July 6

Happy (late) independence week!

It's the week of changes! I cant believe how fast the time goes.. me and Hermana Falcon are staying the same, we are super happy about it!! but now.. we are las hermanas capacitadoras! its like zone leaders, but for the hermanas. It will be fun, and interesting because we both dont know what we will be doing. jaja a lot of trusting and using the spirit. which is always good, we grow more that way. And hermana Falcon and I get a long really well. She is such a hard worker and always has the spirit so strongly with her. shes always making me cute little cards. :) i love my compie. 

The 4th here in mexico was a good one. the month of july is the month of the virgens.. which means a month of eating, drinking, and being merry :) theyre is currently a festival in the plaza of motul. its fun to see, but we try to avoid it because of all the alchohol. jaja. so every night we are dazzled by fireworks and music, on the 4th as we were walking home we bought some mariscos to celebrate! its like a crispy crepe with nutella and holland cheese. it was suppper tasty :) in the morning I was reading in 3 nephi 4, about the war of the gadianton robbers and the nephites.  it was interesting to me how it related to the war of independencia. The Lords truly directed them both. it made me remember the words of one of my teachers in the mtc saying that when we share the gospel, we are setting others free from sin.. that this is the war that is raging... so let freedom ring, let the gospel be proclamed to every nation!! i love being a missionary to help others be free.

This week we had lots of tender mercies from the lord. we continue to visit with Rafael and his family.. they didnt come to church again this week.. we had a really powerful lesson yesterday as well. Helping them realize the eternal consequences of our decisions every day. It made me realize HOW IMPORTANT it is that we as parents lead out in example. WE are the teachers in the home, not the missionaries, not the sunday school teachers, but the parents teach the childeren.. i have been so blessed to have such strong parents. mom and day have been the best companionship. :)

We found Maria Valentina.. she is such a gem. she was a reference from a less active, when we went to contact her, we did our whole spill, somos misioneras.. etc and let us in RAPIDO. her little home was filled with beautiful hamacas. she has lots of different health problems. she trembles in the whole left side of her body, has a tumor, diabetes, and mucho mas. she told us that she receives all messengers of god, besides los mormones.. so when she told us that we were like ughh. what do we say? we started to explain to her why we are there and stuff like that and then told her we were los mormones, but she was like whow your a lot different than what I thought. she has had the hardest life.. her husband beats her and doesnt even live with them. her parents are both drunks, just a whole lot of things.. she cried in her pray. she didnt accept fecha, but we arent giving up on her. just helping her feel the love of god was what she needed that day.

CARMEN! she is one we found this week as well, with a very similar case.. she has had a lot of problems.. it was cool because she was actully a contact we made the first of the transfer but didnt want anything, then found her in the house of her sister and she asked US if we could visit her. we made an appt. and went. she cried to us expressing a lot of the problems that she is facing, we talked about the nature of god, the atonements so and so andout popped the question  why are their so many different churches? expalined a litle bit, invited to baptizm and asked us authority?? ive never heard of that before. do i need another baptizm? we said yes :) we are excited about her.

Well lots of good things happeneing here in Motul. lots of sweating, putting our hearts on the line. I want to do this forever. :) 

llove you all!! 

hermana hobbs

that's an ugly toe

guanabana-yum!

the newest returned missionary(center)

June 29

This week was a rainy one, but a good one nevertheless. We had our 8 principos every morning in centro so we were waking up at 4:30 every day to get there for the reunion. #puebloproblems but it was super good. I love the reuniones! I also learn so much. Every morning we had a different principle that we talked about, book of mormon, teaching inv. not lessons, all the good stuff. :) we finished at 12 so we would get back to our area at like 2ish. 

Wednesday we talked about teaching people, not lessons and of course had PRACTICES! I remember when I dreaded the practices when I first got here and now I love them. I was with 2 other missionaries being the inv. and I was Aremy (one of our inv. that is in the area) she is such a good little girl who wants to be baptized but her mom is completely against it.. theres lots of problems in her family. her parents are seperated and her mom is working in a bar.. so as i was thinking in her and her needs the great missionaries brought the spirit. One of the missionaries shared personal experiences and the spirit pierced the room.. We were all whispering and it dawned on me I felt the same spirit as when we are in the temples.. It was such a sweet experience. 

Wednesday after the reunion we took a trip to the hospital for my toe.. YAY. it was pretty quick, the worst part was putting the shots in my toe chispas it hurt super bad. but after that i couldnt feel anything. jaja the doctor was like WHAT IS THIS. it was so big what they cut out they had to stitch it up. JAJA so thats pretty sweet i think i beat the record of ingrown toenail, and pretty nasty. the rest of the week i had to wear my sandals and couldnt get it wet which is the biggest challenge considering that it rains every day.. jajaja hermana garcia reminds me so much of mom. after the reunion on thursday it was raining really hard and so she had me go to the offices where she could bandage me up! we put cardboard in some plastic bags for my shoe and wrapped toweles around my feet jaja it was fun! I also got to see hermana duron!!! my hija!! she updated me on kanasin!! three of my inv are getting baptized!! abraham was baptized this last saturday, lourdes left carlos and so gets baptized the 18 of july and damian the 25 de july!!!! i was crying when she told me. i miss my little kanasin so much but i am so happy that they are having exito. 

We are finding success! fabiola, fabiola and pablo - they are progressing well just need to go to church!! we taught them the restoration this week and the spirit was so strong.. we left the folleto of joesph smith and they read all of it!! now we are going to watch the movie with them. (thanks for the advice Sam:) they really have hunger and thirst to know the truth. their little girls are so cute as well.

On saturday I helped a member in the ward film a document in english for one of her classes. she was put in a group project and had to have a conversation with someone who speaks english. she broght two of her friends and so we are gonna teach them. whooo!

Last night we had a really powerful lesson with some menos activos.. the father has been going to church but his wife has been iffy for the past 4 years. we have visited with them before and taught them. they were sealed in the temple in mexico when they got married. their son who has 20 years told us of his desire to go on the mission.. and how he feels like he doesnt know how to handle the priorites in his life.. the father rafael was crying in the lesson saying how he wants his children forever.. it was a really touching. we read the dream of Lehi about the tree of life and related it to them how sometimes we are walking around in midst of darkness how we have the things of the world that are blinding us from what is really imporatnt. we had the mom read the part that talks about "with all the tender feelings of a father" exhorting his children to take heed to the rod of iron and participar of the fruit. their little son will be getting baptized in july. they are so good just have lost track of what is important..

WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THE COVENANTS THAT WE HAVE MADE.

The week wasnt as exciting as normal. lots of time traveling in combi. :) but it was good because I had time to read in the book of mormon. i seriously love the book of mormon. it is SUCH a strong tool. I feel being here in the mission my eyes have caught hold on what is really important, i dont have that midst of darkness blinding me of the things of the world. I can see what is truly important and there is nothing more that I desire than salvation for those I am serving. 

love you all so much!

hermana hobbs

surgery on her ingrown toe-yikes!

after surgery

Hermana Garcia taking good care!

June 22

Well this week marks my year mark of being a missionary por tiempo completo! I wish that is would just slow down a bit.. jaja. mom i feel the same feeling you did when you thought of your 30 years with dad, when i first got here and missionaries told me they had a 1 or more i thought chispas theyre old! but now im here and i still feel as if I got here yesterday. :) I still feel like spongebob just absorbing in everything I can and trying to learn everything I can.

This week was pretty fun. we are working with investigadores progressing.. still ningun de ellos han ido a la capilla. i feel like the girl in the district that says, JUST GO TO CHURCH!! but we just have to keep inviting and working with the ward to get them there. (any advice, diganme) 

We had our mini CCM this week!! it was such a blast!! we had 12 jovenes and JAS there! it was literally such a spiritual experience. i think more for me! i gave count to a lot of the blessings of being out here on the mission. there is a joven, Yulisa, she is such a solid girl. SO STRONG. in the morning we were teaching how to start a lesson and give one and the youth were really stressing out. (we did practices) and a lot of them were saying i cant do it i cant do it. but then they started to get more comfortable. in the night after we did divisions (i went with her and another named cynthia, we visited her friend) we had a testimony meeting. Yulisa said that in the morning she was going to stay home when they went home to eat.. but then thinking about it she remembered that she made a commitment with the Lord, and despite that this was hard, she loved her heavenly father and wanted to serve. the spirit filled the room as she testified.. I love her to death. she reminds me of all  my cute young women in the ward. she is going to be the best little missionary ever! much success from this activity :) 

Sorry dont have much time.. i spent most the day waiting in the hospital. no need to get freaked out mom. just have an ingrown toenail.. haha for 10 months. it didnt really bother me. i dont know whats going on but i have like a high level to put up with pain. this week i was like chispas my toe hurts. hermana falcon looked at it and was like HERMANA!! there is another toe that is growing. jajaj i hadnt payed much attention but after i looked at it it started to hurt. we clipped it but made it worse. so i have a wonderful appt wednesday. im hoping that this procedure goes better than that of sams. :) ill send yall pics. :)  

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.

I love belonging to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints.

keep sharing your testimonies with friends and help the missionaries. be good sistems of support for them.. and help the members in the ward like you all do.. :) 

hermana hobbs

mini MTC all the jovenese in the ward

June 15

First... happy fathers day to the best father in the world. I thank my heavenly father for the father he has given me. "mine is a home, where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power." also to Alex who is the little daddy of the fam:)

Sorry mom for not answering questions.. jaja. the area is super good here in motul! its a pueblo about 1 hour from Merida - its own city. there are 2 wards here. we are in motul 2, there are elders in motul 1. the people are a lot different here than in kanasin!! there was a lot of poverty in kanasin, but here its a lot better. Almost everyone speaks mayan. im learning a little bit. jajaja. :) ten kik hobbs, bixa vel, je cotal chaco. but i forget it super fast. our apartment is about a postry place in centro. we live in the same road as the church. yes i am still sleeping in a hamack. jajaja this week ive been really cold, there has been some rain and stuff and ive been sleeping with a sweater and blanket. then i found out that its been like 85 degrees in the night and im sleeping with a blanket. so im officially saying that im acostomed to the weather. :) yes i am eating as well! jaja the members are good to us - so so sweet! theres lots of elderly people in the ward - i instantly feel in love with the family Hobak. their a cute little couple that have been married for like 40 something odd years. I havent received the package yet, but ill be waiting for it. :) i loved all the pictures that you sent from tuckers wedding and hayden going through the temple!! how special for our family. theres much going on!! (sorry im terrible at responding to questions.. jaja)

This week continued on.. we found 9 new investigators!! woot woot. we have 5 fechas and we are working hard to get people to church. it was a really good week. less walking, and more teaching which is always good. haha. we are struggling in the ward right now.. the assistance has dropped a ton. they changed the bishop hace 2 months and there has been some issues with that with some of the members. we are working a lot in retention right now, so there is work to do! hermana falcon and I are having a mini MTC day this week! we are super excited. we are trying to get the ward excited about missionary work again. we also made a cute little box that says "como puedo ser un misionero ahora?" and cut out some stuff from the liahonas. we are going to make an Elder Bear go along with it as well, we just havent found a stuffed animal bear yet. jaja  but the idea is to give it to a family each week and for each of them to take out one of the asignationes in the box like give a book of mormon, or invite a friend to mutual or something like that so every member of the family is doing something. then if all the family cumplen with what they have to do, hermana and i are going to do something in return. make them food, or do something funny - as a premium. :) we are excited about it! 

This week was the week of dogs!! the first time in my mish where we almost got attacked jajaj we were trying to contact a convert that hasnt been to church in 3 years and a demond dog was in front of his house. we tried like 3 different times but the dog was chasing after us until i threw a rock at it.. jajaj i was convinced that i played softball my whole life just for that moment. i felt bad after but we didnt want to get bit. and then later on in the week we were just walking and a dog came out of nowhere and almost bit the leg of my comp!! bien chafa. we have been on edge this week with the dogs.

This next week will be our stake conference! we are super excited, working hard to get our investigators there and our members. 

As i was reading this morning in alma 60, i came across something that i loved a lot. Moroni is speaking a bit fuerte, but thats how we learn :) he is speaking about how we need to purify the inside of our cup first, and then the exterior will be clean as well. We need to purify ourselves in our thoughts, actions, in our character, before we can help others. The warriors in zarahemla were struggling in the war because their brothers had turned prideful, seeking for power and authority and not looking for the will of God.. Just a spiritual thought, where are we? what are our motives? are we seeking to please our God, or seeking to please men?

must we always seek to be pure in heart, for then will we see Him for who he is.. because we will be like him.. moroni 7:48

  23  ¿Os suponéis que Dios os tendrá por inocentes mientras os sentáis inertes y presenciáis estas cosas? He aquí, os digo que no. Ahora bien, quisiera que recordaseis que Dios ha dicho que lo interior del vaso se ha de limpiar primero, y entonces lo exterior se limpiará también.

 24  Y a menos que os arrepintáis de lo que habéis hecho, y empecéis a ser diligentes, y nos enviéis víveres y hombres, y también a Helamán, para que él conserve las partes de nuestro país que ha reconquistado, y para que nosotros también reconquistemos el resto de nuestras posesiones en estas partes, he aquí, será conveniente que no luchemos más contra los lamanitas hasta que primero hayamos limpiado lo interior de nuestro vaso, sí, la gran cabeza de nuestro gobierno.

love you all alot :) 

hermana hobbs

after 3 weeks of planning in the dark we took matters into our own hands and became self sufficient

our rain suits

mi pueblo

cochiperros

helping hermann alejandrra make her tortillas...mmmm

June 8

Querido Familia,

siento muy bien para escribirles y decir que....  ALEJANDRA ACEPTO FECHA!!! wootwoot.

we had such a spiritual experience yesterday!! as I told yall weve been on the hunt for investigadores.. we have been contacting in the streets like crazy, asking for references, looking the area book, everything. motul has been an area that everyone hasta el perro han escuchado los misoneros. but hey, the work never is in vain. one of the investigadores antiguos, alejandra is one of those miracles. in our fast we were praying and fasting for the people that we had contacted to be receptive of the message and to for the lord to help us recognize those who are prepared.. and thats just what happened!

sunday after our consejo de barrio we had put a couple of the contacts to go visit, as we were walking to one of them we ran across alejandra. her husband and mother in law are less active. we had visited them earlier on the week. the mother in law juanita is missing a leg and hasnt been able to leave the house.. and her son has been out of work for 2 weeks because he doesnt have money to repair his moto taxi. they were both baptized 2 years ago but alejandra has never felt like its something right for her. her registro is full of all the lessons. just another testimony to me of the lord prepares his children in his time, like my good friends Magy and Karma :) we read alma 7 with them and when we got to verses 11 and 12 we asked her how she felt and her eyes were gleaming and said she wanted to know more about the atonement. so we started talking about el yugo and suddenly asked us if we were inviting her to baptism. jaja hermana falcon and i were like YES. she was a little hesitant, but told us that she felt something super new, like "algo caliente" a peace, and we testified that it was the spirit. ahhh i love helping people recognize the spirit. thats my favorite part, seeing people make the "click" the understanding of who that special person is. we put 11 de julio but she was like no i dont think i can do that. 30 de junio because its my birthday. hey, we didnt have to argue. :) the spirit was super strong! and we were super excited. it was an answer to our prayers and gave us a lot of energy to keep working and to NEVER LOSE HOPE on anyone. I love that that has been a common theme in my mission. :) 

this week was full of walking, sweating, and contacting. We are still working on finding people, and helping those that we have progress. "if you want to baptize some people, talk to some people, if you want to baptize a lot of people, you talk to a lot of people, if you want to baptize everyone, you talk to everyone." hermana falcon and i are putting that into practice. :) there are TONS of churches here. we ran into a lady who is from the reformed church who had a book of mormon. i had no idea that that was a thing. 

it was a good week. we had a reunion with our lideres de zona and they helped us make goals to help us become mas consagrada y misioneras de integro proposito. something that our leader said i really liked. that faith hope and charity always go hand in hand. and somethings when we feel like we are doing well in one of them we need to work on the others as well. to be balanced. 

well i love you all so much. i am so happy to be a missionary during the restoration and to understand WHO is my father in heaven. seek Him and he will seek you. learn of him!! give your eyes to see your ears to listen and your hearts to understand matt     13:15, 2 nerfi 16:10 

love you all

hermana hobbs