Week 48

This Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament on humility.  I would love to
be able to send you a copy of it but I don't have one and we were
given a full day to prepare it which did not even include any of our
study time which meant we didn't get to prepare really but I think
that it went over well.  Well right now in the Branch I am supposed to
be getting sustained as the second councilor but the mission president
is waiting to authorize it for some reason.  Unfortunately we are
still having to help with tithing and do some other things that we
need to be members of the presidency to do, but unfortunately there is
just nobody else to do it with since the first councilor  went to the
temple for the next five weeks.  Also I am getting trained by Elder
LeSouer to do an audit on the Branch on the other side of the island.
It makes me really not miss school studying that stuff and reminds me
how awesome the mission is.

As for Lurdes. Dad (She had been baptized but never was confirmed and
it has been years now.)  She has been nothing but stress this week.
She ended up not showing up to her baptism and instead ran away to the
other side of the island for the day so we couldn't even talk to her.
It was embarrassing especially because we had a bunch of members
already there just waiting for her baptism and everything.  She
basically just does not have any support from anyone but us and she
lives in a horrible neighborhood where a good influence does not
exist. So she eventually just gave in to the pressure and ran from us.
It is sad because she said that she gets filled with doubts when we
are gone but as soon as we come back she feels comfortable and calmed
down ready to go through with it again...  Sounds like the spirit,
the Church is true..  We are going to have to give her some time and
just take even more members over there so that she can get some good
influences in her life.

One member that lives right behind us (we talk to him most nights out
of our bedroom window into his window)  got the Melchizedek priesthood
this weekend.  He was converted from being a drug addict to some heavy
stuff and it has been a long fight of almost 2 years for him to be
able to finally get the priesthood.  Literally a fight.  He got
stabbed in the face by his younger druggie brother this week when he
was trying to stop his brother from hurting their mother.  It goes to
show that the law of opposition is a real thing.  There always comes a
tidal wave of temptations and problems right before you take the next
step or receive a big blessing.  I know that it really is a fight
worth fighting and I am glad that we were able to comfort Marco
through his challenges in this last week (even though it cost us some
sleep every night) to be able to see the joy on his face as he got the
priesthood this weekend.  And for Lurdes we are going to keep up the
fight so that she can one day get passed all the things that are
stopping her from receiving the blessings of membership in the church.

Esta semana estou a tentar a melhorar os contactos que estamos a
fazer.   Estamos a esforçar de deixar todos os outros coisas e entrar
logo com o espírito nas corações das pessoas com quem nos tralhamos.
Eu sei que o Senhor vai colocar as pessoas certas em nossa caminho
quando nos estamos a fazer as cosias certas que ele possa confiar em
nos para cuidar dos filhos dele.  Eu vou continuar e esforçar cada dia
que o Senhor possa ter confiança em nos e usar nos como as mãos dele e
verdadeiro representantes aqui em angra.

We almost hung a cat on Sunday that we had to catch because it was
causing problems right before sacrament meeting it was quite an ordeal
but we ended up just tying it up in a hidden location until after
church and it all was fine it was pretty crazy.

Also I had an amazing testimony builder of repentance when we had a
contact that we had end up going too long and we ended up wasting time
with that man and should have listened to the spirit and moved on
faster but didn't.  But once we did we could feel that the spirit was
not with us and so we stopped and prayed and begged for forgiveness
and for the spirit to return and once the prayer ended and we started
walking back I could feel the spirit rushing back into my body. IT is
such and amazing feeling and I never like it when I do stupid things
to drive it away.  I am so grateful that we can truly repent and be
clean enough to be temples where the spirit can dwell in us. I know
that we cannot do anything out here with out that spirit and I am so
glad to know that it is real.

Love
Elder Hobson