Good morning Family!  This is Elder Hoskin on April 8, 2013 with my voice recording for this week.  I hope you guys had a great week, and that everything has been good for you guys.   This week was pretty crazy, like all the other weeks.  We started off with a Zone Conference on Tuesday.   We had to wake up at 3:00 in the morning, then take a bus to Marilla.  My second area.  And, so it was like a three hour bus ride.  I woke up at 3:00, we left at 5:00, and we got there around 8:00.   We had a really good zone conference.   It was nice to be back in my favorite city.  That’s my favorite are:  Marilla.  And,  I was talking to an elder that is serving in my old area, Palmital that I passed 6 months through.  The members that I helped and baptized are still going to church.  He says they talk about me and one other elder.   So, its really nice to hear that everyone still remembers me.   I wrote a little note to one person there, and I told them, “hey! My parents are coming to get me, so we are going to pass by your house and eat lunch during the end of Aug.  The 21 – 28^th.”  So, I am already kind of preparing for that.   They probably got real excited to hear that.   So, we got back on the same day.  We left at 7:00 and got home around 10:00.   Then, went to bed.  Then I woke up at 6:00 in the morning.   And, I had to travel to another city.   Called Tupa. T – U – P – A -  with a squiggly line above it.   That city is two and a half hours away.   So, I went with another elder.  We went in a division – or in splits.   We went to that city to help out the Elders there.   I got to work with one of my old friends, Elder Welling.   He was in the last zone that I was in.   He’s really cool.   Elder Welling, he is from Alaska.  He is one of the better friends I made on the mission.  You guys are probably going to hear all about him after the mission because we are going to hang out. 

So, we had a bunch of really cool experiences.   Then on Thursday, I came back to Presidench Prudenche.  On Wednesday I started feeling really sick.   I was afraid it was ‘Dinghy’.  I am not really sure what the translation is in Portuguese, but its like a sickness: its like a really, really bad cold but worse.   You have to stay at home for two weeks.  I thought it was ‘Dinghy’ but it ended up not being.  Its just a normal cold.   So that was good, I didn’t have to spend any time in the house or anything. 

So, Thursday, we were trying to find people to come to general conference, Because there was general conerence on Saturday and Sunday.   Then, Friday, I had to make a really tough decision.  We had some people that we needed to pass on Saturday, then, we needed to go to a different city.  That one city where our little group is.  We had to go there on Saturday to try to find people to go to conference on Sunday you know?   But, the only thing is,  if we did that, then I wouldn’t have been able to watch the two sessions of conference on Saturday.   And, conference is one of my favorite parts about everything.   So, I actually prepare a lot before conference.   And so, it was a really difficult decision.   And, my companion doesn’t really care that much about general conference at all.   He was already pursing(?) on it, so I had to kindof make a decision.  And, I was sitting in my room on Friday night, and I was writing all this in my journal.  And, I was writing, and I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do.  I was kind of bitter, I was kind of mad.   But then, I received a really sweet revelation when I was writing.  I remember I had a really nice experience.   I was writing in my journal and I was thinking about how I wasn’t going to be able to watch the conference,  and I was waiting for this for 6 months.   I wouldn’t be able to learn more or have personal inspiration, and it seemed like the spirit said to me, almost like a voice,  a voice that you feel, you know?... I just remember him saying really clearly, “you are not in this for you, but for them.”  And, I remembered in that moment that the spirit had to teach me again, that the mission is not at all about me, but its about the people that we are helping.  So, he taught me that message, again.  Heavenly Father is patient with me.  Because, I guess I had forgotten it in that moment.  And, so, it was hard still, but I just decided I was going to accept it, and we were going to go find people on Saturday.   And, so, then on Saturday, we left at 6:00 in the morning to go to our other city.  We traveled 2 ½ or 3 hours to get there.  And, we got there, and it ended up being a really successful day.  We got some people who wouldn’t have gone to church on Sunday if we wouldn’t have gone.  If we didn’t help them out.  And, so that ended up being completely worth it.  And, I still got to watch the sessions on Sunday.  Sunday was really cool.  Because, our ward mission leader here, is the best member I have ever seen, in regards to helping the missionaries in everything.  And, so we had lunch with him on Sunday.   So, here it starts at 1:00 and goes till 3:00,  and then starts at 5:00 and goes till 7:00, right?   So, we had to eat lunch early.  So, we went to his house at around 9 or 10 in the morning.  We helped him and his family finish making lunch.  That was really nice, then we all ate lunch. 

Then we went to the first session.  I actually learned a lot in these two sessions that I really liked and I thought I would share some things with you.  Some things I learned:  I really liked the talk by L. Whitney Clayton about a strong Celestial marriage.  I know that I’m gonna have to keep that one in my back pocket for the next 4 ½ months, but that talk was freaking awesome!  And, I am going to have to use that talk, near in the future.   And then also, I learned that the prophet does not choose the line of the talks.  He doesn’t even like,  get inspiration for them, someone just chooses them and gives them to him.  Cause when he was talking he was like, “I am grateful for the privilege that was given to me to talk.  I’m like, ‘who’s choosing those talks?’

And then, in the second session,  I am just going really quick, I don’t have too much time.  I really liked Elder Holland’s talk, of course.  He talked about not acting or relying on the faith that you don’t have, but be true to the faith that you do have.   I really liked that concept.  Because, some people, especially missionaries, they really think that they have to lie about how much faith they have, or try to overestimate their faith.  They need to just work with the faith that they actually have.   Elder Oaks taught me that Christ baptized people.  That was freaking awesome!  And then, that Seventy named Christoffel Goldman taught me: The one that’s the Father and the Son, is not only theirs,  but want it for each of us.  (??) That’s a pretty cool concept.  I liked the one that talked about finding acceptance of the Lord.  And then. Bruce Porter taught me that good cheer follows from an abiding trust in the Savior.  That was basically the revelation I was looking for this week.  I wanted something for how I could be happier.  Its been difficult for me my entire life to be happy, I am not sure why.  Its just who I am.  But, I really liked that talk that said that, Good cheer follows from abiding trust in the Savior. 

That was a really good week, and I will talk to you next week. 

Okay, Bye.