September 1

Well...I can't believe how fast time goes!

Its starting to rain soooo much here. which is my favorite type of weather. its lots better than sweating your eyeballs out. haha. so for a little experience this week we were at a members house eating this week and on our way walking back it started to DOWNPOUR. the kind of rain that in 3 minutes could flood the whole world. while we were running in the rain  another member hollered for us to come inside to wait for it to clear up. we were super glad because were were probably 20 minutes away from our next appt. house. as we were waiting in the house she shut the doors and the windows because the rain was muy fuerte meanwhile cutting onions to make salsa. hahah if you remember my eyes are super super sensitive to onions. so there we are with 9 people crammed into a little room and me crying my eyes out becasue they stung so bad. they were getting a kick out of it! i wish i would have brought my camera because my eyes were literally bright red. even when we left they were watering for like 10 more minutes. hahaha

This week has basically been a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs. Last week was pretty hard because we didnt have many people interested in hearing us and had a lot of people shut us down. So me and hermana martinez decided to buckle up and work hard this week, so we did just that! We contacted more in the streets, and started using Jake{s technique of singing a hymn and having the members let the spirit work in them and write down someone who needs the gospel in their lives. We had lots and lots of references which is what we need. we set 9 new dates for baptism this week!! we were really excited. i hope it all works out.

We are working really hard right now with Tania. Her baptism is set for this thursday so we are trying to get her all ready. We had a little miracle with her this week. Like I said, her husband came home this week from his work and they have been having problems. We had lunch with them on friday and it went really well! His name is Daniel and he was really receptive to our message. They both came to church with us this week and it was so touching to see how different their little boy Paulo acted as well as Tania. Usually Paulo is super crazy during church and is running all over and Tania is a little irreverrant trying to calm him down. But with Daniel their all Paulo wanted to do was sit on his lap. I could tell Tania was much more at ease as well.. It was a testimony to me about families and the roles of parents. Marriage is meant for man and wife because they compliment each other and are there to support one another. I think its really hard for Tania to have her husband away for work, as well for Paulo. This is a good family - the temple is the goal. for them to be together forever.

Weve also been working hard with our neighbors. We contancted the mom the other day, Asuncion, and had a lesson just with her. She has 9 kids the oldest is 29. We only know him, Juan Carlos, the second oldest, Ivonne 17, and Julio 10. The mom is pretty hard right now. She believes her baptism is correct and she doesnt need another one, but none of her other kids are baptized. She really likes us and likes talkign to us which is good. We are going to work on her. Ivonne and Juan Carlos both accepted a fecha which we were super excited about!! Ivonne and Julio, the two youngest are so cute. Ivonne is very timid and quiet but so willing to do everything and really has a true desire to know about this gospel. Julio reminds me so much of Cy! he is so cute and funny and carries his soccer ball everywhere. We invited them to a ward activity thursday and they were both super super excited to go and they came to church with us on Sunday as well!! Funny story. So Ivonne, Julio, Tania, y Daniel all came with us to the church. Daniel is a taxista (those little carts that nacho libre drives in the movie is what a taxi is here) so Tania offered to take us to church. So all 7 of us piled in. hahahha it was a sight to see!! i think we were only going like 2 miles per hour because the thing weighed so much. it was way fun though. the family is pretty poor and ivonne hasn{t had many friends. she bonded instantly with another YW member and it was perfect! she is now going on a little overnight activity with the young women and wants to come to church every sunday. it reminded me so much of all your little young women girls, mom. keep working on all those in west weber who need the gospel!! invite people to activities because it all can start there! We are really excited to see what happens. They are good.

There's lots more things and people I want to write about but I dont have much time left. Thanks for all the words of encouragement and help. Everything is going well, i have good days and bad days with the spanish but im learning line upon line precept upon precept. The temple looks beautiful!! i love seeing the pictures of it. I still have my bottle of water that you gave me from the open house. im saving it for a special day when i need the holy water. or clean water. haha :) love you mucho! hope the wedding goes well! wish grandma happy birthday for me! love you all more than anything.

con amor,

Hermana Hobbs

p.s. mom & dad i am teaching english classes. which are way fun!! what is the sound about apples and bananas and vowles?? do you know any good activities to do or have any good ideas? i need my creative parents help once again :)