January....February...March...and more!!!!!!

April 7^th

^{Well first off I need to say I love you. :)}

So I got my new comp. :) His name is Elder Speriry. :) He is super cool!!!!!!! I can tell he is going to be a great comp!!!!! :) He is super chill and relaxed. Easy to get along with. :) I can say a real 180 from my last comp. :) He is from South Africa and is super nice. :) We have ALOT to talk about. :) We just like a lot of the same stuff. :) Cars, games, girls and the like. :) hahah. :) I know we are going to have a great time over these next few weeks. :) 

Also the work is going great here!!!! :) This week like 3 of our investigators asked me about them being baptized. :) I am really looking forward to helping them on that road. :) 

How is Aimee taking Jeremy getting married? I hope she is doing OK. What about the boys? 

that is kinda crazy news. But I get it is somehow a step in the right place. Do you think anything will ever knock some sense into him?

Well it sounds like conference was amazing!!! :) I really look forward to watching it. :) We should get it in a few weeks. :) What talks really stood out to you? I really really really look forward to  hearing them :) 

Also its cool that there are more temples coming up!!!! :) And wow another one in Utah!!!! :) That’s cool :) I still cant wait for someone to say Kenya Nairobi :) When that day comes I want to go to the open house. :) 

Well for the trip. Most of it is really up to you guys. :) Your question about Kitale. We don’t need a lot of time there. I was thinking around 2 days. A lot of it is where and how long the safari is. But to tell you the truth we don’t really need along time to see the members. My question is still what way do you guys want to get around. Do we want to rent a car or what? 

Well I am as happy as a clam here. :) Just loving every day I have left. It is hard to think that its coming to a end. What I can say is that I hope my wife will want to serve a mission with me. :) A lot of them. here is a question. Have you and dad ever thought about going out on a mission together? You would love it! :)

Well that is a bummer that you had to miss conference I bet it was a good one. :) If it makes you feel better I didn’t get to watch it either. hahahah. :) But for us we will watch them in a few weeks. :) I am looking forward to it. :) Sounds like you have had a good week. :) With BYU going to the final 4 that is great! :) Do you think they can go all the way? I hope so. :)  So the MTC will be going up to 7000!!!! Holy cow!!!! That is amazing!!!! :) I think with knowing that and what you are saying about "hold on to your shorts" works out very well :) Both for you, who has to train them. :) Then for the amazing work that they will be doing. :) It is going to be amazing to see what happens around the world. Also this mission just got its first three 18 year old missionaries. :) I can't lie they look like they are scared to death. But they will come out of it. :) It does make a big mile stone for the KNM :) Your right. :) Hold on to your shorts. :) hahaha I hope I can do my part. You know one thing that always is there in the back of my mind is, Am I doing enough? Am I the missionary that Heavenly Father wants and knows I can be. I want to be like those great missionaries you talked about. But I guess I don’t feel like those powerful men. But everything is going great here. :) We have a lot of people to teach and a lot of them come to us and ask to be baptized it is great!!! :) I am hoping to have a big baptism on April 28. :) That is going to be a sweet day. :) hahaha

Well that is that for me. :) 

You are great!!! :) 

SLY

Your son
Elder Hodges :)

March 31

This week has been wonderful!!!!! :) I have loved it all. :) 

We did find some news too. My comp is being transferred and now I am getting a new comp from south Africa who knows nothing about Kiswahili. And I still don't know it good enough to do all that is needed. So it is going to be very interesting. So please don't stop those prayers that are  coming my why for the language. :) I will need them all the more now. But I know the Lord has a plan for His work. He won't let me mess it up. :) hahahahah. :) 

So the sweet story this week is about the baptism we had on Sunday. :) It was super amazing! :) I loved it!!!! :) We baptized a young women named Lady named Mary. :) She is super cool :) We have been teaching her for a long time. :) She is in a part member family. So she has a strong base in the Church. She is one of the last in her family to join the Church. But she wanted me to perform the baptism. So when we were at the Church you could just tell that she was super nervous for the baptism. It just got worse as the time got closer. But that happens a lot. People are just nervous for the baptism. So I went to look at the water in the font. OH MAN!!!! hahahahah it was darker than dark!!! Like  you could not see into it at all, not even a inch! :) It was kinda crazy. But then the time comes for her to be baptized. So we are changed and I am in the water waiting for her. She comes out her door and comes into the water you can plainly see that she so scared it is almost sad. She comes I grab her hands tell her its all going to be OK. Also I have to tell you that I had to do the baptism in Swahili that was cool :) So we do it in one try and it worked really well. She was shocked because of the cold water when she came out but it was good. :) We went and changed. We came sat back down and you could still see she was in a little bit of shock. But here is the thing... after the closing prayer and everyone started to come over and great Mary and shake her hand and doing those things, Mary became the most happy person there!!! She was smiling from ear to ear! :) Then we went out to take some more photos and she was even more happy wanting to take photos with so many people. :) I just think it is so amazing how the Spirit can comfort people and how happy she was after being so scared. :) It was cool to see it happen in only a few short mins. :) It was a great baptism. :) 

Also it was a cool thing to have someone enter in to a covenant with the Lord on Easter Sunday. I love how we arise in Christ out of the watery grave. It really was a cool thought when it came to me. :)  

So that is the story for this week. :) 

It also sounds like you have had a good week. I am glad that you are getting better. :) Hope it keeps up like that. :) 

Also got the house all to yourself. :) That must be fun. :) 

Also the MTC sounds like it was just wonderful!!!! :) With the big sacrament and everything I bet it was a really sweet Easter. :) And you are right it will be AMAZING to go to Jerusalem and see where all these things happened. :) Thank you again for that. :) 

Quinn is now the Bishop! :) That is great! :) I know he is going to do a great job!!! :) That is going to be a lot for that family to do. :) But they will do a great job of it. :) 

Now for the plan of the trip to Africa. I don't really know what you want to do. I am fine either having Sunday in Kitale or Nairobi. I think it would depend on when the Safari is and how all that will play out also where it is will make a big difference too with time and travel. So I have been looking around and asking some people and with what I hear the best places to go are 1: Masai Mara 2: Amboseli 3: Tsavo. That is what I have came up with. I would really like to go to the Masai Mara. But I will leave that up to you guys there. :) 

I am really looking forward to you guys coming you are going to love it here!!!! :) 

Well thank you again!!! :) 

I love you mom!!! :) 

Talk to you next week. :) 

Talk to you on the phone in 6 weeks. :) 

SLY

Your son 

Elder Hodges :)  

March 25

I am always super happy to get your emails. :)
OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO COOL THAT WE ARE GOING TO JERUSALEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are the best parents in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :) I am really looking forward to it. :) I think that is the coolest thing ever. :) So thank you very very much! :)

So you asked what I want to do there. I guess I mostly want to see places like the Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden tomb and even the Jerusalem center. But I will be happy with whatever you want to do. :) 

Thank you for the Easter gift. :) 

Well it sounds like you have had a crazy week. I’m sorry that you are sick. I hope you get back up to 100% soon. :) With you being sick, going to the new MTC branch and all that going on I bet you are super tired I guess the boys going out of town will be a good thing for you to get some rest. Do they spend a lot of time with Jeremy? What's the deal there? Is he still being hard hardhearted? 

So the new MTC branch? How is that? is it as big? What are the big things going on there? Did you like it? Well I know you liked it. :) hahaha. I also am glad to hear that Roger is doing better I hope it keeps up like that. 

As for me my week has been good. :) My comp and me are getting along really really well now. :) So that is a blessing thank you for your prayers and putting our names in the temple. It really helped out a lot. :) 

Ya I think I will have to listed to it in Swahili this time too. :) I do hope that I get more out it then last time. But we will see I hear that they put up another TV for English but I don’t know. I will tell you when I find out. :) 

So the story this week :) 

It is about a great guy named Rogers. He has been coming to the English class that we teach. He is in the Advance class and that is the one that I teach. :) He knows a lot of English and is a really nice guy. :) And on Tuesday he stayed after class and asked me and Elder Harper if he could come to church on Sunday and of course we told him yes and we were super happy!!! :) So then Sunday came and when we first looked he was not there. But he came half way through priesthood. :) (We have classes first and Sacrament last here) So we were super happy that he came and I sat next to him in all the classes and told him a lot and had a great time. :) When we were entering the sacrament meeting room he turns to me and says. "I feel so happy here" that alone made me happy and I told him that. :) The he says "Man I was wasting my time at those other churches." I even laughed at that one I was so happy to hear him say that... he kept saying "I will always come here" and things like that. :) It looks like he will be a super strong investigator. :) I was super happy for him. :) 

And that is the story for the week :) It really made me super happy. :) 

It sounds like there is quite a change for you at the MTC. :) First off going to a new branch and plus it sounds like a big change with how many sisters are coming in. :) But it sounds like you are going to love it. Also with the fact that you get to be with these missionaries so much longer. :) That will be super cool :) also it gives you more time to look for some potential daughters in law. :) hahahaha.  I bet you are also going to have a great time with the others in the branch presidency too. Who are they and where are they from? Do they always call them from the areas around the MTC? Also how many branches are in the MTC?  The History Channel on The Bible? :) That would be super cool to watch. :) Does it stay on track? Or how is it?  Ya it is Birthday time. You have Brody, Heidi, then Elsia, then Aimee and then some scruffy looking kid who I don’t know. hahahah I don’t know if I want to be 21. Its kinda crazy to think about. :)  Well as for me I am doing great on this side of the world. :) Things are going great! :) We had a lot of our investigators come to church on Sunday and a lot of them also asked about baptism. :) It is looking like we are going to have a lot this up coming transfer. :) So that is a great thing. :) Its also funny we gave some people a baptismal date for my birthday. :) I think that would be super cool if that happened. :) Looking forward to that. :)  My comp and me are doing great! :) We are loving everything. :)  Well I am super happy for everything. :) I think it is super cool that Luke is Married. :) I hope it is wonderful for him. :) 

 Tell everyone hi for me. :) 

I love you!!!!:) 

I hope you have a great week :) 

SLY

Your son 
 Elder Hodges :) 

 Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!Its the greatest of all holidays. For the people who really know what it is about. Thank you for everything dad. :) 

March 18
Well I am glad that all is well in Israel :) Things are moving along here really well too. :) We my comp and me are getting along better and things are moving forward. I am still working hard to learn Kiswahili but line upon line. :) We are having a great time here in Dar. :) Mom also told me about the plans for you too coming here and i thing you are going to have a great time! :) The MTC. :) So do you have to take the missionaries to the temple too? Or who is with them when they go to do that? How is it going to be when you are all alone with the huge group of missionaries? I know you are going to do great!! :) You raised kids. :) What could be harder then that? :) So you are going up to Brody's? thats great! :) I cant even think about how cold it is going to be up there. :) To cold. I am really getting used to the heat here. I don’t sweat as much as I used to. I get cold when we turn the AC on. Its crazy. But you are going to have to give them all hugs from me if thats OK. :)So basketball is done? How did BYU turn out? Are they going to the NCAA march madness? Also you say that football is looking good, in what ways? Do you think Brandon is going to go pro?  

Well I guess that is it for me this week. :) 

March 11

Well just to start off I do have more time to email this week. We just found a new place to email here close to our flat. The other one we had to ride a bus for around a hour to get to it. So we are glad to save the travel time. :) Sorry about last week. I hope you know how much I love you. :) 

Well I guess a little update on me. This week has been going great! :) We have some great people with baptismal dates. We are really hoping that they will turn out well. I know one of them is not even a question. Her name is Mary she is 27 years old and is in a part member family her older brother just got back from his mission in Zimbabwe and he helps us out a lot!!! :) This place is AMAZING when you can talk to people. :) I am glad to say that my Swahili is getting better. The Swahili is where the story for this week comes from. :) 

One day I was just super down that I can not really say everything that I want to say. I was just going over things that I am trying to do to learn Swahili in my head. I feel all alone and that no one is really trying to help me or point me in the right direction. So that morning I had a nice heart to heart with my Loving Father for help knowing what to do. And as we went through the day the Lord found ways to let me know that I am doing just fine. Like I was able to bare my testimony and everything that I wanted. Plus as we were walking back the person we were teaching told me that I have become much better than when I came. :) She really started laughing and told me that when I first came I could not say anything. :) Then we went and talked to some guys who sell fish and they said that I am really really good. So I took it as a sign from The Father that I am doing just fine. :) 

That is the update for me and the story for this week :) I hope it lets you know a little bit. :) 

So I can't lie I am looking forward to seeing you again. :) But I know I have a task to do and I will do it to the end. :) 

It sounds like we are going to have a great time!! :) I will email patten. its a bummer that we didn’t think of this faster because we were together here but he got transferred. But its OK. :) I will talk to him. :) 3 day safari sounds super fun. :) Do you think you can handle it?  :) 

But now my question is what are you hiding from me? Where are we going?  And why are you hiding it? I will find a way to know whats going on. :) 

Well that is that. I hope this longer email makes up for last week. :)
talk to you next week. :) 

SLY

Your son 

Elder Hodges :) 

March 4

I am so happy to get your emails. : )So first off. THAT IS SO COOL!!! Your coming to my mission!!!!! :) Did you ever think that you were going to come to Africa? I can tell you that i didn’t think i would until read that paper in the kitchen  :) I know you are going to love it!!!!! I can really say it is one of the best places in the world!!!! Also I just want to let you know to be truncky is a choice no matter what people say or talk about. And it is one that i don’t want to make. I just have to get lost in the work and then it is the only think on the brain. So i guess what i am saying is that i would still like to be updated on the plans for you and mom coming here. :) I hope that is OK. :) The MTC sounds wonderful!!! :) I know that the missionaries there are blessed to have you there. :) I know your words touch peoples hearts. I remember you always talking to me about the 2,000 stripling warriors. I know that because of you loving them it made me want to be like them. I know the missionaries are happy that you are there. :) Also that is super cool about the prayer :) So right now how many missionaries are there in the Provo MTC? Also another question with the church opening up a new MTC in Mexico how much of the kids will it take out of the Provo MTC? Also you have Zone Leaders in the MTC???? Wow. We only had DL's. How many ZL's do you have?

Feb. 25 

I am glad that you can write to me each week too. :) It really is a great blessing from the Lord for that to happen. I know that Ammon and all them didn’t get to do that for their 14 year mission. I think that is one reason why they were all so happy to see Alma again. :) But I am glad that I can talk to you each week. :)Well sounds like you have had a fun week. :) I remember I have always loved going to the Exchange conventions. :) We always have a great time! :) I think it would be fun to get more into exchange when i get home.Glad to hear about the MTC and how it is doing great. :) So just a random question. What sends the most missionaries home from the MTC? Is it just stress? or what?As for me on this side of the world things this week have been really slow. My comp has been sick. So that put us out of commission for a few days. I am hoping to make up for lost time this next week. :) We have ALOT of people to see!!! This area is one that can really progress FAST!!! :)So I hope all is well over there. :) I bet it is. If there is any news let me know. :)I am glad to hear that you are doing well. :) Also i am VERY glad that we didn’t find any dead people in our water. But the other stuff was still really sick. Just wait till i show you the photos. :)Also about pitchers. I just got a big 16 GB flash drive. And it can hold all my photos till the end of my mission. So i was kinda thinking that i will go over them with you in person if that is OK. Let me know. :)

 I am happy that everyone is doing well. :) That no bad things are going on :) That is always good to hear. :) I hope it stays that way. :)

So about you coming here. What all do YOU want to do? I am really fine with anything. I will be happy where ever. :)  

I have told the couples in Kitale that we are coming up that way and asked if we could hang out with them and they were really exited about it. And so i am sure that they would love to let you stay there. and that would work out really well because the missionaries stay in the house right next to them. :) So then the only question about bedding and stuff is for the driver guy if  you want to get one of them

As for me I would love you tell you some sweet stories but this week my comp has been really sick so we have not been able to work. So most of my time has been at the flat taking care of him. And doing just stuff around the house. So It was a relaxing week. So sorry no stories.

But I do feel like I am getting better at Swahili. I am really hoping that I get really good by the end of this. :) I can say that Our Father has stepped in and helped ALOT!!!!!! :) I am happy for all of his help! :)

Feb. 19

Well I am glad that you are making I bet things are going great for you. :)I am glad that the Lord wanted me to come here. :) Its a hard place. Not like some of my past areas. But learning KiSwahili keeps me on my toes. Some other missionaries start to take it easy at this time but I can't even if I wanted to. :)Ya there are 4 branches here. I am in a branch named Kinondoni. It is AMAZING!!!! The hardest part is KiSwahili. There are people to teach everywhere we go... the branch knows what they are doing and it is just good. :)So its good about the travel agents. I think they can give some good info. What are they saying?I hope BYU comes and shows people how to play the game. :)Back to the MTC :) It still blows me away that you are there. :) I think it is so cool! :)Back to your days. :) Is it weird to you how much the missionary program has changed from when you went on mission?How do you feel as one who has been a part of both the old and the new programs? So I have a random question. What does the name Hodges mean? Like from the roots and stuff. It is a question for someone. I will tell you the story after you tell me what it means. :)

As for me the areas that I wanted to go to was Kitale and Nairobi and I would like you also see Chyulu but that one is kinda out of the way. Did you want to go to Mombasa? The preserve that would be the best to go to is The Masai Mara or Tsavo. I don’t know what other things you need. Just send me list of questions and I will do my best to answer them :) 

As for me I am doing wonderful! :) I am really loving TZed.

You want a fun story :) hahahahaha I have a good one this week. But don’t be to grossed out. 

So I am staying in a 4 Elder flat. :) We have the time of our lives. :) We are in a house we have a gated compound and all that. So what we do for water is that we get water from the government but they only pump it like 2 days a week. So we have 2 Huge water storage tanks. One 30,000 LT and a smaller 10,000 LT. The 10,000 LT is lifted above the house to give us water presser. So this is the water we do everything with drinking/cooking/showering/washing we use this water. Well one day we climb on a makeshift ladder up to the tank to see what is in it. And it smells SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!! We start looking around in the tank and we find dead lizards and stuff. So we are super grossed out. So a few days later another Elder and I went up and drained the whole thing the cleaned it all as hard as we could! :) We had a count of 5 frogs and 2 lizards. And a lot of dirt and other stuff. :) So we went to war and I am happy to say that we came out the winner. :) Now the water is as clean as it has ever been. :) 

Don’t worry i got pictures of the whole thing. :) 

So we are all good this side. :)

Feb. 11
Thank you for your advice with my comp. I am happy to say that we are
getting along better. :) So things are looking up. :) I am happy for
all your prayers and things. :)
I am glad that you got to have a fun week end. :) I bet it was
good to see the family and all that. I hope you told them that I love
them :)
Well it is sad that BYU lost. But oh well. But I am happy that the
ravens won. :) I am glad that Flaco did it. :)
We are having fun down here. :)
Sorry I don’t have a lot of time left.
But just so you know my release date is on the week of 26 of June.
President B. called me to tell you guys. Because he
knows you have been emailing.

Feb. 4
Sounds like a lot of things are going to be happening this week. :) 

With the new baby plus Kyle coming home. :) Man this is so cool!! :) 

You are going to have to tell everyone hi for me. :) But it is crazy that he is home!!! 

Time goes by so fast!!!! 

Hey I have a quick question. Do You still talk to elder Pattens mom? they are planning on coming to Kenya too. Just FYI

Even another Elder from my group named Elder Harper his parents are coming too.  Thank you so much for your prayers and the fasting. :) I can really say that I have seen how they have helped. :) I can feel myself getting better but I still have a long way to go. :) so thank you for everything. :

Jan 21

Thank you for the prayers to help me learn how speak to people here. :) I really need them!!!! I have only been here for a little bit but it is going well. It is super hard to try and learn a new language from nothing. But I know I have some special help. :)My comp is super cool :) His name is Elder Maloi. He is super nice. :) He is from Zimbabwe  :) I think I will be with him for 2 transfers. :) We are going to have fun. :)  I am also living in a house with another missionary companionship and both of them are from my group. :) so we have fun in the house. :) In fact we are planning a prank on one of them for their Birthday tomorrow. :) We are going to have a lot of fun!!! :) 

The Branch here is AMAZING I have not been in a branch this strong for a LONG TIME!!!! The last time was when I was in Nairobi at the start of my mission. The only thing that is really holding me back here is the language. I feel like they need to at least teach us the basics in the MTC or something. Who knows maybe they are going to start doing that. :) 

But it is so cool here. :) the Zone is like 14 people. And there are 5 from my MTC group and 3 others are my ex companions. :) So its like I know the whole zone already. :) 

Here it is still has hot as ever. I was kinda hoping to run away from the heat but I think I am going to be here with it for a while. :) Maybe I'm suppose to learn something from how hot it is? Got any guesses? :)  

I think it is so cool that our family right now is so much into missionary work :) Such a blessing. :) 

So about me. Thank you for the extra prayers I need them BAD. It is so hard to try and do this!!!!! But I can say that our branch here is so wonderful!!!!! I am going to love it here!!! I just need to learn how to talk with people! :) I need help from the Lord a lot here!! 

So you got to see pictures of Kenya. :) What did you think?? :) Was it good or bad? you got to see the slums? I hope they showed you some of the good parts too.

SLY

Your son
Elder Hodges :)

Jan 14
I am so happy that Eva is doing better. :) I hope that it will stay that way! I hope it won't happen again. Do we know what the cause was? I hope it is not something she is stuck with. I don’t want it to happen again. I also have a question. Who is going to pay for the bills? I bet it was a lot of money to have her there. I hope there is insurance or something. 

You talked to Mitch?!?!?!?! :) That is so cool that he is home. :) I bet he is going to love the road trip with his mom! :) I hope that he start to email me soon. :) So he is just the same. :) Good old Mitch. :) But I do look forward to hearing his southern :) I have a question did you send him any exchange referrals wile he was out there? 

Sounds like the MTC is keeping you and dad on your toes. :) That’s good. :) I hope that with 50% being sisters. I hope that you and dad are looking for some potential investigators :) I don’t mind writing sister missionaries. :) There is nothing about it in the white handbook. :) As long as they are in another mission. :) 

Well for me like I have told everyone I am getting transferred to T_Zed. :) :) I am part way sad and part way happy. I really have to learn Swahili now. I didn’t have to before here in Kenya we speak English. But in T-Zed it's all in Swahili. No English. And we get no formal training like other places so pray that I can learn quick. :)  I will just have to face it with faith. :) It's going to be good. :) I think this is going to be my last area. :)

So pray that I get the gift of tongues. :)

Your the best!!!!!

SLY

Your son
Elder Hodges :)