November 20, 2012

amília,

   Wow, that was a slow news week. haha just kidding.

   Man, I sure love you guys. I've missed y'all a lot lately.  We do get Dia das graças this Thursday though. One of the Brazilian couples has visited family in the States during Thanksgiving, so he's going to coordinate a big dinner at President's house this week. Turkey, stuffing, the whole shabang. Christmas is supposed to be just as big. Brazilian food for Thanksgiving... should be interesting. :)

   The week was a little harder. I just couldn't coordinate with members to walk with me. But I think this next week will be better.  I'm going to try and just work as hard as I can this week. Wish me luck!

   It was a little slow this week for me too. I did have a baptism though! Dani got baptized. Yea... I baptized a Rasta. That's a first for the mission. ;) Everyone was so excited for that one, haha.

   I love the photos. I can't wait to go to the next ISU-Weber game with Owen and Grandpa. That was so much fun the first time.

   So, there wasn't too much to report on this last week, so I'm just going to give y'all a list of things I'm thankful for. Here we go:

I'm thankful for mangos. They are so good!

I'm thankful for the chance to come to Africa. It's been a dream since I first saw the Lion King!

I'm thankful for rice. Grains like this are the staff of life out here!

I'm thankful for Nesquick. It fills me up at the end of the week. (I eat fine during the week mom.) :)

I'm thankful for taxis. It's hard to be thankful for them, but I am.

I'm thankful for Angolans who teach me how to cook crazy African dishes so that I can be helpful to my family and future wife when I come home.

I'm thankful for Angola. This country has so much potential!

I'm thankful for my mission. Nothing has ever been this edifying in my life.

I'm thankful for my brothers, who inspire me to be better. I'm also thankful that they've been going on the right path.

I'm thankful for my family, who help me keep going each week, and got me prepared to be here.

I'm thankful for the temple. I can't write why, but it is one of the biggest blessings in my life.

I'm thankful for all of the little things in life, trees, children, rain, a clean bed, etc...

I'm thankful for adresses in the states. It's hard not having them here.

I'm thankful that the Lord has taught me how to speak Português. Such a beautiful language.

I'm thankful for our nice house here. Woo!

I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon. It truly is God's chosen tool unto the convincing of men. I'm thankful for the plain an precious truths inside its covers.

I'm thankful for my parents who taught me in my youth to live in the world, not of the world.

I'm thankful for the gospel, which has lit my way to a happy life, and eternal life to come.

I'm thankful for repentence. I'm not perfect, but with this glorious opportunity to change, I can be after I die.

I'm thankful for Jesus Christ, for suffering all the pains of my sins, my sorrows, and my afflictions, so that I can conquer myself, death, and Satan.

I'm thankful for My Lord and God, all that He has given me for success.

I love you guys so much. I could write many other things, but these are the big ones. I can't wait to see you all on Christmas. Lots of love, enjoy the holidays!

Elder Alex Hobbs

November 13, 2012

Família,

   Once again, sorry that my email is late. It was Angolan Independence day on Sunday, so the country took a day off on monday. We didn't think any cyber cafés were open. Sorry!
   Things here are the same. Not too many lessons were done in my area due to misplanning. It is hard in a tripanionship across 2 areas. But I do love the zls! They rock.
   K started drinking again. He keeps letting people borrow his Book of Mormon and doesn't read it for himself! We're working with him. However, D had his baptismal interview this week. He'll be getting baptized on Saturday. It should be neat!
   I'm really happy to hear about all of the great things that Weston and Owen are doing. It's cool that they're going to the temple and exercising the preisthood. Man that is good! In fact, it's so good that if Owen were to promise to get his Eagle scout and Weston got straight A's in school (while continuing temple work) I wouldn't be surprised if they were blessed in many MANY different ways. Spiritually, and HALO4istically. Nope. Wouldn't surprise me at all. ;)
   I am super excited for Christmas. Can't wait to see you guys. Everyone is growing from what I can see in the pictures that you've sent. I'm excited. It's really hard to believe that I'm almost at a year mark. I hear that time flies after a year, so I need to push it hard now!!! I don't know if this will get to you all in time for Elder Banta, but: I've heard nothing about bikes yet... that would be interesting! Bring a good flashlight, keep it safe. Make sure that you have one fitted sheet. Both of mine are flat, and I have to redo the bottom sheet nearly everyday. And tell him to polish his shoes weekly! I've been polishing every week, and as I see other Elder's shoes, I'm amazed at the results. I'm hoping to wear all 3 of my pairs of shoes after I come home!
   Yea, I heard about the election. Angolans were really excited that a black person was still in office. hahaha O well. I'm happy that you got the kwanza though. There should be another letter coming to you guys soon.
   But the week was a little slow. I do have a story for you all though: while we were shopping yesterday, it rained. A LOT. There was a mini river in the street. Angolans aren't big on rain, because rain with dust equals mud... a lot of mud. hahahaha
   As for my walk with President Thompson, it was really nice. Last Pday him and Sister helped us clean our new appartment. Since President Kretly has a lot of the power, it frees a lot of time for President Thompson to spend time with the Elders. We're all getting pretty close with Pres. It should be nice if we become our own mission in July.

I love you all so much. Keep doing what you're doing!

Elder Alex Hobbs

Ps I did take out 20$ Não preoccup-se

November 6, 2012

Hobbs Family,

   Man! It sure looks like Halloween was a blast for all of you! I wish I could have been there with y'all. Halloween here was pretty quiet. We bought a little candy and President and Sister Thompson gave some to the missionaries as well. They said they actually had had some tricker treaters. Really strange for Angola.

   This last week was a little slow. It was difficult to get things set up with members to walk, as well as just timing things right with the construction going on here. But I think this next week should be a LOT better. No new baptisms yet Owen, but we should be seeing a rasta man named D get baptized on the 17th, and K is scheduled at last to be baptized on the 1st of December. I'm excited for those days!

   I'm planning to go out and find a bunch of people this coming week. I'm a little short on investigators, but luckily the field is white (well, technically it's black, but...) and ready to harvest!

   I had some very fun opportunities this week. R and P came to visit their aunt, so I got to go say hi to them on Sunday. I also got to walk with President Thompson. It was way fun!

   It looks like Weston had a great time. Enjoy it man. But don't inhale it. Girls are DEATH on the mission. Haha just kidding. Just remember what Chris told us: never fall in like with a girl. ;)

   Owen, just know that ''my little saints'' are going to come back and win the bowl when I'm there to see it! Haha, love you bro. So did you score big on Halloween? How's school? Anything super cool happenin? Stay patient for those games, but make sure to not spend too much time on the box!

    Luxana! I love your witch costume! You got a lot of candy, eh? I like the picture of you by the temple. Make sure to go inside some day ok? I love you lots and lots!

   So I never got the chance to vote. When President and Sister Walton were here, they told me to have the zone leaders take me to the embassy for a Pday. Unfortunately, the zone leaders didn't know where the embassy was, and so we never got around to it. But let me know what happens!

   I miss you guys a million! But I love my mission too. I learn so much here every day. It is a huge blessing. Tell Owen and Weston that they can't miss this unless they want to lose big!

   Lots of Love,

Elder Alex Hobbs

October 30, 2012

A melhor família do mundo,

   The week was a little bit shaky this week. We had to split up a few days because now I am technically in a tripanionship, we're working across two areas, so the lesson count was a little lower. However, I've talked with some members and branch missionaries, so this next week should be better on the efficiency end. I'm pretty excited for this Thursday... President Thompson will be walking with me in my area! Way cool right? hahaha. It looks like I'll be in a triship for about three or four weeks. We're waiting on either a Cabo-Verdiano (He'll NEVER get his visa... option two?), or a Brazilian to come in. President Thompson said he couldn't tell me if I was going to be training or if they would do a swap from a different area. I'm guessing they'll swap someone or he would have told me, but we'll see!

   So sorry that this email is a day late... we were too busy moving into our new appartment. IT IS THE BEST HOUSE ON THE MISSION NOW!!! I'm pretty sure that the mission couples are a little jealous because we have an elevator! It rocks. It never faults energy or water, and I've already taken two hot showers since we moved in yesterday! We're all super excited. We spent the whole day yesterday stomping and spraying roaches from all of our things and then riding in some beatup diesel truck to the new place. It was a very ''African'' exeperience. Elder Tolman and I were waiting in traffic for over two hours! But it was fun. We talked a lot.

   So the area looks great! K is doing very well with quitting alcohol, and we have many investigators that are just super close to accepting baptism, so I hope to see some good progress soon. . Miss you guys. Make sure to let strange black people become my friends on facebook. There's a couple of them that speak English that you can all talk to if you want! M is a member here, and she's really cool. Also C is ''my man'' haha. He'll get really excited to talk with you.

   Home still sounds like it's all going well. I'm happy to hear that my brothers are both preping to go into the temple and on a mission. Keep going guys! It ROCKS out here!

   It's strange to think that Halloween happens this week. Angola doesn't celebrate anything with it. They all know what it is, but think that it's a bad holiday because all they've seen of it are the Halloween specials on their soap operas. But, we've been told that the Brazilian casals are going to go all out on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we're excited for that. It's going to be a little different for me... the weather here is starting to get insanely hot. I don't know the temperature, but I've started sweating, so it's going up!

   Big news for mom: We got a lunch list! We'll be getting fed everyday excepting  Pdays and Wednesdays. Woo!

   I love you all so so sooooo ENTÃO much!!!! Stay well, and keep enjoying the simple things!

Elder Alex Hobbs