hello family,

 

mom, thank you for the package :) im not sure if youve bought that deoderant yet, but if you havent you should look for after hours, if you already have that is fine. im excited for the new preach my gospel! they always told me when i donated blood in high school that we are not allowed to not eat beforehand, haha, it is also kind of cool to have that experience.

 

dad, im glad that youre up for keeping up in reading materials with me! i will keep you updated. it sounds like penn state is going really, really well. also oregon! i will be seeing highlights when i return, or at least hearing how it went. its good that your looking over the activities the young men do, and that theyre worth their time. i remember the times where the activities werent too well planned, and when they were totally worth it, and it made a big difference. i hope i get to see pictures of the house this week! to see it all new. our house seems like a restored car now, everything is new except for the shell, the windows, steps, ect ect haha. also, i have been telling my companion stories of our family (our 3rd transfer together, that never happens so theres lots of time to talk) and he just wanted me to send you a whats up from him, because he tells me that he thinks you would be really cool if he met you haha.

 

now onto everything else

 

well the big news for this week comes from the interview that i had with president on friday

 

i had this subject that was entering into my mind for weeks before the interview, that i should do it, and on friday i decided i wouldnt ask him about it. but when i got into the interview, once again i felt something different that i should ask him if i can extend my mission. so i did. and when i told him that i felt like i needed to do it, and that i felt like mostly it was to help the new mission president, he told me that he felt as well that it was something god wanted. so we talked over a few logistics, the only thing left remaining is just him confirming with the mission department, and he said its 99% sure now, i am going to stay on the mission another transfer! another 6 weeks. i got here 27 of july, my day to leave used to be 14 of july, but now its going to be the 27th of august.

 

i am way excited! and president is really excited too for me, he just needs to confirm with the mission department because he never extended someones mission before, so he needs to just figure it out, but basically it worked out the lords way. he said normally they only let you stay if the next transfer is within 30 days of when you got into the mtc. does that make sense]? i got in the mtc 27 of july, and so it works out for me because i will leave 27 of august. its going to be a different oppertunity to work more! and for that i am excited

 

about you guys coming out here to pick me up, basically we can plan now for the 27th of august, a wednesday, for you guys to land here in brazil, but give me one more week to confirm 100%, he is going to get a response tomorrow, and i will relay it to you guys. but as soon as we know for sure, we need to get on it, or else it will get real expensive

 

so the rest of the interview went really well, i love my mission President.

 

the 3 talks im going to print out and study this week, just to keep dad in the loop are the following: 

 

 

the pathway to discipleship - neal a maxwell

 

the inexhaustible gospel - neal a maxwell

 

the atonement of jesus christ - jeffry r holland

 

the church is true, and i know it,

i love you guys, and until soon!

Elder Hoskin

 

 

Hello Everybody,

Mom, that is great that there were 2 baptisms in the ward this week! i am totally excited to get to know justin when i get home, he sounds like a very converted person, for what you said. coool! i miss your delicious sweets. it runs through my head very often here that i am wierd being a boy that like sweets alot more than like meat or things like that, because my companions and other missionaries just talk about grilling and going to places called "rodijio" pronounced (roh--deee-zghee-o), which is all you can eat barbecue, but all i want are orange rolls, or monkey brains! we will slowly be making lots of things TOGETHER when were home. i dont want to go nuts on all the things that arent here in brazil (alot), i want to go slow to be able to not be gluttonous. aanyways. you can send my package to the mission office, and the other you send i will probably get the next time we get materials from londrina. but if you could do one favor for me! if you could throw in some old spice deoderant in there for my companion, like 3 or 4, because he will be ending his misison in 4 weeks, and i am his last american companion he will ever have to get stuff from the good old usa! if you could. mom, the thing is that i am eating lots! and also doing alot of exercises, so physically i am doing ok. the mission is proving to me that i will most likely stay skinny my entire life. 

dad, i will be talking to president this week in the interviews on friday about extending, maybe just at least 6 weeks. but i will let you know for sure what happens next week! we need to start planning and buying tickets, for it to be cheaper. when i talked with president last april he said to plan as fast as possible, because the closer it gets the more expensive it gets! but i will let you know next weed what happens. i liked what you said about this being the best time of my mission, ive been in this sort of feeling since i got transfered to iguaçu falls, so luckily its going to be the majourity of my mission that i feel like this! because its only going to get better. 

joseph, thank you for the photos of the stepps getting ripped apart, and more excitingly the picture of alayna! is that a nephew i see? haha. new iphone? haha i forgot about the iphone.. eeesh. lead water pipes? explains soo much, haha just kidding. it sounds like you guys are doing well. i went to an opera once there in pittsbugh with Sarah Chatta, and i remember it being better than i thought it was, only the name of that opera was ´the rape of lucretia´ so it started right off the bat with me being speculative, but it was also the night that we went to a classy restaurant downtown called 9 on 9, and i saw sidney gonchar, the ex defensman for the penguins there, so that was worth it. that was a ramble. i like your names! just dont take the ones ive already called (peter, jack, kem, jane, avery, gracie, or even wyatt) and everything will be a-o-k. are you getting my letters via missionties? would you rather that i rend them to joehoskin@gmail or the other addres, ajhoskin? because i sent them to the ladder. 

onto everything else!

well this week was another great week. me and my companion are working along very well, especially for him being 4 weeks until he goes home. woo!

i have been expanding my testimony and spiritual knowledge (they go together) alot this week. Elder Eyring said that difficulties and trials are spirit-stretching experiences, and i think how hard the mission is mixed with all the talks and scriptures im studying makes for a good base. this last week i read "the power of deliverance" by elder eyring, and if you guys want you can read along with me on some, just to be on the same page, this next week i will read as follows:

"remember lot´s wife" by Jeffrey R Holland

"three pillars of eternity" Bruce R Mconkie

"a life founded in light and truth" Elder Eyring (as always!)

i got to once again travel alot this week, we had one day where we left our house at 7 am to go do a baptismal interview in an outlying city, and the trip plus lunch plus interview plus trip was 12 hours, we got back into our area at 7 pm. 

an investigator of ours got married this last week to be able to qualify for baptism! that was another sweet experience. it has been a sweet experience to be able to see so many people making sacrafices for the gospel.

im looking very forward to the christmas call, which is very quickly coming! also, this next week is interviews, so i will be able to measure how i am doing with President.

i am really really grateful for my mission. it is something that i HAD to do, not even because were supposed to, but it is defining my life. a thougth i had this week, was that there are plenty of people who say things like this "oh, you have your whole lives to (repent, progroess, it could be anything)" i had this thought. its not that we HAVE our whole lives to prepare to meet got, its that we NEED our whole lives. the time we have here is precious, to progress as much as possible and to qualify to meet him again. and so i hope we take the most advantage of our day to day as we can, to progress from start to finish. 

i love you guys! and i cant wait to talk to you next week! until next week!

Elder Hoskin

Hola!

mom, the new rule about missionaries is very very good, in respects to what you said, people getting there crap together before they leave high school. it raises the bar just a little more for missionaries. woo! second, let me know as soon as you know where she is going! Elder hollands talk was very good, his understanding of the scriptures is something that makes his talks so excellent. always good. another package?! i would love that :) there are actually somethings that i would ask for, and that is the holy writ. i heard they are now making preach my gospels in a small version, that is easier to carry around and all! if you could look into that and, if possible, order one in portuguese one in english, that would be awesome! also, i found a pair of work shoes here for 35 REals (17 dollars) in a distribution store of the company 3M (maybe dad knows of it) so it was wayy cheap and they will last the rest of the mission. woo! 

dad, i did indeed get to watch all of the sessions, except for the priesthood one, but that is alright because i will just print out the talks in the future. i think the new missionary rule is great, the only thought that comes to my head is that if it had been like this a year and a half sooner, me and michelle could have served at the exact same time. but cant change the past, and that will be very good for the church. you are right, because my companion is leaving next transfer, i will be here another 3 months, which means that this will be my second area where i will pass 6 months. that is a ridiculous thing! it is really really rare to stay in an area for 6 months only once, but twice! lets see if it happens more, but i will be here a very, very long time. it sounds like penn state is doing well! im glad to hear it. also, oregon sounds like a machine, i am sad to miss that, but all will be recompensed. 

onto everything else!

well this week was REALLY REALLY BUSY, and i will explain why.

well first of all, monday and tuesday we had transfers.  we had alot of people get transfered, and so monday and tuesday was everyone leaving and tuesday and wednesday was everyone getting here, so we were at the bus station all day tuesday coordinating all of that. a sister coming into our zone from iguaçu falls forgot her luggage (long story) and it turned into her not getting to her area until today, the trip to falls is 10 hours each way, so this whole week was her traveling with another sister, getting her luggage and all, and then coming back. she will be getting here today, i think.

then, tuesday night we traveled to londrina for the next leaders council! and wednesday the whole day  was that, which was really really good. this time it was in the house of the mission president, it was a really nice spirit. then on thursday, we traveled back from londrina to maringá.

friday we gave the "zone meeting" which takes place of district meeting each week we have a leaders conference, and its basically like a 3 hour training on what we learned and what we want for the zone, and that went really well! it is sweet having the same companion more than 3 months , because our teaching and everything is on the same page.

saturday morning, before general conference (the first session is 1 pm here) we had a service project in the sisters ward. a family who lives on the second story of a downtown apartment moved to another downtown 3rd story apartment, about two blocks away. the project went from 8am to 1230pm, and we did all of it. it was incredible how we were able to get it all done in four and a half hours. i just worked, worked worked, i have less time to do exercises here on the mission so it was a good opportunity to exhaust myself. anyways, so 1230 we finished, i took a shower in their new house (see the photo i sent, i was absolutely disgusting) and we went to lunch, and still managed to get to conference 1:30, so a little late, but still!

then saturday and sunday was general conference! which only is broadcasted in the chapel downtown, so we went ans stayed around there the whole day. i loved general conference. all of the talks were soo good! and i love all the general authorities, but as you may already know the one whose talks i like the most is President Eyring. his talk was unbelieveable. every talk he gives goes along with what i feel like is always the conflict in my life, building a foundation of faith and coming closer to the knowledge of god, in order to make it through diffiulties and hard times. i cant wait till next april.

this conference i did something different, that i would reccoment to you guys. normally, we are all scribbling notes on all the talks, which is what i have always done. but last april i got to thinking that i am going to study them in the ensign starting the next month, so i should do less not taking (since ill have the full talk later) and focus more on revelation that i need to be recieving. soooo, what i did is that each day (one time saturday, one sunday) the night before i prayed about it and wrote down 2 questions of my soul that i needed answered. and it was crazy because each day they were completely responded! and if i had switched the questions with the days, (saturdays questions on sunday) they wouldnt have been as well responded. so i know it was something of God. these were my questions:

Saturday

1)How can i be more happy?

2)How can i get to know christ better?

Sunday

1) What is missing in my journey of mortality?

2) What do i need to change about myself to progress better towards exaltation?


soo it was a great experience in conference, and a very rushed week! but everything is ok, because i am not even that tired. im ready to go another 10 months at least. these last weeks i have really been having the desire to ask to be able to extend the mission another two transfers, or 3 months, but it would complicate the plans to pick me up, so probably now :/ i will talk to my president soon and see if theres a way to do it before you guys buy the plane tickets, i will just look into it!

tell joseph that i sent him a letter via mission ties, and will every week. tell him that i love him. 

i got to go now, but i love you guys! busy weeks are great weeks! and i will tlalk to you next monday!


Elder Hoskin

September ends!

hello everybody

week of transfers is always more chaotic here in this time on the internet, but lets talk!

mommy, i have no clue who Suzan Hollist is.. is she new in the ward? i think i will have to wait to vote until i get the letter you sent me in the mail, but it should work out. i will ask President at the leaders council this wednesday if i can open that link and print it out, because you cant do anything except for email and such, without his authorization. but im fairly sure he´ll approve of it. its interesting how you said that you want to get to know christ better, because that is exactly what i thought i wanted to do starting last week! we are on the same page. i am going to ask my President how i can do that beyond how i already know, which is studying the scriptures and repenting. im really learning the value of repentance, to put it lightly.

dad, it sounds like football is going surprisingly well. also, i am going to do something, anything, to have somewhat a thanksgiving here, although im not sure what, because turkey is rare here, to start. im glad that you lesson went well! i am way excited for conference this week, i remember that a year ago i was brand new in the field, watching the october general conference. time flies! 

joseph, i miss you too. i actually was thinking about it this past week, and i decided im going to start writing you every week through mission ties, so you´ll get it in an email. it wont be novels, but just brother sort of stuff haha! i will start today. i am thankful to have you as my brother, thank you very much for the photos. the truth is, the more the merrier in relation to the photos. so if you want to send more of just me and my friends beforehand, or anything just do it! one that i had in mind was do you remember when it was prom (prom when i went with rachel, so the first year) and you and me took that sweet picture together in the elevador? you should send that one! and any other that you would think would add variety to my collection of photos. woo!

so onto everything else, i havent recieved any info about transfers as of now, except for a few people that are leaving in our zone, and already know for obscure reasons. my companion i have right now, elder sena, this transfer that starts today is his last in the mission, and so it is very likely that he just finishes here. which means, that i could go, or i could probably stay here with him, totalling 4.5 together as companions, which happens very rarely, but still hapenns. he is a great missionary, so i would accept.

i just want to update mom that i am in very good health, so no reason to be worried! i do exercises every single day in the morning, and im actually in really good shape with all the walking. my thighs have gotten a little skinner from the lack of crew or straight running, but my torso is a little more muscly if thats a word. we have some homemade weights that are working out. i dont want to get big or anything, just get in a nice shape, which is where im at! and im eating very very healthy, so everything is good in regards to this. 

what else,  and i got a letter which was incredible. no one told me that kristen (joe maloneys girlfriend) got baptized?!! she sent me a letter, saying this, and that shes way strong in the church going to get her patriarchal blessing and all, and joe is sending off his mission papers. i cant tell you how good it was to hear from them, and how happy i am to hear how things are going. i cant even describe it

oh, i have to go now, but i got the info! i will be officially staying here, with elder sena like i said up there. crazy! ok i love you guys! bye!