Hello there,
jenny! i cannot feet the bunny. also, it hasnt returned in a few days, i think i cat took it.

general things,

first of all ive been here 7 weeks now, and it hasnt rained once! not even sprinkled. it is ridiculous how dry it is here.

but! transfers went really well, we had a good number of changes in our zone. my trainee, Elder Glover, got transfered to an area in my zone! so that is sweet, i got to catch up with him about marilia, how he´s doing, and all. his description of marilia is that it looks like washington dc, because of all the trees and cleanness and everything. woo! also, my companion elder borges, who was with me in marilia before elder glover, got transfered to the other zone, but still in this city, so i got to talk to him. he gave me that very catholic tie that i send in the pictures. its worth a good zoom in.

also, the other companionship in my house got mixed up, and there is now an argentinian in my house! his name is elder anconetani, and he is sweet. he sings a ton in spanish, and like argentinians he is basically short, really really white with really really black hair. and now everyone debates over soccer at lunches, haha.

its also pretty cool because the older im getting on the mission, the more people that i know, so transfers i already know at least a little most of the people! it makes it a nice experience to see everyone.

one sad thing is that august is coming to a close. today is my anniversary of 1 year and 1 month on the mission (are you kidding me?) and i will never hav another august here in brazil :(. life goes on.

this week we have been finding alot of new investigators with the incomplete families that we are starting to visit in our ward. we have found alot of people who are really interested, and also less actives that want to come back, with their non member families. i think i have a soft spot for inactives, i just see the desire in them, in whatever degree, to come back, because they know its true. i have already just this week built alot of relationships very strong with some less actives who have already started to come back.

good news! my bishop was so happy with the oreos, that we had lunch with them on saturday, and his wife made us something american i have never seen in brazil. chili! she got the recipe off line, and made it for us! and it was SOO good, its been since before my mission that i have had chilly. yumm.

im starting to really hit my groove more than before with missionary work. there are alot of things we can do, or like ways to work doing different things, but im starting to find how i work best, and its just making the work awesome! this week was ridiculous how the days were so effective, it made me and my companion (who only has 3 more months on the mission) wayy excited.

also, mom, can you send me your recipe for apple pie? i am considering making it for my house in the future, but i need your recipe! pie doesnt exist here. so many things dont. ahhaok!

also, i know that you guys sent me some socks, and deodorant and such, but i have one thing to ask of you guys, if you accept it, that i never have before. if its too pricy or not worh it, its fine. but i am somewhat in need of a relief package, per sey, one that just has sweets from the good old us. yes, i admit it, my sweet tooth is dying. just like starbursts, anything really! just think about it, and if you want to or dont want to, i understand.

thats all i got for this week! i hope you like the pictures, i love you guys! until next week

Elder Hoskin

Hello Hello Hello

now onto everything else.

so this letter is going to be a little shorter, because i have to get all the transfers set up. i still dont know if i am leaving or not, but i will find out soon.

anyways, so like i said to dad i went on splits in other areas 3 days this week! so i had been alot out of the house, well my house. i loved it, being able to see other areas and work with all different missionaries. but, it was also very tiring, and im not sure why it was more than normally working in my area.

anyways, interesting dorky fact, i thought you would like to know that the city of maringá, my city, is one of the very few in the world that literally sits on the tropic of capicorn. if you go from my area to another chapel called morangueira, you cross the downtown north to south, and cross the topic, because it literally cuts through the city! haha i have no clue why that is significant, but its just a fun fact.

so this week we found a woman named yara (yaada). she had seen the missionaries in the street for about 2 years, she said, and always asked her family why they never were guided by God to go to her house, and friday we were just knocking doors and found her! she is awesome, went to church this last sunday, she has 2 kids that are like 10 and 12, shes about 30ish, and people already thought she was a member! but it has been sweet because its simply and example of just finding people in our own efforts, and seeing from the beginning how the gospel is true, and how it changes people lives.

also, on another note. some people have rats wo infest their house, some people spiders. but as for me and my house, we have begun to find rabbits! yes, rabbits. there is one black one who has been living in the front of our house now for about a week, eating all the leaves. he is sweet, and doesnt even run away when were walking past. but we dont take any care of him, or hold him, because its against the rules to keep an animal. also, some members want to raise him to eat him, so i am not sure what to do about it.

we had an activity saturday similar to that of the labor day or memorial day activities we have in our ward. just because it was in a pavillion at some park, only this time it was brazilian barbeque, and it was sweet! just also to let you know, when i say barbeque, i make no reference to barbeque sauce, they simply never use it here. but it was sweet! since all of the ward was there, we only showed up for the lunch part because the ward planned for us just to eat there, but it made me remember about our activities there in the good old 5th ward.

also, i was in a car getting a ride to that very activity, and what song came on the radio? a song that i never thought would even be played in brazil, but it was. it was the new FUN song, ´we are young´, i had of course never heard it before, being on the mission and all. and i thought it was sweet! and it made me incredibly homesick, for america, michelle, college, all of it. haha. i learned an important lesson. i wasnt breaking a rule, because i had no control, but i learned that slacking on the mission never is happiness, like iniquity. because if you slack off and go on facebook, or listen to normal music, you just get homesick and sad, and everything just gets worse. it goes back to all the commandments. they dont limit you, they set you free. it was just a nice lesson. also, that song is very very good.

well thats just about all that ive got for the email thisweek! if im still here in the computer place working on the newspage, and get where im going, i will send it! ok ilove you guys! i hope youlike the photos, and michelle the quick video!

Hello family!

first of all, i was curious this week about something that i thought i would ask about. what is the status of the green car, and the laptop i gave to dad? i am just curious. anyways.

 

this week has been another great week as being a missionary. i love being a missionary. there is a joy i the work that is accompanied by the spirit, and it makes all of the work and dificult things easily worth it.  things are going GREAT!

 

dad asked about planning where we would go, the logistics basically of you guys coming out here to visit. well i was thinking that it would be like 5 days to a week, if you want longer just let me know. but we would only need like a day and a half in falls, one day in maringá, one day in each place basically. and as of now i have 4 areas that ive gone to, so we will see! also we need to see how we would travel to each city, bus, plane, ect.

 

this week we have a leaders council to go to, on wednesday. it will be all the zone leaders, and i am way excited because the trainings here one the mission from President or any other missionary are always awesome. also, i am starting to really like to travel!

 

i am going to try and use the same tie for the 2nd year of the mission. i am going to do it just because i think it would be neat. it wont get gross or smelly, because its a tie.

 

we are walking a ton here, as always, and i wanted to ask dad:did you walk alot in your mission, even with a car? im just curious to hear how the mission went with a car, as opposed to walking everywhere.

 

i had a really really spiritual experience this week. we had an investigator who was catholic, and didnt feel like she needed to pray to know if anything we were saying was true, because she was comfertable in her church, and didnt feel the need to change. at first i didnt know what to do, but the spirit gave us what to say. i asked her if she had ever prayed (and thus recieved a response) if the catholic church was true. i learned here on the mission about how questions are huge in teaching, and it really made her think. then we bore our testimony about how there is a prophet living today, and how if there really is a prophet, she would need to know, and so we invited her to pray there in the moment, and the spirit was soo strong, and now her perspective is completely changed. it was a great experience to see how the spirit was just working with all of us to make a difference.

 

my companions grandma is at the final stages of life, with lung cancer due to smoking, this week president called us and told us that he needed to skype his family because they were really worried, so he did. i am very thankful for having a family that is so full of health and being protected, it really made me appreciate this. also, i want you guys to know that if anything big happens in our family, i dont want you to hide it from me till i get home, that will just make it worse, call president and let me know!

 

we had a church activity this tuesday that was one of the best ive had on the mission. all the members were totally into it this week! our ward is awesome, everyone her is feeling hte joy of living the gospel, and because of this the work is going very well here.

 

thats all i can write for this week, but until next week! my thoughts will be more organized next week, i promise. i love you guys! until next week

 

Elder Hoskin