hello family,

i hope everyone had a good thanksgiving! from what it sounds like, that is definitely the case

dad, thank you for your email, im sorry that penn state lost but it sounds like they had a good year. that is sweet about TIAA creff and ayco, you will be getting paid for 2 jobs for a few weeks, haha. im glad to hear that the outhouse and thanksgiving were overall a success, i wish i would have been there too, but only one more thanksgiving until iim home!

mom, it is true that i am doing well when it comes to staying warm, in fact it is too warm here, i cannot escape it! but all is well with food too, brazilian missionaries literally will steal everything, but i bought locks for my suitcases and keep everything guarded. in truth i didnt do anything special for thanksgiving, it made me very sad during the whole day because of that, but i hear that christmas is way worse, at least i will be able to call!!!! im sorry to hear about boo and a porcupine, i hope that she learns from it though, and doesnt go at the next porcupine she sees. teaching always teches the student and the teacher together, so i am glad to hear that you are learning as well! i got your package this week with the scriptures and cookie mix in it!!! i will make it a few weeks into the future, but i will explain why later. thank you so much fo the package, i loved everything. i will give the bookmarks to people, i am using some myself as well, and everything else will be so handy, so thank you very very much!

now time for what happened this week, well this week has been crazy to say the least, mostly whats happened the last 2 days, but i will go in chronilogical order, because i took notes for the email and michelles letter during the whole week! ok here we go

this week was the third of a year mark for me! already?!! only 5 more of this and my mission is done, it didnt seem like a ton with 3 months but 4 months is very close to half a year. exciting, right?! a third of a year wooo

well first of all i had the oppertunity to go to mcdonalds this past tuesday, i got a chicken sandwhich, and fries. why chicken sandwich, and not a burger since im nowhere near america? well i thought about it, but in america i always got the chicken anyways, i feel less gross afterwards. but it was good, basically tasted the same as in the sates.

i cut my own hair this past monday as well, i think i am going to make it a point to keep it nice and short from now on, it was raelly hard cutting ALL THAT HAIR, it was so long, seriously long to the point i could shake my head and it would fly around, but all is well now.

this week i really got around to seeing the more impoverished side of brazil, we worked in an area that we have never worked in before, and its abasically all slums, or favelas. it was sad to see people living so poorly, but all we can do as missionaries is help bring the gospel into peoples lives, it can make anyone happy, no matter what other circumstances!

ive started cutting up an apple every morning, putting it in a bowl with some delicious granola and milk. also, for a dessert like treat one day, i got 2 pieces of bread, some peanut butter, and a bar of chocolate, and grilled it on the george forman grill. i know the ladder really isnt healthy at all, but the truth is i have been eating healthier, and also have been getting slowly and slowly more fancy with what i make, and so my food situation has been improving i would say

this week i had my first experience, with a mother beginning to and continuing breast feeding during a lesson, like it wasnt a big deal or anything. apparently this happens in brazil sometimes, and so as soon as i noticed it was all eye contact from there. it was awkward for me to be honest, but i hear that it will happen more during the mission, i will just always make eye contact

one thing that dad might find interesting here, much like the brazilian soccer team, everyone calls everyone by their first name in church. i really discovered this because our stake president was at out sacrament meeting this week, and they called him ´brother antonio´ and out bishop ´bishop junior´ and never by the last name! that is so like brazil, to call people by there first name like the soccer players.. brazilians

so now to the reason why my week has been crazy. before i really start, no harm has been done to me! so all is good. but earlier this week we have seen 2 guys who are inb 20s or 30s passing our house, and looking in and such all shady. now in our mission the past weeks there have been 2 counts of robbers braking into missionaries houses and literally stealing everything, cleaning everything out. so my companion was talking to a taxi driver friday night outside our house, and while doing so the 2 guys and 2 others passed by AGAIN, and this time elder de jesus heard them say that it will be easy to rob our house, because were missionaries, and all they need is a gun and we will give them anything, and that ´americans have money´ so we called our mission president saturday night after we got home, to tell him what we heard. and he told us to literally pack up everything we own in 15 minutes, we were going to live with the secetaries downtown. so he called 3 taxis for us, and we all scrambled and scrambled to pack up everything in just 15 minutes! ahh it was so stressful (all my stuff is fine) and then we started loading everything on the taxis. well i was standing my one when a car passed my really slow, and i saw a guy on his cell phone, looking at our house, and i heard him say ´they are leaving, they are leaving´ but he used the verb leaving like we were moving houses, not just leaving for the day. so he was totally in on it, and we dont know but he could have been scoping the house out one last time before they would have gone in that night! so it was a scary experience, but we all made it safe and sound to the house of the secretaries

i remember feeling some random urge to start putting my clothes in my suitcases, earlier that night. i was taking my dry clothes off the line from that day, and i just had this urge to not put them in the dresser, but start packing. so i did, haha, and literally 10 minutes later was president saying to pack everything up and leave! and other missionaries had other little feelings or promptings during that night, and we were truly delivered by the lord. it was a crazy experience, but to know that the spirit is 100 percent in my life is something that comforts me alot.

so now for the aftermath, there are 8 of us living in the apartment of the secretaries downtown, and we have to pay for the bus to leave for our area and to return as well, whenever we go to work in our area. we are going to waste so much money! we dont know yet, but the mission president has 3 options from here on out; find a new house (most likely), emergency transfer us to other areas for a while (less likely) or close the area completely (2nd most likely). so we will see what happens! i think that we are going to just get a new house, in an apartment building thats tall and everything, because those always have aprking lots, and walls with barbed wire, and are 100 percent safe

also, i think i wont have a p day today because sister tavares just called and saif that we have to go to the house and literally clean everything! and there are tons and tons of weeds in the section of the backyard, and she said that we have to make it so that it is just dirt. i am mainly concerned with writing michelle a letter this week, i think that i will have time to do it back at the house, but this work will take up a couple of hours :/ not exactly what i want to be doing on my p-day. and also not exactly how i wanted my thanksgivng to happen!

but overall the good news is that we are protected by the lord and safe, and that is really what matters. thank you all once again for the packages! i treasure them so much, and i will make those cookies one day when we actually have a real house. i heard that if we get a real house it will take about a week a week and a half, but who knows, we will see!

oh one other thing, our ward had 23 investigators at church this past week! it was packed, and was awesome to see. we have plenty of people that are progressing, and that is what is most important, building a relationship with out heavenly father.

i have to go now, i love you all so much! i think about who i want to see in heaven, and its the people that get this email. i will keep everyone in my prayers and thoughts always, and will do my absolute best to be the best servant of the lord i can be. i love you all so much, until next week, have a good week!

-elder zachary paul hoskin