Manoa Falls-from last week's hike.

Well, this last week was a week of firsts for me.  First, (heehee Punny!) I bought a Ukulele! The only way you can learn is if you have one,so I have one!  Plus, I wanted a cool Hawaiian talent to come home with. So, hopefully that will make me more AWESOME!  Also, we have been singing to members at dinner for the spiritual thought, and they all say how good we are. I have never been told before that my voice is really good, and they all told me that. So, that made me and my companion do something CRAZY!  It was President Dalton's last Sunday yesterday, so we wanted to do something for him. As nuts as it is, I agreed to sing in church. And not in choir, in an acappella duet!  So we did that, and if that wasn't enough, I had a SOLO!!!  I was sooo nervous, but apparently I did good because everyone came up to us afterwards and was like, "I didn't know you could sing". It was so amazing!  And my favorite person here, Sister Sattler, came up to us raving about how great it was. So apparently I am a good singer, and now people are going to make us sing for them.

 I also made my first Lei this week for Presidents aloha 'oe (which by the way is the most horrible depressing song in the whole world. I bawl every time without fail) (Aloha 'oe is a Hawaiian farewell song.  It's beautiful, especially sung by Hawaiians) It was fun. I think I made 3; it is really easy! 

One night, which happened to be my companions birthday, there was this Stake America Pops concert and it was AMAZING!! They had a full orchestra and amazing singers and dancers. The musicians were all college level or higher so it was amazing. I loved it a lot, I really learned to love the people here because of it. We went both nights, and the second night they asked me to give the prayer, so I got to pray in front of hundreds of people! I was pretty nervous.

Sister America and her protector on last week's hike,
 hence the smile.

This morning we hiked the mountain of death!!!!!!! I am NEVER EVER doing that again!  I can hardly walk now. It is like the Incline's evil, higher, steeper, dangerous twin! It was the hardest thing I have ever done. My knees were hurting, I couldn't breathe, and my heart was about to collapse. And it didn't help that I had a group of people walking next to me to "encourage" me. I just wanted to go halfway up like some people did, but no, my little group of people wouldn't let me. And you know how some people say that they were happy they went up and did it anyways because they accomplished something and they feel good about themselves?  Well I do not say that. The view was good, but it was hard to appreciate when you just want to be taken away on a stretcher. There was one Elder, the same one from last week, who refused to leave my side, and made sure that I was not going to die. There is one part where you have to cross this bridge that is not really a bridge, it is a few logs, and he walked in front of me so I could grab him if I fell. Apparently I give off the Damsel in Distress vibe, but honestly I don't think I could have made it up without him. And instead of Kitty Girl he calls me Sister America, which is much better. 

The missionary work is going pretty good. It is going great for the mission and our zone! We only need 15 or so more to hit 200 baptisms for the month, which has never been done before in history!  At least in our mission. Our zone is 6 away from 40 baptisms, which has never been done before in the history of the mission. We already hit our High Water mark which means we have beaten the record for the Honolulu Zone. We need 6, and I think we have 8 scheduled, so that is AWESOME! We have maybe about 6 investigators, but I don't know if I would put the word "progressing" in front of them. A lot of them just have one thing that is stopping them. I Hate Satan, he ruins everything. But we have been doing our best, so that is all that matters, I guess. I think we can get at least one baptism before transfers.

 I LOVE my ward, and they love me.  They all seem so happy to see me, and I think they are really starting to trust me. They all love to talk to me. They see me around town and are excited. I love them all so much, I am going to cry a choke-lot when I leave. I wish I could just be with them all day everyday. The deaf group is excited cuz I have picked up a little sign language.  They are so sweet too. I love them. 

We re-activated this lady, We didn't obviously, God did, but I think our talking to her helped a lot because her mom died, and we were already her friends before, so she knew where she could get support. She is really nice, and we are good friends with her (Sister Jones). Also, yesterday we had a miracle. It is amazing when you can obviously see God working in a situation. So we have this REALLY less active guy we have been talking to, and we kinda dropped him because he kept canceling appointments. We were just going to wait til he took some initiative. Well on Sunday morning he texted us saying, "When is church?", which just about made me want to faint of shock because we haven't talked to him in 2 weeks. We only talked to him twice, and he was not ready to come to church, but he came!!  It was perfect timing because President Dalton was speaking. So I walk into church with this huge Samoan guy, and I was sooo happy! He cried a little, and said that he wants to help people like the Daltons do. He went up and talked to President, and President made him promise he was going to keep coming back to church.  He said he would, and he stayed all three hours!! It was a complete miracle! It was all Heavenly Father too! Maybe us talking to him helped a little, but the Spirit got him to church on the exact day he needed to be at church! I was so amazed. God really has it all under control. He really doesn't need missionaries to get his work done, but he lets us help him. I never really thought of it before, but really he doesn't need us, but he loves us and trusts us enough to help him in his work. 

So I have questions and comments:

First, did Dad cry when he read my letter?...cuz that was my main purpose. Also I have been waiting for the pictures of Alivia in the hula costume and on her birthday, and the picture of the drawing Sam and Katie got at prom. I also thought I would put a plug in for my birthday because it is on my mind. All I want are lots of pictures, a letter from EVERYONE! Maybe you could print them all out and send them on my birthday in a package.And maybe the money you would have spent on gifts put in my bank account so I can go to college when I get back. I have to spend some personal money here so I don't want to kill my college fund. 

I have no idea what is going to happen because of what was said in the meeting yesterday. I am excited to see, but we are getting a new mission President on Saturday, so we will see what happens. 

I love you all sooo much and I just wanted to say that if any of you leave the church I will hunt you down and knock some sense into you because that would be the dumbest, saddest thing you could ever do. So don't! And thank you dad for writing me a letter too! I hope I got all you wanted in this letter. And I would love to see those pictures. I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Hoskins   

P.S. I knew I was going to get a Nephew I am so Excited!!!