Sister Hokanson in Japan

Dear Family, friends, and readers of this blog,

I don’t know why, but it appears that I am going home this week. I
don’t feel like it has been a year and a half. To be honest, I always
forget I am going home. If my companion didn’t tell me to start
packing I would have forgotten too! Haha!

Anyways, last week, we set a goal to have the busiest week ever! And
let me tell you, it was! It always feels good to know that you are
giving your everything. This last week, I really learned a lot about
meaningful stretching goals. When you can master goals setting you can
accomplish anything. Especially if it the thing God wants you to do.

We set a goal to do a lot of finding, even through there was literally
know time! So we hit the streets and through many miracles we were
able to find! We found two new investigators and we have four other
friends, that once we set up a following appointment they will be new
investigators! God has blessed us so much! I know that he really loves
the people in Kofu. I have seen many miracles take place by his hands!

I’d like to share really quickly how we met our friend Miyu. We were
housing and she opened the door, we asked if we could share our
message, she seemed a little hesitant, but listened. We found out she
is a high school student, and we asked how school is going. She is
having a hard time. We were able to testify that her Father in Heaven
loves her and knows what she is going through; now is a growing
experience and God will help her every step of the way. We taught her
that God wants to hear from us through prayer and we invited her to
pray with us right there. I said the prayer and I could really feel
how much God loves her. At the end we asked how she felt. She said, ”
I didn’t think God existed before, but as I heard you pray to him, I
felt that he must be there!” She is so excited to pray to God from
now on. We committed her to pray everyday!

That is just a little taste of the miracles we are seeing in Kofu!
I’ll share some more later! Lots to do in the next three days!

Oh way fast! This miracle is too good to not share! Yesterday we were
so busy we couldn’t take a P-day. We had an appointment with an
investigator who has been busy the last three months ( I met her
for the first time). She is from China and is slowly learning English,
we went with our friend Meiya to go visit her. I had no idea what they
were saying until the middle of the conversation. I started to pick up
on some Chinese words! ( I should have brought my little brother Andrew
to translate for me).

Anyways, halfway through the lesson, she called her son down. It turns
out I was the first one who talked to him at English class. During the
lesson, I asked him if he knew what we were talking about. He didn’t.
So I got the opportunity to teach him about God, Repentance, and the
need for church. I also committed him to come to church. I was going
to commit him to baptism, but it didn’t feel right.

Well later that night I got a call from the Elders, who said they met
with Han who is Chinese and they said he talked to the Sisters that
morning and heard about Repentance! So from there the Elders taught
all of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and committed him to Baptism! How
exciting! I had no idea he was meeting with the Elders! I knew he
received a Book of Mormon, but that was all. It is so fun to see how
God meets the needs of his children through other people.

Here is a picture with some of my favorite people. The Elders in the
back are holding a real katana.