Hello everyone,

First of all I wanted to say that we are at our members house emailing and the girls are really cute, and it made me happy because they are watching the Bible Videos on the I-pad! I was so happy!  I was like, "My brother made that App!"  It made me all proud. 

This week was okay.  Nothing really amazing happened. Being on a mission is definitely the hardest thing I have  ever done. I am trying to be stronger. It is just hard when people are not really listening. Plus, we had 2 exchanges this week, and I do not really like those. My companion is a Sister Trainer, so she goes to everyone else's area and I have to try to figure out what to do there...which is hard. But it works out OK, and there will be 2 more this week. Anyway,Toni did not come to church. We only had one at church. Mark wants to wait to be baptized in April. These people we were teaching before I even got here. We have not really found anyone new. We have a couple of potentials that we found during a Zone Flood. 

This is the fish she caught last week.
Her dad was teasing her about the
not so impressive size.

We went fishing again today with the zone leaders and caught 3 fish in the first hour and then nothing after that. I did not think that my fish from a few weeks ago was very impressive. It was tiny, but it was legit because it is a tropical fish. The guy next to us today caught a really big fish and a puffer fish. While we were waiting for the fish to bite, I taught everyone how to dance the Hoedown Throwdown-that was pretty fun. 

I am not improving in basketball because we hardly play it. I liked playing volleyball, I have yet to become very good at that game. I still think that rugby is annoying.  There is no way I can run fast enough to get past everyone. We have 2 Polynesian elders in our zone. They are really good and the rest of us stink. One of the Elders was in my first zone, so I have seen how good he is. 

So it is really funny because there are 3 cars here that are really popular and I see them a lot: Previas, Tercels, and Lexus ES 300s.  It is not because they are all our cars, they really are everywhere, especially in Honolulu. 

One of Kailua's main roads

I hope everything goes well for the wedding, I just don't even know what to think it has not hit me yet. It might not for a while...Oh, and do you know what is crazy? I hit my 5 month mark on Saturday! Strange eh? It felt like 5 months but didn't at the same time. I have been out longer than a semester at college. Please tell me as much as you can about the wedding, I want to be able to envision it as much as possible. 

Well, if you want something spiritual you should read Alma 26, it has really helped me. I do know that this church is true and I hope all of you remember that.  We would be so miserable without it. Take it from me, I have seen people who had the gospel and then the threw it away for stupid things like party life and because they were offended. Do not do that-it isn't even close to worth it. 

Good Luck with everything, I love you all.

Love, Me

P.S I am actually kinda jealous of Meshya because she gets to be Sister Hoskins, and I will lose that name someday. I pass the torch to you Meysha.  Take good care of it! It is the best name ever!

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 

Hi Everyone! This was a great week and so much fun!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the awesome birthday cards and stuff! It made me so happy, and my companion was a little jealous. I felt so loved! I had an awesome birthday-we opened presents, and then we went to a zone lunch and everyone sang to me. I wore my crown all day. And then after that, we went to this member's house.  We are teaching her daughter who is 9, and she was baptized in November. (just so you know, this is all while I'm still in Kahala) We have been over there a few times now, and it was the best because they made us friendship bracelets, and they made me a birthday card. It was so cute. It said "Thank you for teaching me about Jesus and Happy Birthday!" And then after the lesson with her, they got out these cupcakes and she played Happy Birthday on the Piano, and they all sang to me. It was so awesome! I am going to miss those girls. Then we went to a baptism, and after that we went to Cold Stone with two other sisters and talked forever and told jokes. When we got home we made the little cake and lit the candles and sang again. It was really fun. I really did feel very loved and special, and I am so grateful.

So, I was beyond nervous for transfers-to the point that I was feeling a little sick. As I was praying, the answer I got was "It is going to be MORE than alright". So that really calmed my heart, and let me tell you, that has definitely come true! My companion is Sister Marshall from Los Angeles, California and she only has 3 months left on her mission, (which sucks a lot) but she is AWESOME! We are already really good friends. She is 24, but we get along great! I am in Kailua, Hawaii on Oahu and I am in the Kaneohe Zone. And guess what?! There are only two walking zones for sisters in the mission and I am in one! We don't have a car, but I love it! My muscles and feet hurt and we sweat so much it is gross, but I am already hecka tan and I love it! I love going home at night being completely exhausted and really feeling like I worked my hardest. I love walking around the neighborhoods-people love us and always wave at us. We walk at least 5 miles a day and it hurts, but I have never been happier. My homesickness is much less and there is not a lot of time to be homesick when we walk around all day. I really feel like a missionary. I totally understand why I am here. My companion is so happy and excited with me because she had really hard last few transfers, and that makes me feel good. She really needs me and she appreciates my work ethic.  

This area is a lot like Kahala. There are a lot of rich white people, and people are not all that receptive. But hey, I know no different, so bring it on! I love rich people who slam doors! But the coolest part is that we cover the Marine Base out here. A lot of our members are in the Military. That means they are really young and it is so refreshing! We have so much fun at dinner appointments. And I already have a boyfriend! He is 1 and a half, but I was just sitting on the couch and he just started kissing my legs. It was so funny, and his parents were mortified! The whole base thing is really hard because the Marines are crazy and we cannot go on base without a member and we cannot wear our tags or tract. So we really rely on the members. They take us on and off base, and then if we want to visit any members (like less actives) they have to know we are coming, or we have to go with a member. So yeah, it is really hard to get work done over there but we are trying our best and the members are really helpful. The other problem with that is the members move a lot, so we are losing a lot of really good families. But a lot of them are our age, so we have tons of fun. We are working with theses two marines who are 25 and 26 and they are hilarious! They are return Missionaries, but we are trying to reactivate them. They call me the Jew because my name sounds Jewish. I told them about my ancestor being the first Jew to join the church. Last night we were on the phone talking to them, and my companion is really good friends with them so I wasn't really saying much, plus I had not met them yet, but all of the sudden he was like "Where is the Jew? I want to talk to the Jew!" I met him today, and he was like "It is very nice to meet you Jew." I love it. I think it is hilarious, and I am going to start calling him Goliath because he is six-seven.

You are not going to believe it, but I went fishing this Morning! It was really fun. We sat on the pier and fished with our ward mission leader. He is this big Hawaiian guy...so you can just guess how much fun that was. We were fishing with Blood Meat (which is gross by the way), and we sat there for 3 and a half hours (this is when I met our marine friend). I saw a sea turtle, a puffer fish, a stick fish, and all these cool tropical fish. We fished on base, so we also got to watch the huge jets and planes take off. It was so awesome! And....I caught a fish!!! It was a tiny Surgeon fish, but it was flippin' awesome. I will send you pictures next week.

I love you very much! Don't do anything stupid! Love you! Everyone write me more letters...cough, cough...Millie...!

Love, Sister Hoskins

P.S Apparently, the Obama's vacation home is in my area...gross. I will just convert him I guess.

Amy and her companion with President Warner, the new
Mission President, and his wife.

Hello Everyone.

 Thanks for all of the birthday stuff. It has been tempting me all week. (Her mom marked them all "Do not open until July 16th.  This letter was written on the 15th.) I only opened up 2 letters, that is it. 

She is done with the first 12 weeks, so she is no longer
a Greenie!

Well to say the least, things are CRAZY! We woke up this morning and learned that our Landlord "Grandpa" died this morning at 4. It was really sad, and we got some good crying in. He was such a lovely sweet man. And last night as we were saying our prayers, we got a voice-mail about transfers, and they were listing off the people who will be leaving the Honolulu Zone.  After a few, they said "Sister Hoskins" I was pretty much completely shocked! I am excited, but I really love the people of the Kahala Ward. And I think there might be one or two investigators who might have a hard time. They will be OK though, they all got to know Sister Rowley. I have no idea where I am going, and that is killing me. I know that I am staying on Oahu, though. We thought that for sure if anyone was leaving, it was going to be Sister Rowley. So yes, we are under a lot of stress, and I have to pack everything, and I am not really looking forward to that. I really hope I like my next companion. I really like Sister Rowley, and now I just have to start over with someone else. 

Amy, her companion, and Marie at the
July 4th picnic

Anyway, we made some progress with investigators this week. Marie is meeting with us and coming to church, and when we talked to her we were not looking for her, she was a complete stranger to us. She loves us too, and she doesn't really get the missionary rules because she wants us to go to the beach and go paddle boarding with her. I love her. She is so sweet. We didn't have the heart to tell her that one of us could be gone by the next appointment. I hope she gets baptized before Sister Rowley leaves. She really seems to depend on us. We had an amazing lesson with Bill. I think that he is really starting to understand, and Keoni too. He really wants to make the steps towards baptism. Even though I will not be there to see them be baptized, I really genuinely want them to be baptized. I never really got the whole crying thing at transfer meeting, but now I do. You get really attached to the other missionaries and the people in your area. I really will miss all of them. I am happy, too, that we didn't find out until last night that I was leaving, because I could not have handled Aloha 'Oy.

This week we also had a 'Mini Missionary' which is the coolest thing ever, and Colorado Springs needs to do it. So this girl came out with us for three days. Her name was Sister Feolaki and she is Tongan. We had a lot of fun with her, and she is probably going to turn in her papers at the end of this year. 

Now to answer Questions: the food at the 4th of July picnic was good.  There was the normal 4th of July BBQ, nothing really Hawiian except fresh mango.  It is mango season, and we are getting a lot of mango.  We cannot eat them fast enough, but I don't mind, they are soooo good! And just like in Colorado, there was a dessert table as big as the normal table. One of our investigators almost went into diabetic shock. It has not been too tempting to swim, but it was at that party, awesome waves and people having tons of fun, but it was weird seeing members in their swimsuits. You only really see them in their church stuff. And it is hard to get used to bikinis, especially at a church function. But It was a ton of fun. 

Elders Fire Dancing after the fireworks

We also got another investigator this week. Our Super Member missionary (Auntie Fine) took us to this guy's house, and he has been so prepared to receive the gospel! He just got out of the hospital from having a heart attack. So because of that,he can no longer drink and smoke, and he said that he would do anything for his family now, now that he almost was separated from them. What a great place for him to be now! He can be with his family forever, and we don't have to worry about the Word of Wisdom! I really hope he and his family get baptized. 

 I love you all. Thanks so much for the Birthday stuff-you're the best! And you now only have one teenager. I am excited to not be in the teens anymore. I will just stop growing up at 20. Love you miss you! 

Sister Amy Hoskins

Aloha everyone.

 I hope everything is going good, I miss you all so much. I hit my 4 month mark in 2 days, and that is crazy cuz that is longer than a semester. And it is unbelievable because I made it without having a mental breakdown cuz I can't call you everyday! God is for sure a God of miracles! 

One miracle is that Amy made it to the top of the
 "Mountain of Death".  This is the view from the top.

So the "Phillip" dude thing didn't work out. We got out late of a member meal and we missed him and he didn't come back. It was sad :(. I hope he wants to come back. We are still having a hard time filling our time with meaningful activities. We don't get any referrals from the ward. Nobody is really progressing right now...cough...cough the Word of Wisdom!! I just wish cigarettes were never invented, they are Satan's candy. If not for them, we would probably have 2 baptisms. 

But we did have a great 4th of July.  We invited Bill Crawley to the ward party and he and his family came. It was awesome, and we are probably going to continue teaching them on Friday. If he doesn't get baptized, I still love them.  They are so awesome. We had a huge ward party! There were at least 200 people there and a lot of them were non-members. So by the end I was exhausted and sun-burnt. But another cool story about that was we were trying to find one of our members and we ended up running into Marie, and we invited her to the 4th of July Picnic.  We didn't think much about it, but it was so awesome because she came. She came with some member friends she has that live on the Big Island. And she practically begged them to take her to church, and she came yesterday! It was way cool-so we have a new investigator...that hopefully doesn't smoke.

And the fun did not end there. So on the 4th, we can either be in our apartments by 5 or with the whole zone. So the whole zone got together, and we went and talked at a park for a while, then someone told us that McDonald's was  selling Big Macs for 99 cents until 7, and it was 6:30 or so, so we all got in our cars and ran to McDonald's just in time. So we sat there eating, and one Elder had 3, and he didn't notice how that is just about 2000 calories. It was pretty funny. After that, we walked to this park and ate a whole bunch more junk food and watched the fireworks. It was way fun! The fireworks were ok, but I have seen better. And then after that we went over to the church parking lot and some Elders got out some kerosene and did some fire dancing! It was really cool! They are all pretty trained at it, so it was really entertaining.One Elder even did the fire blowing thing and he put kerosene in his mouth...he is crazy. He is the one from Chuk. 

So transfers are coming up soon. I think I will stay here, I kinda don't want to just because of how hard the area is. And if I am here one more transfer, I will probably be here for many more transfers. I like it here because I love the ward. That is also one reason why I want to leave-so I don't get too comfortable. It is awesome because people here are really starting to like me. I wish I could be with them all day instead of getting doors slammed in my face. I guess they are my reward. Yesterday one of the deaf ladies gave me this vest because it was to small for her and then she did the sign for "I Love You". They are all so awesome. Even the young women come up and give me hugs. I walk into Sacrament and tons of people say "Hi". I also like this ward because it is at 11:30, so all of the tourists come to it, and it is fun to meet new people. 

Amy's Awesome Ukulele

Anyway, you have not answered my questions, Where are Porter and Meysha going on their honeymoon? Do you want me to get those Leis? Could you send me the picture of the drawing Sam and Katie got at the prom? 

I guess I am a little bit down today, but I am trying to have faith that the Lord has a perfect plan for me. I am trying to be happy no matter where I am. I guess some days will just be harder than others. I miss you all. I hope I can make everyone proud. Your support really helps make me stronger. 

Love, Sister Hoskins

After a zone Silly String Fight...

Aloha Everyone

July 1, 2013

Aloha Everyone! First of all, I think that it is kinda funny that it is so hot in the "mainland"! It sounds like you all are living in hell. Everything is burning and hot! I am sorry I guess I am the only one that made it to paradise! heehee! No, it is summer, so it is getting hotter, but I think it doesn't get much over 90, and it seems like there is less of a breeze. We went to the zoo today as a zone and it was hecka hot.

This week has been really quite hard. We thought that we found a miracle, but to our mortal knowledge it did not end up being a miracle, so no baptisms for us. If nothing else, I don't know if I have ever prayed so hard in my life. We were really discouraged yesterday, but I prayed and prayed, and I was filled with peace. The scripture that kept going through my head was the one that talks about "neither are your ways my ways". We just didn't understand why we couldn't just get these Baptisms, but I now have a better testimony of the fact that our timeline for ourselves does not match the timeline God has for us. Geesh! You would think that I would know that by now! But anyway, yesterday was NUTS!! We were about to baptize this guy (our less-active that we called Salt Lake for and they said they didn't have his records), and then we found out that we spelled his name wrong, and he actually has church records! We were not happy!  And we talked to this person who is REALLY SMART!! I felt my brain melting.Here is the climax of our week. It was awesome because we got to meet the new mission President and his wife! We were one of the first to meet him because they live in our ward. And they are sooo awesome! We had so much fun talking to him, and now he thinks that we are great!! So now he likes us and knows us better than anyone else. While we were out in the foyer talking to him, this guy walks into the church, walks up to a member and says, "I have lived across the street for 20 years and I want to join your church! Where do I sign up?" So the member brings him over to us, and he goes to Sunday school.We told President what just happened, and he thought it was just about the coolest thing ever because they just got here that night, so this was their first cool missionary story. They were so happy, and they wrote it all down. President kept telling the members how awesome their sisters were (ME!!). Anyway, so this random guy walks in, and he comes out of Sunday School and is like, "My whole family has been atheists, and I have been in there for 5 minutes and I am a believer!" So we were like "Holy Cow this is our miracle!" and the new President and his wife were just jumping out of their skin to see what happened with him.  So he comes out of class, and was like "OK teach me! What do I need to know? What do I have to do to sign up!" So, I am sorry to put a damper on this story, but he is pretty much Phillip from Survivor. He could be his brother. He kept talking about how he got shot as a private detective, how everyone wants to kill him, and how his IQ is much higher than a lot of people. He also told us he is mentally ill. He also got WAY too fresh with us and made us feel really uncomfortable, and he couldn't stop commenting on how HUGE my eyes were. He also said how he enjoys being taught by two beautiful women (yikes!), but he really wants to join the church. He was asking us just to teach him everything because he wants to be baptized. He phrased it as "put me on the fast track!". He said he has looked at a lot of churches and he wants to be in this one. So we have an appointment with him tonight and we asked our District Leader to come with us to protect us. Some of the things he was saying, we knew we should not teach him alone. So we will see how that goes, maybe he will be perfectly normal tonight, we will see.

 So we are praying that this week is better. It should be because it is the 4th of July! There are lots of fireworks, but we have to be in early so we don't get to see any :( But there is a ward Picnic that everyone is looking forward to. So that will be awesome!) I also got this awesome striped dress and that same Elder (the one who calls her Kitty Girl and Sister America) called me a Popsicle! What a turd! I am still wearing it, though. I don't care what they say. And after I got all offended, he tried to redeem himself by saying "A very pretty popsicle". Elders... I guess they are still boys. NO, they are awesome.  Our zone is awesome. 

OK, to answer questions: We sang "Abide With Me" in church. ( and people are still talking about it, I really don't think that we are THAT good, but whatevers) I got the Ukulele at a music store here in Honolulu. Hopefully I will learn how to play from my Companion. I know 3 notes!!! The Lei was made out of flowers only. And speaking of those, how many should I get for the wedding? And where are they going on their Honeymoon....it better not be Hawaii.  I finally recovered from the hike (Physically at least) I was limping for three days. My companion thought that it was hilarious. Ok so apparently the Worldwide leadership conference is going to change EVERYTHING!!! The zone leaders had a meeting today and they said that there are some crazy things President said. But because we are in presidents ward, we heard a few things..So apparently we are going to get mini I-pads eventually and sit in the church answering mormon.org emails and giving church tours! Because tracting is not working as well. Apparently in one mission, a general authority told the missionaries to open up to the tracing part of Preach my Gospel and cross it out!! It was good that I wasn't there cuz I probably would have yelled HALLELUJAH!!  We will get to use Facebook somehow. So hopefully those changes will come sooner than later. It will really help the work move more efficiently. At least in our area, tracting does not work! Also, for my Birthday you can send me stuff, but not spend too much money. I really do need to make sure I can get to college. I really just want a letter from everyone. Mahalo! 

Some days I really like being a missionary, and some days it is harder than anything ever, but I really do feel my Savior a lot stronger in my life, and that makes it all worth it in the end. I hope all goes well with everyone there on the mainland. I hope your cars work and you stay happy and safe. I also need more letters! 

Love you all very much, I am proud of you too! 

Sister Hoskins