Thursday, August 22, 2013

Aloha Family! 
I miss you all a lot! Homesickness is not gone yet, but the Mission President said it will probably take another 1 to 2 months. Fun...We had interviews with President and Sister Warner. It was a lot of fun because they were really excited to see me. Sister Warner was talking about how I was her first friend on the mission. And they said they really miss me being in Kahala. They also told me that one of my investigators there got baptized on Friday!!! I was so excited, and sad that I could not be there. It is Marie. She is the one who was at the 4th of July picnic that we randomly invited her to. The last conversation I had with her she said that she knew she would not be ready to be baptized soon, and look at it now-she is a member of the church! It is a little hard not to get selfish, because she was totally mine!!! We were the ones to find her and start working with her. But, even though she is not one of "my" converts, at least I was a part of her journey. I wrote her a note telling her how happy I was for her.



 So after that AMAZING lesson with Toni, our investigator, we went over to her house and had a lesson, and we were going to leave to a baptism right after that. So after we finished we invited her to come with us, and to our surprise she said yes! So she and her son came and they LOVED it. They said it was really lovely and that it was eye opening. She loved how simple it was, and I think it took away any fears she had about being baptized. The members were all over them, and they all got along pretty well. They even came to church the next day! It was so awesome, we have not been able to get them to church. So now they are planning on staying for all 3 hours next week. But we are also stressed out because they are moving out of our area in a month, only a few blocks away, so we want to see if we can get them baptized before they go. We would have to give them to the other Elders in our zone which would not be bad, but we have really grown a good relationship with them and we want to see them be baptized, but once again, I will try not to be selfish. We have got a few new investigators too, so that is good. One of them should be baptized right now but people are putting doubts in his mind. He is so ready, and he knows it is true. He comes to church every week and reads the Book of Mormon all the time. He is so ready! We also have this lady who calls us by our first names, which is weird...

I  am trying to be good. Sister Warner says that they never worry about me. There are always things to improve on, but I cannot be perfect and I am trying to come to terms with that. I am most likely going to be Sister Marshall's last companion. It is a little hard because she is talking about going home a lot with a lot of other people, so it doesn't help all the homesickness and stuff. But we did think of something very interesting: how time really flies. I only have 4 months until I am done with  half of my mission. I don't know if that seems fast to you but it seems fast to me. I said that, and we both kinda shivered. 
Huge Avocado!

On my Tuesday P-day we hung out with the Zone Leaders. We got ice cream shaved Ice. It was so good. Apparently it is the place Obama goes to every time he is in town, which is gross, but it was so good that I am going to go back, regardless of its customers. We also took pictures in a photo booth and took pictures by the beach. It was a lot of fun. We also have these weird green inedible fruits on this tree by our house, and we always throw them at the Elders. It is really fun. Elders are so silly. They were at our house (because they give us rides), and they were talking about how if you touch someone's tongue while they are sneezing, they won't be able to sneeze. So to test this, one of the elders puts this leaf all the way up his nose to see if he could get himself to sneeze. He did, but his companion forgot to touch his tongue. It was so funny. Oh, I also forgot to add that I did play rugby the other day. It is a lot less intimidating with this zone. 
Food from a member- A local, by the way.
This is why I am going to get fat. 

I love you all very much, and I am so grateful for our family. Many people don't have it as good as we do. I would also like to mention how I have not heard from my darling little brother Sam. I would like to know if he still likes me or not. 

Love you, Be safe.

Love Sister Hoskins


The Pad
We just finished being at the mall with the zone leaders, and we took pictures in a Photo booth. Yesterday, we played basketball and Volleyball for like 3 hours. It was crazy, but fun. And Sam and dad would be proud to hear that I have finally decided to learn how to play basketball. I am tired of being the sucky one. 

So people have been freaking out because there was supposed to be a huge hurricane and people were telling us we had to be safe and not go out, but the locals were like "Nah, it is no big deal". So we were kind of nervous wondering what was going to happen. The sky got really dark all day and then it dumped for an hour and then it was gone. Some Hurricane! I am glad I lived through it. So that wasn't very fun; the elders were really sad that nothing crazy happened. We were all hoping to be able to do some service.

I also learned a little more Ukulele yesterday but I cannot play on mine because apparently my tuner broke, and I cannot get it to sound right, so I am really sad. But I can play "You Are My Sunshine" and that is pretty cool.
Sisters.  Amy's companion, Sister Marshall, is
 next to her on her left.

We have some investigators who are doing really well, and they just need to figure out what they want and stop letting Satan cause problems for them. We had a really great lesson with a lady named Toni. We showed her the Restoration video and she bore her testimony after. She was saying how she knows that the church is true and that nothing makes more sense. She grew up Catholic and never felt that it was true or a really good foundation for her, and she said that this church makes her feel right. I was so close to crying, she had such a beautiful testimony. She wants to get baptized with her whole family, so we are going to send missionaries to her husband in California, and when he comes back in 30 days we are going to get them baptized-hopefully. 

I  think that we are going to baptize at least one person this transfer so that will be cool. His name is Mark and he is really nice. We asked him to read at least one chapter of the Book of  Mormon and he is already in Mosiah now, He is pretty Golden. And I guess I am still the Jew,
but we have not talked to those guys in a while.
Anyways all is well, I am alive.

Love you all
Sister Hoskins