Monday, September 24, 2012

mom, i am drinking lots of filtered water, dont worry! the truth is that the water bottle they give everyone, mine broke last week, got a hole in it because i was squeezing out water too much to make juice, but i am getting a replacement soon, so that is a-o-k. jennys sickness sounds like just a part of school, that all of the hoskin children have passedthrough.it sounds like your new doctor is more specific in his opinions than others in the past, which is a good sign. im sure alayna and josephs talks were great! i wish i was there. also, the new testament will be great with seminary, its gooood stuff. and yay for dad getting his passport! dad said you guys didnt have chelseas contact info, but now that you do just talk to her. 

dad, go ducks! 49-0, #2. yess. also, this is my last football season away from home, so if they loose its no big deal as well. i love sweater weather, and thus fall is my favorite season as well. mom said that she doubts ill have problems with the heat again, and that is the honest truth. sweater weather is nicee. thats going to be a big change for when i get home to see the front steps! im excited. also, i think usually mission calls delay at the minimum like a week and half or two weeks, so it should be sooooon! i cant wait to hear. also, congrats for amanda murray, i didnt know she was going to serve a mission? i really really pumped for general conference, in fact! haha. things you could use.. hm..  know the book of ezra has a good scripture for preparation for a conference, but i cant remember the reference. one thing out mission president always tells us is that if we prepare enough, we ill get exactly what we came to get in any conference, general conference, ect. i think thats a good idea for the ensigns! on the mission i ahve started studying the talks in between the next conference, so yes!

michelle, congrats on sending out your papers! now its just the waiting time :). oh, some news that is not the best, but out of our control so its not like we can change it: the mailmen in brazil are on strike, just the mailmen, which means that the mail is wayy slower, i think even stopped in most cases. mine will probably delay a little, and yours as well. just keep sending letters, because i will eventually get them! the last one i got was the day before you started classes, with this mailstrike being the reason, but thats ok :). i bet that everything is busy but still great there in rexburg! i love you :) and i cant wait to hear where my missionary is going to serve! until next week!

family!

so this week i had a problem that i had to fix, to start out the letter. i went to go reveal some photos last week, and the guy told me that my pen drive and chip for the camera have a big virus, and there is no way to save the photos. so i got sad, and then i went to another photo revealing shop that was a little cheaper, that didnt have a problem revealing my photos. so, i revealed about 200. as of now, i have 900 on the mission, and i will cut that in half of the ones i keep, but i have to reveal them to save them, but that is ok because they are basically 30 or 35 cents (in dollars here), just wanted you to be let in on it.

next, we had a conference with Elder Godoy this week, the whole mission! (divided in half, so our day was just the people in the cities more near us). it was just like when i saw Elder Cook, but i learned alot more this time, as opposed to just a spiritual experience. we had a meeting with him in the morning that was just for zone leaders, and i learned a ton during that. i was very grateful!

so it hadnt rained here in a long long time, and this week it just poured for one day straight! it was wonderful, and the change was so drastic that it even got cold after (cold for me, thus the fleece in one of my pictures). just a random fact

my bishop left this morning for rio de janeiro. he was the most missionary work oriented bishop ive had on the mission, and i was really sad to see him go. but, the work will continue on, so we currently do not have a bishop, and the ward has already sort of slown down a little. were going to try and help as much as possible!

another experience that i had this week, is that while i was in londrina for that conference with Elder Godoy, i ran into my very first bishop, when i was in londrina! i got to talk to him, and he even remembered my name, which i thought was sweet, and i was way happy to see him. 

we have a couple that we are working with, their names are paulo and yara. paulo has been a member since birth, inactive for 7 years, and yara is a member of the christian congregation, which is like the most (high tense) church to put it in the only way i remember, except for our church, what i want to say is that they are really faithful to all of their standards and all, and never change churches, and all that. but! she is reading the book of mormon, and they were planning on marrying in may, and now they are going to get married in november for her to be baptized! she is way smart, and has had really good quality questions about what they read together (she is in 2 nephi, reading the whole book!) which means that she is really comprehending as well. also, he is officially reactivated now because of the whole process, and she is going to have a baby around the same time as joseph and alayna. so its basically just a lot of happy things going on! haha

thats all i can give for this week, i love you guys! and i will talk to you next week. next week is transfers, and probably me or my companion will leave, the likeliness is equal since the next transfer is his last, and usually you dont change areas the last transfer, and also because he has 4.5 months here already and i only have 3, so we will see what happens! until next week, with all this news! bye!

Elder Hoskin

Monday, September 17, 2012

Hello erreone

mom, im sorry that everyone is sick! its not fun anymore getting sick, like it was when i was little and it was an excuse to not go to school :) just kidding.. i laughed at my computer screen hearing about the t shirt jenny made for alayna for her birthday. it is hilarious. the imortant part is that you get rest, its better to have 2 days in the house and 5 days of 100% (after getting better), than 7 days of 50%. every time i hear about the ward, it sounds like i dont know anyone anymore haha. im excited too for michelles call! and that means i will likely be getting your package at transfers, in 2 weeks, because its going to the mission office. 

dad, i will find the information for chelsea and i will send it to you guys. i think she has to know so that she can work out my plane ticket, and not buy one that i wont take. i think a car would be better too, you would just need to figure out how it works to drive in another country, because i dont know if its true but i hear my drivers license here doesnt count for anything, but that could just be people who are anti american. that sounds like a great time at the penn state game, with the weather and all. try to find out what the name of his mission is! because i know people who are from the majourity of brazil missions who are serving with me now, so ask him next time you see him. nhl lockout? once again, sounds like im not missing too much i guess. im sorry its happening, but better now than next year! also, that picture on the bus is indeed a goodie.

joseph, sounds like the pregnancy is coming along well. i glad she has found a routine that she can stick to that will help her out to not feel terrible. sounds like the career trail is going well! im excited for you to have a career and all, we are all growing up so much! thats good to have callings in the primary to give you guys all the kid experience possible. let me know how it goes next week with the talks! and yes please on the photos! byeee

michelle, i love you! this week is THE week, the week that you send off your papers, and then we all eagerly wait to hear where you are going! i cant say it well enough how excited i am that this next step is going to happen. i got a letter from you this week, and it sounds like everything is great up there in the big rex. i also still havent gottten your package yet, but it happens, its just the brazil mail system, which is sometimes very fast and sometimes slow. i love you! keep up being the best, and i am going to send a big ol letter to you today :) bye!

onto everything else!

well this upcoming thursday we are going to be blessed with a mission tour by Elder Carlos A. Godoy, one of the seventy. he is awesome, was here when Elder Cook was, and everyone is way excited! i hear that mission tour is specific for our mission, so its going to be very interesting to hear the advice of a seventy specifically for our mission. we will do the same sort of thing with Elder Cook, wake up thursday like 2 or 3 am and take a 2 hour van trip to londrina, where we will have the conference and then come back. the difference this time is that it wont even be a bus, it will be one of the vans comparable to that which we took to gettysburgh that year. yes, i brought it up haha. that van was packed! and seeing as how we have 10 elders and 4 sister missionaries, it is going to be packed as well. 

i got to go on a division with the missionary i trained in marilia, elder Glover! hes in our zone, as ive mentioned, but he is in a city 2 hours out of maringá. so me and one other missionary took the trip out there to stay with them for one day, and i got to work with him, reconnect with him, and see how his portuguese improved alot in the 3 months i didnt see him. it was really nice, its like seeing really old friends to have these kinds of encounters on the mission! woo.

so, because i have finished jesus the christ in english, i have officially started in portuguese. it is wayy difficult. the vocab is already rough in english, so im basically reading jesus the christ and the english portuguese dictionary at the same time, looking of so many words so constantly. but thats ok!

it is HOT here. do you remember when we talked with a woman who serve in portugal at the hill cumorah pagent, to talk about portuguese? she said it was soo hot there in portugal that she had a spray bottle she would constantly be spraying her and her bed and such, well i remembered that this week, because we are doing exactly that. its the 4 of us in a room with one window, and the day in the sun is difficult without needing to explain, but the night it tough! but all is well, i sit there with a 2 liter of water next to my bed, and usually drink all of it before the night is over. haha

thats all i can say this week, but until next week! i love you guys, and i will write more next week. until then!

Elder Hoskin

Monday, September 10, 2012

Hello there! first of all, heres the area code for the new address: 

87038 - 120

Mom, i am already missing very much cold weather! this summer slash year is seeming much hotter than the first. when i got into the field (september 27th), it was still a little cool in the morning, but its already hot here. like i told my companion, this will be likely the hottest summer of my life. even if i live down there south, it wont be the same because i wont be walking in the sun all day as well! haha. im glad abbys enjoying activities. i hope church dances are still fun for her, i remember when i was 14 there was a ton of people, but as i got older there were less and less, or at least my perspective. im sorry that you are so tired, i know what you mean about needing sleep. remember how i would always sleep so much when i was growing up? joseph is going to be a physicians assistant? what does that intail? i am not caught up on his career choices! he needs to respond to my email. 

dad, i am going to throw down the itinerary down below! hockey already?? haha one of the reasons i love hockey. the thing that im learning about callings is that we are called for very specific reasons, or purposes. so maybe the ketchum kids need not just anyones help, but your help. i know that ive seen the youngs men president have a big influence on young men, so im sure its going to be great!


onto family stuff

well i will start off talking about the trip to come out to brazil. i got the dates, and technically my mission ends (eesh) the 17th of july, which is a wednesday. because of how it goes, the mission is actually 10 days stort of 2 years for all missionaries. so that week, monday i travel to londrina, and tuesday i have interviews with president and all. SO, heres what i was thinking for the lowdown:

you guys get here in londrina wednesday morning, so you would leave tuesday afternoon/night (the 16th).

you get here wednesday (july 17th) , and we take a bus (3.5 hours) up to Marília, where we will visit a woman named cassia of the ward there, i will try to plan her to make lunch for us (she already told me she wants to when i was there). t

hen we stay there that day, and thursday (18th) morning take another bus down to Maringá. that will be like a 5 or 6 hour bus trip, so well get there right around lunch, depending what time we leave. there is a member here named israel, hes like 25 and served a mission in boston, so he speaks english. he has a wife anf 2 little adorable kids, and he would be down to give us luch, and be able to speak to you guys in english. we would then go to the cathedral, the park ingá, see other stuff.

friday (19th)morning, we take another bus to iguacu falls (foz), which will be another 6 hours, just about. we get there around lunch, go to the waterfalls! also theres a park which i heard is surreal right next to it, and then we just stroll around and go see where i served (this part will be in all the areas), woo

then, saturday (20th), we hang out some more in iguacu falls, maybe go to paraguay, where everything is dirt cheap, and then at some point saturday we take a plane from foz to sao paulo, then back to the USA! get there sunday early, and go to church at 1:00, be it our ward or 6th ward

what do you think? the only question is how you guys want to get around the cities, rent a car or take the bus or what. renting a car i heard is reasonable, and taking the bus delays everything much more, so just think it over.

also, a bus passage for instance, from maringá to iguacu falls is 55 reals (25 dollars) per person. that charge will be about the same each day we travel in this plan. think it over! and that travel agent will probably help you out with logistics very well.

lemme know what you think!

so one thing that i have really started to like here on the mission has been baptismal interviews. it is one of the most spiritual things that happens, i think, because they bear their testimonies and all, and it is just great to see people joining the church.

also, i have grown my testimony more this week with priesthood oordinances. when i actually preform priesthood oordinance, i feel the spirit testifying to me that it is right (holy spirit of promise?). it is so clear! the church is 100 percent true. i only would need a spiritual experience once to know that this was the right church, and how blessed we all are to be able to have fortifying experiences on a daily basis!

i am starting to get sad to see missionaries leave every transfer. when i got here, there were lots and lots of missionaries who i looked up to as role models, who had a year or more who seemed like the mission couldnt live without them. and the next 2 transfers, almost all of them are leaving! 4 companions of mine, lots of people who i lived with in londrina my first 3 months. to put it short, i am getting old on the mission, so to speak. it is a weird feeling.

the leaders council was really good! i always learn alot. my president has taught me that conferences or things of the sort, if we prepare right we get exactly what we came here for, and thats how i felt about it. i had thought of questions, had doubts that were resolved there.

thats all i got for this week, the visit plan took a little time, but thats ok! let me know what you think, and i will talk to you next week! i love you guys! bye!

Elder Hoskin

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Hello family!

First off, important change. there is going to be an address change for missionties. you should change it to this address/; also, please send packages to the mission address for now as well

Elder Hoskin
Rua Orlandia 138
Parque Das Laranjeiras
Maringá - PR Brasil

woo!

no onto everything else

well this week is going to have another marriage baptism sort of deal! a woman named vani, who has been waiting to get married for almost 2 years, attending church and all. she has a wayy strong testimony, and she is way more excited for baptism than marriage, but still for both. i dont know if you have taken a notice, but i have toned down on the sending baptism pictures or talking alot about baptisms here on the email. ive always been basically completely against people who gloat about baptisms for their proper satisfaction, and i decided im going to talk less about the fact their getting baptized, and more of the spiritual experiences in the process. does that make sense? i hope it does.

anyways, so this past week was also very tiring. the mission is defintely the hardest thing that i have ever done in my entire life.

so i was thinking about how you guys are coming out here, and we need to get down to brass tax about planning out the days and such. basically, i am on top of it. im going to get the date that my mission ends, and i will make a basic plan and then send it to you guys next week, and you can agree or not and what not. basically how it will go is that you will travel here on the monday, and then we will leave on saturday or sunday. and each day will be another city. the choice you guys have to make is travel. because if we go by bus or car, we will spend like 6 hours in the car each day, or if the airplanes are cheap enough it would be like 30 minutes. so just think about those kinds of things, and i will have more specifics next week.

so the address changed, why is that? my bishop is moving! to Rio de Janeiro. he was the best bishop ive had on the mission, and its sad to hear hes going to leave. he leaves in 2 weeks, wayyy quick, so im going to be here for the transition between bishops, which will be an interesting experience from a missionary perspective.

it was elder senas birthday this last week! so  bought him mcdonalds. he turns 26. half of my companions have been 19, the other 3 have been 25, 26, and 25. just an interesting fact.

im off to londrina today, for another leaders council! i i will actually ahve to cut this short as well. but i love you guys! and until next week!

Elder Hoskin