Dec.21

Can you believe christmas is in a couple of days??? i cant!!! oh man time flows by so fast here and the heat is on! summer will be official the 22! oh i was dying the other day... but then the next day it poured like no other! there were tiny frogs all over the place... i guess they come out because of the humidity is so strong after it rains! and today we had our christmas activity with the whole mission! it was so much fun! we got to listen to the testimonies of the elders and hermanas leaving then we watched the christmas fireside in castillano.. then after that everyone had prepared a navidad skit! ours was about four elders who were not in the christmas mood so some of us came out at first and named off that they needed happiness, peace, and some other good stuff then the rest of the zone came out and ya it was pretty fun!
im so excited to talk to you all!! i cant wait! and yes i kept some of the presents to open on the day! so thank you very much! sorry this letter is so short but i dont have much time today to write to you! i love you all and have a wonderful christmas! what a great time to be serving the lord with the most greatest gift we have! the restored gospel! our heavenly father truly radiates his love through every little thing we have. what a wonderful life we have with a family strong in the gospel! and sealed for all eternity.. i love you all and ill talk to you in a couple of days! Chaosito!!!!

Tenga un Buen Semana!!!

Hola familia! once again this week has been crazy! haha with the language the people!! everything! My birthday came and went here.. it was pretty fun! That day we didn’t really have that many lessons. No one was home but at the end of the night we went to visit a family that have two daughters who are interested in the church! The father had made dinner and cake for my birthday! It was so fun and nice of them! They made this thin meat called milonesa! which is just basically deepfried and then with potatoes and egg salad. Then the cake was chocolate!! oh my favorite!hhahaha. I forgot about that mom til you mentioned it in your last email! It was very fun to be with this family and so nice of them!
I had my first zone conference this Tuesday as well with the president and his wife! It was all day long and we had milonesa ... seriously we eat it at least 4 times a week.. haha. im not complaining! They talked about how we can improve in some areas and new goals for the mission. I really enjoyed it! Our baptism on Saturday was amazing! I love baptisms especially these three children who we´ve been working with from the beginning of our time here! The spirit was so strong every time one of them was immersed in water. Then they received the gift of the holy ghost on Sunday. An elder who had taught them once before us (one of my zone leaders) was the one to baptize them! I cut the hair of all three of them before!
Oh and every week we have like a newspaper type of thing for the missionaries of buenos aires west and every week they do a spotlight on one couple and their success so this week it was ours! I will forward it to you! its all in spanish... i wrote it first in english.. then tried to in castillano then hna roy corrected some of it as well!
Every Sunday we have a crazy busy day with meetings and making sure our investigators show up and all that good stuff. When the people say hi to each other they love to give kisses on the sides of the cheeks.. so you have to watch out for those old ladies who love to have their bright pink lipstick! I learned that though after many kisses on the cheek and one of the men from the bishopric asked if I had something on my cheek. haha
oh and I will be getting to call you either on the 24th or the 25th from our chapel!
Tomorrow I have an interview with the president - exciting! The language is coming along slowly... I guess right now Im just learning to be patient with myself its not all going to come at once!
Oh and did I tell you we are hoping to have 2 other baptisms on the 26th of this month. The couple Estela and Walter!
and yes mom the skirt is perfect for here! nice and cool for the heat of the day! i have a great tan line from my watch already.. The other day I was telling Hermana Roy something and she was like that is a malo chiste meaning a bad joke and then she asked how to say bad joke in english. then today she called something else a bad joke but instead of joke she said yoke! haha... it made me think thats probably what I sound like to these people! haha.. Today I went on a short exchange with another hermana to the capital for some pictures and some information on being here. We got to catch up with the elders I had traveled with here! It was fun talking to them and hearing all their stories they already have from one week here! Ut made me feel much better they were having some of the same struggles I was with the language and the people. Cause it is hard. I didnt realize how it would be! But it was comforting to know I wasnt the only one struggling. It shouldnt be easy. Cause the most amazing blessings in our lives are the ones we have to work the hardest for! Hermana roy has so much patience for me! haha... sometimes she has to repeat a couple of times of what she says to me cause she has such a heavy accent.. its been fun! We laugh together about some little thing everyday. i love you all and be good!

Happy 22nd Birthday to Saren!!!

2 Weeks in Argentina

Hello my familia!!! so another week in argentine land with delicious food crazy people and a lot of rain! oh im loving every moment of it! so many stories this week! so we have been preparing three kids for baptism on hestons birthday with all the discussions... basically hna roy, from nicaragua, teaches the lessons.... or ill say something and she´ll translate it.. but its all good! im able to understand the people a little more! and the bishop (obispo) in our ward complemented on my testimony during sacrament that im sounding better! this sunday we had six investigators come to church!! how amazing is that... three of them were the children and then a family came as well that we´ve been teaching! it was amazing. oh and some inactive members as well that we´ve been visiting! i could have shouted for joy when i saw them show up! I truly just grow to love these people instantly! I love them all... even if they own 5 to 6 pets they keep in their homes and just have hard lives.
there is a couple walter and estela who are amazing people. Walter has some kind of sickness where his right arm and right leg dont work at all so Estela does everything. She works to take care of their kids cleans and takes care of her beloved husband. We taught them the plan of salvation last week and Estela broke down crying saying she tries her hardest in this life to do her best and how she is so overwhelmed. My heart just ached for this strong woman who does everything for her family. Walter started crying as well and we comforted them with some scriptures and our testimonies. We are preparing them for 26th of this month for baptism. We told them to pray about it! How amazing it is that the lord truly prepares these people to hear the gospel... a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Hermana roy has been a riot getting to know! ... we have a pretty nice apartment with good beds and everything you need. We even have a balcony! we scarcely cook for ourselves! i actually cooked for the first time today some eggs! haha. We usually eat a little breakfast to tide us over til lunch and then we eat at a members house! We eat like three meals there and then when we´re done for the day we just have a little snack before bed. We walk everywhere we go! and sometimes take the bus (collectivo) and no i dont wash my own clothes we take them to a cleaning store and they clean them for us.. basically everything we need is right here! We live in castelar and are in the ituzaingo 4th ward.. we have some other elders in the 1st ward who are our district leaders and we meet with them every Tuesday! Tomorrow we´re meeting with some other zones and I'm supposed to bear my testimony... I'm a little bit nervous but who cares they were all at the point I'm at right now! My mission president is great! he´s so short and so is his wife but he´s so boisterous and full of power!
The other day i almost got bit by a dog! Nasty perros. They are all possessed by the devil. You wouldnt believe how many strays there are around here... especially on the outskirts of town! Saturdays and Sundays are the days that they blast their castillano music. it makes me want to dance.. haha.. but now im a missionary. Its discouraging at times with the language when I dont understand what is going on or how to express myself or even to help them! But I know through time it will come. I just need to open my mouth and put more effort into it! Know that I love you all and sounds like you are all doing great! I count my many blessings everday... all of you, the way we were raised, with goodly parents who want the best for us, in a clean loving environment, with food always on the table. haha we are so rich with things that are eternal and everlasting. remember what counts! our families. People come and go in this life but families are forever. They will love you always. This world is harsh and so are moments in it that we have. Thats why we have families to lean on them for support and comfort. I love you all! have a wonderful week!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Saren has arrived in Argentina!

So now my p days are on mondays here!!! exciting!!! and i have a new address but i dont know what it is... i´ll get it to you all next week. sorry! but oh my goodness this is sooooo crazy im here!!! i dont know if you got my letter yet but i have a companion hermana roy who is from niceragua? i dont know how to spell it.... she doesnt know that much english so we have our own spanglish to understand and translate for me... hahha i have to laugh at times cause this is so crazy. but over just the days im here im able to understand the jist of the conversations we have with others... sometimes i just think oh they´re going to break in to english (like the teachers at the mtc) haha but no they dont... its sometimes frustrating but it will come over time. i just have to be patient. this place is crazy and i didnt realize how much walking we would be doing.... im going to be working off pounds down here! and sweat it off too and yes i have sunscreen i´ll put it on! ... it has rained ever other day here... and when i say rain its more like a down pour! on sunday we couldnt even walk in the streets cause they were like rivers. the bus we were on was having a hard time driving through it! i love it.... we were walking down this road with all these small house barking dogs at every house the rain pouring and here we are in our missionary attire and umbrellas. i was thinking to myself this is so legit! haha... nothing compared to the movies!!! oh the food here is to die for!! they have flan a yummy desert, their icecream is delish.... mhmm. i just actually had some. and the people oh i love them all with my heart even if i dont know them or cant understand them 80 percent of the time.
our first lesson was on friday with a new convert named angelica. she lived in this little old house with her daughter and her granchildren. it was exciting! cause i am able to explain through my slow spanish(castillano they call it down here) my part and my testimony!
then on saturday we taught this awesome family about the plan of salvation. we started with a song i know my redeemer lives and it was amazing how strong the spirit i could feel at the beginning of the song! they had really good questions about what happens to those who dont have a chance to hear about the restoration because the father explained they were so lucky to have us there in his house explaining to them about the plan our heavenly father has for us. i also bore my testimony about how i would see my great grandma again. the father knew a little bit of english so he asked me if i truly believed this... and i said no i dont believe i know! i cant tell you how blessed i feel walking these streets and thinking here are these people needing this message i have for them! and they dont even know. my second day here, really the first we went out to preach, hermana roy was surprised i did so many contacts, meaning talking to people in the streets or on the collectivo (the bus). but really i would just smile and ask how they were doing and talk about the rain if it was raining that day! then hermana would say the rest mostly... hhaha. so ya its been funny. yesterday we taught these three children who want to be baptized!!! so we set a date for them on the 12th of december!! hestons birthday!! they´re names are leandro, andrea, and nazarena. they are around jake maisie and hestons age. oh and they´re house was a poor poor sight. i´ve never seen anyone in anything place like this. but they are great! we are teaching them tonight more about the importance of reading and praying im excited to go and teach them again! its amazing the love you just grow instantly.
oh my flight was great too! i didnt get any sleep cause i was talking with the elders who are in the same mission as i am. they were awesome taking care of me every second. haha.
the ward we are working with is great! i might be playing the piano next sunday for them cause they really dont have anyone to play in sacrament. there is about 50 to 60 members! oh and on saturday night we went to this dance performance they had for the stake. these ballet dancers! haha.. we had some investigators that came along with us too! their names were angelica and migaela. they are about maisie´s age... very cute girls!!
there is another hermana that serves in my same zone who does hair as well! her name is hermana scott and she is from new hampshire! she was telling me it took her like a month to get the language and everything they were saying so just keep praying for me. its coming along good i just need to be patient. we ate at a members house yesterday and they told me i was sounding good for it being my first week here! all the people whether members or investigators are really understandable and very nice about it!
there hasnt been any different animals here... but we did see tons and tons of little frogs after it rained on saturday! they were probably the size of a dime. good stuff! well it sounds like all of you are doing great i love you all and just remember to count your many many MANY blessings we have. i dont know if i am helping all these people with my broken down spanish or if this is really for me cause it has been an awakening that there is so much more to this life then what i imagined. i was just thinking that this morning when i was reading my scriptures. how all those great prophetic missionary scriptures come alive when you are actually in the work!i love it! i hope you are all doing great! have a great week and do your best to choose the right!i love you all so very much!

Hello my favorite family en el mundo!!!!!!!!!
so as you know i only have like three days left here!!! agggggggghhh!!! how exciting! im excited to get down there in the good old argentina! so the next time i email you it will be when i'm there!!! fun!
there's really not much to say about this week... it went super fast! we have been all lucky to get pumped from the teachers cause there's three of them that served in our missions! rosario, buenos aires south, and buenos aires west ( which is the BEST!) yep... so im excited. the teacher that went to my mission was talking about how humid it gets down there especially after it rains. he said he would wear his coat in the morning and then within a few seconds it would clear up and be way hot. i have two other elders that are going to be assigned to me for our flight down there. i guess we're the only three going to BAW! hopefully all the stuff you sent me will fit in my bags... haha.
oh and today we ate in the temple cafeteria... and it was divine.. i guess i didnt realize how bad the food is here sometimes... but its all good!
oh and thank shaun zimmerman for me! he sent such a great letter to me this week! it got me all excited to meet up with hermana lopez... hopefully! if i do see her i will definitley give her a major hug for him! and for how fun she is! and thank you for all your letters my crazy fam! i love you all so very much.. know that you are always in my prayers. i always am comforted knowing the lord is watching over each and everyone of you. you have all helped me get to this point in my life and have always encouraged me to do better. thank you. im so happy we are sealed for eternity! im so excited to bring such a glad tiding to those argentine people! we had a meeting awhile ago explaining that the people in argentina are italians who speak spanish, who dress like their english and act like their french! haha so it will be interesting!
ill give you my testimony in spanish kinda.. haha:
yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo es verdadero. yo se que el libro de mormon es la palabra de dios. yo se las familias pueden estar juntos para eternidad porque jesucristo murio por nosotros. dios nos ama. somos sus hijos. El quiere nosotros regresar otro vez. jesucristo he preparado un camino para nostros. pongamos sus mano y camino con tuyo. en el numbre de jesucristo amen.
there ya go!! know the church is true and to always have a testimony on your lips! as elder holland would say! love you all and ill talk to you on monday!!! yay!!!!!!

Nov. 13th

Oh my favorite family ever!!!!
I hope you are all doing great! it sounds like it! this week has been kinda crazy... wedbnsday we got to host the new missionaries again! i love showing them around and just telling them how amazing this place really is! yesterday was an amazing busy day too! each day i get closer and closer to leaving this place!! crazy!!! anyways we called geraldine, the lady in the rc, and she committed to being baptized! it was so exciting!!! she has been taking the missionary discussions and we were telling her this was going to be one of the last times we call her. and then we've been teaching two other progressing investigators yesterday and the lessons went really well! it truly does pay off to pray hard and to work hard like grandpa put that night. i love being busy and knowing it is all for my father in heaven!! oh and guess what came today!!!?!?!?!?
FLIGHT PLANSS!! i leave on the 23rd of this month. my flight leaves at 12:10pm and then we'll be getting in dallas at 3:45pm then leaving dallas at 7:35pm and arriving in buenos aires at 10:05am.... and the elders were telling me that ill prob get to call you all during my time at the dallas airport!! that would be exciting!!!
oh i am scared out of my mind to think i'll be there in 10 days!!! im actuall doing really good with the language... im starting to notice i remember words a lot easier ( maybe it will help my memory storing abilities) but im sure it will totally different once we get off the airport! this last sunday my companions and i gave a lesson on the book of mormon and how important it is in missionary work! i gave my shpill on how you should use it when teaching! can i just say i love this book! and this is pathetic that its taken me almost 22 years to truly love this book and appreciate what it holds for us!
and we can use it so many ways in our lives today! just with likining it to ourselves or trying to feel what the prophet or the people at that time were going through. it reminds me of hollands talk on the sunday conference this fall! i loved. oh and dont you love the picture on the ensign this month of king benjamin! i love king benjamin... that is us every fall and spring pitching up our tents to hear the wonderful words the prophet, thomas s. monson, has for us! i love you all so very much!

Hola!!!
What a great place this is!! so not only did i get to see sarah i got to be her host and show her around!! how exciting is that! when i was waiting in line with all the host sisters i saw her pull up with her family! it took everything in me not to scream and run up to her! gotta remember quiet dignity and all that good stuff! so when she was done crying and hugging her family a million times she walked up to me and it was really amazing. and we also have all the food times, gym, and most of the meetings together so ill get to see her everyday! and our p days are the same!
oh and before that i got to host a good friend of mine from logan as well! her name is kelly goulding and she was in my ward all last school year! i didnt even know she was coming on a mission. she'll be going to the oakland temple mission! and next week i get to host again! and ill probably get my flight plans and everything else!
and thanks for those genealogy stories! i loved that one about merriner merrill cause just the other day i was talking with one of the elders about that story! so i was excited to tell him it was my grandfather! we truly have such rich blood in these veins! im proud to be a hobbs and a hancock. i love you all so dearly and thank you for writing me. i love getting letters and hearing how great you all are doing.
we have this progressing investigator in the tec... one of the teaching buildings. his name is bobby jameson and his story is that he has a wife and two girls and he's from new jersey. his father died about two years ago and has been struggling with it. he was raised catholic but wasnt too religious. we first taught him how families can be together forever through the atonement of jesus christ. when we were teaching him, i truly felt the spirit just guided us to teach to his needs.
@     chow

Hola mi familia!
Otro se mana que tuve sido bueno!!! le amo mucho! yo se que el evangelio es verdadero! trae felizidad en mi vida tambien ustedes! gracias por todo cartas! yo he recibi todo!!! anyways! there’s some spanish for ya’ll! this week has been great!! guess who came and spoke to us on tues??? not the prophet but it was an apostle! L. tom perry!! it was amazing! we sang lead kindly light and then his wife spoke and then he did! did you know this is his second wife? he talked about missionary work and how it is the life-blood of the church. and that missionary work started before the church was even established. on sunday we had an interesting talk too... some guy from the mtc presidency. he talked about how heavenly father has planned everything so perfectly with the position of the earth and how it was created. he also talked about the sun and that researchers are coming up with new information where right in the middle of the sun is the coldest place! and that it absorbs energy from somewhere else. you should look at that abraham symbol thing in the pearl of great price where one of the things talk about how the sun gets its energy from kolob! how amazing is that!
thats another testimony in itself how the book of mormon is so true. that is was a simple plow boy who translated such a deep doctrinal book. it had been buried for 1400 years before it was touched again by man. i didnt know it was that long. oh i wish you could all just be here listening and learning everything i have!! this place just opens up your mind to a another understanding of the gospel. here we’re learning how to simplify it for those who have never heard it, but for ourselves it gets deeper and deeper each day! i love it. I encourage you all to read the book of mormon every day. I truly regret those times i was lazy or too tired. there is so much to learn! and that’s why we are here. to obtain everything! we are so blessed to be born when it is at it’s fullest! it truly is! we don’t have to worry about a temple being built or the doctrine in covenants being printed off.. it is so conveniant that its all placed in front of us. the temple is just 20 minutes away from our house. take advantage of it! whether it is endowments or baptisms. go as a family!! and it will just bless your lives more fully! stop making excuses. i know i did all the time. take advantage of it where others have died and traveled to complete these prophesys! oh and you all should watch this video clip on lds.org its called lifting burdens. its on the main page! good clip definitely!
im so excited for sarah to get here! im going to be a host that day... so i’ll be doing what those elders did for me the first day i got here! maybe by some miracle i’ll be her host!!!
oh ya and we’ve been teaching in spanish this whole week! its so crazy how much we’ve learned. but there is still much to learn. i guess in argentina they say sho instead of yo.. and like elllo is pronounced esho. maisie can explain that one to you!
.... weird that its halloween tomorrow. im waiting to open the salsa tomorrow and share it with everyone! we’ve been getting all this candy in our district so we’re going to have our own little halloween party! oh i’ve been meaning to tell you that my district leader looks like austin powers.. he has the teeth and the glasses!! haha if only he had the accent.
always remember who you are and where you come from! i love you all and have a happy halloween!! write me all about it!!!

Oct.24, 2009

My good ol fam
So it's been a quick fast primero month!!! crazy... time truly does fly by at this place. the days are very very long but the weeks go by quickly! you better not show up here mom or they will call security on you... haha and that would be ugly. plus all my district thinks your crazy enough.. haha jk. so every sunday the whole zone has to prepare a talk in spanish and you don't know who will talk til they call you in sacrament to come up. usually they call on the district thats closest to leaving the mtc. but for some reason the branch president called up hermana hobbs. so i gave my talk half in spanish half in english cause i was nervous by the end of the talk and plus i had a quote that i was NOT about to translate in spanish.. haha it was one they gave us on the first day here by henry b. eyring called the disciple of christ. ya'll should look it up! its a very powerful quote! and all of our talks were based around diligence and hard work! so i should be safe the rest of my time here!
and thank you all for the letters. now i feel complete that every single one of you has written me. keep them coming cause its like christmas! we all stand out by the mail room waiting for our district leader to get the mail for us.. it's probably a funny sight! and yes i am feeling much much better.. my throat is still being weird but its bearable. im so excited for sundays! they really are the best days on top of p days! every sunday we practice a song we're going to sing at the devotional on tuesdays with the mtc choir... we sang be still my soul two weeks ago and then jesus once of humble birth. We're thinking we're singing we thank thee oh god for a prophet this tuesday cause our teacher heard from some others that he's coming to speak to us!!!! that would be amazing... we already have amazing speakers but the prophet.. oh i sure hope so. tomorrow we're teaching the first lession in spanish!!! scary i know... but the language is alright! im actually grateful for senior graves over at fremont cause that really has helped me a bit!its not too bad.. im able to say my prayers in spanish. and wednesdays and thursdays as a district we speak strictly spanish! well i love you all and hope you are doing great! it sounds like you are. im so grateful for my wonderful family that gives me strength each day! i encourage you to read as a family more in the book of mormon. its amazing how it comes alive! adios!!!!!

MTC address 2005 N. 900 E. #263 Provo, UT 84604

Saren loves mail!

In the MTC

So it has been another speedy great week at the mtc! And yes mom i did get your packages! everyone loved the oreos and i havent opened up the salsa yet... im savering it!!! and i was able to last week watch the 2002 olympics of sara hughes ice skating for relief society and this johnson lady talked. she was very successful in life and was showing how we can be successful missionaries if we have the same positive bright attitude like sara hughes! haha. and yes i have been sick this past week coughing up my lungs. but its not the swine so its all good! oh and my companions are going to buenos aires south and rosario.
my whole district is going to argentina but most to rosario and a couple to buenos aires south. so i'll see none of them.
hermana hansen is from lehi and hermana smith is from riverton! she actually went up to logan for school before our mission so we always talk about how we will do stuff once we're back!! originally i was supposed to have my own companion but she ended up being fluent in spanish. her mom was from spain and they would go there every year for the summer.so they moved her up in the intermediate class and she left this week for our mission she was our roommate too so i was able to see her all the time!( we'll probably be companions at one point in our mission) I love it here! each day gets better and helps me focus on my purpose! this week we went to the trc on monday and taught this guy named orinez. He could hardly speak spanish and we could hardly speak english, so we gave our lession on the plan of salvation in our native language. He told us at the end that even though he couldnt understand most of it he could feel the spirit very strongly!
Tonight my companion and i are singing joseph smith's first prayer in spanish for our zone meeting! we're pretty excited We just got a new district this week as well! and three new hermana's! we played volleyball this week too and we rocked with the elders. we have gym 5 days a week! i hope you all are doing great! and keep writing me! love love you all!!!