket game catching water again. I love it and get a good laugh out of it. We`ll get the roof fixed soon, no worries.

This week I feel I have grown a bunch and have learned to not stress, always have a good attitude and stay calm. This is a symbol of faith. Having the assurance that everything is going to be ok and being confident and calm. I am still working on it and am going to be better this week.

Anyway, I love you all SOOOO much and I appreciate all the letters and e-mails I have recieved. If I haven`t responded, know that it is not because I don`t love you... I`ll do better at getting letters out. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. I know the Lord is blessing you! Have an incredible week!

Love,

Elder Hoglund

Earthquake report! March 1, 2010 (Pictures)

Ben building a house!
Way to go Ben!


















Cute kitty! She always visits
the pench.













"Killing" Hermana White!















Baby booties! The two top soccer
teams represented!



Hi Family!

How is everyone doing. Ok, so President asked that we send an e-mail to our families on Saturday to tell everyone that we were ok. We are all ok. I did wake up in the morning at 3:45 to the apartment shaking. It was strong enough to wake me up, but not strong enough to do any damage. We have a few missionaries that have their families in Conception, I hope they are ok. I didn`t get an e-mail from Dad this week, is everything ok?

With all of the earthquakes and natural disasters going on, it has really made me stop and think. Later this day when all the earthquakes were happening, Elder Ramierez and I were walking to an appointment and I just had a lot on my mind. It made me think how just in a heartbeat everything can change and it helped me realize where our priorities should be. All the things that are written in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon are being completed. Look in Matthew 24 and it pretty much describes our day. Really our priorities should be in putting our lives in line with the teachings of the gospel and everyting else will turn out how it should. We will be prepared to face whatever curveballs life throws at us. I am going to start storing a lot of water in the pench and have at least a 72 hour kit ready to go at any time. This has really been on my mind a lot and the mood has been kind of somber down here for the past little while. But I have an internal peace that everything is going to be ok, I`m happy because I know that the gospel blesses live and that when we turn our lives over to the Savior he can make more out of our lives than we ever could by ourselves.

Anyway this week was great! We went and did a service activity Saturday morning and helped build a house. It was a continuation of a service project that we did a while ago and it went really well. I still am pretty sore. I`ll send some photos.

We had divisions this week and I went in our area with Elder Campbell. He`s a great Elder and we had a good time! He`s from Ogden, Utah and played QB for their football team. We are a lot alike and had a great time!

We`ve got a lot of investigators progressing towards baptism, each has their unique individual challenges, but they are working through them. Some need to get married. One needs to stop drinking, and others really need to take the first step and make it to church.

I`ll tell a quick story about a 16 year old girl that we have been teaching. Her mom has been a member for about 30 years, but has been inactive for a long time! They both really want to go to church, along with her little sister who is 10 or 12 years old, but their Father is really against religion and doesn`t like it when they go to church or read the scriptures at all. He is a good guy, but is really not making good decisions with his life. Anyway, that`s not the focus, he will come along. The thing that I admire is that this girl has the courage to stand up to her father and do what is right, read the scriptures, and go to church. She knows that he is going to get mad, but she does it because she knows it is right. She is a very stong Spirit and I admire her.

I love you all! Until next week!

Love,
Elder Hoglund