August 27th

Família,

  Home sounds good. I was very happy to hear that Jake is doing
better. That picture had me worried because it was the first email I
opened! But I'm happy that he's doing better.
  My companion is doing well. He is very cool. He doesn't say much,
but he is very funny, and is very hardworking. He's learning the
language well, and likes the culture very very much. He is allergic to
chicken, however, which does present a little problem... that is about
90% of what people cook here for us! haha. Luckily, there is usually
something to substitute, and he's not a very big eater.
  Elder Hyde is a very nice missionary. He's from Salt Lake, and has
a girl waiting for him at home. He also has an adopted brother (I
can't quite remember from where), and his family sounds very funny.
  Things are good here. We've started commiting more people to
baptism. We now have 4 marked. I. missed her baptism though. She
isn't quite sure that it's what she needs right now. Although she is
very spiritual, she's really swamped a lot. She has two kids and works
a graveyard shift at a bar. Also, the father of the kids told her that
if she ever wanted a chance with him again, she could not be baptized.
He's a chump. But she's told us that she would pray and fast to learn
of what she should do. She's unfortunately falled away a little bit.
We'll keep working with her though.
  The branch could use some work. We have the most dysfunctional one,
haha. But the District President told the companionship before me: "do
anything you can to keep this branch from falling apart!" So, we kind
of have free reign to do what's necessary, haha. I've been personally
trying to train our branch mission leader. He's a 12 year old in a 25
year old's body. He's a great guy, but he's a lazy one too! haha.
  Our branch President is amazing though. I came to him with a member
who doesn't have a job and needs money in 2 months to pay rent. The
branch's fast offerings are empty. But, he went and found 2 or 3 job
options, and bought her family some food. President Pedro Batista is
awesome. Please pray for him!
  I've been eating... alright. haha. This branch hasn't established a
missionary feeding schedule yet (but it has come up multiple times
these past few  correlations and they're going to start one in a week
or two). Also, I've been a little low on cash since the card change we
had. I used $103.50 of personal money when we went without cash for a
while, and I may need to use just a little more. Don't worry, I get it
all payed back to me, and I should be fine with money this next week.
(Don't stress about this, I'll be fine mom!)
  I pretty much always have water and electricity now. It's election
week, and so the government has worked hard to make sure that nothing
faults. It will be an interesting week. 2 days before and 2 days after
election day, missionaries will come home at 6 pm as a safety
precaution, and we will not work on election day itself. We are the
first missionaries to be here during elections, and so no one is sure
about what will happen. We do know that tomorrow, Cuca, the main beer
here, will be 1/2 off for the President's birthday (campaign tool!).
That means a bottle of beer will cost 30kw. That is basically free.
Hmm.... Well, I guess we'll talk with more drunks! haha
  Our typical day is filled with a lot of walking. I've felt really
bad because I've only been hitting about 15 lessons a week, when 20-22
is average. We split the area, and all of the people we contact drop
through on their appointments and disappear. We've been working hard
at getting more people. Our current investigators are mostly pretty
far from baptism, or just live VERY far away. We've been given
instruction to work close to the chapels, because if someone who is
very faithful and ready to be baptized can't find the funds to get to
church, they can't be baptized. So we've been working closer to the
chapel to find more people.
  Sorry, the pics and voice messages won't upload here... this café
prohibits them. :(
  As for the pickpocketing: that's ancient history. It was just some
money and a phone card. Não faz mau. :)
  Yes, I got the package. The pen and blacklight are cool, but...
why? haha. I'm also very excited for my camera charger. THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! Packages are taking about a month to get
here now, and no one has lost anything in the mail, so I think just
about everything is safe to send. :)

  I hope that that letter was sufficient for you guys this week. You
have to make sure to tell me everything about home in the next one.
Hey, how are Owen and Luxana? I have not gotten a letter from them in
a very long time! Que isso?!
  Weston, you rock man. You ROCK. Take it easy on the Xbox though, ok?
Mom and dad, I hope that school starting will be good for you all. I
hope that everything in your lives runs smoothly. Stay well, and
patient!!!

I love you all so so so so so much.

Love, Elder Alex Hobbs