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!