Hello Family!

Well the VERY FIRST thing i would like to do in this email is give you
guys the new address for you to send me the mission ties letters. I AM
DYING of not hearing from michelle! haha its absolutely true :) so
michelle, send it off as soon as you get this! Here it is, o ps i love
you

Elder Hoskin
Av. Morenitas, 708 APT 1
Jardim Das Flores
Foz Do Iguaçu - PR - Brazil
85855-190

ok great! WOO

Momma, i am very happy to hear that you basically roasted in tennis.
Im liking the whole staying active thing with sports, that it
something i am going to definitely do with michelle as we continue on
in our life and all, is stay active! But congrats on the win. That new tent sounds like a goody!
did he buy it at aldi? we are going to have to do some family camping
when i get back, i miss camping, although then again i miss the
general ´cleanness´ of america more. But thats just fine. Find out
what mission Cliff Larsen is going to! Because i know all of them now,
and i know many people who are form various missions or are serving in
some, so let us see!

Faja, im sorry to hear about the devils, but they will bounce back.
its always the goalie that gets ridiculous that leads a team to the
finals. but i still have hope. also, yes, i think that the only time
that people really talked about the US brazil soccer match in their
lives this past week was when they bothered to tell me how brazil won
sooo much. haha! thats ok though, because you cant name anoher sport
they would beat us in, with the exception of maybe volleyball. did you
know that : here in brazil they have a professional volleyball league
that is huge! its just like socccer or the NFL but professional, paid,
followed volleyball teams. it is different. simply put, spain wil win
in the Euro cup, and thank you for the congrats! i will explain a
little more about it down below. but yes, here is the coldest place in
the mission, and it gets close to freezing, so i am excited. but what
you said about the winter coat, i will probably need to buy something,
it will not be a fortune, but ill get a nice one of those wool navy
type coats, whats it called, a pea coat? i think. i will see.about
that email with the itinerary, i called the secretaries and they told
me that they will send you the number and email of Chelsea Martin. if
you remember her, she was the woman who helped us with our visa stuff,
and apparently she also helps a ton with the parents going to pick up
their kids thing, so you will just need to get in contact with her and
give her the low down. also, i am very very happy to hear you guys are
skyping michelle tonight! tell her that i miss her, and that she is
the best.


ok now onto what happend this week

well first of all, this week was crazy because of tranfers. first of
all, i will explain how i got here. so on tuesday at 7 AM i left a bus
in marilia for londrina, where i got there at almost noon, and stayed
there helping the rest of the missionaries who were passing though the
entire day. it was very tiring, ahh, then i slept in a house of the
missionaries there in londrina that night, and at 6 the next morning i
took a bus for Foz, and got there at 6 in the evening. it had to have
been one of the most difficult journeys of my life, it felt soo long
and after hours and hours of the bus it smelled sufficiently gross in
there. but at noon we stopped for half an hour, so that was alright,
and then we kept going, and by 6 i was in Foz (Falls). so thats how i
got here!

some details for you guys about my situation here that i honestly did
not know beforehand. i told you that i would be the district leader.
and yes, i am the district leader, but i also have a 2nd companion
now. i am going to be training as well, this third companion, so im
technically  a district leader slash trainer in a trio. so things just
got complicated! hahah, the trainee is named Elder Nogueira, he is
from São Paulo, and is a recent convert, and the other companion who i
talked abgout is elder Maycon, who is also a recent convert, so there
was alot to get in order and figure out when i first got here, but
that is ok. also, i am opening this area, because the last
missionaries who were here werent working, so President dispersed them
like the israelites. SO! ive been trying to get to know the members,
start working here and opening this area, and train him in the trio!
and so far it has all worked out relatively well.

i ran my first district meeting on thursday morning (i got here
wednesday night, so i had to cram it to plan it out haha) and it
actually worked out pretty well. it wasnt that difficult, i just have
to put my thoughts in order. it was about the role of the spirit in
conversion, and worked out quite nicely. Oh, do you remember my first
companion in Marília, the brazilian Elder Borges? Well he is here too,
and i am his district leader now haha, but i dont joke with him about
that because it would be arrogant.

Our house is the best house i have lived in. it is only the three of
us, we have 2 showers, a working washing maching (the one in marilia
wasnt spinning) and its on the second story of a building above a
shop! so its got a balcony to see the avenue, and its completely safe
since its the second level., and its just sot of nice a big loft,which
is awesome to me (i am still a little nerdy when it comes to
buidlings, ect ect). the best news, it has a sofa! so i will be
spending my pdays writing michelle on my nice incredibly worn in sofa,
and it will be very good

So there is one set of investigators who are here that we are already
preparing for baptism! They are a couple that needs to get married,
and so they have already gotten married lawfully, and they have set
their marriage date for the 18th and their baptism for the 20th! that
is going to be really sweeet, being part of a marriage baptism type
deal. those are always very very happy. their names are celson and
liziane. he looks 100% american, and that also is sweet.

so im going to iguaçu falls! on the 24th of june. missionaries arent
allowed to go on their own, so the zone arranged with president, and
we are going to go with him. it is going to be INCREDIBLE. so i am
beyond excited. i actually have alot of luck, because he usually goes
very 6 months, and right as i get here were going, so that will be
good.

so get this, remember how i said that part of my mission borders
paraguay and argentina? well that is MY AREA, not just my zone or
city, but literally where i am assigned to proselyte is the border of
paraguay and argentina. crazy, right? its divided by a river, and
there is a point in my area called 3 fronteirs, and we are going to go
pass by and take some photos, but it just shows how south i am! on the
border of those 2 countries, crazy!

so about that, here everybody takes the 15 minute car trip to paraguay
to buy things incedibly cheap. in fact, there are a TON of paraguayans
here in this city. it feels like a different mission, because its so
diverse. theres a large population of muslims here, and here they
speak alot of spanish as well as an indigenous language from paraguay
called guarany (pronounced guadaknee) so its just nuts. i am going to
be dealing with (and already have ony a little bit) pelple from
paraguay who speak mainly spanish, usually a little portuguese. so it
will be interssting!

i also last night had my first bit of paraguayan food. its like im in
a whole other culture! and here there are tons of cars with paraguay
and argentina license plates, its like im in the niagra of brazil or
something.

the ward here is by far the best ward i have ever served in. the other
wards had an attendance of around 80 (90 in my first one) and here the
attendance yesterday was 120, and they were dissapointed in the low
numbers. apparently it usually is around 140. the organizations here
are totally filled, and there is tons of priesthood, which is one of
the ways that you need to have a ward grow. also, ive never met a ward
so apt to help the missionaries, everyone has told us they will go on
splits with us, and families apparently just bring things like cake,
pizza, or just groceries to the missionaries house now and then to
help them out. it is nuts. yesterday at church i hadnt felt like that
in a long time. the ward is really really strong, and our ward mission
leader is the man.

we are going all technology on missionarywork as well. the ward is so
into being a ward that they have a facebook page, and we are going to
make an email list. i got the idea to start a ward journal, just like
one page each week on recent converts, activities, baptisms, and its
going to work out really well!

i am so excited to work here in this area, it is difficult do
describe. here seems like it is just going to be a great work,
everything here is perfect for just lots and lots of high quality
work.

on a side note, i have been in this new lan house for 57 minutes now,
and they have been playing beyonce for about 20. i thought michelle
would appreciate.

well i have to wrap up now, seeing as how its an hour and all. but i
hope this email was good! and that you are all going very well. i
missi you guys, and love you guys, and i keep you in my prayers. be
sure to change that address and everything for missionties! i am
excited like nothing else to get michelles letters. until next week,
bye!

-Elder Hoskin

(ps, dont know if you noticed, but this keyboard is wayy better than
the sticky one i had in marilia, so i have typed much more seeing as
how its much easier. blessings!)