Last one for the year

Funny as I typed out that title I was just thinking about the new
years eves that we would pass together in the Sandpiper house and I
was thinking about how all of the cousins would run around saying that
right before midnight doing random things and then do the same thing
right after with saying the first time for all that stuff this year.
Good old memories and I hope that you all have a wonderful time
together in Bear lake this week.

As for traditional portuguese food for christmas we ate a ton of
bacalhau com natas, bolo de rei, bolo de rainha, and random fried
deserts they love, one of which is called sonhos.  they do not have a
ton of lights because it is all apartment buildings here, they also
have trees and all that good stuff.  They do certainly have a ton of
chestnuts roasting in the streets and yeah it does smell wonderful.
The most common decoration they have here is a santa clause that they
hang from their balcony and it looks like he is a thief trying to
break into their house.  That is all over the place and people often
leave it up for forever so you see them in July as well.

Ohh and I have had a tooth ache for a bit I dont know if i want to go
to a dentist or not here though based on the teeth people have here...
Hopefully I do not have a cavity.

Yesterday for church we were running around all over the place helping
people get to church and I pulled 3 young men out of bed, we ended up
being late for sacrament meeting but it was worth it to get all of
those people there.  We should have a couple of baptisms here in the
ward this next week.  Hopefully everything will go well with Otavio
the boy that we have been working with to get ready. he is super
excited and his mom is going to sign the form tonight to let him be
baptized so it is looking good right now.

Yesterday after church we were doing some street contacts on our way
to go teach the seventh day Adventist uncle and aunt of one of our
members when we stopped one lady and asked her how here Christmas was
and she told us that it had been pretty rough. I told her sorry and
that we had something that could could make her Christmas a lot better
still, and that is when she revealed that she is a member, one of the
first families baptized in Capo Verde was her's and her dad has been a
stake president and all sorts of stuff.  She has been inactive though
for quite some time.  Basically she told us that she has never been
stopped by missionaries in the street before in Portugal (having seen
them before) and felt a little neglected. She has a daughter that is
11 that she wants us to get ready to baptize and she also wants to
come back to church.  It was really cool to see something so simple
turn into a miracle so incredible.   It really went to show me that it
is the little efforts that make all the difference and that the Lord
will really make miracles happen as long as you give him the
opportunity and are paying attention to be able to see it happen.

Temos dois famílias aqui em cacém com quem vamos trabalhar muito esta
semana.  Um é a família duma missionairo retornado que tem pais e
irmãos muito perto a serem batizados que estão aqui só para esta
semana de feirais. Vamos fazer tudo para conseguir a batiza-los este
fim de semana.  Também vamos trabalhar com um família que vamos
batizar o filho este semana e continuar a preparar o resto de família.
Estamos a ver muito milagres a trabalhar com os membros e estou a amar
a trabalho aqui.

We have miraculously found several long lost members recently and now
we are teaching their newly formed families and working to bring the
entire crew back to Church.  It is amazing how the Lord works.

I have been learning a lot about what it means to teach with great
power and authority recently. It is amazing how specific a lesson
needs to be for the needs of that particular person so that they will
be interested and feel the spirit.  It is cool how we get people to
the point where they are all ready with the desire and worthiness to
be baptized and then we just have to get through the rest of the
lessons so that they hit the requirements because those things are not
quite what interested them.  You really begin to realize how much
every little thing counts.  We have even been filming ourselves in our
practices and watching them like film for football. It is awesome and
I wish that I would have started doing that earlier on in my mission.
It helps on the gridiron and in the missionary field.

Anyways we will be working hard bringing in the new year.  lots of
food and partying this week is over with and now it is time to get
these people to take the last steps to be ready to do covenants with
God.

It really is a marvalhos work! Feliz ano novo!
Com Amor e muito saudades
Elder Hobson

Week 69

As far as the Christmas call I plan on calling yall at 5pm my time.  I
think that should be 10am your time.  hopefully that will work out
nicely.

Buying a suit and a new watch was fun today.  It was a little nerve
racking for me because I never spend much money but they were things
that I was needing to get before I go home and it seemed like the time
was right. We also had the big mission christmas party which was super
fun to be at.

This week defiantly was highlighted with Jair getting baptized.  It
was a fight to get him to accept, because he was getting all sorts of
pressure from his family with them saying that it was too early for
him to make that commitment.  But with a lot of testifying and really
doing everything that we could to help him accept it he finally did
and he had a super spiritual experience in the baptism even though we
had to have a quick ceremony because of the availability of the
members.  He is a really cool guy and he is just really humble with a
desire to learn more.  He kept saying in church and it is kind of like
a little catch phrase for him to never quit.  He is a really cool new
member and he is creating interest in his family as well.

As far as Alexandre and Guilhermina the older couple that Lisa asked
about, they are doing awesome!  unfortunately Guilhermina is still yet
to come back to church, but alexandre has been there the last couple
weeks and he was telling one member that he is friends with that he is
about ready to be baptized.  He was saying that he wants to mark a
date with us this week! Hopefully we will be able to get that all set
up well.  I love teaching in their house, we always have the most
powerful lessons it is awesome.  They are really smart people and
listen really well giving us lots of respect.  We had a really
powerful lesson this week where we studied 2 Nephi 2 together and it
is just such an amazing chapter that really teaches the atonement,
plan of salvation, and the gospel all really well, it is one of my
favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.  I know that the spirit was
there and working really hard on Alexandre as we testified, it was
awesome and he should be getting baptized here shortly!

We are also working a lot with a young man named Edson.  He just came
to church a couple of times because of the invitation of a member and
he wouldn't accept to talk with us during the week until now and we
have been having all sorts of success.  We had a cool dinner with him
and that member, we took him to a stake christmas conference and we
have begun teaching him.  He is a really cool kid and is really
interested I expect him to be baptized shortly. He just has to get
past the difficulties of having lots of Jehovah witness influences at
home.  But he is really enjoying the church and we have high hopes for
him.

Next we have a less active family that we are working to reactivate
and to baptize the son that still hasn't been baptized, plus we always
meet some of the teenagers from the neighborhood when we are over
there at their house and we are starting to see some sucess with their
families as well.  I really think that we are going to see a lot of
success with those families here soon.  I am really having a fun time
in this area and it is really exciting to have so many people that
have so much potential to be baptized and help out the ward.  There is
a lot of missionary work to be done in this area that much is for
sure.

We are going to have a busy week with members babying us and we are
going to eat a lot.  Should be a blast.  Thankfully i am feeling a lot
better now.  Even though my health is still far from perfect.  I truly
love the christmas season as a missionary. It is sad to miss out on
all of the fun traditions with family and everything but, it really is
just so magical to see the joy that we are bringing into these
people's lives as they get opportunities to feel the spirit in their
lives and change themselves to become more like Christ and follow him.
I know that that is the secret to happiness if following him. it is
just that simple.

This week we celebrated Christmas as a mission. The whole mission came
together in Lisbon (except the missionaries in the Azores) and we had
a big Christmas Conference. It was the first time that some like this
has happened since Elder Cook visited us last year. It was very cool
to get together. A lot has changed since I have been on the Azores.
There are a lot of new missionaries that I do not reconize. I am so
excited for this Christmas. I will be spending it with great
missionaries. I really wish you all a very merry Christmas. Thanks so
much for all your love and support. I am sure blessed to have friends
and familly that are so amazing.~

Com Muitissimo amor
Elder Hobson

Week 68

I still do not know about the Christmas call as far as if I will be
able to use skype. I think that because the presidents main focus
right now is in helping us to avoid distractions he will probably not
tell us until the last minute so that we can avoid having our minds
wander too much.  As for the housing issue at BYU I have no idea what
my options are and what are the pluses or minuses and PRICES. Honestly
I am shooting completely in the dark. If you want you could send me
something next week with a little bit of an explanation or something
so that I could make the most informed decision possible and we can be
effective with our call..

I have not had that much time to respond to the people that I do not
even know that write me occasionally, it is a little strange but cool
at the same time.  It is good thought to get to hear a bit about where
you all are at.

Well this week was a little crazy and was not made any easier that I
have been fighting a pretty nasty cold.

We had two divisions this week and ever since the first one on
Tuesday, when I had to take a cold shower first thing in the morning
and then walk in the cold out to the train station, I have been
suffering some fevers and a sore throat.  I have not had too much of a
voice for a couple days even though I am getting better now.  Really
is tough to do missionary work when you cannot talk very well..

The divisions were pretty fun though, we were able to teach a lot of
people that have a lot of potential to be baptized and are starting to
progress and everything. One of the divisions when I was already
feeling sick was with Elder Soares who is my zone leader and was in
the Azores for a while as well. It is really fun to get to work with
him. He is a really aggressive little guy from Mozambique that teaches
really well and is a really good missionary that I have always had a
lot of fun with.  We had some real miracles happen and we were
teaching some people really powerfully and I could just see them
changing and having their hearts softened right before our eyes.

Ola Presidente
Este semana tivemos dois divisões.  O primeiro foi com Torres Vedras
B.  Foi bom.  Consigamos encontrar com various pessoas que eles possam
ensinar que tem potential e encontrávamos com algumas maneiras que
eles possam fazer uma trabalho mais eficaz. Espero que eles terão mais
sucesso como resultante destas novas estratagemas.

Mais tarde na semana também fizemos com os Lideres de Zona.  Eu tive
um tempo desafiadora com Elder Soares sendo que estava a lutar com os
efeitos dum febre e fracassa da saúde, mas realmente a sacrifício
valeu a pena porque colheríamos muitas bênçãos do céu.  A acumulação
de muito preparação e procura caiu com sucesso naquela dia.  Era muito
especial para mim começando com aquela divisão e continuando
especialmente durante as entrevistas baptismais  enquanto o Senhor deu
me a forca que era necessário para cumprir com os meus
responsabilidades e ensinar as pessoas que precisavam de meu ajuda
naquelas dias.  não foi fácil, nem sabia se tivesse forca suficiente
para ultrapassa-las mas realmente viu a ajuda divina na minha vida
esta fim de semana apoiando me quando estava o mais fraco.

I was blessed to get to teach a older couple that have quite a bit of
biblical knowledge and that are truly looking for the true church.  I
could really see the difference as we are teaching them I really think
that we are going to be able to help them come to the peace of heart
that they need because that is what an answer about the truthfulness
of the gospel brings to us.  I have really high hopes for them and I
am hoping that they will be able to make the changes in their hearts
to be able to accept the truth.  But becuase of the way that they look
to us as teachers you can see the humility in their eyes.

Have a wonderful holiday season.  I am happy and hopefully the healthy
will come back soon too!  But nothing is going to get in the way of
the Lord's work. Love you all!

MUITO AMOR E FELIZ NATAL
 Elder Hobson

Week 67

I got that christmas package and everything is in good shape.  Thank
you all very much.  I have not opened anything but I can already feel
your love.

To respond to your questions...
We have three Americans and one Portuguese elder in our house.  He
does also speak fluent English. The mission has been getting a lot
more português missionaries lately which is awesome, but we have been
losing a lot of our capo verdianos as well. So there is still a mass
majority Americans.  We have 2 portugueses, 1 Brazilian, and 5
Americans in our district.
yes we do have the Christmas video in Portuguese already. It is a good one.

Elder Collette and I were talking a bit about some deep doctrine and I
have a quick question that is not important at all but, do all
intelligences have free agency?

As for our house situation we should finally be getting in our things
from the other house and from the office today.  Hopefully that will
actually happen today becuase it has already fallen though several
times. I am super ready to get on the nice mattress that I have up
there.

Jair is an investigator that we are working with right now that is
showing a lot of potential and really enjoyed church and everything.
It  was a good time

Ola Presidente
Esta semana começamos com um amigo que está a progredir rapidamente a
cumprir com compromissos e a fazer sacrifícios para ajuntar com a
igreja.  Ele vai ser baptizado está mês acreditamos que temos
encontrado um dos eleitos que o Senhor nos preparou. E continuaremos a
procurar para mais.

Torres Vedras está a passar por muito dificuldades nesta momento.  É
raro que eles tem alguém para ensinar. Mudou os planos de divisões
para que puder ir lá e tentar a ajudar. Acredito que sejam boas
missionários obedientes e vou tentar fazer os possíveis para ajudar
lhes começar a ver sucesso.

Com Amor
Elder Hobson
This week I taught the Gospel principles class.  I was asked to teach
it right as it was starting so I had not even read the chapter yet.
Thankfully it was about the final judgement a subject that I really
like.  Unfortunately I think I took it a little too deep for the
investigators and members that we had there. I touched a bit on
transfiguration, requirements for being in the presence of God, and
also the differences in glory in resurrected beings. But for the most
part it went fine haha.

Well I am happy and healthy and the work is going along.  I would love
to tell you more but I am out of time. Have a nice week.

Love Elder Hobson

Week 66

This week was full of confusion and moving.  Right now I am still
living out of the suitcases because I do not have anywhere to hang up
my clothes yet in this house.  So basically in our area one of the
houses is really close to the chapel in one of the giant
neighborhoods, and then the other is about a 40 minute walk from that
in another neighborhood that has not been very successful ever as far
as missionary work.  So we got into our area and we did not know which
house we were supposed to be in.  So we went up and lived in the house
that is a long way away at first.  But then after having to
communicate with a ton of people about how we could do it we moved
back down into the other house, but the house that we are living in
with the other elders here does not have some of the things that you
need for a 4 elder house.  Anyways we are getting closer and closer to
getting it all organized and set up how we need it to be.

So I have figured out how I can keep up with what is happening on the
island.  Sister Broderick is responsible for receiving and
distributing the references that we get as a mission to other
missionaries and other missions.  So every time I get a reference for
a different area I get to call in and talk with her.  References are a
little more frequent here in Lisbon. then on the island.  So I have
gotten to call in twice already and Catia is progressing really well
towards baptism.  Also we got an announcement in presidents letter
today that missionaries can no longer have callings unless they are
the branch president.  besides that we are not allowed to have any
sort of calling.  So that is interesting I wonder how it will be out
in the Azores now with that rule.

Tenho sido a pensar esta semana bastante em baptismos.  Eu e Elder
Collette estão a falar sobre a baptismo muito e estou a sentir muito
animo e desejo para fazer a trabalho por causa disto.   Também os
membros aqui são incríveis. Em nossos esforços para conhecer a área
estamos a encontrar com muitos membros que querem trabalhar connosco e
também estamos a encontrar com familiares a amigos dos menos activos
que vamos começar a ensinar.

Estamos a morar na casa de cacem juntos com os outros elders para que
pudermos trabalhar mais perto de capela onde tem a maioridade dos
membros e onde a trabalho está a ser feito neste momento.   As
mudanças necessitarias para fazer isto tem sido um pouco desafiador
mas estamos quase sem problemas por causa de ajuda de algumas membros.
Tem sido a orar mais sobre onde devemos focalizar nosso trabalho nesta
área e estou a sentir bem que estamos no lugar certo. Vamos trabalhar
o mais possível com os membros especialmente os missionários recém
voltados a casa para pudermos completar as famílias deles e também
ajudar muitos dos amigos deles conhecer a Igreja e ser baptizado.

this thanksgiving we did not have thanksgiving dinner, but we did have
a really nice and large meal with the stake patriarch here.  It was
fun to sit down in his house and have him chat with us a bit.  It made
me feel more at home to be on a comfortable couch and talk to a more
elderly person.  He is a fun guy and is always really making very
revalatory statements in almost common conversation.  We get fed quite
a bit here form the members.  It is a very fun very young ward that
has a ton of recently returned missionaries that have all sorts of
desire to baptise all their family and friends.  It is going to be
really fun to get to work with all of them and helo them have their
family in the chruch as well.

Time to run!

Love You all
Elder Hobson

Week 65 - Off the island - back to Lisbon

Well I am officially being transferred off of the island. I am
honestly really sad. We have had such an amazing week and I am really
going to miss working with these members and the Brodericks, plus this
beautiful island is going to be hard to say goodbye to.

This week I we had just day after day filled with miracles. We were
able to get all sorts of lessons taught to the point where we were
just running around town the entire day trying to get all of ouf stuff
done. I didnt want to have to teach alone, neither did I want to have
Elder Pickrell lieing to people anymore telling them that he believes
something that he really dosent anymore so basically I always had
Elder Broderick with me or a different member so that I could have a
good comp to teach with and Elder Pickrell could stare at the wall or
pick his nose or whatever. And I really had a really amazingly
spiritual week because of that decision. I worked really hard and we
actually were able to set up two investigators with baptismal dates.

That lesson that we were looking forward to last monday night went
really well, and the friend named Lisandra really was interested in
the church and is planning on being baptized. But I was right to be
really cautious of Debora the member because she ended up really
throwing herself at me and I heard that it is not the first time that
she has created problems. Anyways lisandra seems like she is
genuinely interested and the Brodericks will continue to follow up
with her so that there is no chance that she will get mixed up with
some more of the confusion from Debora and elders.

The other investigator that is planning on being baptized is Cátia.
she is someone that we have been trying for for quite some time now
and we just barely were able to go and teach her for the first time.
But after that we have been able to teach her several times and she is
really beginning to make the commitment of baptism. She was very
comfortable and active in the classes in church and everything. She
is planning on being baptised on the day after christmas hopefully
that will stay strong and she will be baptized on that day. I will
call the Brodericks to see if they are able to get it done. 

 Ola presidente,
Sendo que não consigamos fazer email ontem com os transferências e
temos muito pouco tempo para gastar enquanto pudéssemos estar a
conhecer nosso área vou ser breve hoje. Sou muito feliz com os novos
desafios que o Senhor tem me dado neste momento na missão, dos
missionários no distrito que já consigui conhecer parecem ter muito
desejo para baptizar e trabalhar com o espírito. Sei que teremos
sucesso nesta área com estes missionários. 


On the flight out we had a girl that has never left the acores with us
and we were able to help her around a little in the Lisbon airport
which was really fun. It made me think about how different everyone's
reality is. she had never been in a place where you can drive for
more then an hour in one direction and not run into the ocean and had
also never gotten out of super humidity. Talk about an eye opener
getting off the plane in Lisbon. I will definatly not miss that
humidity and it is still pretty stinkin humid in lisbon. But it is a
little better. 

 Well I am in my new area now. And I am really excited to get to work
with the missionaries in this district. I am the district leader now
and it is going to be interesting because my comp is also new in this
area so we are totally lost out here in the middle of lisbon. I am
serving in Cacem and we live in massama I think. haha it is going to
be interesting to try and learn this area together. Elder Pickrell was
sent to be babysat at the office, so hopefully he will be able to get
it figured out there before long. when missionaries get sent to just
sit in the office it is not a good sign for their "life expectancy" in
the mission, so hopefully the many prayers for him will help. I am
serving with Elder Collette, he is from new mexico and until now he
has only ever served with Elder Beeton my comp from the MTC. So far
he is awesome and a really fun guy, we have a lot in common and he has
a ton of desire to work and be obedient which is such a blessing. I
am really happy with the missionaries that I have in my district after
getting to meet most of them this morning I can see that despite the
various weaknesses that they may have they all really want to work and
will be great missionaries. I have one from Brasil and two from
Portugal and the rest are Americans. Should be all sorts of fun. 

 So far we have met a member here that is 94 and has two Persian cats
that are ridiculously furry pure breads and everything. I got covered
in hair but I have to say they were some pretty sweet cats. He is a
really energetic dude for 94 years old. Anyways I plan to be pretty
lost for the rest of the week trying to get used to the apartment
building jungle again. Time to really trust in the lord to protect us
and lead us where he wants us! Have a great week! And this
thanksgiving be thankful that you know where you are :) It is the
small things that count. 

 Com amor 
Elder Hobson

Week 64

Well this week went by really quickly. With the trip to Sao miguel and
some other administrative things that we had to do it just really felt
like we basically skipped a week.  It was really exciting though and
we did stay really busy.  It was really fun to get to see some of my
buddies for the first time in a while including Elder Thomas while we
were over on sao miguel.  It was a good little trip even though it
left us all a little hung over from the lack of sleep.

Big news out here on the island is that they have a Burger king now.
It is rediculous to see them all soo excited for it and just the crazy
lines and family outings to go get some really overpriced BK.  Funny
how perspective really is everything.

We have a little bit of an interesting situation tonight.  We have
this one less active that I decided to try and contact the other night
that really told us off pretty strongly at first.  Saying some stuff
about how she had fallen for an Elder in the past and because of that
mess she does not want to do with the chruch any more.  But then I
cracked a quick joke and told her that the next time we get some
really ugly elders in here I will leave them a note to let her know
that she can come back to church..  That got her to be open to haveing
us give her a visit.  But I got scared and had absolutely no plans to
actually go and do it until she started calling up with some non
member friends that claim to be interested and apparently she needs
some help as she is going through some tough times right now, I dont
really believe any of it.  So I am really nervous for this one but it
will definatly be interesting.  hopefully i will not have to live up
to my biblical story related with my name and Joseph of Egypt.  But I
am playing it safe and we will be bringing Elder and Sister Broderick
just to be safe.  haha

Ola Presidente

Ainda ficou na mesmo com Elder Pickrell então sinto me que não é vala
pena bater mais na mesmo teclo e explicar de novo. Vou continuar e
orar por ele.

Esta semana passou-se muito rapidamente por causa dos viagens.  Foi
muito bom para receber os treinamentos da conferencia, ajudou me a
identificar algumas áreas em que Eu preciso melhorar e voltar a
focalizar.  Tenho certeza que ao fazer isto vou encontrar com muito
mais sucesso na missão.  Estou grato por cada oportunidade que Eu
tenho para ser chamado a arrependimento  e melhorar.

So I have been learning a lot in my studies about the atonement still
as I just finished reading the book Believing Christ.  It is a really
good book and I sure am grateful for the things that my saviour went
through for me and for all of us.  I feel like there is really never
enough that I can do to that is enough to show him my gratefulness,
and I know that there is no way that I could ever repay him.  I am so
grateful for the plan of mercy that we have and that we truly will get
all that we really truely desire.  I am also glad that I have the
chance to change myself and learn what are the things that truly
matter and what will bring me the most happiness.   I know that God
loves us, I know that we can trust in him and I know that we will
always be best off in following his commandments.  I hope that I as I
go to him prayer looking to recieve forgivness for my weaknesses and
strength to get better I will be able to slowly improve and keep my
covenants so he will be able to keep his and bring me home with all
you wonderful people into the kingdom of our father.

Have a great week!

Com amor
Elder Hobson

P.S.
Here is a quick picture of lunch at quinta dos acores it was
fantastic.  and also me with a crazy member paulo jorge that we helped
write a talk the other week.