Leaving for Angola

Ol´´a! Como vai? Este email ´´e para voc^^es. I love you all so much. First off, thank you so much for spending so much time and money on me. I recieved everything. Sorry about the SD cards. I didn't know that they had to be bubble mailed. I'll send you all a card before I leave though. As for the phone card, don't worry! I bought one from here at the bookstore. I'll make sure to give you guys a call from the Utah airport, and maybe from the Texas airport as well. :) To luxana: great job! I am so proud of you! It is a very good thing to go to school, do your work and get intellegent! You keep doing that little girl, so that you can tell me the things you've learned while we eat orange leaf!

Weston, don't stress out too much about mr haggert's tests. He does grade harder than the AP board does (that is literal truth), but I know that you can do just fine on the essay. If you know your stuff about history, and you make a good thesis, you'll get a 3. If you connect everything back to the thesis, you'll get a 4 or 5. The AP history test is cake, you've got it in the bag!

Owen, you totally deserve a dog! you've been doing good in school. Names? hmm.... Alen. or maybe BOY'e. or, leslie. or.............. banana fight!

Mom and Dad, I love you guys. We had an awesome talk last night by the famous singer: Alex Boye. He was so very funny! I don't think president brown (MTC pres.) knew what he was getting into when he asked brother Boye to talk. He made a lot of really funny, very outgoing, and sometimes a little racist jokes (he's black, so its ok)! But, he also brought in the spirit. He told us the story of how one day there were "Two sister missionaries staring at me" and "one looked at me pointing to the other saying: 'this is my beloved sister, hear her message'"! Haha. But after he told the story of his conversion with the sisters, he told us that this was our purpose: that he was a testimony of our purpose. Tears in his eyes, yelling almost as loud as he could, he yelled: "When you bring the gospel to someone, and convert them, they will always remember it. They will be right here, talking to people, or in other places giving a talk, and they will mention you every time. Every time. They will speak about you everywhere they go, and speak about you in the same sacred manner that I have spoken about my missionaries."

I don't need to be remembered by people. But seeing this man, and his successes, and his happiness brought me back to what my purpose as a missionary is: "Bring others unto Christ". That is what I'm going to do. I promise all of you that I'm going to be the best I can be. Call me excited for the field, but I've got passalong cards and Book of Mormons for people at the airports and planes. I'm going to spread the word and do His work. Tell Weston and Owen to do the same thing. They might not have the little tag yet, and they might not have the Title of "elder" or the authority to recieve revelation for other people, but it is the duty of all members of the church to spread His word and do His work. I know that you all already do this by example. You are doing a great job! Keep it up. But try pushing yourself to do the work a little harder. Get some passalong cards. They have them at seminary. Talk to your friends about it and invite them to learn more. That is key. INVITE. If you bear your testimony, or even just a part of it, and you invite them to do something (read a part of the B.O.M., or pray to God about it or to take a lesson from the missionaries), they may not accept. They may ask you not to talk about it to them again. But THEY WILL REMEMBER YOU AND YOUR INVITE. Sorry that I sound a little hard, Elder Holland spoke to us on Tuesday about this same sort of thing. haha. But above all, remember that God loves you all. I love you all as well, and I am so happy to have all of your guys' support. Continue to be an example, and work hard for God.

I can't wait to talk to you all on the phone! I'll call in 3 days. I love you I love you EU AMO VOCES!!!! :) Thank you mom and dad for all you've taught me. I feel ahead of a lot of my companions in how to go through life.

Talk to you soon, see you soon,

                 -Elder Alex Hobbs   

(P.S. it's pronounced 'obbs' in Portugues)

(P.P.S. Owen, keep workin' out. put a shirt on! Hahaha just kidding. Love ya)