Oct. 17th

Baba ( that’s father in Swahili )

First of to answer your questions.
1. yes I am working hard but I feel like I can always work harder! I need more people to teach!
2.Yes I am loving the work!! I am even loving trackting. like I said I need more people to teach, and I am finding that trackting is one of the best ways for us here because the members don’t give us referrals at all. but when we get referrals they are amazing!!!!
3.The people here, it is impossible not to fall in love with them!!! I know you know how it feels when you have an investigator that you have been sharing the gospel with and how you form a bond with them that will last for ever! it’s a beautiful thing.
As for me this week has been a lot of fun. :) I got my new comp on Friday, and he is here and I am glad that I don’t have to leave my area anymore to be with other elders. I am still trying to get used to being the senior companion and all that but it is coming. :), also some shocking news is that they made me the new District Leader. That came as a shock. I mean I am only 3 months on my mission and very young! But I know that everything will be ok :) I know that whom the Lord calls He will also quantify them.
We finally got the CD's of conference so we started to watch them on Sunday. All we could watch was the AM session because the power went out, but it was cool because the power cut right after President Monson spoke so it was cool that the Lord let us watch all of the talks and hear the message then the power when out right after. so I am looking forward to hearing the rest of the inspired messages. 
so my week has been a good one I hope that yours has been just as good and just as uplifting!

MOM :)
My week has been wonderful!! your right it is kinda strange having and American comp. Even more strange that we were from the same MTC group!, but it is supper cool I hope I learn a lot from him and I hope he can lean some things from me. :)
Sounds like you have a lot o great plans back home! :) that is super cool I kinda miss working in the yard and helping around the house. Life is just so different here.
And I do know Elder Maxwell!!!! he is super cool!!!!  And he did come in the group behind  me :) and in fact he is in my zone :) He is really nice and a great football player! And he is just a cool cool kid!!!! That is cool that you kinda know his mom too. :)
About the shoes your right and you have no need to worry about me finding a different pair they sell them ALL OVER in the markets, there are A LOT of shoes. What I am thinking about getting is some rubber boots.
I am so glad that the plague is up :) that makes me happy! :) can I ask, do you think I should have left my commentary out or how do you feel about it?
My watch....I don’t really know what happened to it, I let some kids play with it then it came back broken,  sorry about that. 
Also I almost forgot that they made Elder Patten a D.L. too :) so its really cool!
The reason we had DVD players is for the new training program, so we could go over some things in videos with our trainers, but my trainer never did it with me I had to do it by myself and it still worked out ok :) we never took them out of the flat,  then we had to give them back.
I can tell you we will never get I pads in this mission! People have a hard time taking care of their phones let alone an ipad. I am not saying it wouldn't be nice but at least here it would be a bad idea!

:) My big Bro and his wonderful family  :)
so Elisa :) I can tell you that I have seen Pumba :), but sadly I have not yet seen Simba or Tamon. but I hope that I will soon :)
There is a cool story about a guy that we tracked into. We knocked on his door and he answered and even before we said who we are and what we do he invited us into his house and gave us some coke. Then we started to explain to him who we are and what we do. He got a little exited and wanted to hear what we have. So then we taught him about Joseph Smith and why that needed to happen and when we told him about the first vision he started to cry.  He told us that the night before he had, had a dream of a similar experience where someone saw some light and was told the truth about God.   That was super cool but that was not all. When we got close to the end of the lesson he started to cry again and told us about his father who died when he was 19 and the last words that his father had said to him and the last words of his father were "The Lord will bless you in your life", and he started to tell us that my comp and I coming to his house is what his father was talking about, and how he is ready to come to church and everything! It was sooooo cool!!!!!
I hope you like these pics I am sending :) the first one is me cooking a hamburger in my flat with Elder Patten taking the pic :) then the next is at Elder Pattens flat when we made some spaghetti :) and we put the camera on a timer for that one.
So my week has been a good one I hope that yours has been just as good and just as uplifting!
Elder Hodges 

October 10th

My Mother
:) putting you down as "my mother" made me remember when we would always read the little kid’s book "Are you my Mother." I will treasure those memories forever. and I am very happy to say that you are my mother. I love you mom.
I am glad that you had fun at the cabin. I am really starting to miss snow. :) here it’s starting to rain more and get a little warmer. but that's really the only change, and I thought to my self that if Provo was on the equator it would look exactly like Nairobi,  as far as plant life and things like that.
  I am glad that Jordan is getting exited :) and it’s a great thing to get exited for! it is already THE BEST THING THAT I HAVE EVER DONE!!!! I know tons of people say that but it really is and you will never know how true that is until you go and find out. I hope you let Jordan read the email I send, it sounds like you do. :) tell him when he gets on his mission he can email me if his mission president lets him, and do you know when he will start his papers? and also has Fano got his mission call yet?
This week will have to be the best week I have had on my mission so far!!!!!!!! It has been so much fun being with Elder Patten!!!!!!! He is just a really really fun guy!!! And we already have some supper cool plans to hang out when we get home! And it also sounds like you and his mom have been in contact with each other :) I think that is supper cool too. But it was nice having an American comp. :) We like the same things we even tried to make American food :) and we did a REALLY good job :) we made cheese burgers :) oh man those were soooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then we made spaghetti and that was also super good, we also went to a really really nice place to eat named "Spur" and it is just like a nice sit down place in southern Utah. We got all you can eat ribs and it was super!! super good!!! We just had a little taste of home this week :) but it might sound that we spent all our time eating and cooking. but we worked and we taught some really powerful lessons to people! We just work together so well! I can tell that we are going to be friends forever! :) it has been super fun. The only bad part is that we never got to bed on time because we were always up talking and the time fly's so fast!!!!! it has been GREAT being with him :)
But even though it has been great being with him I will get a new comp.  I can tell you that he is going to be just as fun! His name is Elder Sumpsion. ( I think that’s how you spell it) but what is so crazy about him is that he is a Mazugu or white guy! also from Utah. But what makes it even crazier is that we were in the MTC together!!!!!!!!! so I know him really well and he is a cool guy, and you want to know what makes it even more crazy???!!!! You and all of the family have met him!!!!!!! He was the other Elder in the Salt Lake airport when we went there!!!! So you have met my companion. :)  It is just crazy that we were together right from the start and now we are being put back together! :) I know I am going to love it!!!!!! and he should be coming some time this week. He is coming from Mawanza, that new branch that we heard about before I left in Tanzania. :) so it is going to be really cool :)
So about laundry everything is holding up fine the only thing is my shoes are starting to get holes and stuff inside and out, and I have only had them for like 3 months. but I have tried the best I can to fix them so that they will last longer, mostly with super glue :) they still have a lot of life in them so don’t worry about that :) Then about the pants they are all really good but I did get one snagged by a barbed wire fence (which are everywhere) so it has a little hole in it too but its on the inside of the leg so no one will see it, and its not to big.  The shirts I do have kind of a hard time keeping them white, just because it is so dirty here, and washing them is hard!!!!!! I would give ALOT right now for a washing machine!!!!!!! Most of the time when I wash I get little sores on my hands from rubbing the fabric across it so much and so hard but I know that they will heal and get harder so its better than at the start of  my mission  :) and plus I think it is a good skill to have :) 
I am looking forward to your package :) I always love getting those from you!!!! :) and I don’t know what I want for Christmas. plus it should be a surprise :) but I also am thinking of sending a package home for Christmas. the only thing is that I don’t have a lot of stuff to send and some of the things that I would send might brake but I think if I wrap them right it will be good. so I might do that.
Also I will try the pic thing next time because I didn’t bring my cards with me and also I think I will get a usb memory stick here and send it through the mail to you I think that will be the best way for you to get a lot of pics. so I will try :)

 So about the Payson temple, how much bigger is it going to be? Is it going to be the same as the Provo or bigger or what? and how long does it take to build a temple?   Also do you remember those 4 rules that the church has when it builds a temple? because I cant remember all of them. I just remember that there can’t be any dark places and that there can’t be any writing on the wall even for like measurements and things like that,  so if you could tell me the others I don’t remember what they are and even some people here that I have told want to know more about it, so if you could find those out for me that would be great.:)
man I think this is the longest email that I have wrote on mission :

Love to ALL!!