Update from Mom

Hi everyone!

This post is just from Sue (a.k.a. Mom) of Brett. I wanted to update everyone on his coming home status and how things are going from here!

We couldn't be prouder of Brett. Just to name a few things, he's taught, baptized, confirmed, learned, stacked hay, sorted chickens, collected bullets, eaten goat and tongue and other odd things.  He's been an inspiration to members of the Church, fellow missionaries, kids, and of course, those not of our faith. He's interacted with people from all cultures - including Indian/Hindu, Marshallese, Chinese, Guatemalan, Hondurans, Mexicans, Cubans, Venezuelans and more (I know I'm missing some)!  He's met some Hogg family there that live in Texas (Sheila & Linda) and he's served everywhere in the Texas Dallas mission boundaries from the inner-city to the most rural areas, from walking to bike to car to truck, and from fluent Spanish to English. 😎

The coolest thing is that Brett has been allowed (and/or asked - we aren't sure) to extend his mission. He was originally supposed to come home the first week of September and he was then going to come home on October 17th.  Right after I got his flight itinerary - I received another email... "So I might have the option of extending to the end of November.."  😵

We emailed back and forth to be sure he's doing this for the right reasons - and I emailed him back with our "blessing" and recognizing he is a grown man (he's almost 24) and he would know better than we would.  So... We got a new flight itinerary for November 28th. Not long afterwards, I had received a sweet email from one of his former companions - that is nothing short of amazing. I also heard from the Dad of another former companion that expressed his love for Elder Hogg and all that he did for his son. 🙏

Yes - Brett will miss Thanksgiving, but we couldn't be more thankful for everyone that has been there for us and for him! People that feed my son, send packages, emails and the mission presidents that he has served with couldn't be more amazing!!  

Then... we got another email where there is a goal/initiative set for December 1st and those coming home on November 28th will have the option to fly home on December 3rd. 😲 We will find out closer to the end of November if that will happen - so we aren't sure yet.

We miss our missionary - and we have also heard that extensions - especially twice - NEVER happen. He must be on the Lord's errand.. and he must be needed.  Usually mission presidents don't allow it because rules are rules. haha. But he's always been one to break the rules - but in a good way. 😍

Once we get a final date - we will post it on Facebook so anyone who wants to welcome him at the airport or come to his homecoming are welcomed to do so! Thank you for reading our nearly-four-year adventure in the life of a missionary!

I have a testimony of this work.. and know that it was told by Christ that the Gospel would be preached to all the world and in their own tongue. Christ was the example of this as he traveled and preached and served - so as it is today for those that follow Him. That work is done in different ways - and Brett has chosen to serve him with a full-time mission. No other experience can replace this experience for him.. and I believe he will be a better servant of Christ throughout his life, but also a better husband, father, employee (or politician or business owner). 

As a convert to the Church, I will never forget the missionaries that taught my family - Sisters Larsen and Fillerup. They answered the long questions I had about Christ and God being separate beings (why does Christ talk to Father throughout his time on Earth, or we hear from God at Christ's baptism, etc) and what did Christ intend for us today? I was only 14 at the time - and encouraged by my parents to NOT get baptized until I was 18. But I was baptized anyway because I knew it was right for me. I had already studied and attended several churches at that point and knew my Savior. I wanted to join the church that was most like the original church of Jesus Christ and feel that I have found it.

So that's just a few notes from Mom and why we do what we do. Love all of you that follow along and enjoy this journey with us!!

Sue

Sister Fillerup (now Dunford) & Sue meet for dinner.. about 35 years after her mission and teaching our family in 1981 in Hayward, Wisconsin. Brett was able to be with us because it was the year he was getting healthy after becoming cancer-free.

Building the Universe and Going to Arkansas

Subject: Building the Universe and Going to ArkansasDate: Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:25:40 -0500From: Brett Hogg

Well family it sure has been another week out here in the mission!

This week I had my first dinner with a family from the Church out here! There aren't as many people, and they live kind of far out, and they're not hispanic, so we havent eaten much with members. Mostly stick to making g our own creations here in the apartment. One day we made Raman with eggs and cheese, eaten in a tortilla with Valentina hot sauce of course (wasn't half bad). Nice people out here though, and they make pretty darn good food.

On Wednesday we met back up with our friend who knows, mathematically/scientifically how the universe was formed, and how God came to be and everything. First of all, last time we talked to him we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and when we went by this time, and we sat down with him he talked about how much he didn't like religious pamphlets and how they're usually wrong. But then he held ours up, and said "but THIS is true." Then we shared the message of the restoration, and when we showed him the little picture of the First Vision he was like, "this is exactly what it looked like," as he too had seen God and that was how he learned how the universe works. He did say the only difference was that God was about 14 feet tall. Then we showed him the Ask of God first vision video, and he looked flabbergasted, and about to cry the whole time we were watching it. After the video he said, "if that's really what Joseph Smith said happened, he is a prophet." We asked him how he felt about our whole message and he said he felt good and like he's not alone in this world, and that all those pastors that told him he wrong/going he'll were all wrong. It was pretty neat I have to say. After all of this he shared his notes about the universe with us. Needless to say I was a tad bit confused, but it seemed really interesting (see attached pics). We talked a tiny bit about baptism and he said that God had told him to kind of remain neutral/not join any church, so that he can spread the information he's received. But he wants to come to church and said he will pray about it! 

From Mom: I received several pictures of these notes! But I don't want to publish his work on a public forum, so I just did a collage of snip-its. See below the map.

That night we were able to go on splits with some awesome members. I went out with a brother here who's like 83 years old, what an interesting guy. His first car was a Model-A, and he told us all about how to cut redwood trees, and how he once made 1000 beehives for the Church. My favorite quote from him was "God's a tough ol' bird". Then on Thursday we went down to Gilmer, TX for some meetings and he gave us a ride, and we got to hear more stories and such, it was a hoot.

On Saturday I also got to go on exchanges with the Elders over DeQueen, AK. Arkansas sure is another State! They actually go to the same branch as us, but they're like 45 minutes away! People over there are so open and willing to hear out our message. The biggest problem is that its hard for anyone to get to church. That said its awesome over there, and there's a lot more Hispanics to that's always a plus!

We also had a confirmation this week! The Marshallese boy that was baptized 2 weeks ago was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I got to do it! It was awesome, he's great. I don't remember if I've mentioned this at all before, but I translate sacrament meeting to Spanish for a couple families here. I usually am just able to give a good summery of what they're saying. Word-for-word translation seems nearly impossible, but I'm getting better!

Anyway, that's about it for this week!
Love yall!
Elder Hogg

Here's a map I made to show the places he's mentioned between the 3 states (and not too far away is Shreveport, Louisiana, too!):

Iakweee!!

Note from Mom: The pictures that were posted in last week's post are explained in this letter... and now it all makes sense!

Subject:	Iakweee!!
Date:	Mon, 17 Sep 2018 15:54:49 -0500
From:	Brett Hogg

Well fam, we're not in Texas anymore!! Oklahoma sure is wild!

First of all a big part of Idabel culture is the Marshallese. Apparently back in the day the Government was testing nukes in the Pacific, and got a little too close to the Marshal Islands. So, to say sorry, they get to all live here (usually in Oklahoma or Arkansas for some reason). They're neat people. The Church over there is pretty well known, so over here a good number of them are either members of the Church or know somebody that is. In fact, this past Sunday we got baptize one! An eight year old whose parents aren't members of the church, but who is being adopted my members. His grandparents gave talks at his baptism, and they were completely in Marshallese. That same grandmother had a birthday a day or two before, and they invited us! Apparently the first birthday and the 50 or 51st Birthdays are big deals. They had it at the VFW place, and made a ton of food. And to our surprise, a couple people we're teaching were there! Apparently all the Marshallese know each other. The islands over there are only like a 1/2 mile wide, and how ever miles long, so everyone knows or sees everyone else. Anyway, it was a neat experience, they were singing Marshallese music, and serving huge trays of Marshallese food. We didn't understand anything that was going on, but at one point they asked us to come up, so we did and then so did a bunch of people, eventually forming a huge line. And they started singing a song that best we can guess was a happy birthday song, except it was going on for forever, and some people were tearing up. Then all the sudden the lady who's Birthday it is gets up and starts dancing around, and eventually starts passing out blankets and scarfs to people. We were so confused. We thought we were just singing happy birthday but then people are crying and she's dancing around and passing things out to people, and then after she sits down again people start heading her money for her birthday. At that point we had leave, but we were so lost. 

Another big part of Idabel is the Chicken industry. Really, it's a big part of all of East Texas/Southern Oklahoma. Here it's Tyson chicken, and that's where all the Marshallese and Hispanics work. Our Elders Quorum President here raises chickens for them even. This week we got to go help him out in his chicken houses! He has six, and each one, if I remember correctly has about 21,000 chickens in it. Right now they're still chicks, so the houses were all incredibly warm. Also, the houses smelled like 21,000 chickens. After sanitizing our boots and hands and everything, we first we had to heard most of them down to one end of the chicken house thing so we didn't step on them, then we walked the whole thing and had to pick up the trays where feed dumps into. It was sweaty and gross but definitely still fun. 

We also had to take a trip up to Sulphur Springs, TX for a meeting with the stake President. First we drove to Hugo, OK to meet another guy that was going to the meeting, and drove the rest of the way with him. It took us a good while, but the brother we were riding with had HAM radios set up and he was telling us all about it. Also hes like a real estate guru, so he told us all about how to buy houses and and stuff. He also told us that because we spent a majority of the trip down talking (Mentoring us) about real estate, the trip was a tax write off, how cool is that?? We didn't get back till late that night, but we learned a lot!

The next day we met this really cool couple. Apparently the missionaries had talked to them a tiny bit before but had never been able to ever meet with them. Well we were about to go knock on their neighbors door, when the wife was outside, yelling at the dog, and said Hi to us. We went over and talked to her, and she invited us right in, where we met her husband who was really cool. After a little  small talk he basically asked us to share our message! He said that he had noticed the change in his neighbor (another really cool couple we're teaching) since he started meeting with missionaries, and said he's felt the pull from God to get close to him again, and said that he feels like he needs that change in HIS life. We shared the message of the Restoration and while talking about getting answers to prayer and the spirit, he said "Im feeling it right now!" When helping him look for a scripture in the Book of Mormon, his wife asked us to find it for him, but he rebutted "I can do it, I'm going to have get used to doing it anyway!" Implying that he has some reading to do! He also asked about coming to church and said he'll be wearing his nicest blue jeans. The spirit was thick, and you could tell they were ready and elect. It seemed like he was on the verge of tears the whole lesson. Unfortunately they weren't able to make it to church, as he hurt his back that morning. But they want us back, and he even said he would he baptized. I love them!

On Sunday we had the mission Presidents Fireside. It was awesome! They have some recent converts share their testimonies and there are some musical numbers and President Dalton gets up and talks as well. Its always super cool. We had a guy from our branch who was baptized about a year ago share his testimony and it was awesome. The other lady was a 70something year old lady who had been baptized two week before and had the brightest testimony. She testified of God's love, and about how the texture or smell of a flower pedal, and the color of the trees, they all testify of God's love. He could have made everything black and white and we would have got along just fine, but he gave us colors to look at and enjoy because he loves us! It was a pretty cool testimony. That was another 1hr45min trip there and back, we spend a lot of time in the car here in this area lol.

Then today we went up to Broken Bow lake, it was beautiful!! Definitely a sight to behold. The pictures don't do it justice.

Anyway, that's about it. Oklahoma sure is a wild ride!!
Love you guys!
Elder Hogg

1 trip to 2 states in 3 days

Subject:	1 trip to 2 states in 3 days
Date:	Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:29:21 -0500
From:	Brett Hogg

Idabel, Oklahoma Voiced Email ♥

Plus I think Brett means 3 states... Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas - he's been traveling between the three states these days. ~Mom

Deleted Email - but a lot of pictures!

Subject:	Re: Oooohhhh..k.lahoma!!! 🎶🎵🎤
Date:	Mon, 10 Sep 2018 17:20:09 -0500
From:	Brett Hogg

So here's the deal, I had my email all typed out, putting the finishing touches on it when it all got erased!!!! And because I'm running low on time, I might not be able to get a new one typed out, so you might get two long ones next week. :(

Congrats Scott/mom on the Eagle!!! Also congrats to Bro Carter for doing so much for it too, lol. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO!! I'm still looking for bigger belt buckle. If I find one I'll get it out to ya.

Glad to hear the packers are doing well, Elder Kornhonan my new companion is a bears fan so...

Dad sent me some pictures of WV it looked pretty cool!  (Eric was in West Virginia last week for work, taking down a crane.)

Note from Mom:

We received a lot of pictures - and no explanations. I'll update this post with his captions if we get explanations next week. All of my comments are always in BLUE. 

Another note - I think I'll send his companion some proper team gear!!  Poor kid doesn't know what a good team is. ☺

This does not look good. :P

BANISHED... to the Shady 580

Subject:	BANISHED (again)
Date:	Mon, 3 Sep 2018 17:40:33 -0500
From:	Brett Hogg

Well Friends and fam, it was nice knowing you! I'm out to a little town called Idabel, Oklahoma, never to be heard of again! Its technically a bilingual area, but from what I understand it's pretty much all English. This also means we won't really have dinners with members of the church ever again. I'm excited to serve the good people of the "Shady 580" (The area code of southern Oklahoma).

I'm sad to be leaving the great Hispanics (and food) here in East Dallas/Mesquite. Love them! Also this week we found a really cool lady, and her daughters (a family!). She was a referral from the leader of the spanish branch of the church up in McKinney. They recently went though a significant family/life event that has left them struggling, and the mom looking for God. I was very excited to teach them more, but Elder Wyatt will do great with them. 

Other than that not a whole more to report on. I'm excited for another adventure out east and helping people find true happiness though the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

Love ya!

Elder Hogg

From Mom: No pictures from Brett this week, but a great member in the Mesquite area texted a couple pictures to me!