December 16

Hermana Maisie Hobbs is on her way home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 14

Well family, I don´t have much to say other than I`ll be home for christmas. My heart is truly full of gratitude to my Father in Heaven for these past 18 months. I am overwhelmed with emotion & love for Merida and her people, and of course my Savior Jesus Christ. I truly feel like everything has passed bien rapido.. like water slipping between my fingers. The other day when I was reading in the LDM, jacob was speaking to me from the dust when he nearing the end of his life, but the beginning of a new one:

"The time passed away with us and also our lives passed away as if it were unto us a dream, we being wanderes.. cast out of Jersusulm and born in tribulation." jacob 7:26 

This time has passed away as if it were a dream. But this dream has opened my eyes to what life is, to what the gospel is. I dont know how I would have been able to go through life without coming to Merida and serving the lord with all my heart might mind and strength. I know the Lord loves his children, I have been a special witness to that love through the service I have rendered.  I am so grateful for the atonment and patience the Lord has had for me and my imperfecions. I am so grateful for the opportunity the Savior gave me to repent and be perfectioned.I know that the atonement not only cleans us, but strengthens us. I have been a witness to HIS POWER. I have seen as he has carried me through the the desert, across the waters, passing for my own tribulations. I thank my father every day for the people he has blessed me to serve. Every person I have met has left an impression on my heart.. 

I have learned to TRUST in the Lord. I am sad to leave, but know I need to trust my Heavenly Father.Because I KNOW that he does not leave us alone in our tribulations. He will lead us safely across the waters as long as we live the commandments and be the good girls and boys we should be.  

 Come what may, I will love it. 

con mucho amor,

Hermana Hobbs

p.s. please come to the airport with a big coat and boots.

December 7

"Can you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The bells!"

"I dont hear any bells.."

"Yes! just listen, the bells to santas sleigh.. just stop and listen."

It seems just a couple of weeks ago I was in my room praying to my heavenly father right before opening up my mission call telling him that I would go where he needs me.. I would do what he would tell me.. just help me to love my mission & be a good servant. Relfexioning on everything that has happened this past 1 1/2 the Lord has answered my prayer. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and his plan. of how individual he is with his children.. of how much love and attention he shows to them. its just the question if we stop & listen.

In the christmas season, it always seems to be the busiest, happiest time of the year. We find ourselves giving and making gifts, gingerbreadmen, christmas carols, and so on. We enjoy the time we have with our families, the snow (or the hot sun;) the treats and goodies. But may I say that we must stop and listen. and more importantly feel. we may find our minds relfexioning upon the the year, our past goals and plans, the saviors birth, his life and atoning sacrifice. the covenants and blessings that he promeses us, our forever families. 

I have found myself relflexioning upon these a  few of these this past week as we have started to share the video "HA NACIDO UN SALVADOR" and cant help but rejoice for my Savior Jesus Christ was born and he lives! I have seen his influence here in my mission. I have seen him in every person I have met.. I have seen his light in their eyes.. I have seen his compassion, his desire. I have FELT his presence. Like my sister.. I have felt him walking beside me. I am so grateful for my savior..

it has always been impressioning to me that he chose to leave his marks upon his body. when we are promised to be perfected, but he does it to always remember us.. he has us before him. he is constantly reminded of the pain and suffering he did to free us.. of his love for us. I feel like that is what helps motivate him to work. to work so hard for us. I will be eternally grateful for my mission for these past 18 meses because HE has worked along side me.. and has left marks in me. Not only the physical ones.. the many bites from those pesty mosquitos or the many splotches from the sun, but also the marks in my spirit.. My heart has hurt and eyes have wept as I have seen the iniquityor the rejection of my bretheren.. but also has been filled with immense joy as I have seen christ make the change in the people I love so much.. 

there is nothing better than being a missionary and experimentating those moments. 

This past week I had my ultimate interview with pres.

. we had our christmas devotional

gave my last testimony in front of the whole mission

finally got to be comps with hna huff on exchanges :)

shared the video SO MANY TIMES

christmas caroled in the bus staion with our zone

did a sketch of 8 filtros a dia

got the package and 

and loved loved loved every moment.

this week im gonna leave my heart on the line. give all i have to my father. its not the end of my work but just the beginning. the lord has prepared me to be a better witness for him in the future. 

i love you all so much. so grateful for every person that i have met.

LOVE YOU ALL

disfruten este espiritu de navidad 

hermana hobbs

November 30

mis queridos!

this week FLEW by. between exchanges, traveling to merida, lidership conf, district conference, I think we spent like 3 solid days in our area. but it was a week of aprendizaje. and an opportunity to get to know other missionaries mejor :) 

first THANKS SO MUCH TO THE ROUNDY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty cool because they had a shoutout in our district conference in ticul by the pres. and wife of the temple!! (who is the brother of Pres. Garcia, how fun) 3 families were sealed this weekend :) so grateful that they could see 

so we started out in the week in MERIDA. we had our leadership training tuesday so we had to travel to merida monday. we worked in the morning and traveled to merida in the night and stayed with my hermanas in ITZIMNA. my old zone. jaja so it was fun seeing the hermana Lopez again. Our leadership conf was in the house of pres. garcia.. (because the capilla en centro was burned a couple weeks ago) they cooked us breakfast and everything for our "thanksgiving" jaja it was fun. Hna Garcia shared the talk of eld bednar about the pickles and how we must be born again. and how it is similar to canning. it reminded me of all our canning memories as a child. with beans, corns, tomatos how i always dreaded those days, but loved eating the fruits of our labors.. we all must go through the process of cleaning, saturating and sealing and have our own conversion that can last us. It has made me reflect alot upon my mission and how my own conversion to the Lord has grown so much! Pres. also talked about the Book of mormon and the power that it has. in our district we have been doing a readathon of the book of mormon to be able to finish before the new year and i have loved reading the power the book of mormon  has.

We are still working with Andy & Dulce. he is having some problems to stop drinking, but he is working greatly on that. theyre little kids are great helpers :) 

Isidro, Marcelino and Mariele are doing well!! we are planning for the 12 of dec. (hestons bday) We are doing a lot of readings with them of the power of the BOM

Angel we havent been able to find in his house.

Saturday was our zone conf and sunday the conference of the district. We gave the talk of hna garcia and made plans to help our district become a stake. we are working a lot with preisthood to get them going. The conf was all about marriage. jajaj the presidentes of the mission and temple spoke with their wives about what makes marriage work and how the gospe infulences it. after with hna huff pres joked with us that he planned the conference for us. jajaj it was funny. 

sorry my thoughts are jumbled, dont have much time! next week i will be writing tuesday because our devotional is monday. love you so much family!!

November 23

HE is the gift. 

Oh how great of a week!! This week seriously FLEW by. We have so much work in Ox, that were a little over our heads, but that is the greatest blessing as a missionary. Christmas spirit is filling MEXICO! Hna Huerta and I have been on a high of christmas & sharing the good word of our savior. Weve been using our tablet (mexican style of the little reproductors) to share the video of He is the Gift with all we meet, and its been pretty effective!! We are bringing christmas early :) we even decorated our little casita with a little tree and lights. I LOVE THIS TIME OF BEING A SERVER OF OUR FATHER.

Wednesday we had to come in to Merida for a trip to the doctor for my compa, nothing serious, but on the 2 hour bus ride we spent contacting others and sharing the video, it was super fun :) on the way home there were no more seats so we sat on the floor jajaj i wasnt going to stand for 2 hours. It was a good day, we spent it with Hna Garcia taking us around to find a special type of shoe for my comp - it was so sweet of her. I have charished the moments I have had to spend with her and learn of her. 

We also found 4 new investigadores that all accepted baptismal date this week!!! One is a family, Andy, Dulce, and their cute little kids. Dulce-s brother is a convert of one year and before was a hard core drinker but when he was baptized changed his life and matrimonio. He is now the pres. of hombres jovvens and is going to be sealed in march! Andy and Dulce are encountering similar problems and are seriously looking for help.. Our first lesson was so powerful. Andy was crying, and it truly strengthend my testimony on the cleansing power of the atonement.. they came to church sunday as well so we are super excited about them!! 

We did intercambios with the hermanas of Ticul, I was able to go there with hna barraza ( the sister who went to kanasin after me) she is so SWEET! I learned so much from her, they just recieved the area of the elders as well because the mission is slowly getting smaller and smaller so they have lots of work. it was fun getting updated on how kanasin :) 

We did divisions with some laurel saturday becasue we had lots of work, I have been so impressed by the youth and how prepared they are.. I feel like every generation is more and more powerful. They are coming more and more preapared into a world that needs preparation. Carlita and I were able to find an old investigator that the missionaries stopped visiting that is super powerful as well. Spent a lot of time contacting referencias as well and it amazes me because almost all had questions about the restoration. It testifies to me that their spirits have these questions of the soul for a reason.. becasue they are children of God and they are on this search of happiness but just dont know where to find it.

I cant remember if I told you last week about damian? he is a little old guy (he reminds me of uncle gene) that we helped with his family history and found 25 names!!!! and he has been taking them faithfuly to the temple. He was inactive for 40 years becasue his wife was resadora in the catholic church and there was a lots of problems because of that but he never lost his testimony, after she passed away, he went to church that sunday and then was sealed to her in the temple... his story is seriousy so inspiritng. 

LOVE OX. LOVE the mission! I know that christ is our savior and redeemer of man kind. I love you all so much.

have a good week! thanks for all your letters of encouragement and support. they truly mean the world to me. 

LOVE YOU

November 16

OXKUTZCAB 

I LOVE IT HERE!!!!! TRANQUILA mama :) President is an inspired man, and I know this is where Heavenly Father wants me. I miss Motul so much, but it was the same when I left Kanasin. Our father knows where he needs us in time he needs us, and he knew that I needed to come here. I am already learning so many beautiful things. :) 

First, my comp Hna Huerta is AMAZING. She is so christlike and I love her desire to help and to serve, to edify. learning so much from her! Every night before we go to bed we talk about how we saw the hand of the lord in the day.. and it seriously has blessed my life. We truly see SO many blessings from him and its so beautiful to remember them right before we sleep. :) Im gonna mention a few of them.

1) so Ticul has some very pretty HILLS!!!! yes HILLS!! i have never been so happy in my life to see hills or walk up them!! they remind me of how much I love heights. When we wer coming in on the bus I about jumped out of my seat to see them. Oxkutzcab is like the center of oranges. about everyone here works in the parcelas (orchards) its like a green forest everywhere! my companion always laughs at me because im always gasping at how beautiful everything is. And ive eaten so many citrusy fruit in my life oranges, mandrins, grapefruit, etc. everyone is always giving us fruit. So we have our every day fresh oragne juice in the morning. its the best!! oh as well everyone speaks maya here. so koox meyah

2) there is lots of work here! we are working with lots of people right now.. 

the family Dzul - Isidro, Marcelino, Mariel there mom passed away in aprilish and have been going to church for 2 weeks now. Isidro is the papa and has like 65 years. they are the two youngest children who live at home with him. We teach them to read and to do math becausethey havent had money to be in school. We have been teaching them in parts the lessons because they progress a little slowly. isidro speaks more maya than spanish so sometimes he cant undersand me. jajaja but the spirit is the real teacher right? :) we finsihed PofSalv this week and he told us "no hay otro!! tengo que irme al reino celestial!" it was so cute. he is so ready for his baptism. he also came to our activity with the relief socitey to make oatmeal cookies :) they loved them! i love this little family.

3) a cool experience with the recient convert... TIGRE. (its his nickname) wow i gotta take a picture with this cute guy. he is like 60 as well but before his life was really crazy. was baptized in october and has seriously changed his life drastically. he has his tricitaxi painted as a tiger its super sweet.. we went to teach him this week and he was hurting a lot in his stomach but he said dont worry hermanas i can aguantarlo so as we prayed we blessed that he could be healed. in the middle of the lesson he said HERMANAS HERMANAS!!! ya no me duele en mi estomaga!!! ya no!!! he was so suprised and it was such a blessing and a reminder that the lord hears our prayers and blesses us. and as missionaries we have power to promise blessing and they will be fulfilled. I love working hand in hand with my savior. He was so excited to share his experience in principios del evangelio on sunday with everyone :) i love tigre. 

4) on sunday we were doing the usual, trying to calm down children in the sacramental so that the parents can hear the talks and everything. as two little girls were putting stickers on me, walked in some familiar faces... ISABEL AND GIOVANI FROM KANASIN. then a little later Yasumi, Cynthia and ABRAHAM! I was so suprised1!! abraham was my little inv about 7 months ago in kanasin that was finally able to be baptized 2 weeks ago. Yasumi has a instutite class with PResdidente Garcia and asked him where she could find me sunday because abraham wanted to thank me... I WAS SO TOUCHED. kanasin to oxkutzcab is really far... and to see him and how he has changed it literally brought me to tears.. i loved seeing my kanasin friends and to hear little abrahams testimony.. and giovanis!! (he is a convert as well that hna pinguelo and I started teaching but was in the area of the elderls) in principios they both shared their testimonies and it seriously was such a thrilling moment as a missionary to see people you love so much and to hear how the gospel has changed them.. 

I think I am going to stay in mexico forever. There is no greater call than being a missionary. I will never have the words to thank my father in heaven for all that he has given me. I truly know that he loves his children.. that he hears and loves us and will do everything in his power to bless us. but we must use two of the greatest gifts he has already given us to make it posible. Our AGENCY and our SAVIOR. 

As thanksgiving is coming up, I invite you all each night before going to bed, before saying your prayers to think/write/discuss, How have I seen the hand of the Lord today? And how have I tried to be HIS hand in someone elses life today? 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH

hermana hobbs