Hi my family, Dang I miss you guys so much. Heavenly Father truly loves us.  Today is our P-day so I was not on yesterday. I needed your letter so he made sure I got it. Yay! We went to the temple today which is always good. 

This week was a very trying week for me. We don't have a lot of investigators and we are not getting a lot of lessons. It is stressful because when we are not busy I struggle with the natural man inside of me and I get a lot of mixed feelings about myself. I talked with another sister on exchanges this week, and she told me that maybe this transfer is not about the work as much as it is about my companion. So I have been trying to just let go of control and let Heavenly Father guide me with what I am supposed to do.  So I am working on that and it is a lot harder than it sounds! Being humbled and changed really is a refiners fire. I hope I will be in the cooling stages soon. 

But other than that. I am in serious investigator love! I love K, our golden investigator. I told her to call us anytime because she is trying to quit smoking. So I get a call Friday morning before we woke up. She said that she is trying to avoid her morning cigarette and she needed our help. So we went to her house and went on a walk with her. May I remind you that we have not even taught this girl the Word of Wisdom yet. So we go on walks with her now. On the walk she told me that she knows that the Book of Mormon and Bible are meant to be together and that she knows it is true. She wasn't supposed to quit smoking until this Friday, but she did it a week early! So awesome! I also had a nice experience with her. I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon on the walk and I said "I really love the Book of Mormon" and she said "Yeah, I know you do. I get goosebumps every time you say it." I tried to give myself credit here and realize that maybe my testimony is my talent. I am grateful for that, it is way better than playing sports or something. :)

 Our only other investigator went to a baptism this weekend! So that was super awesome. She cried and totally loved it. She kept saying "right on!" under her breath, it made me laugh. And now she is going to the Ward temple day on Friday! I am excited for that. I love the investigators we have. I just wish we had a few more lessons.

 My companion got your package and she was happy. Thank you for doing that! We had a nice Easter. I had fun because Sister Matheus has never done Easter stuff so we dyed eggs and I got to play Easter Bunny! I was pretty excited. I just sat there eating my peeps and laughing as my companion tried to find all the eggs. I think she thought it was the weirdest things ever! Then we went over to our members house for dinner and we got to paint more eggs. and guess what they had for dinner? Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes! YES!!! I was so happy! I missed my Jam and rolls though. And then we went to another members house and they made us eat more dessert and they gave us our own Easter basket...soo much candy...But it was a lot of fun. 

Our lovely Family came to church so I was a happy camper. Today at the temple this lady walked into the chapel and she said something about how there was a General Authority coming and we all got excited...nobody came. But I always love the temple it was great.

I also thought that you would be interested to know that I have been getting out of my comfort zone a lot. Because we are the only Sisters in the zone and my comp doesn't talk much I have to hold my own with choke boys! It has been fun to tease the Elders. There is a running joke that has carried over from my last area, that because I am so nice and quiet that I must have a dark past. So apparently before my mission I was a government assassin. So I have been playing along; it has been fun. When our companion goes home after we are their companion we say that you killed your companion so the elders have been saying how I am going to kill this Elder instead of his companion. It was funny. Also my companion has never driven a car, So I have had to drive everywhere! So in the last 2 weeks I have driven to Pearl Harbor and back and Honolulu and back twice. So I have fully experienced rush hour traffic and annoying people on the freeway! I still don't enjoy it much, but I did it! I especially hate parking. Not fun for me at all. So you can be proud of me. I am trying to be a big girl. I still miss my mommy and daddy but I think I might survive. 

I love you all and miss you so much. We get to talk in like 3 weeks! YAY! Thank you for the prayers I really need them. And P.S I have only got one letter in the mail this transfer from someone other than my parents...just so you know...

Love you!

Sister Hoskins

So, it was another crazy week! Some good, some not as good. It started out good because we had interviews with President Warner and I really loved talking to him. He made me feel really good. He was telling me how he can really trust me and that he feels like he can put me anywhere with anyone and I will do a good job.He told me that I am a really good missionary, It really means a lot coming from him. I am trying to feel worthy of all this praise. I feel like I am messing up so much and then a member or someone says how good of a missionary I am. I am trying hard to not do what I normally do and try to learn how to take a compliment, It is kinda hard, but Heavenly Father knows everything and he has such a sense of humor because I have found lately that I have been teaching people how not to do things that I do all the time. I told a lady the other day "Don't think that you have to be perfect that is not a requirement" and then I was like oh.... yeah....that applies to me too. Ugh! 

Training is hard. I am especially struggling because she does not know English and I don't really know how to teach it to her. She gets frustrated sometimes and usually I just have her read the Book of Mormon in her language and then English. Suggestions are welcome. She is improving, though. She works really hard, so she will get it. 

 But a really cool thing happened. We went to lunch with this member and he gave us a referral. He said they called him and asked him to send the missionaries over, so we went over and knocked on the door and the Lady opened and said "I have been waiting for you!" She let us in and she was very emotional, She is going through a very hard time.  So she said she needs help and her extended family said we could help. She asked if we could help her and we said, "Yes!  That was only Tuesday and we are already best friends with her. She and her family came to dinner at a member's house and she came to one session of conference yesterday. She almost didn't come, but in between we ran to her house to get her to come and she did. She is really awesome. She has a lot to work through, and it is going to take a lot of work, but it will be great. I think her whole family is ready.

 I really love my ward though. I love the people that we are working with. Whenever I need a little boost they love me and make me feel better. I was feeling a little down yesterday, we went to a members house and I felt much better. Anyways I also figured out that my last ward no longer exists, they changed boundaries and took away Kailua 2nd ward. So that is kinda sad, but good.  The work will move a lot faster there. I also learned that President might be shutting down my first area, Kahala, because there is not enough work happening there. Kinda crazy!

I loved Conference! I don't really know which one is my favorite. I really liked one of the ones given by a member of the 70. The one who went right before the guy who sounded liked Dracula :) I think. It started with a C. I liked his because he taught all of the missionary lessons in his talk, very simply and beautifully. Our investigator was there for that one-it was awesome! I am going to read his talk over and over so I can teach like him. I would also like to mention that I have not got any letters in the mail for 2 weeks :) I am mostly OK but for those of you who have not written me for months, I could use a letter :) Also, I was wondering if the ward could write letters to Sister Matheus, she probably won't get many for most of her mission. She would love it. She also came with nothing to the mission. That is one thing president told me, if anyone wants to send he some things in a package that would be awesome. She really likes candy, and Ramen stuff. The ones with the different flavors. She could also use some fun things like pens, a notebook, earrings, a necklace. Maybe if the ward is in need of a service project that would be a good thing for her. Just get all the primary kids to draw her pictures. She really needs some love. Her parents are not active in the church and it is very expensive to send anything from Chuuk. Let me know if you can do that! Thanks

Love you all

The Church is true

Sister Hoskins

P.S My Comps name is Kayreen Matheus and you can send anything for her to the mission office.

The Mission Office address is:

1500 S. Beretania St. Ste. 416

Honolulu, HI 96826-1937

Aloha! Hello my family. I miss you and love you very much! I hope everyone is happy. Right now I am in large amounts of pain. We went on a hike today for P-day, and guess who got hurt? This girl! We were jumping on rocks to cross this river and my shoes were too we,t so I fell on the rock. There is a bump on my knee the size of a Golf Ball and it hurts a lot. And what did we hike to? A 2 foot waterfall! Yikes! But other than that everything is pretty good.

 We did have a baptism yesterday.  Her name is M. It was really nice.  She is such a sweet girl. The ward loves her and she will be great. I will send you pictures next week because there should be another baptism this weekend. I am trying to have faith right now for this next baptism because baptism weeks are HARD! Satan does everything he can to stop the missionaries and the investigator. This week was really hard for us because nobody wanted to talk to us. We have not got any solid investigators or appointments. But we recognized it was Satan so we got through it.

 Sunday was totally insane! So we start out the day trying to get these girls to church. So we wait outside of their house for like an hour and we missed sacrament but we got them there! It was like pulling teeth! And then at church we had to make sure they would go to class and do what they were supposed to do. So that was stressful. Then one of them didn't want to go to Sacrament so I sat out with her.  She really opened up to me and told me some things that she is going through and DANG! This girl is only 14 years old and she is going through things that you would not even believe. It makes me so sad. Jesus must be coming soon because this world is messed up! So that was stressful. And then The family that is fellowshipping M all got the stomach flu the day of the baptism so none of them could come! The dad of the family was baptizing her and the daughter was giving a talk, so we had to run around and get someone to baptize her and give a talk. We asked her if she wanted to reschedule and she said no. And then we had an Over-the-Phone lesson with J yesterday and there is a bit of a concern because she apparently didn't understand some very fundamental doctrine. So we are hoping she gets it before Sunday. We know that Satan wants so get her, so she needs prayers! 

So to answer your questions, Sister Haws has been here longer so she will most likely be leaving and I don't know what will happen with me. I think I would be happier either way but I would like to get off the rock and experience a different Island. I would really like to experience more of the Hawaiian culture. I could see them white washing our area but you never know. There is still a chance that we will stay together because we have been really successful together. This last week I have really felt like I needed to prepare all of the books and papers for new people. I have no idea though, so this will be an interesting transfer.

Please pray for J, and I hope you have a good week

I love you all very much!

Love me

O my heck I miss you all so much! That was a really fun letter! I am so excited to be at BYU-I with Katie, Millie and Alivia! And Porter is Amazing! I didn't think I was that great of a missionary but I am getting mission blessings out of the wazoo! I only wish I was there to participate in them but I guess that defeats the purpose. 

Well, this week was pretty good. We still have 2 people set for baptism. They are starting to announce it in church! We are so excited. So far J has not smoked. She called the other day and told us that something really stressed her out at work so she said that all she wanted to do was smoke. So she walked outside where all her friends were smoking and she really wanted to get some stress off, but she said she just walked away because she knew Satan was just trying to stop her and that it was a test that she passed! It was so good.

This week we also had a fun experience. We got to go to Activity Days. Because we are the only sisters in the stake, another ward called us and asked us if we could talk to their girls. It was a lot of fun. They asked us questions and now they give us hugs when we see them at church. Dang...I am running out of time... But we met with W and P again and they really like what we are teaching. I saw them later in the week and they were telling the girl that I was on exchanges with that she thinks we are doing a great job and that she always feels so good when we come over. And Exchanges was awesome.  I went with a girl who I served in Honolulu with and she is my leader and she told me that I have nothing to worry about and that I am a great missionary! That made me really happy coming from someone else.

 We also got to have a pancake Breakfast with the mission president because we hit all of our goals 2 weeks ago. We were the first ones in the whole mission to do that! It was pretty awesome! We also had a super cool miracle this week. Yesterday we were going to a lesson with two of our members and when we got there the lesson canceled. So we prayed to see where we should go and we just could not come up with anything! a few minutes later this car pulls up right next to us and they start loading boxes into their car so the members got out of their car to help.  One member said "Well here they are now let's teach them!" So he told them that we were praying for someone to teach and they were it! So we helped them with their boxes and loaded them into their house and they let us come in and teach the Restoration! So we taught them, and they said that they would be baptized and read the Book of Mormon! It was so cool! God sure knows what he is doing. 

Our Investigator D came to church this week! He really wanted to and pretty much invited himself. It was fun. Hopefully he liked it, because Fast Sunday is sometimes weird for investigators.

Last night was crazy because we pretty much had 2 dinners! And they were both with Local families. So I had to eat a lot! Here is a list of what I ate within 3 hours yesterday. Rice, stew, chicken wings, nachos, cookies, banana, Ice cream, ox tail soup, roast beef stew, Mochi, and Banana Pie! It was insane. I am easily intimidated by the locals who tell us that the Elders eat way more than us. I really don't want to be fat, but it might happen. dang...You might want to renew that Lifetime membership before I get back. I am going to need it...especially if you ever want me to get married ! Haha!

I'm sorry I don't have anymore time. I love you. I think I told you the most important stuff. We are playing Apples to Apples today for P-day.

Love you

Be happy

Sister Amy Hoskins

Well hello, That was not exactly the email I was expecting. Dang. Why does Grandma have to have cancer!? That is so dumb! She is the last person in the world that deserves that. But for some reason I am not too upset right now. I think the Spirit is telling me that everything will be OK. But I am in a room full of Elders and cannot exactly be emotional right now. Tell her I love her very much! I will try to send her a package or something.

 And I am so grateful that Liesl did not get eaten! (This is Amy's little dog who had a run-in with a coyote right in our back yard!) You should put a pot and a spoon by the door so you can make a lot of noise. Is there anything we can do to block things from getting under the deck and attacking my puppy? I would prefer to have her there when I get back. Or here is an idea...Send her here! She would totally love the weather! And we don't have any nasty evil animals here. (we do but they are in the ocean.  

The young men prank called us this week. It was pretty funny. They were pretending to be this lady who wanted to baptize her 9 kids. It was pretty funny, I totally believed them for a while. And we have been trying to figure out what we can do to get them back to where it is still mature. Have any ideas? 

So yeah things are good. I am feeling much better. Sister Haws and I are having a lot of fun. I am just tired of trying to figure out how to help our investigators with their one serious problem. All of them have one problem that usually involves another member of their family. Ugh! if they only knew what they were missing out on. This week was just trying to teach people and get them going. A lot of our investigators are really struggling right now. Sometimes I feel like it shouldn't be so hard for them, it will only bring joy and happiness. But I did learn a good lesson this week...OK, lies, this is an ongoing lesson, but I have learned how important just relying completely on God and the Spirit is. When we rely on ourselves, the lesson does not go as well when we let God fill our mouths. Man, the church is so important. I wish everyone would understand. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with our investigator and it was really awesome because I have seen that movie a thousand times and I was filled with the spirit so strong. I just know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I was having a hard time holding in my emotions because it was such a solid answer from the spirit.

We have one investigator who looks really promising. Her name is M. She is 13 and her mom is less-active. She has been to church and mutual! Her mom would totally be OK with her being baptized, so we are excited! We have our first lesson with her tomorrow! And I guess I got super defensive in a lesson this week when this guy told his wife that she couldn't learn from us. She is so ready, but he was being cynical and rude, and I guess I wasn't much of a happy camper with him!  OOOPS!  But I think we are going to try to go back. It is so hard not to get frustrated when someone has such a hard heart and is stopping someone else from happiness! Well,  I guess I am not a good as Jesus yet! If you mess with my beliefs I am not ready for you to put me to death, I am still a fighter. I'll work on that. I guess that comes with humility that I do not have yet.

 Well I love you all, and miss you sooo much. Please keep my grandmas and puppy safe. I love you

Sister Hoskins

P.S. I will be writing you a very angry letter next week if you don't write me ASAP! Love you!