Monday, September 29, 2008

OK, so let's see if I can keep this a less-random email :)

So, this week we had Zone Conference, and it was really good. It touched on a lot of topics about what's needed in our mission and a lot of missionaries, including me, are figuring some things out that we had never realized. Some are just now getting it, and it's their last transfer. Mind you I only have 2 left! This one, and the next. That's a little more then 2 months! That's crazy! So you all know, December 9th is the day I will be coming home.

After Zone Conference this week (7 hours long - wow), we had to jam to our lesson. We were 15 minutes late, but it was all good. We re-planned our whole lesson plan on transport on the way and implemented what was taught during Zone Conference. Wow, the spirit was so strong, and it was an amazing lesson that just flowed and led up to a powerful challenge to commit to baptism. And he said he would! It'll be on the 25th of October. It was amazing!

Other than that, we just had a normal week. We set our goals high, and we hit every goal this week! Not only that, but it's hard to do that during a week where we had exchanges and interviews and zone conference. So much time was used for those things, but we still hit our goals!

I'm sending pics - 1) Elder Horne & I. He started his mission in Ivano, my last transfer out there, and he has followed me around a bit. 2) Zone Conference pic 3) What a disappointing lunch! Yeah, I won't even say anything about it, but I know Derek would have loved it. One Elder came up to me and was like, "I am unhappy with lunch - I was hoping for Vasuvios Pizza!" It's the best pizza in town. Pics from our church activity - 4) A lot of sisters and investigators making cards and then 5) a few kids playing around, the way it should be. We played ping pong and street hockey, and there was a spiritual thought.

So, that's all you get for now. I love you all!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Let me tell you first about the weather this week. It has rained for a solid week, stopping at most for a few hours at a time!

Some things that happened this week; church was fun. An investigator said that a lesson had a really strong message. He enjoyed it. It touched on the plan of salvation. It was way good.

We have set our goals for the transfer, made a plan, and are ready to work hard to reach our goals. The beginning of the transfer is always rad. We have Zone Conference this week, first week of the transfer. It's going to be good. They always are; its like a spiritual boost every 6 weeks.

We met an interesting man on the bus the other day that thought he could speak English. It was his birthday, and he was drunk. It was sad. He was only 23, and he was toasted, but it was fun talking to him. He really thought he could speak English. He couldn't, but he spoke Russian just fine. He said it was beautiful that we could talk to each other even though we speak different languages. I think it is too. The other people around us liked our conversation as well. :)

Some Elders had a space heater in another area that they were using, and it stopped working correctly and went up in flames! I don't even have a space heater, never had one here in Ukraine. I don't think I really even need one.

Ok, so pics for this week - First we have a "Risk" shot. My comp creamed me...I saw it coming, but there was nothing I could do. Next is a photo of our district, and a shot of 10 trolley busses.  The next pic is what caused the traffic for over and hour and 30 mins. Next a shot of my companion in the rain that we had to walk in because of traffic. We could not take our trolley bus.  Those trolley busses comes every 5 Min's, so that means they were like that for over 50 minutes. Then we walked the route and there was no busses for the hour or so it took to walk home! The last photo is of me in the PC cafe, the best one that I have ever been to in Ukraine. It has about 200 computers and they are dang fast. I took the pic to show my new haircut my companion gave me.

Videos - traffic, cause of traffic, and just walking in the rain with nobody in our path having a random conversation. (*note - I combined all 3 videos together again* ~h)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hello everybody! This is Elder Hokanson...I really want to you to see my pics this week!

OK this was a funny week!

First my companion got a package. Look at how that bad boy was sent...no address! It's amazing that it somehow made it at all, but some things were missing. Then you get to see our elevator problem - we got stuck! All 6 of us! It was so funny. Last, we went to this church member's house and they have the cutest little girl. My companion switched jackets with her and she thought it was hilarious!

Ok...so back to the elevator. Yeah, after district meeting we were on an exchange, and the other elders stooped at our apartment for some cpravi (stuff). I was grabbing stuff to change in for service. We, all 6 of us, pack into this elevator. I have had so many elders in a elevator before, and have never been stuck, but we hit the button, the doors close, and we should move, but it does not move at all. We cant open the door or anything. Thank goodness there was this girl out there that went to tell her mom to call the guy to come save us. Boy, was he not happy when he found all six of us in there! But he had saved the elders stuck in it before. In the past there were 8 elders stuck in that elevator, about 3 months ago. He said, sarcastically, "good job!" And people say Ukrainians are not sarcastic! :)

Side note: my companion is the only one I have ever had that can cook! He made us a mayonaise cake the other day that was amazing, and he made a syrup for my buttermilk pancakes that was just amazing, and he won't share the recipe, but its ok. :)

Transfers- I am staying, and so is my district, so you know.

Well, I will just say the church is true! I am happy! I love you all! Thanks for reading - PAPA!

Here's a bunch of videos that Cody sent from when they were stuck in the elevator. I combined them all into one video, so it's a little bit jumpy. :)

Buki update for Cody

Ethan (Buki) had his third birthday on Friday, and we had a family party for him tonight. I took a ton of pictures and videos as a good aunt should and I wanted to share a couple with Cody.

Cody and Ethan have a special bond, and Cody would always buy Ethan goldfish crackers. I bought some for Ethan on Cody's behalf, and he enjoyed them very much!

Here are just a few of the photos from my stay in Palmdale -

My brother Derek with his 2 boys, Ethan and Tai (Derek owns a Dojo and was in his "work clothes")

My other brother Nathan with the boys...Cody is not going to recognize this mountain man! We keep trying to convince him to shave and get a hair cut!

Tai in the baby bounce house...he loved it!

Ethan with his cupcake tower than my mom & I "designed". He had a "Cars" theme for his birthday...he loved it!

I gave Ethan a race car for his birthday. He is getting to be such a big boy!

We had a fun time this weekend, and we missed Cody very much, but we know he is where he is supposed to be and we are so proud of him! We love you!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Since Cody couldn't upload pics, I decide to upload an oldie but goodie. :)

Cody & Heather, Wrightwood, January 2006

Ok, for this week, it started off cool with a sports day on Preparation day, then I had a sore throat on Tuesday. On Wednesday for district meeting, it about killed me. I had a cough and a head ache, runny nose, sore throat. I was on an exchange, but that left me inside the apartment almost all week. My numbers* got cut in half. It sucks. I feel lame. I did not do anything cool at all this week, but I got lots of rest, which should set my energy levels higher. It's easier to wake up now, even though I am still a little sick. The last time I spent most of the week in my apartment, I was way energized when I got out again.

Something silly - Ok, me and my companion shaved our arms with an epilator! It hurt so bad, but my arms are so smooth...wow! And my companion had like, the thickest hair I have ever seen, and his arms are still a tiny bit red. We did it on Tuesday last week, so wow.

My computer sucks this week...it wont let me put pictures on it for some reason. So, no photos this week. Next week I will get something on there.

I love you guys! Until next week!

*Numbers are goals that a companionship sets for themselves each week, and at the end of the week they compare numbers to see if they made their goals. Since he was sick and unable to go outside, they were unable to contact people and share the gospel, so he feels guilty that they didn't meet their goals this week.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Ok, I almost could not send pics this week because I don't have my card reader, but then I saw Elder Taylor from my group. Last week I convinced him to buy a card reader and you know what...he got one! So I borrowed his. Woot!

Well, info for the week - it has been weird. We had a threesome companionship from Monday -Friday morning. Elder Brooks' companion was in Bulgaria for his Visa, so he was with us while his companion was on what I like to call "vacation" - they don't speak Ukrainian there, there is no conjugation, and they speak a bit of Russian, but these elders don't speak Russian. So they had a nice flight, hung out, had Subway, KFC, Dunkin' Doughnuts, and Burger King. Vacation! There were other things, but they did not have the time. It's ok though, but yeah, it was cool - Elder Brooks is from the same group as Elder Ward (my companion), so it was tight, and Brooks is from California, so that's way rad. I also went on exchanges in Brovary with Elder Eskelsen (if you remember, that was my 2nd area and he is my old companion). I did not get to do much - he got a little sick, so we took a taxi home after walking almost to our appointment, like 5 mins away, then stayed inside for a bit until his tummy felt better. Then we got back out on the street where we got rained on, did some contacting and advertised for English classes. Then we went back in and planned, and I did my nightly calls. We were going to play soccer too, but it rained, so all the people I wanted to play soccer with could not come unfortunately, so our plans changed. We went to a baptism for a man from Nigeria named Jesse. It was cool, we had lunch, went back to my area, and went to a church activity. It was fun.

pictures - ok, so the 2 Elders I was with happened to have their 6 month anniversary on the mission this week, so they burned ties. It was cool. Next we have a pic of me making nightly phone calls. Brovary has no home phone, so I had to do them on the cell phone. Then 2 shots of the Temple. It's tight! You can see there is a basement for baptisms, 1st floor lobby, 2nd floor 2 session rooms, 3rd floor the Celestial room and sealing room. That's about all I have heard so far.

Well, that's all you get today. I know, not too cool, but it's what you get. I love you! BYE!

Monday, August 25, 2008

INFO
Katya from my last area was baptised on Saturday. I missed it because my investigators could not make it. We had one that could go, but then his daughter and grand-daughter came to his house unannounced, but its ok. One investigator is in Germany until Wednesday, so we are doing some extra finding right now, but we are doing really good

Something funny...
We were on transport coming home from church and this lady opened my companion's camera case and pulled his camera out and then tried to put it behind her back. He is a strong man and kept her from running, and she dropped it. He said, "Do you want to buy it?" and she ran off the trollybus. It was funny.

Ok, so last night (this is great). So, I got home, started the washing machine with my clothes, and we started a roast outside on the balcony. I guess the flames got a little high and some firemen came. We saw them and wondered where they were going, and then they came to our door and banged on it a little. They said who they were in Russian, which made me say, "Can you speak Ukrainian?" even though "firemen" in Ukrainian is almost the same thing in Russian. I just had to do it. It was funny. They said open up, we asked what for, they said they wanted to see our balcony, so we let them in. They saw it and it was no big deal, so they left. Then I went into the kitchen and bathroom and they were flooded! I forgot to hook up the drain right, so it flooded the 2 rooms. We cleaned it up as I made my nightly district calls. I did not take pictures...I want to kick myself for not taking flood pics, but I was trying to make calls and clean up like 2 inches of water. It took about 6 towels and 40 mins, but its all good. :)

Pictures this week - that's one of our investigators. His name is Aleksey, and my companion is with him. A night of shot from a high floor. A baby pigeon - I hate them btw, it was on a member's balcony, and so she had me throw it off the 6th floor and it landed hard. The next picture, he lived , so there's me with the thumbs up. But if you'll notice in the top left side, that's a dog in the pic. He came up behind me sneaky-like and bit the bird! His owner was like, "what do you have in your mouth, a pigeon? Let it go!" He let it go, but that bird was a goner.

Love, Elder Hokanson

Monday, August 18, 2008

Ok, something silly - yes, for the first time ever I purchased skittles and starbursts. Ok, sour skittles are not sour, just fruity, and starbursts are in Russian but are just fine. So you get a pic. :) We were in the center of Kiev for lunch with a missionary that had a birthday. His mom paid for us to all have lunch. On the way you can see there was a man that looked like a statue, so I took a pic, dropped a small amount of money, then got a pic with him. It was fun. He was moving so slow. It made it fun to watch.

One thing that was cool that happened this week - we have an investigator that works in a rinok (or bazaar) and we stoped by on our way out. It was hot and this man we did not know says in Russian as we walk by, "Remember Ukraine," and he sprays us in the face a few times with water. We took it fine, said thank you, and walked away with smiles, because it was hot and it felt good. So just like that everybody saw that we took it without a problem. :) I was happy...it was dang hot!

My companion is SO cool. One day it was late and we were on our way home and we passed by some grandmas selling flowers. So he stops, goes back, and buys some. Then he is like, "What do I do with these?", and then he goes and starts handing them to all these older ladies on the street. It was really nice. I wanted to do that on Woman's Day, but I was too busy, but hey, it goes to show you can do it whenever you feel like. :)

In the work this week -we had Zone Conference and it was amazing. We have 2 people with baptismal commitments. We will see how they go. They are some amazing men. Other than that I am healthy and happy to serve. Talk to you next week.

З любовю, Старійшина Гокансон
With love, Elder Hokanson

He also sent this random video. It's dark for the first part and you can only hear his voice (the lights are off). He is so random! I love him! ~h

Update from Heather

Back in April Cody sent some pictures that I couldn't download due to the file type. Well, I've finally got them (I had to download a program so that I could download the file). Cody could have done it in 5 minutes, but I guess there's only room for one computer genius in our family. :)

To see the updated entry click here.

Monday, August 11, 2008

To those that want to know, I am healthy, happy, and still in Kiev. I think I told you in my last letter that I was staying in Kiev, but now it's for sure. I moved into my new place on the 6th floor in the Voskrasensky Ward. It's nicer than my last apartment on the 2nd floor in my last area. We have had a few days of exchanges due to transfers, but it's all good. We finally got back to work. I came into the area and found that we have one person with a baptismal date, and we got one more as of Saturday! It's SO cool! I am happy. My investigator in my last area is going to get baptized on the same day as one of our investigators, and it will be in our church building. It's rad. I am now on the other side of Kiev, away from the Temple Site, but it's all good.

So... info about my companion. I have a pic I am sending. He is in the sunglasses that a member had on. His name is Elder Ward. He is rad. He will be red-shirting for BYU Football when he gets home. It's cool.

The pic with me and that other Elder is a new zone leader. He is cool, and next there is a pic out in front of the mission office with elders and sisters that were there. It's always fun on transfer days! And last is a pic of me just now in the Internet Cafe with a T-shirt on and a haircut from my new companion. Not bad.

I am running out of time so I have to cut this short - no choice on my side. I love you all! Thanks for taking an interest! PAPA!

Monday, August 4, 2008

So, this week I found out that my grandpa died, but I know that everything will be OK.

We have an investigator with a date for baptism, but I found out I am leaving my area and going to be with Elder Ward. He is red-shirting for BYU football, I think. I will confirm that at a later date. It is his third transfer in the country, so we will see how much fun this is, and we are serving in the most populated part of Kiev, so this will be cool.

I want to talk about pics this week - first, my vegetables for the week. You can see I have to clean them with bleach so I don't get sick. They are freshly cleaned. 2 pics of my district; one normal and one where we surprised my companion. I taught him how to make pancakes, so there is a pic. Yes, we used flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, sprite, eggs, oil, & banana. We went bowling with a member named Gleb; he is a strong guy. And last, you can see I have a problem with McDonald's. :)

So, feelings on my transfer...I am happy. I have wanted to serve in that area, but I don't want to finish my mission there. I have only seen missionaries learn surgik there (that's mixing Russian and Ukrainian together). I hate that part of it, but its a strong ward and I am happy to serve there.

Well that's about all for right now. I will be more detailed next week, I promise!

I love you all! Talk to you next week!

з любовою, старійшина гокансон (with love, Elder Hokanson)

Monday, July 28, 2008

What can I say...transfers are coming up, and I don't know whats going to happen. Am I staying, am I going? I don't know. I am OK with it ether way. If I stay I want to stay with Elder Imangazi. If I go I hope I go to to a place out West, or go to one of my favorite places. Wow, I need to make notes of what happened. We went to a really cool celo/village.

OK pics - I got up at 6am, made breakfast, got in the shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, had plenty of time, and forgot to shave. I was out the door before I noticed, so that's me unshaven for once. Next, a mom, her 2 daughters and one's husband in a celo. And last, me spoiling a dog with some scratching. And there's a short video, and I say something in Ukrainian, but it's not important. The view is beautiful.

We had an investigator show up to a Sacrament Meeting for the first time. She wants to get baptized, but she will have to have a few lessons first. She is the wife of a church member and they have a cute little girl. So cool!

OK, this week I am cutting it short, so PAPA! I love you all!

Monday, July 21, 2008

What's new this week? Well, there is a first time for everything. Our investigator said she was not feeling well, so we got "sobakoovale" (that's Ukrainian - we turned dog in to a verb and put it in past tense) at her baptism! So yeah, she did not show up! But other new things; we found a cool old Russian building in our area, so I got a pic of me in front. We went to a member's house where the 2 year old thought it necessary to give me all of her toys. I took the picture even before she could give them all to me. Elder Eskelsen (my old companion) had a birthday, so that's his birthday shirt that a few elders made for him. And yes, that is a bottle of Fanta that is almost empty. Yes, it's that good. It says "Fanta World Taste from Africa - Apple." It's so good! And with it are two McDonald's toys... I had 2 happy meals this week!

Other then that, I am healthy. The weather is getting really hot, but I have managed to keep our apartment below 80 degrees. It hit 79.5. I find if it hits 80, I can't sleep.

That's about all that's new that I can think of right now. Papa!!!

Monday, July 14, 2008

I love you all for taking interest in my life week by week! Well, let me start...

This week has been good. We started off on preparation day by going to the Pechersky Lavra, a church where you pay money to go in. I took a few pictures. I am sending you two - one of me yes, drinking the water from a fountain with a young boy looking at me. Yeah, I am not sure if that was a good idea because now my stomach is feeling weird. It has been a few days now! And I have a pic of a wall in the old church of Jesus whipping people to get them out of a temple. It's my favorite picture that I took, I think.

We had an exchange and I was in Obolon where I saw some cool graffiti, so I took a pic. It says "life is beautiful," so I thought, "Why not take a pic?"

I went to English on a rainy day and a member was on the micro bus with us and it was a really old bus. It had leaks, so she pulled out her umbrella. I have never seen that before. It was cool, so I took a pic. It's funny, but I didn't use the flash. I did now want to freak out the driver or anything with the roads so wet. (note from Heather...he did not send this picture. I guess we'll see it next week :)

I had to go to the office to work on our English Class invitations because we are opening up our English conversation classes in our area now. It will be better for us; only 5 min travel time instead of 45 mins one way. I was in the office and as you can see one of the office elders, Elder Wahl, was doing some of his normal activities, so I took a pic so you can get a feel for the office here in Kiev. I don't know if that's all they do, but whatever.

News with our investigators - Sister Oksana is getting Baptized this Saturday. It will be cool. You will remember her as the older lady that was sitting with me and my companion and Vlad, a member that was with us that day.

We serve in an International Branch and a normal ward, but this week the Mission President was in Kiev for church, so he came to the Branch. It was so cool. I met his other 2 boys, so now I have met all 3 boys and his wife.

Until next week! Papa! (Bye!)