FELIZ NAVIDAD Y AÑO NUEVO!!! [Warning: Graphic content: "A random giant armadillo!"]

Surprise, today is P-Day!

It was SSOOOOO wonderful to see you all on Christmas, even though you had to get up dark and early in the morning! I was so happy that EVERYONE was there! 

Thank you everyone for the letters and stuff, I went to the mission office today and got bombarded with letters! It was a very happy moment!

Well this week we were able to see more milagros! We had been praying that we could find more less-active members in our area to teach because this neighborhood didn't exist a few years ago so if anyone who was already less-active moved here, no one would know, and there's no directory or anything anyways. But just this week a lady in another area told us that she has a son who lives in Huaico who is less active  and that she wants us to go visit him! Also this week we taught the dad in a family that is less active for the first time and he has desires to return to church and go to the temple with his family! 2 Nefi 27:23 - "Porque he aqui, yo soy Dios, y soy un Dios de milagros, y manifestare al mundo que soy el mismo ayer, hoy, y para siempre, y no obro entre los hijos de los hombres sino de conformidad con su fe." ["For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."]

I love you all very much! Always read the Book of Mormon, it is 100 percent true!!  

Best,

Hermana Hooke

[I also wanted to share something Emily sent to me that I thought all would enjoy. She wrote: "I just wanted to share with you a nice comment I read inside a bubble gum wrapper.-.. Mom you are like a beautiful bright twinkling star......3 billion years old. hahaha Sorry I couldn't wait for your birthday to tell you that. I don't actually think you are that old I just thought it was funny. :)" ]

All wearing the same earrings!

A random giant armadillo

With the Tarifa Family on Christmas Eve

Elder White (aka Papa Noel) giving out fun things

FELIZ NAVIDAAAAD!!!!!

Hello!

Well I guess I'll start with the info you're dying for.....yes we found a family who has Skype, it works out perfectly at 11am my time [We will be able to Skype with her on Christmas at 6am our timee!!] . Woohoo how exciting! I look forward to seeing you! I have 40 mins.

Well, milagro de la semana [miracle of the week].....we were able to teach Facundo (also he came to church), from all those months ago, who said he didn't want us to visit him anymore. He has changed a lot and has a lot of sincere questions. Keep him in your prayers please! Really it was amazing to see that God prepares His children in His time.

This week we had a Christmas 3-zone conference and in the white elephant gift exchange I got a cool mug. For our girfts we made tie dye shirts, that was fun. 

 

Well .... HASTA EL JUEVES [until Thursday]!!!! 

Love you all very much!

Best,

Hna Hooke

What a Whet Wheek!! [WARNING: Graphic content--picture of a huge snail!!]

[Turns out that Hna Ixmatá is from the exact area where I (Lori) served MY mission to Guatemala eons ago, and we even have a common acquaintance!! As Emily says, "El mundo es un pañuelo!" ("The world is a handkerchief"...i.e. "It's a small world!")]

 

Hello all,

Hope all is well, and that your Christmas trees and lights are up! I am quite excited for Navidad! We started an advent paper chain sometime in early November, haha.

Hna Hooke's & Hna Platino's Christmas Tree

Well yes, this week has been very wet, lots n lots of rain, and also the baptism of Liza!!!! It was very special. In spite of the rain tons of members showed up and also brought good things to eat, so that was a plus. Her mom came and said she felt the Spirit. She is never home when we teach Liza but secretly she has been reading all the folletos (pamphlets?) we leave for Liza and has even read parts of the Book of Mormon and she likes our message. Hopefully Liza will be the example her family needs to learn more about the gospel! 

Liza's Mom?, Liza, Hna Hooke, Hna Ixmatá

There was a sapo (toad) just outside the baptismal font, Liza's mom said it's good she didn't see it because apparently she's deathly afraid and would have fainted, haha. Luckily Elder White caught it and put it outside.

Also I almost stepped on this snail.

Ugh!

I've been studying in the New Testament and there is something similar in many of the parables and teachings of Christ. In the parable of the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure (Matthew 13, I believe), in both cases the price to obtain the treasure is the same - it doesn't matter if we are rich or poor - the price is everything we have. This is what Jesus told the rich young man who came to him and asked what he needed to do if he was already keeping all the commandments, and Jesus told him to sell everything that he had, give the money to the poor, and follow Him. In our lives we may not have to sell everything that we have, but we do need to be willing to give everything, sobre todo [above all] our selfish and sinful desires, like the father of Lamoni in Alma 22:18 who said that he would abandon all his sins to get to know God. [Lamoni's father's prayer: "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."] 

There's a quote that I like a lot that I don't have with me but its something like 'Our will is the only thing uniquely personal that we can put on the altar of God.' [Actual quote: “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give,’ … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, LDS General Conference, October 1995)]

Well I don't have more time but I love you very much, take care!!! 10 more days til Navidad (I think!!!)

Love,

Hermana Hooke

Milagros estan pasando en Ciudad De Milagros!!! (Miracles are happening in City of Miracles!!)

Hola!!!!

First, Mom, where you served your mission [Guatemala Quetzaltenango] is in Hna Ixmata's stake at home!!! Do you remember any of the people there?

Thanks everyone for the prayers and emails!

This week was good, we are learning a lot. When I was finishing my entrenamiento [training] I was "rell" excited that when I finished we would have a lot more time (because of a lot less studying) to visit all the people we need to visit, because we were always pressed for time. Well, this week we sure had more time, but also I don't know what happened with all the people that we had to visit, we ended up tocando puertas [knocking doors] for a looong time. But, we found 20 new people to teach!!!! And families! ("new" meaning that they received us, we taught a lesson and have an appt to return.)

We saw many miracles yesterday especially on fast Sunday, best of all, Liza and Antonela both came to church....with members!!!! We passed by for Liza and she said that Aylen was coming to pick her up, and another family passed by for Antonela and she was sitting in RS with the hermana when we walked in!!! It was seriously a miracle! Especially because we were very worried that Liza wasn't going to come to church. BUT she came and she is super excited for everything and even registered for PFJ (like EFY [a regional church program for youth])! It really makes all the difference when investigators have a friend in the church! So make sure when you see someone new at church to talk to them and make them feel welcome!

Here's a tidbit of good news, 2 people in 1 day thought I was my companion on the phone! Hopefully by the time I leave I can convince the people I am from Buenos Aires...

We can Skype with the family for 40 minutes on either Christmas Eve or Christmas. I guess I will tell you more when I know more.

You have probably heard of a Christmas message dealio the church has, it's a video called "El es la Dadiva" ("He is the Gift", in English, I suppose) and it's very good, I invite you to watch it if you haven't! christmas.mormon.org. 


Love you all!
Hasta el proximo lunes,
Hermana Juc  [Spanish pronunciation of Hooke:) ]

Traslados!!!! [Transfers!]

Hola! Espero que todos esten bien! Bueno, Hna Platino left today for *Jujuy! (a province more to the north) I learned so much from her, it's crazy my training is already over. My new compañera is Hermana Ixmata (ish-ma-TA) from Guatemala! She is really nice and calm and full of love and I am sure I will learn a lot from her too! She only has a few months more than I do in the mission.

Sounds like y'all had a good Thanksgiving! Glad you enjoyed it with the family and also glad you enjoyed the fotos I sent.

This week Liza progressed a lot, she is super excited about everything still, reads the BoM and prays every day and even taught her friends at school the 10 commandments and what she learned in church! Woohoo she will be the first person I am able to teach who gets baptized! She is awesome. Also this week we worked with Aldana and Oscar, a 20 yr old couple who are also super awesome, they are both studying and came to a Noche de Hogar ("family home evening"] activity in the church and liked it a lot. Please pray for them and for Oscar's health too.

That is INCREDIBLE the guys' team [VHS Cross Country] won state! Daanggg they must be supah fast! That's crazy they are going to nationals!!! Wow.

This week we did divisions [when each companion makes visits with another person] with the YW president Daniela and Hna Reales. I went with Hna Reales to visit her neighbor to help her with her English homework (but she didn't really need help....she is suuuper advanced and asked me to revise her essay in which she used the word pedagogy....) and after we were able to have a small lesson. Her name is Marta and she is really great and prepared for the gospel. She has a 3 yr old handicapped son named Donato. But when we returned to visit her, her husband was there and he is not interested at all...it's always sad when we know our message will bless their family so much but one person wants to listen and the other no. Also when we passed by the Diaz family we talked with her husband and he listened to the missionaries about 10 yrs ago and said it was a really good experience, he went to church and read the BoM and prayed but in the end he said he never felt like getting baptized, and he doesn't want to have disunion in his family. But we talked with him and he agreed to read his old copy of the BoM and pray again with his family, and I think his family just needs some time. It's sad when people who seem so sincere don't recognize good feelings as an answer, but really peace is what we all desperately need in our lives, and this is what the gospel brings. I love in the intro to the BoM where it says that this book contains what we have to do to find peace in this life and salvation in the next. Tha'ts a pretty important book if you ask me. Well all is well here in Huaico, the church is true, life is good. Love you! Hasta el proximo lunes!

Hermana Hooke

*[I, Lori, find "Jujuy" (pronounced "hoo HOO ee" to be a wonderful word for occasions when "Yahoo!" doesn't quite fit:)]