Written July 16th:  I thought I already posted this!

Hello Family!

Well all is really really well here in Maringá, but i will explain down below

Also, i have another hour and a half extra of email time, which is
sweet, but i use just about all of it sending info, also we make like
a newspage for all the missionaries in our zone, which takes up some
time. ok lets go!

Mom, i was interested in what you said about being heavenly fathers
son, things like that. but the one fact is that we are all sealed for
eternity, so it gets alright :) but what you said about free agency i
agree with, i think parents are supposed to raise their kids to
understand and use their free agency, hopefully for good. there was a
conference talk this past year where he said that it is better for our
children to make mistakes with choice while they are still in home,
and learn form them, rather than not letting our kids choose anything,
only to go into the world alone and make the wrong choices there, away
from a family system. so it makes sense. im always very happy to hear
that you and michelle are comunicating! ahhh i love my family!! also,
i wil say some interesting and funny things about the pacakge down
below. congrats to grandma and grandpa!!!! 50 years!

dad, i never knew you were a zone leader too! haha i realized when i
got into the mission that we would be talking alot about how your
mission and my mission were afterwards, but that is ok. yes, its alot
of administrative work, but i think its easier here for me because
everything is over the internet and on the computer. ill let you know
about the zone down below. its true that it was sad to leave foz do
iguaçu, but to be honest i already like it here better. i feel like
president just put me there to go to the waterfalls one time, and then
leave. i got here in maringá with a missionary who passed 9 months in
that zone, and never got the chance to go. so i am blessed..? i dont
know about an alien ubduction, maybe they mean when alma was
translated, but i will look into it. it sounds like you are fulfilling
2 callings right now! but im sure its rewarding, always is to talk
about the pioneers. i am reading our heratige this month to comemorate
them. thats very interesting to hear about joe and kristen, he
mentioned she was starting to look into the church! he didnt write me
recently, but in the future who knows. i hope it all works out for him
and her, in regards to the church as well.



vooooooooom

ok yes! so first of all, ill just start out explaining how my journey
was here. well maringá is 2 hours before you get to londrina, coming
from foz do iguacu. but my itinerary for the trip had me going to
londrina, spending the night,  then backtracking the next day to
maringá, which didnt make sense, but i still was going to follow it
normal. then, after 10 hours on the onibus, we got to maringa, and
another missionary only had a passage paid for until the city (he was
getting transfered there) , so he had to get off, but he was alone. so
i thought about it, and i knew that the biggest rule is never be
alone, and so i simply just got off with him, one day early, and
saving money and everything. it honestly made more sense. so i got off
a day early in my area, and we had to find a way to get in contact
with anyone, because we didnt have cell phones. but it all worked out!

my new companion is Elder Sena. i knew him briefly in marília, he was
up in a city close by called Bauru (bow-du). He is the best companion
i have ever had. It is unbelievable. i always wanted to be a zone
leader, primarily because i wanted to have a zone leader as my
companion, and he is just the best. we get along really well, and he
work really hard, and everything goes exactly how it should here in
the mission field. he is from fortaleza, wayy up north, and is
hilarious, he is 26 and he is the ´oldest´misisonary i have been a
companion with, he has 2 more transfers after this one we are in. he
is awesome!

also, Maringá is the best city i have ever been in. better than falls.
like i said before, its confirmed, here has sooo many trees. it is the
cleanest city ive ever been in here in brazil as well. there is one
reason to explain it. everyone here is rich. i am being serious. there
is no poor area here, or in portuguese ´favela´. everyone is doing
fine, and our area in specific especially, and because of this
everything has a quality a little bit higher, the stores, the
buildings, the parks, the cars, but everyone is still really open and
welcoming like all brazilians are! it is incredible. it doesnt matter
if i never get to know anyone here, we are coming here when you guys
come out. the only bad part is the bus here costs a small fortune, but
thats ok. i am also recieving more money than normal, i never got
additional, usually its 120 reals every 2 weeks, but now every 2 weeks
i get an aditional 80. whaat? anyways

also, it is cold here as well. it is even colder than falls was some
days here, which is never heard of but still happening! its greattt.

about this package mom, i have 2 more things to ask of you. can you
send a pair of cheap gym shorts? not one that i already own, just any
you can get cheap at the store, because my companion asked me for one,
since they dont make them here. also, my bishop wanted me to ask you
if you could send him (slash us haha) a package of oreos. he served
his mission in são paulo, and he  misses them from when the american
missionaries had them! here is the address for packages, letters,
errethang!

Elder Hoskin
Rua Pioneiro José Limeira 198
Jardim Paris III
Maringá - PR - Brazil
87083-517

woo! its the bishops house. me and him have instantly got along since
ive gotten here, so he told me to send everything to his house and he
would take care of it! oh by the way, did you know my bishop is 28
years old? and hes already been a bishop for 5 years! this happens
alot here in brazil, with young people getting called as leaders or
bishops. its happening less now that there are people in brazil being
born into the covenant, and theres more of a base of the church, but
it still is sweet!

i had lunch at his house on saturday, and during which he asked me if
i could give  the 3rd talk for 20 minutes the next day on missionary
work. i. was. nervous. beacuse it was the next day. but it worked out
fine! i just went for it, with these 4 topics to follow, and it worked
out. my talk was on how we can work with the spirit to have missionary
experiences as members, and it went 1, importance of having them, 2,
spiritual daily preparation, 3, taking advantage of opportunities, and
4, confiding in the spirit. and it worked out well!

we didnt have a baptism this week, but we had the confirmation of
literally an 84 year old man that was baptized the week before. . he
understands everything, and his daughter and wife of 42  years were
previously baptized. so that was cool!

i think that i have managed to have the lords help, in sucessfully
saying that i love the people of brazil. i got here, and i already
have this worry and care for all the people in the ward who i have
met, and it is nuts to me how that is possible. so quickly. but it is
the spirit!

we have another marriage and baptism sort of deal this week! they will
be married today, 4 oclock again, and married either tomorrow or
saturday. but they are way happy to be being baptized, and their son
of 9 years was already baptized, and we found him at his house reading
the teachings of george albert smith. are you kidding me? haha but
seriously, he is amazing, and is incredibly intellegent.

our ward building shares 2 wards, ours, and another called poineer
park. a man came up to me from that ward, looked at my nametag, and
said ´Elder Hoskin´ 100% perfectly. so i asked, do you study english?
and it turns out he is an old american man, who is from moscow, idaho.
he didnt serve a mission in brazil, but is living here simply because
he married a brazilian haha. he teaches english, has been here 9
years, and from what i hear he is not that good at portuguese because
he doesnt necessarily care that much. hah!

but thats all i can give for now, next week will have photos! i love
you guys, use that address, and have a great week!

Elder hoskin