Hello!


first off, this week i saw my first monkey. there are so many trees
here, and also here has huge parks, and one day i was simply walking
down the street, and there was a monkey weaving through the trees. i
thought that jenny would be the most happy about this, to this day i
tell people about how she told me in the beginning to find a monkey
for a companion.

so this week we spent 2 days working in the area of the sisters. like
i said previously, there are 5 sisters in the same ward, and so we had
a goal for all of the missionaries to baptize this transfer. so we
started this week working with them in their area! and it actually
worked out really well. we found lots of people, and yesterday they
were able to already baptize, so it was a neat experience. also, that
picture i sent is a giant cathedral in maringá, i heard that its one
of the tallest in brazil, at least. everyone here specifically
references it to the great and spacious building. i told my companion
it cant be, only beacuse there are no windows to mock the righteous
form far off. but you know me, and i love architecture, so i think
that its majestic, taking out the fact its of the catholic church, but
aaanyways haha.

so i have a question for dad. this is not to brag or anything, but
everyone asks me what dads job is, and i never know how to answer.
dad, what is your official job title? it would help out alot haha

so that other picture i took of us and the sisters was a lunch we had
in the house of a member of theirs. all 9 of us! it was alot, ahhah.
annyways, they have a son who is serving the new york, new york
mission! and they got all happy to know that i lived up there in the
northeast. but in their house they have a baby grand piano, and i
thought mom would appreciate that. i thought of mom when i saw it.

so this week was one of the best weeks of work ive ever had on the
mission, which is good seeing on how i passedone year on friday. i
have never been more exhausted in my life at night, more so than crew,
but that is a good sign. anyways, we found a bunch of really good new
investigators who already went to church yesterday, but i will explain
2 of them just to fill you in!

first, there is jeni (jeneee). she is an older woman, like 55, and we
found her knocking doors. her son had already been taught by the
misisonaries a ton, he is living up north, and she had already read
alot of the book of mormon. she was completely open to be taught by
us, and she said on the first contact that she had been looking to be
baptized in the correct church, and now after church she knows that is
our church! she is awesome

next is a man named francisco. he is like 38, a designer for clothes,
and used to live in the same neighborhood where my companion lives up
there in fortaleza. he is awesome, went to church onh sunday, and is
loving the book of mormon. he has been really good on doing what he
says hes going to do, like read the book of mormon, pray, ect, and
that is something somewhat rare here. he is great as well, and has a
date marked for baptism this week as well!

this week i got sick, not sick sick, just a nasty cold. luckily, i
didnt waste any time staying in the house, and now im like 80 percent
better. i consider myself more prepared to work in my career now when
sick, after this week, because it was difficult, but still happened.

so yes, its been one year! who can believe it? we ordered a pizza for
my birthday, which was alright, i never was really into eating food to
celebrate, for me food is food, but it still was nice. i am ready for
the second, woo!

so the olympics are making the mission difficult, not because of
missing it, but because SO MANY PEOPLE WATCH IT here, and dont have
time anymore to hear a message. haha! on a personal note, the best
olympics for me is by far the hockey in the winter olympics, nothing
gets better than hockey and nationalism, so i feel like im not missing
out on much during this one. im grateful its not a winter olympics.

i am going to put all of my photos on DVDs in the near future. its
very safe, because it doest break like a pen drive, and it doesnt get
a virus like a pen drive, and i can just keep it away nice and safe
without being worried that it might get deleted. so im going to make
that happen soon.

exactly on the day that i turned 1 year, i wore a hole in my shoes.
right there on the big toe. first my foot started to get wet, and i
didnt know what was going on, and then i looked and there was a nice
nickel sized whole. woo! i will look for a solution here, but i have
yet to find a shoe my size here.

ok, well thats all i got for this week! i love you guys, have a great week!

Elder Hoskin