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