Amy's feet during last week's hike.

WOW!! there is so much going on. Our investigators are good. We had to drop Rod because he wasn't coming to anything, but everyone else is good. Bill Crawley is the best.  He is just a really cool guy. We picked up a new investigator on Sunday.  He has been coming to church in the past and now he wants to meet with missionaries. He is so excited to be baptized.  We have a date for June 29th. They announced his date in Sunday School and he was like "Wahoo!!!" He just has to get a hold of the Word of Wisdom. Yesterday was a great day.

 I witnessed my first Aloha 'oy and I wanted to die. That is just pure torture. It was for a kid leaving on his mission. I didn't want to cry while I was sitting next to our investigator, but I did. We had 3 investigators at church. I really love the people in my ward. They are amazing.

 I have not played Rugby yet. They are all really good and wear cleats and stuff so I don't know...

Amy titled this "Crazy awesome mountains"

Another good thing is that I think I am fitting in with the ward better.  It seems like they all like me. So we have 2 more weeks of this transfer and the other day my companion is like "Do you think that you could train next transfer?" AHHH!!!!  She doesn't know for sure if I will have to, but they have a lot of new sisters coming in. I really hope I don't have to.  I am not even done with my training. I know that if the Lord calls me I can do it, but I really don't feel like I know enough yet to help another girl. I am overall doing really well. My testimony has really never been tested like this. I am so grateful for the experiences and the people who have helped me build my foundation. Without that foundation I think I would have lost it by now.

Blow Hole!

 I don't have much time left but I guess I will tell you a cool story. We go tracting in other people's areas 3 times a week, and that is where me and Sister Clayson have the most luck. We always find the elders amazing investigators! On Saturday we knock on this door and ask this girl if she would like to say a prayer with us, and she said yes. And we asked her what we could pray for, and all she said was "Its just so hard". So we said the prayer, and she was crying through the entire thing. And we asked her how she felt and she said "Let's just say you came at the right time".  It was sooo cool. And she asked if she could give us a hug and we hugged a lot, and she said that she will for sure love to be baptized! I just loved her!  And when we left we just kept talking about how we wanted to be her friend, be at her wedding and add her on Facebook. It was awesome. I hope I am here for her baptism. I could really use more letters too! Please! Thanks.  Love you all! 

This beach park is very close to their house, and they go there  quite a bit.

Well today was stinking awesome! We went and hiked Manoa Falls. It was so awesome because it was pouring rain! We got SOO wet! I felt like I was in Jurassic Park or something. It was thick jungle all around us, and we were trekking through mud. My legs were all muddy. I was almost Polynesian!  It was so fun because we were climbing all over slippery rocks, and I was usually in front (I know WEIRD!). It was so wet that it was like being in the shower with your clothes on.  And next week we are hiking Koko Head and that makes the incline look like Candy Land. So I don't really know how I am going to get out of that one....

Manoa
Falls-not Amy's picture

The trail to Manoa Falls-again, not Amy's picture

.I had a blast talking to everyone yesterday, but it was way too short. Make sure you keep sending letters. First of all that picture of Sam is hilarious! Did you know that my companion has a little brother named Sam? We figured out that they need to be friends now because they would both rather play basketball than go to school. Yeah, so I have been playing basketball with the Elders and it is really fun. They stopped treating me like I was fragile.They still let me shoot the ball whenever I have it, though...I don't really care, more points for me! 

So it turns out that 1 of the elders in my zone played for BYU football. His name is Elder Prichard. Does anyone recognize that name? Also I figured out that one of them played rugby for college so that does not help my fear of playing with them. And Elder Ewar Knows Thomas Allred (Millie's brother-in-law), which is awesome! He came up to me and asked me if I knew him. 

On the missionary work side it has been ok. We met a guy who works for Hawaii 5-O, so that was pretty cool. And a lady in out ward is really good friends with Bill Cosby, and we might have talked her into sending him a Book of Mormon! (I told her if she wanted someone to write their testimony in it I would volunteer). Apparently he told her that BYU Idaho was really different and that the feeling there was really special! Pretty Awesome!

And our investigators came to church and we have another appointment with them! I love them. I wish we could talk to them everyday. I honestly think that the Lord has prepared them to receive the gospel. And they said that they would be baptized if they learned that our message is true. And our Japanese investigator apparently watched the restoration video 2 times so that is a good sign. I learn more and more every day about how true this church is. How could 20 year old people do this everyday if it wasn't?

 And you all should pray that I don't gain a million pounds. We went to dinner last night and they just kept commanding me to get more food. They didn't ask me nicely or anything they just looked me in the eye and said "Go get more food". So yeah, sorry If I come home looking like Santa. 

I also got to go to Pearl Harbor and do service, we swept the inside of the USS Missouri. That is the ship that Japan surrendered on and it ended World War 2. It was awesome. A lot of people that came were not even American, so they didn't really care. I was the only one who really thought that it was cool. I was getting all patriotic. I was proud to be somewhere with so much history. I thought it was hecka awesome!

Amy at the USS Missouri

I also think that out of all the things I said yesterday, I forgot to say Happy Mothers Day. so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! To my Mom and my Grandmas! Plus everyone else! These women have changed my life and made me who I am today. I do not know what or who I would be without them. The Lord has Truly blessed me with amazing women how are such great examples. 

Mahalo 

Sister Hoskins

Halona Blow Hole Rock

Hello Everyone!

                So the beginning of this week started out with me going to the Temple. It was pretty awesome. The drive up there is AMAZING!! We ate at this cool taco shack afterwards.

Amy's district at the Laie, HI temple

 I also got to go out of zone with 2 sisters and we got to go along the other side of Oahu, and that was really cool. I got to see blow-hole rock. Oh, and another exciting thing is that I got a serious sunburn. It hurt really bad! Plus I had 7 mosquito bites along with it, so it was just lovely. But it was funny-we drove around for an hour trying to find aloe.  You would think they would have some in Hawaii…not so much. I officially HATE mosquitos  I got 7 bites in 1 hour. It was horrible. But the magic cream of goodness (the Benadryl stuff) really helped a lot. I thought I lost it one day and I almost cried. 

Our area is super rich and prideful so it is really hard to go tracting. But this was the first week I literally got a door slammed in my face. I also figured out that I do not like exchanges. They are not fun that was the most unproductive day of the week. I really like my companion.  We have had so much fun. On our search for Aloe we  got ice cream and sang songs into our ice cream microphones. 

This week I also got flirted with by a guy with no teeth.  He looked into my eyes and was like “Girl! Are you wearing contacts or are your eyes just that beautiful all the time?” And then we saw him again and he said “Girl, make sure you never change those eyes.” It was pretty much hilarious. He was CREEPY. And then we talked to this other guy, and after we said a prayer he was like “Wow you two girls are so beautiful”. So apparently we glow with beauty. I have also been told how I look 14, and that I am really white. That is how I got sunburned. I wanted to get more tan, and we all know how well that worked out.

                Well on the missionary side of things, we had a few miracles. One was, we were going around these apartments and we usually cannot get into them because they have gates, but this one we tried the door and it opened!  Some guy very rudely asked us how we got in and we said the door was unlocked. And walking away, I said-not to him by the way (that would be un-Christlike) “Too bad God is more powerful than your little lock.” And we went back down and tried it again and it was locked. So yeah, Heavenly Father wanted us there that day.  We also committed 2 of our investigators to baptism for June, so keep them in your prayers that they will follow through.

              I was so excited to see the prom pictures. I showed the Elder next to me, I was like “Look! My brother went to Prom!” And he looked at me like I was stupid. Well, too bad for him missing out on the awesomeness. Also, I was wondering if maybe you could videotape an interview with Grandma. It doesn't have to be long. 

I Love you all, thanks for your support

Send me real mail in the middle of the week please.

Love you

Sister Hoskins

Amy sent us some pictures.  Here are some of them:

Charlie and his sister-the first people she gave a Book of Mormon to.

This was the view she woke up to the first morning in Hawaii.

The Tabernacle.  She spends a lot of time there.

She said before she left that she wanted to wear a Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt just once.  This was the first weekend she was there.

Her study table

The view from her study table.

Here is a letter we received last week.

Dear Brother and Sister Hoskins:

It is a pleasure to write to you of your daughter's arrival in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.  she was met at the airport where she arrived well and in good spirits.  Her companion was carefully selected to insure her of a proper introduction to missionary work here, and we are confident that their relationship will be a mutual blessing.

At the Mission Home we took a snapshot of Sister Hoskins with Sister Dalton and me, which we enclose for you.

Thank you for sharing your daughter with us.  We already love her as one of our own and are thrilled to have her in this mission.

Weekly encouragement from home will certainly help inspire greater missionary effort.  Mail to your daughter should be sent to:

Missionary name (First, Middle Initial, and Last)
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 South Beretania Street, Suite #416
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

First class and priority mail can be forwarded without cost.  The other services (Federal Express, DHL, UPS) do charge to forward mail which we collect from the missionary.

Sincerely,

John C. Dalton


I hope you enjoy this picture of Amy as much as I do.  She looks so happy!