Monday, November 1, 2010 Halloween in Argentina and Soccer Jerseys!!

All right family, let’s go through the rundown of the week.
Tuesday—We walked a lot and had a lot of appointments fall through. We had a lesson with an inactive member tonight that really made me sad. The knew that she needed to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and go to church to feel better and so her life would function better, but refused to do it. It’s like knowing the medication that you have to take and being too stubborn to take it. I don`t now what she was waiting for but it made me sad and reminded me of a stuck-up child. I really hope she comes around and makes the decisions that are going to bring her happiness in this life.
On Wednesday we had the Argentina census. I was registered as an official head of house in Argentina! It was pretty funny. We had to stay in the pench until about 6:30 at night because we didn`t know when the people who were going to do the census were going to pass by. We passed the time preparing for an activity we had last night (more to come on that!! It was exciting!). We also went to the chapel that night after they let us out of our cage to go clean the chapel. The second counselor in the Branch Presidency here always calls me a “Pecho Frio” a cold chest (kind of like I hard heart or a really cold person I think) because I`m from Utah. So to all you “Pecho Frios” out there, I pass this message along and give my saludos from one Pecho Frio to another.

On Thursday as we were teaching a man named Juan Jose, he mentioned to me a phrase that I will remember for the rest of my life that to me illustrates the importance of baptism, the remission of sins, and repentance. He said, “Every day my backpack feels heavier and heavier.” I know that we all feel like that at times with the problems that life throws at us and our backpack seems to get infinitely heavier and heavier until we can’t carry the load anymore. The Savoir invites us to come to him, for “his yoke is easy and his burden is light.” We take upon ourselves this burden the Lord wants us to carry by getting baptized and living the gospel and really our backpack is emptied out every time we take the sacrament. And that initial emptying the backpack when we are baptized is a step that we will never forget for the rest of our lives and a step that I hope Juan Carlos takes. We need to find him again this week.

We also had a very cool ward Halloween party/asado (what would an Argentine party be without an asado?) We had to leave early when the party was just getting started, but we did get a little bit of meat and some pictures.

On Sunday, this activity that I was telling you about, we had 5 companionships come from our Zone to work in our area. It’s part of an activty our Zone is doing this transfer called around San Juan in 16 days. Each week we are travelling to 2 or 3 different Zones and working in their area for an afternoon. Me and Elder Moriarty (an Elder that was in the MTC with me) got the chance to work together again and we rode around in bikes, saw some beautiful sunsets and saw some miracles as we went and taught.

It was a fun week and i hope this paints a picture of what’s happening here in Argentina. It’s fun here and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything, but the time for my mission is winding down and I do want to see all of you again. I do miss home and I miss each and every one of you (especially my family). I want to see them so bad and sit down and play a game with them after eating Sunday dinner while we eat popcorn and find random words in the dictionary or play scrabble or listen to each other speak in foreign languages. (I guess I’ll be able to do that for reals when I get back home J) But I love each of you so much and I’m happy and content to be right here right now. Plus, Christmas is coming up and we’ll get the chance to talk then.

I love you! Have an awesome week! Take care!
Love, Ben

P.S. The photo that is attached is of some kids that came by Friday night trick-or-treating (I had to take a photo). The other photo is of an original Argentina soccer Jersey that I bought. It was 300 pesos, but so worth it.) I also bought that Boca Jersey that my companion is wearing too, an Argentine soccer team. (I kind of went all out this week and am not going to buy any more Jerseys).

New Area, New Adjustments, New Challenges, and Of Course New Blessings! Monday, October 25, 2010

Sosa Family from Trapiche. SO HARD to leave them!!







Giant Soccer Game on Preparation Day!!







Carmen Leiva, a recent convert from Trapiche. She just CANNOT say the word Hoglund. :)







New Companion: Elder Hunter from Phoenix, Arizona!







Moto Bike for cruising the Argentine country side!

Hi Family!

It`s good to be able to write you this week and tell you a little bit about my new experience in my new Zone. I got transferred out of Trapiche in Mendoza centro and got moved to another campo area of the mission; Pocito, San Juan. It`s my first time out of the province of Mendoza in my whole mission and a big change to go from the bustling downtown to a purely campo area again. It reminds me of Colonia Bombal and is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are so close, it`s almost like being home.

My companion is Elder Hunter from Phoenix Arizona. He is incredible and I absolutely love him. He has just over 5 weeks in the mission and it`s almost like training again. He is so humble. When I say that we are going to go and do something he just says OK, smiles, and goes for it. He truly reminds me of the example of a little child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love. I hope to more like that one day. His Spanish is incredible for only being out here 5 weeks and we`re going to have a lot of fun experiences us two out in the campo of Pocito.

So, a question, have you ever arrived in an new area and the first thing that you do is leave on divisions with the Branch President to go visit less active members and investigators? That is what we did the first night I got to Pocito. We went in and got to know the branch president, President Lobos (he`s been a member for around 8 months and was made the Branch President 2 weeks ago and has tons of desires to do the missionary work) and one of his counselors, Hermano Bravo. They played a joke on me when I first got there. We went in to have our meeting before going out to work and Hermano Bravo said, "Oh no! They changed the Elders again? Just when we start to have a good Elder that starts to do good things they take him out and we have to start over." I didn`t say anything, but sat down and thought this was going to be an interesting transfer. The meeting continued and they stated very bluntly, "Elder, we want to know how you work here." I said, "Well, I want to work how you`re working now, it doesn`t make any sense to come here and adapt what you`re doing here now if you`re already having success." They very firmly stated, "But Elder, we are asking YOU what YOU want to do." I nervously pulled out my mission plan that we had been using in Trapiche and briefly explained it to them. Hermano Bravos took one quick look at it and tossed it aside. "No offense or anything, but I don`t like your plan, I don`t like it one bit." I said the only thing that could really possibly be said in that situation... "OK." I continued sitting in silence and then they finally cracked and said, "Elder, welcome to Pocito, take some pesos and go buy some cookies and Coke across the street in the Kiosko and let`s get to know each other a little bit." I didn`t like the joke.

But we are friends now and working hard together. I love these two guys and Hermano Olmos, the other member of the branch presidency. They are incredible, loving, and excited to work. We proceeded to leave on divisions that night and I had the scary "opportunity" to ride on the branch President`s moto (eat it up Brady. :) ) all in the countryside of Argentina vising members of the church. It was beautiful scenery and I will never have the opportunity to serve a mission like this again. I am so grateful for the opportunity the Lord has given me to serve a mission and be His missionary. I am realizing more and more every day what it means to be HIS missionary and I am grateful for every moment...the difficult ones and the good ones. I learn more every day.

We visited with a man named Crispin Lopez who came to Elder Hunter and his companion Elder Jones telling them that he wanted to repent and that he knew that they could help them. The two missionaries looked surprised but agreed to help him. We proceeded to visit him the following days and this humble Bolivian man and his sweet wife Petrona really truly have desires to repent and change their lives. We went to look for them at the house and walk to church with them with a member family Sunday morning and they couldn`t go because of an emergency that happened with their baby, but they stuck around the house long enough to "not make us come in vain" according to his words. It was a nice gesture of them and I hope the progress continues this week.

New area, new adjustments, new challenges, new blessings. It`s all another chapter in the mission of Ben Hoglund. I love you all. Thanks for all your love and support and here in the following e-mail are pictures!! Have an awesome week everyone!

Love,
Elder Hoglund

Monday, October 18, 2010 The Argentine Chef!

Cooking Tacos for lunch with the Zone.

Ben's Food Creations!

Elder Hoglund's Presentation

Hello my wonderful family!

Wow, October is flying by! Let me fill you in on what has been happening here in Argentina this week. One morning me and my companion were going to leave the pench and found it to be much colder than we had originally thought it was going to be. We left the pench in short sleeves, turned, looked at each other and decided wisely that coats would be necessary. However, now the sun is out and spring and summer are creeping in.

This week was incredible! A little disappointing that our investigators didn`t make it to church, but I know they have their agency and that I have done all I can do get them to come to church. I know they will be blessed if they do it, they just have to take the first step! That first step is sometimes the most difficult.

We visited with Sebastian on Sunday night and he said that he was going to get married to his girlfriend because he wants to get baptized so bad. The news he gave us was that is was going to happen in December and he wanted us to be there for the wedding. He then asked if he was still good for his baptism in about two weeks. We hadn`t quite explained yet that in order to be baptized you can`t be living together with someone (coviviendo o juntado...I can`t remember what it is in English). We explained that to him and he took it well. He said he would talk to his wife to be and then get back to us. He is so special. He has such a rock solid testimony of the church and wants to get baptized. I remember when we asked him about Joseph Smith when we asked him if he thought he was a prophet. He said...it makes sense. It does make sense, this whole gospel just makes sense and I love it. Sebastian is progressing along and he`ll come along.

With the Sosa family, they are having their doubts. The mother is really having doubts and doesn’t want to make the commitment to come to church. We`ll see what happens this week. Her spouse and kids are coming along and have tons of questions. We had a lesson with them during the week about the entire plan of Salvation with the little drawings and everything. They absolutely loved it and were asking questions about where we go after this life and were laughing and rejoicing in their new knowledge and unity their finding as a family. Javier, the husband, is a stud, he`s just a humble guy who works painting cars and every time we walk by their house we hear and smell him working away (the paint smell is pretty obvious.)

This week Elder Quebbeman and I sang in church and had the primary program. Ok, we didn`t have the primary program, but we watched it. Those little kids re so cute.

To share a little bit about what I`ve been learning this week. I have learned this week basically about agency. That the Lord wants us to make our own choices and live with the consequences of our choices. The Lord had given us the biggest possible gift that could possibly be given to us, the ability to choose. We are in this earthly crucible (good word :) ) to learn how to use this gift the way the Lord has given us. The instruction booklet to this gift is the scriptures. They teach us what we should do the potential that all of us have when we use this gift correctly. One thing that stood out to me as I was reading the Pearl of Great Price the other day . The Lord is talking with Enoch in heaven and Enoch sees that the Lord is crying. He is very confused as to how the God of the whole universe could cry. Enoch asks the Lord how it is possible. The Lord then says the following.:

32. The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;

33. And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

Basically the Lord is sad because of the way His children used His grand gift of agency. The Lord was the perfect parent and yet even before the world began, one-third of his children fell away and were lost, never to have the opportunity and chance to return and live with Him again. Many many more will be lost on this earth, just because He was willing to give man their agency. This gift is so important and I am learning how to use it better and better every day, I pray that we can all use this gift of agency in the way the Lord wants us to use it so He can bless us and help us all reach our ultimate goal, which is living with our Heavenly Father again.

I love each of you so much and feel very strongly that each and every one of you need to read this message. I challenge you to read and act upon it. I know that as you so do you will experience the security and peace that comes from following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Thanks for all you do and I love you!

Now for some short, funny experiences to wrap things up, then we`re done.

Brady, I remember that you used to talk about how cool it would be to have a motor on your bicycle so you didn`t have to pedal. Guess what I have seen a lot of here in this area that I haven’t told you about until now...Motor Bicycles. They are normal bikes, but oh they are not so normal. They have an incredible motor attached to the back that allows the user to pedal with leisure. When the motor doesn't`t work as well as you want it to, which happens frequently, feel free to pedal. In fact, you`d better pedal anyway, your legs will probably take you a whole lot further than that motor will.

Mom, I saw a peluquero canino the other day in the street (a person who will go to your house to cut your dog’s hair). There was a man on his moto (a small motorcycle similar to a moped) with a big box on the back (I assume it was to carry dogs) that said peluquero canino. It was incredible and I think Moki and Skooter could use it.

I love you all and thank you for everything that you do. It`s been a few weeks since I`ve heard from some of you. Please send me e-mails, I love e-mails and it makes me feel more attached to the world at home I know someday I will have to return to. Anything and everything you have to share is important to me. I love you and keep working hard!

Love,
Elder Hoglund

P.S. The pictures are some of my food creations I have made in the last little while. We also made tacos today as a Zone, I cooked all the meat and really have gained a love for cooking here in the mission. It`s so fun to create stuff and then eat it.) I`ve never felt better health wise in my whole life than what I feel right now in the mission. I love it!

Monday, October 11, 2010 Just Be Yourself!

Hello Family,

OK, so I think we`ve developed quite an addiction to paying TEG (Argentine Risk) as a pention. I would rather play games with you, don`t worry. We played it again this morning and I lost. I was so close to achieving my objective too. Anyway that`s kind of on the side, let`s get to what happened this week!

This week was a little disappointing as Sebastian and The Sosa family didn`t make it to church. We tried everything this week but in the end they fell through. I feel good though knowing that I gave my best effort and there was nothing else that I could do. They are incredible and we did end up meeting with Sebastian on Sunday night. He is still rey (that means very...and also king, in Argentine Spanish) excited for his baptism and absolutely loves the plan of Salvation. He ate it up last night.

The Sosa family didn`t come but went to go play futbol with the ward earlier this week and want to go play it again. They wanted us to come with them but they were playing really late so we had to go back to the pench. We are spending a lot of time with them and their little kids Emmanuel and Niko are awesome.

This week we found the most incredible man. His name is Jose and he really wants to get baptized he accepted a fecha for the 23rd of this month and is such a humble guy. He said he`s talked to missionaries a lot and is sharing a room with a guy who listed to to a charla with us last week.

The Elders of Estanzuela had a way cool ward activity planned (they are the Elders that live with us and have their area right next to ours) but the only problem was that not very members showed up. It was going to be an activity called "the flight to Hawaii" kind of like Dallin`s family here in a little bit right? Elder Cardus is headed home so I think he had airplanes on the mind, but that`s all right. He`s got his future ahead of him and is a very loyal missionary.

I saw someone here with a Boston Celtics shirt the other day and I thought "what is that doing in Argentina?" I don`t even know if they know what the Boston Celtics are they`re so involved in their futbol. It was funny and I had to laugh.

Dad, I keep talking to tons of Colombians down here and they always seem to be the most receptive to the gospel. I don`t know if that`s what it was like for you in Colombia or what happened, but Colombians are awesome. If you remember I also had a Colombian companion for 4 and a half months. Interesting huh?

Kind of what I`ve been thinking about this week is how the Lord is preparing people and all we have to do is be ourself. I`'ve been learning a lot about being ourself. When we are not ourself, we are fake and the people can tell that. When you push too hard to do something you are not being yourself. Let`s take it easy and be ourselves OK?

Love you all,

Eder Hoglund

Monday, October 4, 2010 Conference Miracles

Elders Hoglund & Quebbeman and Brother Henn, with their

investigators: Javior and Claudia Sosa and their children,

Nikolas and Emmanual.

Ward Mission plan poster!

Good Work Elders!

Hello Family,

First off, How is everyone!? I always love reading your e-mails and it`s nice to know everyone is alive. I`ve included a few pictures because I know you love pictures. :)

This week was absolutely incredible. There was really a special spirit as we went to work inviting people to conference and trying to help our investigators get to the chapel.

This week the assistants came and worked in our area with us for two days. It was really fun to be able to split up and cover lots of ground and do scheduling for 4 people. We had a lot of success and I learned a lot of things. The Lord really is mindful of us in each and every one of our individual circumstances and knows exactly what we need at any given point.

The Sosa famil is coming along really well! This week Claudia (she`s the wife, the husband is Javier and their oldest son is Nikolas (10 years, he always calls me Sr. Hoglund) and next comes Emmanual (8 años) said that she didn`t want to get baptized on the 16th because she didn`t feel ready to be able to say that she got baptized until she went to church and tried it out for herself. I thought that was a great idea! That is exactly what we want. They did come to General Conference and absolutely loved it. They got there for the Sunday Morning session and a member, Hermano Henn, picked them up in his car/truck. It was incredible to see how welcome they were, how the Henn family had saved them a seat on the front row and how friendly everyone was to them after the meetings were over. They loved it and were absolutely awed by the scenes from the conference center as they had never seen anything quite like it before. We`ll see how they progress this week.

Sebastian wasn`t able to make it to the General Conference but we visited with him last night and he is still way excited about his baptism on the 16th. His eyes lit up when we started teaching him about prophets last night and he is absolutely convinced and converted to the gospel. We`re going to have a few bumps in the road, but I believe he will get to baptism.

Antonio, sad story. We just can`t get a hold of him and he hasn`t come to church. I don`t know what more we can do for him.

Some stories and experiences this week. Yesterday in the bus I talked to someone named Luke that had lived in Provo and Orem for 12 years, went to Provo High School, and is only 23 years old. I very well could have seen him during the process of my high school carreer and who would have thought that we`d meet in Mendoza, Argentina on a bus, it was fun to talk to him for a bit. His name is Luke Villegas if any of you know him.

General Conference was awesome! I loved the talks and was amazed by how personally they applied to me. I loved Elder Christopherson`s talk on a consecrated life.

One thing I learned this week was that there are decisions that don`t matter. I have in the past got really hung up on the small and simple things that don`t matter such as what brand of toothpaste to buy or whether I should get carrots or peas for lunch. There are small and simple things that do matter such as scripture study and prayer, but there are other small and simple things that really do not matter. Like President Monson said in general conference "things that will have Little or no effect in you personal salvation." President Uchtdorf quoted a similar statement, and I paraphrase it; to take a step back slow down, and focus on the most important things. I have found as I do this I have more peace and am learning how to do it more and more every single day. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn this lesson. I feel more free.

I love you all! thank you for all the support! I feel your love.!

Love,
Elder Hoglund

September 27, 2010 Street Shooting?

Elder Hoglund loves those Argentine Treats! :)

Elder Quebbeman: Celebrating the 4th of July!

Hello Everyone!

It is so good to be able to sit down and write about this week. Let`s see what happened. This week we had a pretty fun week. We`ve been working all week on getting our ward mission plan ready to present this Sunday. We weren`t planning on presenting it this Sunday, but the bishop wanted us to present it so we got it ready and presented it. I have attached the plan so you can see what we`re doing here in the ward. I`n really excited about it and I feel like it will help the ward to participate more in the obra misional. We`ll see how it turns out here in the following weeks.

Antonio is still progressing but really having a hard time finding work. He`s supposed to find out today if he got a job in a local peluquerìa (Hair cutting shop). He loves the Book of Mormon every night and absolutely loves it. He`s in Alma and finds a lot of comfort in reading the Book of Mormon. He didn`t look like he was feeling too good in church today. I pray for him and please pray for me to be able to know what to do to help him.

Hugo is not coming along.

Sebastian is coming along really well! He has a baptismal date for the 16th of October and attended church for the first time yesterday. The talks in church were completely directed towards him. Earlier this week we went with Hermano Agrain, the first counselor in our ward, over to Sebastian`s house to have a charla with him and Hermano Agrain really bore a powerful testimony about the power of the Book of Mormon and his conversion story. The next Sunday in church, Hermano Agrain gave a talk and it really helped Sebastian a lot.

This week I had an experience I want to tell you about. Me and Elder Quebbeman were walking in the street when all of the sudden someone jumped out in the street with a gun and started shooting us. We were able to get away and as soon as we looked back we saw the guy who was shooting us get stabbed by his friend. It was all in plastic though so we`re ok. :) There were some kids playing in the street and I thought it would be funny to include this in my e-mail.

Last P-day we played a really fun game called Teg, it`s like an Argentine version of risk with the names of the different countries all in Spanish. I thought of you mom and your maps in the basement that you have of all the continents so you could learn the different country names. Imagine doing that in Spanish! It was fun!

This week I have learned a lot about having patience with others. Elder Hoglund`s desires are not always the desires of the Lord even if Elder Hoglund wants the person that he is teaching to be perfect NOW, Heavenly Father doesn`t want that. Heavenly Father wants us to progress on the path to perfection gradually, understanding that we have faults and that if we stay on the path that leads to Eternal Life, we will get there. The changes can`t happen now and we have to be patient with others as they work to overcome their weaknesses and change. It`s the same thing we`re doing and Heavenly Father has enough patience to wait for us as we progress gradually on the path to perfection. Imagine if Heavenly Father wasn`t patience with us. We`d be pretty mad and frustrated and so would He. But he`s not like that and understands us perfectly. I know He loves us and wants what is best for us and that is paso por paso.

(Little by little)

Love, Elder Hoglund

Monday, September 20, 2010 Where's my glasses?

Hi Family!

It`s so good to know that you had such a good time at Lake Powell! I love Lake Powell!! Here in Argentina it`s starting to heat up.

Let`s see, what happened this week. This week was a pretty eventful week in the mission. Elder Quebbeman and I moved from the office pench to a different pench and waited outside the pench with all our luggage while we waited for the other Elders, Elder White and Elder Cardus, to come let us in and give us the keys. They are awesome! I am going to send photos next week of what we`ve been doing, what the pench is like and what the other Elders are like. Elder Cardus was an assistant and is in his last transfer of the mission and Elder White has 5 transfers in the mission. Elder White is from St. George Utah and Elder Cardus is from Buenos Aires and was living in Spain just before he came on the mission. Elder Quebbeman, my companion, I don`t remember if I`ve ever told you about him. He`s from Oregon and grew up on a farm. He has spend lots of time out in the fields and knows how to work hard.

This week we`ve been working a little bit with Hugo. It`s a little disappointing. He`s not very committed to changing. We keep going by and he keeps saying that we should come Wednesday and that he likes to talk. We`ll keep coming by Wednesday and I pray that he can find the desire to change.

We did find an incredible family that accepted a baptismal date for October 2. It was incredible. We said in the lesson, if you knew this was the true church, would you get baptized. Claudia, the wife and the husband, Marcos, said yeah for sure. They didn`t make it to church on Sunday so we`ll have to move their baptismal date back but I am excited to work with them. Caludia told us the wonderful story about how in the past she and her husband didn`t want anything to do with religion and things were going really bad for her and her husband. It came to the point where she did not have a place to live and slept in the plaza for a night. She was in desperation and at the very end of her rope. She just laid down and prayed to God that help would come. Just when she did at that moment her husband came up to her in the park and said, "honey, I found us a place to live." It was incredible, they started going to back to the catholic and started to change their life. She says that she feels that God has something big planned for her. I told her that yes God did have something big prepared for her. Their two kids Niko and Emmanual are awesome. We had a good time playing with them and their dogs while we waitied for their parents to get home one day. One of their dogs just had puppies that are about 3 days old and haven`t even opened up their eyes yet. It was so cute!

We are working with Sebastian and Rodrigo(his younger cousin) as well. I have a funny story about this. When we were teaching Sebastian and Rodrigo. I had the hardest time remembering his name. I kept calling him Roberto or Alberto. So I told him to keep my glasses and then at church on Sunday I had to tell him his name correctly before I could have my glasses back. I spent the rest of the day working without my glasses, which was pretty funny. But Sebastian and Rodrigo are awesome, Sebastian has a lot of true questions and is really pondering about the Book of Mormon.

We`re also working with the Paez family, that family of 9 I mentioned last week. The mom is an incredible mother and has done an incredible job with raising her family. It`s going to be difficult to get them to church but we`ll do what we can to help them to get there.

I learned this week about patience, about how we need to be patient with ourselves and others in our mutual weaknesses. Perfection does not come all at once. But when the desires of our hearts are denied or delayed, we have ot have faith and trust in the Lord that things will happen in the proper and right time as we strive for the goal of Eternal Life.

I love all of you! Have an awesome week!

Love,
Elder Hoglund