14 November 2007

Hello my lovely family and friends,

Greetings from a beautiful, foggy and cold day in DC. This weather is great! It is completely and totally my kind of weather. Soon it will be getting very cold, which means Christmas! I love it! Speaking of Christmas, we are working hard to get ready for "Festival of Lights" at the VC. We recently received training for Ambassadors Night. We were taught the proper etiquette for example we must address them as Mister Ambassador and Madame Ambassador. Totally my kind of stuff! We were taught how to respond to the media that will be attending, whether to shake hands or bow etc. The young woman who trained us is a member of the church and she loves her job! Maybe this is something that I should look into after the mission... anyway, her name was Mari, which made me like her even more! We have also been training on floor positions, ushering, etc. It's so exciting! The musical number for this last training meeting was "When Mary Sang Her Lullaby". I've been helping organize the Christmas program and we will be singing it this Festival. When the music was sung memories of Galena and my beautiful sister and mom flushed back to my memory. I love Christmas music.

Now that my 9 months has passed I've been hearing less and less from my wonderful loved ones...I remember being warned that about half way through the mission letters would die off. Well, they were right! I'd love to hear how everyone is doing. Receiving letters and packages is like Christmas...wink, wink.

Sister McEwan and I are having a wonderful time serving together. We had zone conference this past week and discussed becoming a "Preach My Gospel" mission. I loved it! I firmly believe in reading both the Book of Mormon and PMG every day. I know that creating these essentials habits will and does help any missionary be an effective tool in the Lord's hands. As I have been focusing my studies on these things and on the needs of our people, I have seen miracles and the Lord's Spirit work through me. President has been emphasizing finding new investigators. Sister McEwan and I have been doing many finding activities and we are finding prepared souls. We are currently teaching many new investigators. We love working together.

Sister McEwan has the gift of being humble and teachable. She is learning quickly, but she does feel overwhelmed. It reminds me of my beginning months as a missionary. She feels like working in the area and at the VC is like having two full time jobs...she's right, but we are so blessed! She is learning patience with herself and thankfully she has much patience with me. Something that really helped me early on in my mission is to focus on one hour at a time. Being the queen of worriers, I am grateful to say that this habit has helped me become calm and effective. We have a blast together. She is such a ham and I love serving with her. I feel blessed and privileged to have this time with her as a new missionary. I pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen her as she learns to have patience with herself.

Funny story: While we were on our way to the zoo last week, we soon found that it was Sister McEwan's first time on the Metro. She was taking pictures left and right. It was hilarious to see her so excited about the Metro. We all piled into the Metro and just as it was about to leave I noticed that Sister McEwan was not on the Metro!! We looked through the window and saw her taking pictures of the Metro signs. We yelled through the doors for her to hurry in and she got stuck between the doors. She pulled herself through, but her bag was still stuck. Sister Snelson and I just sat and watched, not even thinking that we should help her pull her bag through...but sweet Sister Maxwell quickly came to the rescue, ripped open the Metro doors and pulled her bag through. It was amazing!! It has been quite the experience to watch Sister McEwan, she knows how to have a good time and hopefully she won't get herself killed in the process.

Last week at the VC the White Oak ward came for a ward night. It warmed my heart to see the people I love dearly from my first area. I was able to visit with Sister Moormon and Maylek. They are both doing very well. Sister Moormon recently went through the temple to receive her own endowment and Maylek was just as excited about church as ever. Sister Moormon told me of the happiness that she has experienced this past year that has completely changed her life. It's wonderful to see the people I love so happy.

Well the work is moving forward. I love it and I love you.

All my love, Sister Hogge