Emily's LAST email home!!

First off, HOPPY LEAP DAY! haha.

This week there was the biggest craziest storm I have ever seen, and a lot of the city flooded. Luckily we live on the 3rd floor, but there a lot of people who lost everything. Its a bummer but at least the things that matter most cant be lost just by getting wet - family and friends, memories, a testimony.

 

Ariel went to church and is progressing well! His mom Irene doesn't want to leave the religion of her whole lifetime. But Ariel should be able to get baptized next transfer! 

Well, strangely enough, this is my last email home. As much as I would like to be a missionary for a little longer, Heavenly Father has other things prepared for me. I am so grateful for this time I have had to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and directs this work, and I know that what we are doing is the most important thing in the world. I have grown to know my Savior better as I have served Him and tried to follow His perfect example. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is really the only true church on the face of the earth because it is the only one that Jesus Christ himself leads through revelation. I know also that revelation is real -  not just for prophets and apostles, but for anyone who diligently seeks it. Every person with sincere desires can find out for him or herself that this is true. I have seen it throughout my mission and in my own life. I am grateful that the true gospel was restored and that we have the Book of Mormon, and I am grateful that families can be together forever. 

1 Thessalonians 4:7

 

Love,

Hermana Hooke

Learning from the Spirit

Hola!

This week we had a zone conference with President and Hermana Chaparro and we talked a lot about one of Elder Bednar's talks that is about the role of the Holy Ghost in the conversion of investigators, and our role as missionaries to help in the process. We tried hard to put it into practice and had some really good experiences. Especially we had such a spiritual lesson with Ariel and his mom Irene. (I don't remember if I've mentioned Ariel...he works for the branch president and showed up at church and now we are teaching him and he is the best!) We tried to ask inspired questions, and to one question in particular Irene had trouble responding, and maybe in the past I would have started explaining the doctrine again thinking she hadn't understood. But this time we just waited patiently and silently, and then she responded and her answer was perfect! I really could see that the Spirit was teaching her. We are not the teachers - the Spirit is the teacher and we are just tools in God's hands. When we shared about the First Vision [when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith] and prayed together, Ariel said he felt "fire and peace", and Irene after thinking for a minute said she felt "a strength." It is so beautiful to see how the Spirit works with our investigators when we are careful not to get in the way. 

 

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 

whom the Father will send in my name, 

he shall teach you all things..." (John 14:26)

 

The Spirit is our teacher and is the teacher of our investigators. Maybe we don't have Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ right by our side, but we have the other member of the godhead, the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for the blessing of having His help in this work, because it is only with His help that we can do God's work in God's own way.

 

Love you all, have a great week!

Hermana Hooke

A Storm and a Baptism! [A Photo Essay of 4,000 words :)]

This week we had a storm and a baptism. A picture's worth a thousand words!
Love,
Hermana Hooke :)

Big miracle...and a clogged baptismal font

Hola a todos!

 

This week we saw a very big miracle, we contacted a neighbor of our investigators and she was not interested at all, the first thing she said to us was ¨No Creo!¨ (I Don't Believe!) But we were persistent and she let us in to share our message. Well turns out she had been searching for the true church and come to the conclusion that she didn't feel God's power in any of them. We promised her that if she reads the Book of Mormon and prays about it and attends church, that she will find the true church. It was a really powerful lesson. Her name is Dafne.

 

A member went on vacation and gifted me a pin with little people on it, haha.

 

 

Well this week we prepared Silvia for her baptism, she had her interview and she is ready, but she decided to postpone it until the 13th because she wants her sons to be there who are working in Jujuy. Menos mal, because the baptismal font is clogged and there are weird things living in it...so now we have an extra week to get it fixed :) If all else fails I'm all for the river! haha.

 

 

The baptismal font....there was like a little octopus or something in there... [YIKES!!]

 

Well I love you all very much, I loved all the pics you sent of the family! I am grateful that families are eternal!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Hooke

FOTOS:  And the other is

A Good Start to a Good Transfer!

Hello!

Hope it's been a good week for you all! It was a very good week here with Hermana Warren. First of all, Hermana Warren studied culinary arts before the mission, so I am very happy. :) Secondly, we found a TON of new investigators! Probably more than in any other week of my whole mission! So we are excited because now we have more people to work with so they can progress and hopefully get baptized too! 

Silvia went to church yesterday with her daughter and she will probably get baptized this week! She is very valiant, she wants her kids to return to church and what better way to help them than by going herself? 

Here is a fun fact from this week, I put the harmonica you sent me a while back to good use, in our District meeting we played Name that Tune and it was a good time overall because no one else knows how to play it! haha. 

Life is good on the mission and I am so privileged to be able to represent my Savior Jesus Christ. There are so many people that need to know Him, and it is the most beautiful thing to be able to be a part of the process and to help them.

Love you!!!! Have a good week.

Hermana Hooke

Dripping with sweat after helping remove a giant root out of a member's garden!

New companion Hermana Warren and me eating ice cream:)

For my last transfer, I am in...

............Concepción! haha I am very happy to stay here with so many wonderful people that I love dearly! Hermana Barros went to Salta and my new companion is Hermana Warren from Utah. She came from Belgrano (one of my old areas) and her companion was Hermana Vargas (one of my old comps!) Qué loco, no?

Well this has been a week of spiritual growth. We were able to see a worldwide transmission [broadcast] for missionaries and we also had a conference with a member of one of the Quorums of the Seventy and his wife who came from Buenos Aires, Elder Krasnoselsky (or something like that....ha). We learned a lot about the importance of the Spirit in the conversion of people. I really liked something Elder Bednar said: Teaching is not talking. It is listening and observing, both to the Spirit and the investigator. We tried very hard to do this during the week and have been able to help Juan Peralta progress a lot--he is the branch president's father-in-law. He is the first investigator I have taught who from the beginning has a very strong testimony and already knows the church and the Book of Mormon are true. We just have to help him be willing to change and leave a whole life of what he's used to for what he knows is the truth. Silvia went to church again and if all goes well she will get baptized now on Febuary 6th! 

 

Well I am out of time, we have to go to lunch now (we had permission to write today because my comp got here really late yesterday so we couldn't write.)

 

Well, I love my Heavenly Father, I love His children, I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I am grateful for the family that I have! I love you all very much!

 

Con cariño,

Hermana Hooke :)

Don't Fall Asleep During Long Talks

Hola,

Hope all is well in Ventura/San Clemente/Boise/Ohio/Utah/anywhere else you might be reading this!

 

I have a different companion for a few days, her name is Hermana Bitton, our companions went to do visa stuff in San Miguel. She started the mission in a pueblo called Simoca that is in our zone here in Concepción, so today we went there so she could see her old friends! And we had lunch with a marvelous almost-member Rosa (she is waiting for the divorce from her ex-husband so she can get married officially to her current husband and be baptized) [happens a lot in South America!]. In Simoca, it is very tranquilo (peaceful) and the people are very nice.

 

This week we found a lot of new investigators, and a 17-yr-old member Daiana (who wasn't active but now is active just because we visited her one time) is helping us a lot by accompanying us and encouraging her family to listen to us.

 

Silvia (our investigator whose 7 kids are members) was going to get baptized this week but she got sick and wasn't able to go to church. We were waiting for several investigators at church yesterday and no one showed up and it just hurt my heart! And it made me realize how much it must hurt Heavenly Father when we don't do the things we know we should! But we have at least 1 more week to work and help our investigators and recent converts here to keep their commitments. I have no idea what will happen next week when it's transfer time again...I hope to finish my last transfer (6 weeks) here in Concepción, but we will see what God's plan is for me!

 

Well I love you all lots! 

Hermana Hooke :)

PS if you want to know the explanation for the subject line, look up  Acts 20:7-9. :)

Oops ya fue my computer time...at least I sent photos!

Oops...ya fue my computer time...at least I sent photos:)
Love you lots!
Hermana Hooke

They fixed the rat-chewed piano - I am the first one to play it in the meetings in more than 5 years!

Emily's Zone

A cool little plaza where we did exercise today

Look what a dog did to me! But I survived...

We made cookies last P Day with the Luna family (and their cat Gringo)

Christmas package from Lee Ann & Dan (fuzzy socks!!) THANKS!

Another Fun Week in Concepción!

Hola amigos y familia!

Happy 2016! Hope you had a good new years! We had a good time here and we got to have dinner with our good friend Mary and her family.

 

This week we had some funny moments and some spiritual moments, so I guess you could say it was a very good week! Some funny moments were a power outage in our apartment only (turns out we actually had electricity, we just hadn't turned the light switch on...haha we are smart!) and off-roading a baby stroller for about a kilometer to return it to our investigator Laura's house (don't worry there was not a baby inside.)

 

We are working with a young mother Karina who is a member of the church but has been inactive for years. Well recently she decided to return to church to help her family, and we have been teaching her the lessons. It is amazing to see how, years after being baptized, she is discovering how beautiful the gospel is and really being converted. She said that she had read the Book of Mormon before, but now it is different. Now she feels and recognizes the Spirit and wants to keep reading and learning more. This happens a lot - maybe the Book of Mormon or the gospel haven't changed, but we change, and our hearts change, because of different experiences in life that prepare us to really receive and accept the gospel. There is a time for everyone, we just have to trust in the Lord's timing.

 

Well I love you all very much and hope you enjoy a superb week!

Un abrazo (a hug),

Hermana Hooke :)