Hello everybody!

Mom, its great to hear that you guys treated dad well for fathers day!
i always tell people here that my dad likes to barbeque, and they get
surprised because they think everyone in the US eats fast food and hot
dogs, hahah! thank you for the picture of jennys chalk art! it ended
up working out really well, to congrats jenny! that is sweet that you
guys got to go to the columbus temple. about not feeling the spirit
because it was a diffuclt assignment, i know what you mean. when i
started the mission it was hard for me to really feel the spirit in
lessons, because i was worried or focused on other things like
portuguese or using the right scriptures, ect. but it came with time,
so im sure it will come with time! just know that its normal haha.
that is awesome that jase is flying all the way out to hang out with
the family. haha im not the biggest fan of roller coasters, but i have
already been told that that will soon change.

dad, happy fathers day! congrats for being a father, and im grateful
for you being my dad, and for all of the support you give me. i am 20
now, but just know that however i was during different times of my
childhoodness, i am grateful for where i am right now and i am where i
am because of you and mom. so thank you! you did not tell me that they
lost the whole thing, but i am with mixed emotions. i am sad for them
losing, but happy that i didnt miss anything, but thats ok! there is
ALWAYS next year, or the year after.. haha. they are going to europe?
well that is pretty exciting i suppose, but like you said, in one year
almost exactly you will be here in brazil, so all is well :) that is
sweet that you got your call to be a sunday school teacher! your
calling (just in general, i think) is to teach, you always ripped the
lid off of teaching. who all is in your class now in our ward?

Michelle, i love you! and guess what, i got 2 of your letters this
week! so thank you very, very much :) they were the best. honestly, i
think that they dont delay longer to get here than marília, but
whatever works! are you still getting mine the same time? because i
always send them on tuesdays, so let me know when your getting them
just to see if it takes longer. so i read (AND LOVED) your two
letters, thank you for the recipe! i will make it for sure, the next
time i find tortilla chips again (i only found them once in the other
city, here i havent even had time to go grocery shopping more than
once!) so thank you me :) also, you made reference to the package in
your letter. well just to start off, i would still send it to the
mission office, just to be safe, and then you asked if there is
anything that i would want. well first off, the calendar can be any
photos, i was thinking even those that you took and sent to me most
recently, maybe a picture or two of the ABQ temple :) haha just be
creative, and im sure itll be awesome (also, i am lacking in pictures
of snow for the people here, and i know we have some on facebook of
you shoving snow in my face, on two chairs of snow, so if you want to
send those as just normal pictures i can show everyone how we are :)).


ok onto the family stuff!

well first of all, i finally used the blueberry muffin mix you sent
me. but there is not a muffin pan in all of brazil, so i ended up
using the batter to make blueberry pancakes, which turned out
ridiculously well. i made them in a family home evening for some
investigators of our  who are getting married soon, so that was a
success!

also, i go tthe package from grandma and grandpa! thank you SO MUCH! i
loved everything in it. and i have been sharing with my companions,
who almost died with the hot peanuts, ahha. this is one thing here in
brazil that i think is hilarious, its south of the border, but no one
here can handle any sort of spicy. but thank you!

so it got hot again this week, the clouds went away, and it started to
get really really hot. here is the coldest city in the mission during
winter and the hottest during summer, so when it gets hot here it gets
really hot. it felt like  winter was only one week, but yesterday it
rained like nothing else, so now its nice and cool again, and from
what i hear winter is finally here to stay.

so i showed you guys in the pictures i sent, but i found jordan
francis in the liahona magazine this week! i was reading conference
talks, when i was casually looking at photos on the inside cover, and
saw the photo credits, and one said ´courtesy of jordan francis´ and
it caught me off guard, so i went through the whole thing looking for
pictures with him, when i found him! haha but he looks like he is
burnt. he should be finishing his mission soon? but it was just a
funny experience.

next, we had an awesome service project this week. i got to give free
vaccines to kids! as seen in some of the photos. we spent one morning
there with a booth, and there were two types of kids. the ones who i
want to have, who just showed up with their parents, upened their
mouths, and that was it (they were vaccines in drops), or the other
type who freaked out crying and screaming. haha but overall it was a
sweet experience!

so today is going to be a special pday (althought next week will be as
well, next week is when we go to the falls) because one of our couples
whom we are teaching is getting married today at 4 oclock! so we are
going to use some of our pday and go down there with them. they are
way strong in the church already, and their baptismal date is for this
saturday, so they are just great..we showed up at their house last
night, and they had gotten into a huge fight (totally satan working
agains families) and they werent talking and didnt even want to get
married anymore. so we sat there for like an hour and a half and they
talked and cried it out, and then after an hour of that i opened up
D&C and we talked about forgiveness, and it was way spiritual. i
talked about how we are all so imperfect, and how christ suffered for
each of our sins. and many of us continually sin even after knowing
its bad or repenting, yet he is always there waiting for us to come
unto him again. and then i shared the scripture where it says that he
will forgive whom he forives, but for us its to forgive all (i think
its 62:10 or 82:10) and how we need to forgive people like christ
does, and by the end of it they were way happy again! and now they are
totally stoked for today, and its just going to be a great experience.

well thats all i can do today, but im glad to hear form you guys! i
love you all, and i hope you have a great week! talk to you next week!

Elder Hoskin