November 26

 I cannot tell you how proud I am to see those pictures of HESTON knocking down a swan!!!!! How awesome is that. But everything sounds awesome back home.  

     Well things have been great here in San Benito. As I said I got a new companion and it's been such a growing experience to have to "put my team on my back" here and there as Levi would say. But it really has been great it's definitly got me out of my comfort zone and made me work on planning things. Haha this last week has been awesome we had a great holiday we had 3 meals with different members and actually found 4 brothers on the holiday's that are in a heavy metal Christian band. haha we are trying to work with them but they're stoaked enough for us to just pass by they think we are good luck but my Thanksgiving was great. 

Things have been flying by it's crazy to even look back at my life before everything seems like a dream. haha it's finally hitting me that I'm not a salesman and I'm a missionary I got my eyes opened up on an exchange with one of our zone leaders and I'm pretty excited about a lot of the ideas he had for our area. 

Well that's all for this week  I love you guys and hope you have a great holiday. Feed the missionary's!!! And get them referrals and Sam you'd make a pretty good member present so don't be afraid to offer them your services and talents. 

Love you all

Elder Hobbs

November 19

Dear Family,

     Well hmm where do i start...... This week has been full of it's ups and downs and it's just been awesome with the new change up and having to step it up and plan things out where to go who to talk to and introduce everyone.  My Spanish is getting there it’s still a little rough but it's a lot better then day one. But you'll never guess where my companion is from......... He went to Weber High and lives by Orion jr. haha He's awesome and was a drummer before the mission and it's funny because there's a few people we both know.

     But sounds like things are all awesome back at home I'm excited for you all to go visit “The Idahoans” iIve been struggling to get some letters rolling to everyone back home so tell them I'm sorry for not writing them yet but to be expecting a letter very soon. You definitly learn how to juggle your time on the mission and I still haven’t quite mastered that one (not even close). hahah

     Let me tell you about the week... It was a pretty interesting first planning session when my new companion looks at me like what are we doing tommorow. haha It's def. been quite an adventure and have had to get out of my comfort greeny zone in order for us to have a full schedule every day. I can even say i know how to make phone calls to people even in Spanish sometimes! But hmmm... me and elder Carling have been on to a lot of new potential investigators and have done a pretty good job finding new people we just gotta get them a little more committed everyone wants to hear more about Jesus Christ down here they just don't want to show their faith through their actions. And it's sad to see those who are so deep rooted in anther religion to not follow God.

This was a sweet experience, we were driving by a house at night and I thought oh that was a refferal from a potential investigator let's go talk to him. We pulled over said a little prayer and got out of the car and a guy already opened the gate and said come on in. He was like beaming with excitement because he said he just prayed for guidance in his life and we showed up so he already knew we were his answer to his prayers. So we taught him a first lesson, then got him accepted to come to church and the next day his congregation showed up with his preacher and told him they didn't know he was out of prison and of course he told them the mormon’s came by and so now we’re into a little battle of decisions with our new friend R. And he's moving so we have a lot that came up against us but we also have a lot on our side we our just trying to prepare him for the missionaries in a different zone but it's just so cool to just show up and answer someone's prayers and it's not even like we  did anything out of the ordinary. It was one of my favorite moments so far we just gotta do a little teaching. haha but that's all for today my time is about up.

I love you all,

Elder Hobbs

November 12

Mi Familia,

      It's been nice to see how everyone's doing and good to hear Heston's keeping Sam on the Ball. It sounds like things are still going well at home, and yes I got dad and Sam's letters.

 

But this has been quite the week so first off...... My companion had a training for 3 straight days and in San Benito we live with two other elder's and the other companinonship is training a greeny too. So for 3 straight days I got to work with another greeny while our trainers were at leadership conference. haha And it was quite an experiece, we actually saw a lot of success we found about 6-7 people interested and the only problem is they're in the other elder's Area. So we had quite the time speaking to people in spanish. That was the good part of the week. haha Then after leadership conference my comp found out he's getting transferred to be a zone leader and that I'll be getting a step dad/Breaker so Im going to have to teach him the area and introduce him to the members that I still pretty much don't know, so it'll be an adventure I'm excited. haha. But a mission is so full of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. We ended up getting the boot from a family and now my trainer's getting transferred. So it's time to buckle down, step up to the plate the best I can and put complete trust in the lord. I'm excited for the challenges coming up and the lessons there are to learned. And I know "If" I do my part "then" the lord will do his.

 

But all is well in the mission I'm loving it and am still as excited as ever to be here I can't get enough of personal study in the mornings that hour seems to just fly by. But my spanish is still a little shaky but this next transfer starting on tomorrow I've got some goals I've been thinking of to work with my new trainer to get things rolling Necesito hablar todo tiempos mediante el dia. And I think i'm only going to write Saren and Sam in spanish from now on in order to practice more so you may have to be patient with me. haha But I love you guys have another great week and keep firm to your foundation. 

Love you all.

Elder Hobbs

November 5

Dear Family,

     It's crazy to hear where the Lord has planned for all my friends to be and I'm proud of everyone for answering the prophet's and the Lord's calling. The Lord is hastening his work and we should do the same. Man it's such an exciting thing for everyone to receive a call.  Pres. Trayner said the applicants have gone from 600 a week to 6000. Haha there's going to be greenies all over I'm excited for everyone.

But it's good to hear how everyone's doing back home I hope all is well with everyone and that everybody is staying strong to their callings and helping the missionary work progress back in Utah. 

 

Things are going well here in Sanny B we got to eat some homemade tamales that were amazing luckily one of the elders in our apartment is vegitarian so there was plenty to go around. haha We received some sweet referrals these past weeks from some members and the work can progress so much faster when the ward helps out the missionaries I have a very strong testimony on this because we basically have not found anyone on our own efforts everything has been through the Branch members. 

 

But I wanna just share a quick story on how our examples can effect people. We've been meeting about once a week with this recent convert family the Garcia's and they're a solid family and the kids are all so well behaved and they are from Mexico so I get to practice my spanish with them quite a bit. haha but anyways we've met with them and helped them get going in the church and the kids are just so strong and active and love being at church and one of the daughter's is 7. She has a friend at school that is her best friend a non member and the girl's mother loves her and one day was curious about why she was so happy, loving, smart, and had a glow about her. So she asked this girls mom. So sister Garcia talked about how the church has helped them so much and have taught them great things and then their whole family is now investigators because one 7 year old girl befriended a non member girl and invited her to church and to sing in the primary program.

So my invitation to all who reads this is to just be an example. Everyone recognizes us when we are doing the right things. And sadly enough they also recognize when we do bad things. As members our actions should never ever come in the way of a conversion of someone else.

 

So that's about it for the week love you guys and i'm excited for the new missionaries.

Elder Hobbs