Well, this week is certainly off to
a good start!! We went to the temple this morning (one year to the day from
when I went through for my first time) and it was great! It's been SIX MONTHS
since I've been to the temple, which is WAY too long. I REALLY needed the boost
I received in the House of the Lord.
It was kind of fun, there were 10
missionaries in our session. Something about the temple actually being open on
Monday (due to the holiday) brought LOTS of people from our mission. We saw
even more from our mission after the session!
One of the coolest parts though, was
it was Annandale's stake temple day. Out of all the temples in the world, only
7 have Priesthood Rooms in them. Of those 7, only 2 are used for Stake Temple
Days. One of those temples is the Washington D.C. Temple. We were privileged to
join for a meeting there on the 7th (top) floor with the Stake Presidency, the
Temple President, and their wives. It was amazing, being able to hear talks given
on topics that are too sacred to discuss outside the temple, but now within
those hallowed walls, we were able to talk about it.
Another fun thing, Jenny Oaks Baker
is totally in the Annandale Stake, and I met her in the temple today.
Our Stake Conference was fantastic,
too. It was SUCH a spiritual feast, and one of our investigators came, and
absolutely LOVED it! He asked us after if it was recorded to watch back. haha.
We introduced him to the General Conference section of lds.org... ;)
One funny story. After Stake
Conference, our ride didn't show up... So, the Riggs family took us home!
They're in our stake, and offered a ride to us. So, we got to ride with all of
them. We were all squished in, since there was more people than seats, but we
made it work. Anyways, the funny part... I was squished up against Kimball, the
Riggs' Daughter. Couldn't resist the opportunity to make a joke, of course:
"President, I'm sorry." "What happened Elder Hodgson?"
"Well, due to the seating situation we've resorted to, I, uh... I'm...
sharing physical contact with your daughter." President, always ready to
play along with a joke, hopped right in: "Kimball, you behave yourself
now! I'd hate to send Elder Hodgson home because of my own daughter!" It
was great. He's hysterical. Last transfer meeting, he had a Sister missionary
show up in jeans to freak out one of his assistants... :P
We had interviews this week, too,
which I always love. President Riggs gave me probably the best compliment I've
received my whole mission. He asked how training was going (I'm still
training), and I told him I loved it, and if I could, I wouldn't complain if I
trained my whole mission. He told me “very honestly if the Lord will let me, I’ll keep you training as long as I can.” He
said other very nice things too…but you get the idea.
So, I remember one day, it seems
like just yesterday, I hopped on my bike for the first time. I remember
laughing, seeing my trainer's bike. I remember his U-lock was hung over his
handlebars and made clanking noises as he rode. His front fender was missing
and his rear fender didn't have the fancy little 4-inch extension piece that
mine had. His bike made all sorts of creaking noises, but somehow managed to
take him where he needed to. Yesterday, I looked over at my bike, and I didn't
see it there. Instead, I saw a bike that used to have a U-lock fastened
securely to the frame with a fancy clip that came with it. The clip is broken
now, and the lock now sits over the handlebars. The clanking seems natural now.
I saw a bike whose front fender gave out months ago, though I disregarded it
since it didn't do much anyway. I saw a bike with the extension piece freshly
broken off from use. I saw a bike that was freshly oiled and tuned-up to stop
the creaking it still made to a lesser degree. Long story short, I saw my
trainer's bike. It was a weird moment for me as a missionary.
My thought this week comes from
something that was said in the temple today. "The power of the atonement
will always have more power than Satan's blundering and weak threats." I
just loved that. When we make mistakes, Satan makes us think we're in his
power, and that there's no hope. False. That is one of the greatest lies Satan
tells. When we make mistakes, there are few times in our life where we can see
Christ's power less. When we make mistakes, that's when we need to turn to Him
and let His atonement heal us. Satan cannot have any power over us that we do
not give him. So don't give him any power! No matter what happens, or how many
mistakes you make, turn yourself over to the power of Christ. For there, there
is real power.
I hope you all have a great week!
Love you all!
-Elder Hodgson
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