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

August 20th Use Google Translate

o my family,

  Esta semana correu muito bem. Estavamos a trabalhar muito para
achar pessoas. Infelizmente, muitas delas escolheram para faltar em
nossas lições. Mas, encontremos três pessoas novas. Um deles é um
pessoa de polícia. O nome dele é Gabriel. Nós ensinamos uma lição a
ele, e no fim ele disse: ''posso removar uma coise no meu bolso para
que posso orar?'' Dizemos: ''Sim, claro.'' Ele tirou uma pistola de
bolso dele. haha foi ingresado. Vitoria Angola!!
  O Chris e Summer parecem muito feliz, especialmente com o novo
trabalho dele. Desculpa para ouvir sobre Jake. Espero que ele vai
melhorar embreve. Vou fazer um jejum por ele. Têm que ter fé no
Senhor. Ele sabe o que é certo por ele.
  Escola, escola, escola! Boa sorte para toda a família por isso.
Espero que este ano vai passar suavemente! (Inclusive de você Pai!
Continue e não perde fé, ´ta bom? Você é muito intellegente. Vai
consegir!)
  Meu sinal não é muito bom hoje. Então infelizmente eu não posso
entregar mensagems de voz para vocês. Mas, tenho. Também, não recebi o
packote. Espero que ninguém roubou! :)
  Muito de amor, (boa sorte com o tradução),

Elder Alex Hobbs

P.S. O President Thompson deve chegar esta semana que vêm. YAY!!!!

August 13, 2012

Minha família,

   Wow. Chayden and Jordan are back? School starts in two weeks? Geeze, your guy's time in America sure is going fast! Things here seem to be slowing down! haha. I'm glad to see you all hiking again. You should all skip a baseball game or two and go up to Yellowstone! But I also hope that things will also calm down for you all as well. I miss you all and having fun with you all like that. I also miss the temple very much. I can't wait when other people see me with you there and call me skinny and happy! haha

   Things have been a little slow this past week. We're short on our investigators right now, and are doing some finding. It's coming really well. We should be back up to a full pool very soon. The training is also very nice. Elder Hyde is a blessing, and is teaching me more than I am teaching him. Thank goodness! I need it! We do have a baptism set up for next Saturday. Her name is I and she's really cool. She has a job as a bar tendor and she works very late nights. She gave up alcohol, and came to church very well, even after working the entire night before! She's missed church the past 2 weeks, so I hope that you guys will see some white pictures in 2 weeks. Cross your fingers! (and pray... in fact, if you have to, don't cross your fingers, PRAY! leave behind vain traditions of our fathers!) ;)

   We've been having a lot of fun though. Our district is full of very cool people, and our zone leader is doing much better than before, stress-wise. I also think that my language might be improving, as less and less people are going ''huh?'' when I speak. :)

   I'm having a hard ! I hope that you all stay super happy and enjoy life to the fullest and learn from your trials!

Love,

Elder Alex Hobbs

August 6, 2012

Malembê!

 

   I figured that the robbing thing would freak someone out, haha. Yea, about 2 or 3 pdays ago, Elder Chandler and I were riding some taxi trains home. I had some groceries in my hands and we were waiting at a big taxi stop. Some drunk guys came up and asked us for 10kw. We told them no and then proceeded to catch the taxi next to us. Some guy came up to me and stuck his hand into my pocket and stole my cheap wallet from the MTC. It had 40$ and a Saldo card in it (phone minutes). Then we caught the taxi home. Elder Chandler didn't lose anything, and no one got hurt (although, if I had yelled ''bandito'' when he stuck his hand in my pocket, the crowd would litteraly have ripped off the guy's head. Angolans hate theives.)

   That's the story. No more, no less. The only reason I told you was because I'm supposed to. But let's get to the good stuff:

 

   Elder Chandler went to Huambo, a province that held the past capital of Angola. He is so lucky. Provinances are so cool! But let's be on the same page: Elder Hyde is very cool! He is speaking Portugês better than I did when I came here. He's very nice and ready to learn. I'm just happy that I can be an influence in mission culture. It is going to be a great blessing.

 

   I'm very happy to hear that all is well at home. Keep praying Owen. He listens. Also, we will so totally watch Falling Skies in 17 months! But only if we hike table rock the next day!

   Weston is finally done with Boy Scouts eh? Time to move to Man Scouts! (Aka use your Eagle card to get out of car tickets and to get a job! haha) Good job bro. Scouts is a big acheivement, and it was always worth it in my life.

   I hope you all stay as happy as I am, and keep doing the primary answers alright?

 

   Amor,

 

Elder Alex Hobbs

July 30, 2012

Família de Hobbs,

  Wow! Things are really starting to change back at home! Mom's got
another job, Weston's hair is the longest that I've ever seen it, and
my main man Owen has made years! Happy Birthday Owen. You're 13 now?
XE! É muito, cara! Fez o que por seu aniversário? Quero ouvir disso no
proximo email ou carta aight? I guess mom's gift to you was a flooded
basement? Haha just kidding. She's letting you go to Sandcreek!
Alright! That's what you wanted right? You must be so excited! Happy
birthday bro!
  Things are really nice here. Transfer calls just came in, and dad,
you were right... I'm gonna get to adjust to my new area really well:
I'm training! I get to stay in the Terra Nova area and train Elder
Hyde. I'm pretty excited. I feel like the mission culture needs to
change a little, and now I get to help it! I also had better start
perfecting Português, or that'll be hard. But I'm excited to be a dad
in truth. And this will all be done without a mission president. Crazy
right?
  I'm even more excited about our area. We have a lot people that are
pretty much members without baptisms. I've told you about C. He
should get a baptism date very soon. Then there's A, S,
F, and I see a new man that we've met, E all progressing
in the gospel very well. This next transfer is going to be a lot of
work, but if I put it in, I think that there will also be a lot of
blessings!
  So Jake is off to the Centro de Treinamento dos Missionários na
quarta-feira? Wow. That seems so fast! People that I knew from
childhood are getting so old! Weston hanging out with Spencer and
Logan is just crazy to me! I really hope that Spencer comes around to
going on a mission. He hasn't emailed me in a while. Most of my
friends have lost contact with me since the email rules happened, but
I hope that letters will come. I'd like to send some out, but I don't
have adresses. Or envelopes. Or stamps. hahaha. Victory Africa!
  I can't wait to do family vacations again! Our Nauvoo trip was so
much fun! I think that when I come home, we should definately make a
Yellowstone trip or two. I miss you all so much!
  I love you guys! I can't wait to meet you all again, and cook you
some kisaca, funge, e frango frito! Not to mention Angola Burgers.
Úpa!

Bué de amor,

Elder Alex Hobbs

 P.S. I don't know if you all understood 2 emails ago, but I got robbed...

P.S.S. Tell Weston and Owen that I am a Futebol fan now.

July 23, 2012

Para minha família amado,

   Well it sounds like you all had a very nice week this past week! Pooles, campouts, blessings, and more baseball than you can handle. Sounds about right!
   Things have been going well here. I'm having a little trouble adjusting to this area. It's a really big one, and all of our investigators live super far apart. Lesson count goes down. Ùpa! But the people here are so so SO very nice.
   The week was a fun one. We've been without power for like 3 days, but it just came back last night... and now we're out of water! Welcome to Terra Nova, haha. I'm doing well, I've been healthy. Not a whole lot of highlights for this past week.
   Do you all remember R and P? They're doing so much better! R will have a birthday this week, and Elder Chandler and I want to get her something. I'm thinking I'll probably want to get her some ice cream. Their family is really poor, and I think that her mom is scraping together all that she can for her. But I know that she'll love it!
   I think I forgot to tell you guys that I pretty much performed and excorcism last week. Haha, no, just kidding. One of our investigator's girlfriends got freaked out about having a spirit in her house, so we went over and said a prayer for them. Angolans are really big into spirits and dreams and visions. But the members of the church are very good at learning about how to recognize when something is real or not. But I just thought I would mention that. :)
   President Thompson is still having visa problems. We hope that he gets here soon though. But in the mean time, soccar at the mission home is very fun to do each pday! My goalieing is getting better and better.
   You guys will never believe this, but I'm learning how to cook! Elder Chandler is very nice about showing me a few things, and I'm getting better at it. I can't wait to cook you all some funge, arroz doce, and Angolan burgers!
   My Português is also very well. It definately needs work, but I'm getting by very well. Also, I think that I will learn French in the future. It's very similar, and I think I could get it down if I wanted to!
   I love you guys so very very much. I can't wait to hear from you all again, and to see you in January 2014!

Amor,

Elder Alex Hobbs

June 16, 2012

Minha família amado,

   Wow! It sounds like summer in the states is really getting busy! Utah to Wyoming to Idaho... in a week? You guys are stir crazy from school and winter haha. How are the Pooles doing? Tudo bem com eles? Espero que sim, e quero ouvir mais deles. Eles precisam escrever uma carta ou vou falar em Português só! And in our defense, the man we were going to give a hitch hike to was a happy Chinese man. He would never hurt us!

   Thank you so much for sending letters you guys. I LOVE them. And thanks a TOA for buying me a new charger for my camera. You all still need to see a picture of the taxis that I ride in! Hey mom: do you want an Angolan dress or shirt of some sort? There are lots of mães on the street that vend fabric and make clothing. I'll get some pictures for ya and see what kind of fabric you want and what style.

   The mission life is going well. My new area is a lot closer to what I imagined it would be when I left for the MTC. A fairly nice apartment, stepping out in the morning, seeing some palm trees, walking down a dirt road with some sort of African music playing, little children running around. 'Sigh' I just love to breathe in Angola. Things are going well with investigators. I wish we had a few more progressing, but the ones that are progressing are coming to Christ really fast!!! One man's name is C. He speaks English, and is super cool. He really loves the feel that he gets when he comes to church. He hasn't quite gotten confirmation on the LdM, but he did imply to us that he wanted to be baptized. I think he's really excited.~

   R and P had a hard time this past week. They got into some fights, and it got pretty unhappy. R had felt like she didn't have any friends (she can't speak Português), and was really alone and bored. P kind of has some bad influences. He's getting put to work for his uncle's automechanic shop. But, we took some time on a day to visit with R, give her something to do (we're writing a play together because she likes theatre), and to watch P play some futeball. They're a lot happier now.

   I'm starting to get pretty good at futeball myself. Each week, the missionaries in Luanda go to the old mission home in Taletona (the Violin's are there. they're the mission couple that is looking after us until President Thompson gets here) to play some futeball. I play goalie, and I'm starting to get pretty good at it... and I'm not just saying that: I blocked a penalty shot from Elder Violin today (he is a 40 year old Brazilian man who is very passionate about soccar)! So you should all get a ball and practice, because when I come home, you're not getting anything past me!

   I miss you guys a TOA! I can't wait to get some more letters from ya (I need to get writing too, don't I? haha). 

Elder Alex Hobbs

P.S. Eu fui roubado este dia de preparação passado...