Week 89 A chegar

We had our transfers this week and I will be staying here with Elder
Easton for my second to last transfer.  It is crazy to think that I
only have one more call that I could get to pack up and leave before
it is on a long plane ride.    I feel like I should still have a lot
of time left in the mission, but it is winding down quick.

So this week we had the baptism of Amelia.  It was a pretty strange
baptism honestly.  We had a really tough getting it all prepared
because we had her committed to be baptized firmly only with about 15
hours before the baptism.  She had already decided that it was the
right thing for her to do during the week much earlier on, but we were
not sure if she was ready.  Thankfully she was basically perfect in
the baptismal interview and so we did not have any doubts that is was
the right thing to do to go forward with her baptism.  We had to fight
against the rain to get the baptism done, but we did manage to get
them to to chapel.  It was a really good experience for her daughters
who are more reluctant in getting baptized because they are just a
little rebeldes. One of them even stayed to watch a missionary open up
his call and then for a farewell party that we had for another
missionary. The girls are starting to get a little bit more open with
us and they are also starting to feel really comfortable in the church
with all of the members.

This week could be a little tricky trying to work with the members
because most of the members that we usually work with will be spending
the week in Madrid at the temple.  A lot of the young men will be
getting their endowments done so it is really exciting, but a little
tough for us to have people to teach with us.  But really good news is
that Ihita will get to go was well. She is the lady from Bangladesh
that is becoming a good friend of mine since it is usually me that
translates for her during sacrament meeting.  She is really excited
and ready to get to see the temple.  What a special experience for
her.

At church this week we had a new less active come back.  He is being
well received by the bishop and he is already making lots of progress
especially as his sister in law is getting taught by the other elders.
He is an ex pastor of an evangelical Church in Brasil.  He was
converted by a friend that is a member but because of all the
rejection that he had from his family for making the change he became
inactive for a couple years.  Now he is trying to come back and he is
just so awesome.  He is super humble and ready to accept help and get
taught from young men and others that are much less experienced then
him in things such as biblical studies being that he has a degree in
theology.  It was really impressive for me to see so much humility
coming from a man like him.  Really a pretty rare case for someone to
be so willing to accept having to do a pretty major restart on all of
this something that has been so central to his life for so long.  I
really like him and have high hopes for him.

We are sad to see that Elder Empey was transferred out of our house,
but on the bright side it will make it a lot easier for us to get to
bed on time since we have been really bad about staying up really late
recently with him talking for a long time.

 We have been studying a bunch of stuff from a worldwide training for
missionaries that we had earlier this year in preparation for our
visit with Elder Bednar. It is cool really see how simple this work is
and how many times that we have to study the same things to be able to
continue to get revelation about what we need to do with our missions
so that we can do well in representing our Lord and Savior.  I think
that is it amazing how we learn and grow and how we are revealed the
things that we need to know in the right moment when we are doing what
is right.

Here is a quick quote from Elder Empey's dad that has to do about love
that Elder Empey shared with me.

I love you pal.  It was so good talking to you my man!  You look and
sound great!  Good luck in your new calling and territory.  I read a
book on energy and leadership this week.  One part of the book said it
is a scientific fact that when you have love in your heart, it sends
out an electromagnetic energy that can be measured up to 10 feet away.
The idea is, that if you have love for the people you lead, serve, and
work with they can tell and they will feel it.  Focus on that love and
send it out bro!  The missionaries you lead will benefit from feeling
your love for them.

Let them feel it.

Love you all
Elder Hobson