Monday, April 30, 2012

Zach's Trainer and his trainee
Hello Family!

Jenny, i think the smarter siblings club is getting along great! also
jenny i have met and been able to help many great people out here :) .
its getting cold today now that you ask! you are incredibly smart for
knowing exactly why the seasons are reversed here and there, and there
are monkeys here! i have yet to see one, but i will. There are also
other strange animals. Basically there are no american animals here,
like squirrels or deer or stuff like that, just brazilian ones.

Maja, thank you for sending the package! its true that im staying, so
it will all work out okay with that. happy birthday abby! i am jealous
of your german chocolate cake, but more happy for you than anything
else! fifteen??? are you kidding me? one more year and you will start
to date.. but that doesnt matter because i need to meet them first, so
really its one year and 3 months. im sorry mom that you are still
struggling with the fatigue, have you found out exatly what it is?

Dad, thank you for the wonderful news about the devils. i have nothing
to say about the flyers, but lets hope it goes well. im just going to
throw in a quick comment that the west side of the playoffs looks
completely ridiculous. 12 families leaving the ward? holy crap. that
is a ton! are they dental students still, or what? i think you will
probably get a new calling in the future, that does seem like some
time significantly being in the high council. mothers day call! well i
dont know exxactly where it will be yet, but i will mark 4:00 for the
time as of now for me to recieve the call. make sure michelle is in on
the planning too! i will find out the number and send it to you all
good next week.



ok now onto everything else!

so ill start out with the highlight of my mission so far, which was
seeing an apostle this past saturday, Elder Cook! well let me explain
how it all went down. so i woke up at 2:45 am in the morning, to walk
45 minutes to where the bus was going to pick us up. then we all as
missionaries got in the bus, and traveled almost a 4 hour bus ride to
londrina. we got there at just about 9 after all of it, and the rule
was by 9:20 we had to be seated reading scriptures silently, in the
chapel. then Elder Cook, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the presidency of
the 70, and 2 other are 70s of brazil entered a little after, and
before anythign started, Elder cook requested that we all shake his
hand. so i got to shake his and all of their hands! and then so the
conference started, and he talked alot about different things about
missionary work, and it was really really helpful. i learned about
´real gowth´in the church. one of the interesting things both Elder
Cook and Elder Clayton said were that missionary work now needs to be
50% baptizing and 50% reactivation, which is a change to mostly all of
the missionaries at least in my mission. then towards the end he gave
us 2 ´apostolic blessings´ that seemed like they were pinned right at
me.



anyways, so that was basically the more or less of what happened. i
can explain it better to yo all outside of email in the future, but as
soon as it was done we got sent into the buses and took the 4 hour
trip home. and it was totally worth it. it was the highlight of my
mission, and a huge testimony builder. i even got to ask him a
question and have him respond and everything, it was just a great
experience.

so let me go on to the other parts of the week that arent as great,
dad, i would like to inform you that i found out the same time i am
ending my mission, and you and mom and who else are coming out here to
pick me up (if you still do), it will be exactly when the confederates
cup happens here in brazil. just wanted to let you know :)

also, in case you havent noticed, i am staying here in palmital! so
now i know 100 % that i will be leaving four weeks  from tomorrow, but
i will be here for the call and that package you sent and everything,
so all is well.

i have started a tradition where every week on the mission, while i am
here on the web i print out a conference talk from last conference. i
think its a great way to keep applying conference to our lives, and i
think that keeping conference with us until the next one is something
that we all need to do! (see Mosias 5:1-5). but i would suggest it to
any of you, its just a nice thing to have.

that picture that i sent is one of my ´trainer´, me, and my trainee at
the conference. so, 3 generations if you want to call it that. i got
to see all the missionaries that i have ever seen there

well i lvoe you all, and im out of time! but know that youre always in
my prayers, and i look forward to next monday, i hope you guys have a
great week! i love you!

Elder Hoskin

Monday, April 23, 2012

Hello Family!!

Well just to start off id like to say thank you for everything you do,
and its almost may already! whaat?

Grandma and Grandpa, i got your letter! thank you very very much, i
understand if its hard to write a big letter, you can write just as
much as you did in these emails to tell you the truth! but thank you
very much :) ill be able to, with this, give you a letter in response
that will go through the missionties website after i mail it, and then
after your email. thank you!

mom, i heard about how mitt romney is going to be it. that is crazy to
me! members here are getting sort of sad hearing about how people have
come out and said they wont vote for him because hes not a christian,
which is of course completely false. but im still excited for it! send
out that absentee ballot, and i will do my civic duty haha. birthday
backage?? i havent even thought about it yet. hm, oh! well first of
all, a member here asked me to ask if you can send in the next package
a cd by that artist bruno mars. it can be any package, but she will
pay us back, so you can do that if you like. also, i think the only
thing that i really want is what i need, which is some new white
shirts. i at this point have 5, because i have been giving some to
recent converts and such who dont have them, and also its getting
colder, so maybe what i would ask for would be long sleeve shirts? all
my shirts are a 16 neck still, and seeing as how i havent gained any
weight i dont need to change the size. but other than that, maybe some
sweets or stuff from home? i would just say to send stuff thats not
chocolate, because it gets all melted in the box, and also because
they have plenty of that here. so maybe like starbursts? or
jellybeans, skittles, just non chocoalte sweets? any other ideas i am
sure you will make my birthday, because you are my momma haha. i like
what you said about ezekiel, i think one of the best ways of seeing if
were active in the gospel and not just in the church is if we are
remeberinig him daily, during every moment, good or bad. happy
birthday abby!! and also congrats on the tennis, i laughed at that
sentance, just because it seemed like something id say too.

dad, iit sounds like the blue and white game was awesome, with the
weather and penn state winning and all haah. also, the name doug
marshall sounds familiar, but i dont remember it too well. was he
´dougy-fresh´? if so, i remember him very well now. i wish i could
have talked to him! what is this devils? i am sad to hear that theyre
playing like they always do in the playoffs, as long as they improve
every year though i am fine with it until i get back haha. also,
hearing the penguins lose is just music to my ears. would you even
believe that i met a sister here in our mission who is a flyers fan?
eesh. thanks for keeping me updated! i had no clue there were alot of
brazilians in uniontown, that is sweet! i would be down for giving a
talk there, if you were ok with not understanding too much haha. but
thats cool that she served in the brazil londrina mission, we actually
only got falls de iguaçu in our mission 6 months or so before i got
here, but maybe it was bigger. i have not heard too many brazil facts
about the church, except for that there is a lot of growth here in the
northeast. well there is everywhere, i mean its going well here in the
south, but still i hear that things are going well in brazil. the only
statistic i have officially heard is that this country has the lowest
retention rate of any other, and while that is not one of the happiest
stats, i will let you know the good ones i hear in the future.



So lets get to the rest of it all

well first off, i dont know if im getting transfered or not, still.
because were all going to londrina (as seen in next pgh) they are
going to call everyone who needs to pack theyre bags because theyre
leaving on wednesday, and afterwards we´ll know on saturday. SO! i
would not worry about m eleaving, since im training and all, i have
like a 5 % chance. so send letters and what youd like to send, and
then if anything ridiculous happens i will let you know next monday.

so this saturday is an apostle! Quinten L Cook is coming to our
mission, and the entire mission is traveling to londrina on saturday
to see him and hear him. he will be accompanied by 2 of the presidency
of the 70. but i am so excited! i think its going to be a great
experience, and i will of course let yo know all about it :)

it has been significantly getting colder this week! its just almost
sweater weather, which is my favorite weather, especilly since im in
brazil. its getting cold at night, morning, then getting not too hot
in the afternoon, so its actually really nice. i am so excited for
this! cold, finally... haha

so we are studying the book of mormon as a mission, but after we
finish in may i am going to go back to the old testament. i think that
even though it is really complicated, it is the word of god for a
reason, and i feel like in regards to my life it is a tool that i need
to apply and use more. so thats whats next for me! i think im going to
take old testament institute when i get back, that will be a biggie
haha

we had a baptism this week of a young man named davi (daveee)! he had
been going to church and getting taught by the missionaries for one
year, but his mom didnt let him get baptized during the whole time.
so after the first couple of months, all the new missionaries would
pass by and just try to get him baptized to get him baptized after
seeing the teaching records in the area book. so we got there 3 weeks
ago to see what it was about, and without saying anything she was like
im not going to just let you baptize him like all the other
missionaries wanted. so than we told her that over the next few weeks
wed prepare him to be baptized, (that was her doubt about him, prep)
and so we marked tons of scriptures that he read, he was saaying his
daily prayers, and after 3 weeks his mom let him get baptized! its
just a great lesson to all those missionaries out there who just want
to throw people in the water to increase their number of baptisms.
that is a problem here in brazil, and this just shows how you need to
not just have baptisms, but you need to baptize converts, especially
to be retained. but all in all the service was great!

well i have to go now, but i love you all! keep up being the best
family, and future wife a missionary could have, and i will keep you
guys in my prayers, and talk to you next week! BYE! love you guys!

Elder Hoskin

ps

first photo, baptism! (elder glovers first baptism where he literally baptized)

second, there was a literall horizon to horizon rainbow, and so i
thought it was sweet

third, elder glovers family thorugh missionties sent him a cookie
cake. i almost cried of joy, my unhappiness in that picture is irony.
ok bye!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hello family!

Well I will just get to it. Im not going to lie, my email feels so
much emptier without michelle :( or my grandparents, but i am sure i
will get used to it just fine when i get the first letters and so on.
whenever i start getting the letters, i will still be shooting in a
little message here to them like i usually do!

Mom, thank you for saying that! haha im happy to be your missionary
son sort of deal. thats sweet that theres a crater with my name! do
they have other names of us, like michelle or you guys? also, that is
sweet that you joined a tennis league. you are gonna whoop. i feel
like i get alot of my competitiveness from you, which just means that
i know you are very very competitive when it comes down to brass tax,
so dont get too mad! although saying that makes me a hypocrite
sometimes. about sister bushman, if i were you i would just be a good
friend to her, i know that its probably an obligatory feeling to try
and help her, but just be a good friend to her! theres a perfect
conference talk this past conference that talks about the choices our
kids make, and how parents need to react and handle that, it was by a
70 and i dont remember his name, but it was on sunday i am pretty
sure. that is still awesome that you know how to sign, for some reason
im always hearing people talking about sign language down here, so i
can tell them that my mom knows how to sign, and its just sweet to
know that you are bi lingual! thank you for setting up the
missionties, i am getting real excited to get the first one!
especially because i always got michelle´s letters right now, so now
im just dying for one like i usually am, just more so haha.

Dad, im sorry that you have a bad cold, and that its just making the
days difficult because you gotta keep going. one of the many lessons
ive learned on the mission (or just bad experiences) is being sick and
not being able to change all the things that you have to do. i guess
im growing up more haha. that fire is crazy! i saw the picture mom
sent me, right next to our house! i also feel bad for that lady, how
she lost 5 of her 6 cats. while its not actually that sad, she will at
least appreciate the one cat that lived much better. how did the fire
start? and are they going to build a new house there now or what?
already starting, how im going to come home and some things are going
to be different. also, its hilarious how 6 different townships were
there. at least theyre all on the ball, i just didnt even know that
whitehall was close to us? well i knew, but like half an hour close,
right? ive never been there. Its hockey time, well it sounds to me
like basically everything is going how it should. home ice advantage
back to the devils, and the penguins are going down the drain. but i
want them to bring it to 7 games, to just have both of them be worn
out. fleury is weak. also, the kings have always been sort of good,
and even though i like the canucks, itd be sweet to see the kings beat
them, well not see for me, hear! but still haha. about the old
testament, i agree. exactly what you said. i think one of the
differences between the old testament and the book of mormon is that
the old testament tells it how it is, in all the detail. the book of
mormon says things like abominations, priestcrafts, very
general-but-still-get-the-jist sort of thing. and so i think the book
of mormon profets had revelation when they were writing and resuming,
that maybe we didnt need all the details, just the doctrine and
examples/stories.

Ok so now errething else

Well first of all we are less than one month from the mothers day
call! transfers are next monday, and there is basically from what ive
heard a 95 percent chance ill stay here with my trainee, because thats
normally how it runs. so it will likely be here, and it wont the the
same number as last time, but it will be the same sort of setup, since
that worked great! im so excited to talk to you guys for the SECOND OF
FOUR TIMES, its already getting up to the halfway mark, are you
kidding me??

Next, i thought michelle or any of you would appreciate that i ate
this week, for the first time in the almost 9 months on the mission,
peppers again. like acuall cooked peppers and all! its so wierd
because i got here thinking id be eating alot of spicy stuff or things
like that, but most brazilians dont even like spicy food, which is a
downer, but it was good to have that again. i cant wait to have the
green chilis down there in albuquerque when i get back, in like a nice
breakfast burrito, or on a pizza, mm aanyways

So this week we have had an investigator of ours named leandro. his
story is both amazing, and sad. well weve been teaching him for about
three weeks now, and he had a smoking problem, cigarettes and all. So
he had managed to stop for 2 whole weeks! and then this last friday me
and my companion went out on visits with our bishop, and we went to
his house, and invited him for baptism this last sunday! so it was
great and all, but then, something bad happened. it was almost like
satan was waiting to really tempt him until he had a baptismal date,
because after 2 weeks of quitting, the day after the invite and
subsuquently he day before his baptism, he couldnt keep it up and
smoked just one cigarette. it was frustrating for me to see how satan
just messes with people. like i have always known about temptation and
everything, but i just got so frustrated with temptation because it
seemed like satan was almost messing with him, i cant even describe
how i felt! but anyways, so we made a new plan with a goal for this
wednesday, and as of how he is going strong, hes praying more and
reading more of the LDM, and so like many other times in my life i can
see through this example that sometimes we have these weaknesses or
shortcomings, but they are to make us strong through the experience
and growth that we go through. like leandro, he is reading and praying
and thus growing so much more now after he temporarily fell short!

so this week i have been missing home ALOT. it hasnt affected my work
or anything, but im just excited for the small things when i get back,
and this week i had been thinking about the small things alot, like
going to costco, sunday after nooons just taking it easy, being
reunited and sealed for eternity with michelle ;) but i think at this
point i have learned on the mission how to appreciate and cherish
those memories and futures, and not have it make me want to be here
less for the 2 years that i am here right now. so yepp!!

also, i had a dream last night that dad sold the pilot, because he
said in the dream that he never really bought it in the first place,
and then we bought that station wagon we had when i was 11 and the
back seats faced backwards. wierd, right? so, are you thinkging of
selling the pilot?

this week was also good because we had a ward council meeting, and set
up a huge program from the first presidency to get the ward working
with us more. it was funny because even though this is only my second
area, i still had experience from my first area on how a ward mission
plan works because of how they had one, so i got to use that to help.
but it was really sweet, all the leaders were there, and we got to get
them excited about helping out the missionaries! an idea that i came
up with that i think is going to work out well is that not only will
the home teachers visit once a month, but every pair will be obligated
to also go on splits with the missionaries once a month, to visit
investigators as well as less actives. i think its going to work out
great!

ok well i gotta go now, but i love all of you to death! ill keep you
in my prayers, im sooo excited to get my first letter form mission
ties, and i will tlak to you all next week. bye!!!

Elder Hoskin

ps, i forgot my memory card adaptor :( so no photos this week, but
next will be double because i have some from this week still. ok bye!!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

MISSION TIES

Zach's mission president has asked that only parents and siblings email Zachary. So, we have set up missionties.com. When you send Zach a letter using this website, they will print it out in Brazil, and put the letter into the Brazilian mail. It will take 2-3 days to reach him, instead of weeks from US postal service. You need to enter our email address, and our password. Call me, Stephanie @ 412-341-6943, and I will give you this information.
Hello wonderful family of mine!!

Well Let´s get right to it.

First of all, Grandma and Grandpa need to be informed about the whole
mission ties thing, because they seem to be unsure of what to do.
Longdale sounds sweet! im not going to lie, one of the first things
ill want to do whenever i get back is take a nice family trip out to
Idaho to see you guys, i would think that would be great! i remember
going to a rodeo once as well, but i cant even remember much of it, so
that would also be sweet!!

Mom, thats good to hear that you got to sing in the choir for easter!
i made sure to listen especially to christ centered hymns yesterday,
its especially good on easter. i was thinking about our tradition for
hiding the baskets as a tradition, and i really missed that this year!
but that is ok. i think thats going to be a tradition im going to want
to do with michelle when our kids are a little grown up, although
competing eachother for eggs was a good experience as well :). ok so
misssion ties sweet!!! ask michelle if she would like the other
service for letters better, with me sending it there, because i will
do either one! just ask her if she wants to do it, it will be alot
faster, but just ask her and let me know! also, she can send me videos
or pictures through you, like how i can still and will send them
through you as well. so that is still allowed, its just this thing
about letters that is the new rule. grandma and grandpa need to send
it through mission ties, and joseph and alayna could email, but ill be
able to respond to him better through mission ties during the day,
since im all pressed for time here on the computer. i completely
understand about how dad is not beating around the bush with some of
his messages, but that is the way it has to be. we need to tell them
the cold hard facts, that will only lessen in harshness when we follow
the gospel of christ, so even though it does seem initially a little
blunt, it is for the better for the souls that he is home teaching, or
anyone for that matter. as teachers, we have to give them agency as
much as possible, and how can we do that to the fullest when after our
visits they dont know the eternal consequences of their actions? that
girls camp idea sounds really good! i just hope theres garlic bread
there... i love that stuff and am now very much missing it haha.

dad, do we have a new mission president now? i think that missions can
bless entire families in ways we dont see, sometimes ways we do.but no
matter what, we have the lords promise that we will be blessed, so its
not a question of if, but how or when. i really like the scripture you
sent me, i also very much enjoy 2 nephi 9 for the atonement, and alma
40,41,42 for the ressurection that his ressurection provided for us.
the devils seem to be in a good spot if you ask me. i havent watched
this season, but based on past years florida seems like the team thats
going to make it well into the playoffs for the first time in a while,
only to get out in the first round and turn right to next year. also,
bruins and capitals , as well as flyers and penguins, are going to be
both bloodbaths, and both will end in 2 worn out teams. if NJ can end
their series quick, get some rest, but more importantly not give the
winner of either of those series time to rest, they will be in a good
spot! ps, the rangers? what the heck! i totally want a stationary bike
when me and michelle are all settled in in life and such, i think its
a great way to exercise.

ok! so onto the family letter!

well first big news, THERES GENERAL AUTHORITIES COMING TO OUR MISSION!
APRIL 28th!!! Who will it be? ITs going to be 3. First, Elder Costa of
the 70, second Elder Clayton of the Presidency of the 70, and also
last but not least, Elder Quinten L Cook!! AN APOSTLE! ahh im sooo
excited. and all of our mission will travel down to Londrina to see
them. im so excited to meet an apostle!! i dont even know how to
describe it haha.

ok let me try to tell you what all else happened this week, in
chronilogical order

first of all, monday i went to mcdonalds for the first time in most
obviously a long while hhah. i was never all for mcdonalds, it being
usually gross and all, but i figure once every half a year fast food
isnt too bad! i literally walked in and it felt like america haha, but
it was just a nice little taste of the good ol USA.

just on a side note, i dropped alot on the bank card one time this
week, and just know that i had to buy things for our ward easter
activity. so it seems like a dent, but i am going to get reimburced
fully, and then use that money as a reserve before i use the card, so
its like i didnt actually spend that!

anyways, so remember how i said it got cold in the mornings for a
couple of days? well not only did that go away, but i later learned
that that ´cold´that i felt was like 70 or 72 degrees. and i was in a
jacket and all, i thought it was freezing! hahahah what the heck?

MOM, i got the package!!!!! thank you SOO MUCH for everything. first
of all, all of the easter candy is gone already (clearly, being me and
easte) but thank you very much! the jelly beans were amazing, its like
every one is something else that i miss from home. next package
(doestn matter when) definitely needs to have a big bin of jelly beans
like abby would buy haha. next!! thank you for the jacket, it wil be
well used, and i am already learning a TON With that book of mormon
manual that you gave me! thank you so much, i am able to feast on the
word more well, mom i am learning so freaking much on the mission, it
is ridiculous!

so i ate something called feijoado, which is beans and rice, like
normal, but the beans are black, and for the meat they LITERALLY USE
EVERY PART OF THE PIG. the nose, ears, all of it. and there was hair
still on the ´meat´. the first day, at the easter activity we had, i
made it out alive, but the day after the ward just sent the leftovers
to us for lunch, which is apparently a huge no no with feijoado, and
who got sick? i did. it only lasted a day, but it was absolutely
disgusting. that is one brazilian signature dish i will NOT cook for
you, michelle, when were married hahah ;).

so easter was good! everyone was visiting people. so what did we do?
we literally visited every address on our ward list for our half of
the ward boundaries ( or our area) and it worked out really well! we
just gave an easter message, met alot of less actives that we will
help more in the future, found houses where members had died or moved
withouth the ward knowing, and through that got new investigators! so
now i know exactly what i will do in all my areas on holidays now
haha.

also, i opened my next present from michelle!! thank you very much for
this delicious smelling hand sanitizer! i lvoe it, i love you ;D i
very much need it, and it reminds me of you which is the best part.

so i have to go now, but i love all of you! i hope you have another
great week. michelle, with mission ties you can now also write me
whenever or as often as youd like under the limits,. same fo family.
so once you get it set up shoot out a letter to my address so i can
see if it worked! you can send a letter, a conference talk, anything!
also, tell joseph to shoot me one there too.

i love you guys! i hope you have a fantastic week, and i love you all.
were all going to be a family together for eternity. until next week!

Elder Hoskin

ps, i sent photos this week, just of me at mcdonalds was all i took!
ok love you!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Hello Family!

Well Lets just get it started

Grandma and Grandpa, its ok that you didnt send one last week, i
completely understand! But it true that conference was great, I also
was sort of taken back by how the number of children born by women
under the age of 30 without married parents is over 50 percent! I was
so taken aback. But thank you for all you commentary!

Mom, Haha i liked the talk that mentioned missionaries too, im pretty
sure i know why but i seem to like them alot more now that i am a
missionary, and i will continue that afterwards probably. Also, i
liked your bit on caffiene, how its for all of us to make the
descision ourselves. Outside of the official substances, it is about
what will be an addiciton to us, or do harm to our bodies, such as
things that we have allergies to, bad reactions, ect. Which is why i
am not eating bananas right now, even though i love them haha. I
havent gotten my package yet! but i am fairly confident it will come
this week, just because i hope it will haha. The cool evenings are
officially here! so youre right about that, but it only gets down to
like 70 at night, which is still a good break. Basically whatever
happens the mission, i will be accustomed to the heat if me and
michelle live somewhere hot, or i will very much enjoy the cold if me
and her live in the cold, so i am good to go. Also, im excited about
the bluberry slash grape plants! i want to come home and see them
huge, haha you only have a little over a year.

Dad, its true conference was awesome!! thats sweet that you are
getting down to work work, im sure your going to rip the lid off, like
we say haha. it sounds to me, like the devils are exactly where they
need to be to make a cup run. they just have to get momentum in the
first round (wether its a sweep or a 7 game stretch, itd be good for
them) and then just momentum forward. college basketball isnt my
favorite thing on earth after north carolina and butler are out, but
thats good to know that nothing has changed with it, with kentucky and
kansas being there and all. if it was depressing, it sounds like the
hunger games hit the nail on the head! i loved that book, even though
its wasnt all daisies, so ill look forward to it when im home. is it
pg13, pg? my companion is indeed doing good, we are learning how the
blessings of exact obedience are much different than partial
obedience, so its all good! its true, the christmas call is coming!!
woo i didnt know if it was in april or may, but the chances are likely
that i will still be here may 13th, even though its the next transfer,
because of training and all. i will need to find a differet house to
call to, but i will figure it all out.

ok so now onto everything else!


Well to start of with something that would need to be taken care of
ASAP, there is a new rule now in the mission. Every rule is made
because someone takes something too far to one extreme, so we have a
new hoop to jump per-se! But, now there is a new rule that i am not
allowed not only to send emails to anyone other than my parents and
siblings, but now i am not technically allowed to recieve emails from
anyone other than my family. before, it was apparent that it was
beyond my control, but now it has to be. so that means that i cant get
more emails from michelle with her letter attachment! at first i,
being me :/, freaked out because i did not know what i would do in the
future to get her letters and all. and then, my companion, a freaking
blessing from heaven put here in the right time, introduced me to
somethign called missionties.com . this website is the answer to this
new rule! if you are down for it. basically what you do is that you
sign up, pay a monthly fee that he said is not that much (you just
have to look into it on the website, missionties.com) and then what
you can do is that anyone can send me a ´letter´. the process is that
you send it as an email through the website, they get it here in
brazil, and then mail it to me here, so it gets here in one or two
days, as opposed to 2 or 3 weeks! so if you are willing to pay the fee
and all, this will be absolutely perfect, because michelle can send
letters through that email website, and i will get it real soon! and
it wont change anything, except for 2 days later, and we will be
following the rules, which is very important since theyre rules of
people called of god and all. so look into this website! it sounds
like theres alot more there than i know, but just look into it, and if
you figure it out as soon as you can we can start this new way next
week, and follow the rules! (missionties.com) also, this means that
anyone, joseph and alayna, joe maloney, can send me letters like this
too, because i cant respond to them either. but when you set it up,
here is the address for it to go to!

Elder Hoskin
José Betine 31
Janio Quadros
Marilia - SP - Brazil
17511-769

Ok! so i hope you guys can get that sorted out and all, but just let
me know next week if you run into any road bumps or anything.

Next thing, so just to let you know i bought a new pillow this week! i
had lost my pillow in londrina, and afte 4.5 months of not having a
pillow, i finally managed to buy one! so that was why there was a dent
in the emergency fund. but woo!

also, i have started going running with my companion every morning, so
that joy in my life has been brought back

so general conference was awesome!! i got to watch it in english,
except the priesthood session. we got there and it was all in
portuguese, but i went back there and figured it out ffor my companion
because he wouldnd ahve been able to understand anything, and also
because i wanted it in english!1

but all of the talks were amazing, i was so glad to be able to watch
them. my favorite was given by my fvorite general authority as well,
the one that henry b eyring gave the first day, not in the priesthood
session. i loved when he said ´give me this mountain. give me those
trails´ agg it just got me so pumped up to keep on the mission, to
keep working towards me and michelles wedding day, it was great!

other talks i particularly liked were jeffery r hollands on the
parable, dieter f ochtorfs on forgiving others on sunday, and i also
really really like donald hallstom, of the presidency of the seventy.
he is a great speaker. and that talk was also wonderful!!

also, i enjoyed the talk by julie b beck about the relief society. i
always like learning about the relief society, after all it is so
important, and just like women learn about the preisthood i want to
learn all about it just to get more aquainted and be there more for my
wife michelle! iso i liked that one as well

ALSO! one of my mission dreams was fulfilled, and that was to baptize
on general conference weekend. it was tamyris! after 3 months of
teaching her, she was batptized last night after the second session.
it was great to see how strong she was in the gospel even before
baptism, as well as her sister livia´s testimony, who we baptized 2
months back. they are both so happy now, and it is great to see how
they got to that point. i felt like i am turning into more and more of
a preach my gospel missionary, because this week for tamyris we
planned by the spirit, taught by the spirit, and through the spiritu
she was converted, it was truly an amazing oppertunity to see!

WEll i hope the letter thing works out great, whenever you get it set
up you can literally send me a letter any time of the week, so you can
do whatever! and if you want to copy conference talks form priesthood
session and just send them to haha, anything goes i think! i love you
all, i hope you had a great conference, and i will talk to you guys
next week! i love you, have a great easter!

-Elder Hoskin