November 27, 2012

Para a família Hobbes,

   Sorry that this letter is getting to all of you so late! Our new house doesn't have a lot of Cyber cafés around it, and on Monday, no one had energy. Yesterday, all of Luanda was without internet. It was crazy!

   Things here in Angola are starting to get pretty Africanesque. The hot African sun is out every other day between African rains, the combination of which is a series of very hot, humid days. It's been a blast though. I love Angolans so much.

   The Thanksgiving party was modest, but nice. We did have an excess of Turkey, but that's about it. But it all tasted great! Mashed potatoes, gravy, fruit salad. It reminded me of the states. Plus, it was nice to chat with the missionaries and couples. We had a lot of fun!

   Yea, it was better a little this last week when it comes to lessons and getting with members. It was still hard though. But this coming week is looking awesome! I had an awesome day yesterday with a member named D. We taught 3 very very VERY important lessons that helped all investigators involved make some big steps.

   We visited A and her sister, P. A had had a hard week. She and her kids had all gotten sick (she had polidismo, the African form of Malaria), and two of her friends had died that week. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation, and it was amazing. P understood, and resolved a lot of doubts, and A felt the Spirit. I hope that she knows that she can rely on the Lord for strength in trials.

   I've sure learned a lot about that these past few weeks. Faith and power are very closely related. The Lord has helped me a lot. He's been my companion for this transfer. 

   We also saw K, and worked with him to substitute tempting situations (alcohol with friends) for good things, like work, exercise, etc. Also, D is going to follow up with him each day on his drinking (D was once big into alcohol, drugs, and gangs).

   Last, we saw O. He's been getting very sick and has said that he's lost some faith. We spoke of faith, fasting, and the Word of Wisdom. He's going to be fasting and is going to do all he can to live the Word of Wisdom.

   Yea, it's my last day of being nineteen. It's kind of strange, getting this old. Hmmm. Weird.

    I love all the pictures! Make sure to send lots of Christmas ones alright?

I love you guys BUÉ!!!!

Elder Alex Hobbs

PS I took out about 40$ for some food, taxis, etc. The mission is having some confusions with payments, so I've been out of cash for like a week. It should be better this next month though.