Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great Christmas!

Wow, I am a dork today, so you don't get photos, even though I took them today. I used up most of my time here today trying to get my usb port to work. I can't because it's lame so you will get photos and more info next week. I will try harder to make sure you get good pics and news from this side of the world.

The only thing that stays the same is the weather - it just keeps getting colder! It's getting as low as -8c. I have seen it get up to about -4 at the "hottest" part of the day though. I loved talking to my mom and brothers yesterday! I hope that you all know that I miss you so much right now. All I think about is the Season and family and friends getting together for parties and food and fun and lots of DRIVING. I miss driving so much! But anyway, sorry I don't have much to say and have no pics. Wait until next week please and I will give you a better update and this week's 2 pics that i was going to send. They are dang good! Ok, I love you all! I will talk to you next week!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Hokanson

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

Hello my American friends!

I am so glad this city has better English studies; nobody says that silly phrase here. Thank goodness.

Well this week has been lots of fun. The weather has been nice; chilly, about -1.5C outside. I love it! We are tracting and contacting every day. There are wonderful people here, but we get dogged most days (that means we get "stood up" a lot). We are trying though!

The only cool thing that happened this week was the fact that after I did Internet last week we were out on the street and a car swerves to the right and hits some puddles and splashed us from head to toe with dirty slush from the street. Yeah, it was dang funny! I was like, "What the heck? This sucks!" We did not take photos...I know, it would have been great, but I looked at my comp. and started laughing because it was so dang funny. We cleaned up ok and were off to work again. My comp. has the most slippery shoes on the earth I think; he slips so often, right on his back. Happens all the time!

Photos this week -1) my companion brushing his teeth today, 2) two guys in costumes (weird!), 3) the castle in Lutsk, 4) me on Santa's lap (aka my mission president), 5) me sliding on the ice in my pros, and 6) me this morning pointing at where we live on the map of Lutsk. Hope you like them!

I'm keeping it short today. I get a phone call next week...yay!!!

Love, Elder Hokanson

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

This week was great! I am loving it here in Lutsk with Elder Woods!

The weather turned again...from cold to a bit too hot back to snow and ice again. I would rather have a slippery walk then a wet and dirty walk. It's so much nicer and I would rather have cold weather and bundle up then be too warm and have to shed layers to feel good. And thanks to Uncle Dave and Aunt Terri's Christmas money I have a nice new coat that keeps me really warm!

Well this was really fun - I got to go to Lviv/Львів for Zone Conference again. It focused on the BoM (Book of Mormon) a lot. We almost all noticed that we chose Bible scriptures for topics that the BoM has plenty of. We can use both the Bible and the BoM for these topics, but it is better if we use the BoM sometimes; the scriptures are easier to apply. There are sometimes more and when people read from the BoM that's when they realize that it's true and they make the change in their life. It's great. I got the chance to stay the night in Lviv at the Zone Leader's apartment. The APs (Assistants to the President) stayed there too and the other companionship from my district stayed there overnight too. It was lots of fun and even though I slept on the floor, it was a lot better then the bed I have right now. It is a nightmare - too small. I feel every spring in that bed, but the bed is better then the floor at my place. I might be moving apartments somewhat soon. I hope I can but anyway, I am over my time as usual.

Photos this week - we have Tam Tams...its like Wal Mart. 1) One with no snow while they burn their trash on the side, and 2) one today when it was snowing. 3) "Best Buy" in Lutsk (That spells Best Buy) - not real of course. 4) Some of my English class here with my companion Elder Woods, 5) then me this morning being Christmas trunky. :)

Ok, that's all for this week! I love you! Talk to you next week!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

HELLO EVERYONE!!

I am in Lutsk, in Western Ukraine. It's a wonderfull place were it's cold, muddy and people are nice. I think that in this city I have met more people that speak english then anywhere else. I met one person that that did not have an accent at all. I love it here so far. This is really great. In this city I have a district of 4; its me, my 2 companions from the mtc, and the only ukrainian speaker from our group that came together from the MTC. Its really cool. My companion is Elder Woods from Utah, and the other companionship is Elder Perry from Utah and he is with Elder Bostwick from Idaho. I live in a kind of crappy apartment - like really bad. Its by far the worst yet. I will send pics and give you details later, but yeah, its bad. Its on the 8th floor and at least it has a lift. This is what I wanted the most though - to be with my original district from the MTC. We are going to rock it up so hard!

The pics this week are; 1) me in Ivano at a touristy map, 2) a tank in Kiev. 3) statue of big mama (a missionary nick-named statue) :) 4) a few cool statues, and 5) the peace tanks. lol! I like them, so I sent them.

But I am low on time and I will talk next week, so I love you all! Bye!