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