This week they have been getting a two week festival going here in the
town. There is tons of tourists and decorations and activities going
on all over the place it is crazy. They are partying until 4 or 5 in
the morning every single day right now. We haven't really seen all
that much of the festivities though because we have been going out to
other little towns and country homes all week so that we can actually
get some work done. But I do want to see something one of these days
since it is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to see these
parties. Street contacting around the city has been rough in the
mornings because everyone is either hung over or still drunk. but that
is not too strange here because 95 percent of people drink or smoke
here.
We have been working with two families that live right next two each
other and they both have the same problem. One is the mother and
daughter want to get baptized and the other is just the Daughter, but
both of the husbands or fathers will not accept them being baptized.
It is really sad and frustrating as all three of them want to be
baptized, have strong testimonies and have good support from everyone
in the family except for the Fathers who will not even talk with us
and are the only ones that do not have a testimony about the church
because they will not even listen to us. The one that is just the
daughter is 15 years old and as she was basically in tears as she
couldn't be baptized I became so motivated to help her out to get that
approval from her father. I cant help but thing about how Moms
conversion went down as I am teaching a girl that has the age that she
did when she joined. I am so glad that Granny and Grandpa were
supportive and let you make the decision and follow what you wanted to
do. I know that this is how families should be and I am so grateful
to have the amazing supporting family that I have from all of you. I
was reading the talk from last conference about freedom this morning
and how vitally important it is that we are free to believe what we
believe and that we should always respect the beliefs of others and it
really showed me how important and valuable our freedom is. It makes
me sad when our loved ones, of all people, take away or suppress our
freedom to believe. Clearly we should try and help them make wise
decisions because we love them but in the end it is so sad when that
basic human right is taken away by the people who should love you the
most. So we are not going to quit on these girls.
To answer your questions first. mom a casual is a couple which is what
we call the senior couple missionaries. And Dad the first thought
that came to my mind while I was reading your letter sitting on a rock
fishing was the story where Christ was called the Good Lord and he
totally rejected the compliment saying that only God is good. I think
that that is a pretty awesome show of humility that he wouldn't even
take the credit of being good. As for an example of someone that is
humble after thinking about it for a while I think that the best one
is Geraldo from my first area. He is a single guy in his 50s that had
an accident right after he got baptized into the church that stopped
him from going on a mission and almost killed him. But because of his
love for missionary work and the savior he continues to work all the
time with the elders and puts his personal life aside whenever someone
needs him. He is probably one of the most dedicated members there but
his calling is basically a doorman during sacrament meeting. He really
fulfills everything he is given to the very best of his abilities and
gets little to no recognition or thanks but is always serving with a
smile.
Another example is Bishop mascuel martins in Alverca. He has been
serving there as bishop for about 5 years often completely on his own
without councilors while raising a young family with two boys,
working, and being a full time student as well. He does all that he
can to help the ward grow and sacrifices just about every spare moment
so that he can fulfill his responsibilities as a bishop. He is always
trying to reach out to all the members and knows everyone very
personally even those who have lots of time away from the church he
has sought to get to know them and love them so that he can help them
in any way possible. He is a quite humble man and one thing that I
admire about him is that he always is trying to get council and truly
listens and values the opinions of everyone. If something doesn't get
done he will go and do it himself and I have never seen him become
angry or show that he is overwhelmed except for when he is joking. He
and his wife end up cleaning the entire chapel by themselves most
weeks as the other members do not remember their assignments but he
just takes pride in his work making the lords house clean and giving
his time because of his love of the savior. He reminds me a lot
becase of some shared qualities of Bishop Draney. Who is also super
awesome and humble.
I hope that that helps a little. Humility is pretty amazing when I
know that Satan uses pride as a crafty tool to take down those who
have done well and are successful or trusted with important positions.
As for my comp. Elder Thomas and I get along really well. He is from
a small town out in the middle of nowhere southern utah. He has 1
month less then I do in the mission. He is pretty reserved and keeps
to himself which is awesome and we get along great. I have to work to
get him to not let me take over the whole contacts though. We are
having all sorts of fun and maybe even a little too much as we often
end up talking while I work on a 500 piece puzzle of the SLC temple
until well after bedtime. Which reminds me if you send a package soon
stick a journal in there please. I am about out of space in my last
one and am having a tough time finding a new one.
.
Ola Presidente
My promise has to do with the number of news that we are getting
because that is what we know we need here in this area right now is to
fill our investigator pool. So we had been working really putting it
to the grind to find as many people as possible, knocking doors,
searching out lost members and potential part member families, and
searching out new areas to expand our chances. We were finding
interesting people but they were just not turning into solid new
investigators which was frustrating, but on Sunday afternoon it all
turned around. We went to one area to follow up on some of the people
that we had talked to earlier in the week without a single firme
compromisso. But after a couple of hours of follow up and procura we
were able to get 4 lessons and 5 new investigators that we are excited
to keep working with. It is amazing to me to see how the Lord will
test us to see if we are willing to keep pushing through the hard
times and lacks of success with a good attitude enduring to the end so
that he can give us the blessing that we have been working towards as
we pass. This is the Lords work and I am grateful to have the
opportunity to be blessed as I take my small humble place in his army.
Thank you as well for your dedicated service and leadership.
com amor
Elder Hobson
This week we are going to get to fly on over to the other island that
has missionaries on it because we have a zone conference with
president and sister fluckiger for the last time before they head home
at the end of the month. So we are going to go there and after we
have the meeting we are going to get to see Sao Miguel a little bit
for the rest of the day because we are not coming back until the next
day. So I am pretty excited for the little mini vacation, also
conferences are a lot of fun and just really get you pumped up. And
apparently we are going to be going again here in a couple weeks when
the new mission presidents come in so I am just going to be in the
airport flying around like crazy. Summer vacation out here on the
misson. haha Also tonight we are going to have a fish fry at the
chruch for FHE since we caught a bunch of fish today. Every day is a
new adventure and it always turns out interesting and lots of fun.
Hope you all are finding your own adventures too.
Love
Elder Hobson.
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