Week 36: 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 humpdayyyyyyy!

Hi!!
Im so happy! Really, if you wanna be truly happy, go on a mission and forget about yourself. Its such a good feeling. Ill for sure miss it. Also on thursday im gonna hit 9 months!!! Already over halfway done I think, but just kinda exciting. Kinda weird because I feel like i’m gonna finish so fast!

So this week was amazing! Really stressful, but in the end, Jiuseppe and Mariane were baptized so all is well :))))

The baptism was a little sad bc I think it was the first time for them going under water (a little odd, I know) and so they both started crying and hyperventilating after they were baptized and I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad for them hahah. But afterwards there was cake and they were happy. I gave them the cute litttle CTR rubber rings that Suzie Terry gave me, they loved them!!

Severina, our recent convert, and cutest lady ever, taught us how to make tapioca this week with chicken and meat and cheese and shes just the cutest thing. I love her

Sister Mello and I tried to make cookies this week for the bday of someone in our district and it was the biggest fail ever. Our oven doesnt have the racks, so we just put the pan basically right on the fire, and we were talking, listening to music la-di-daaa and I smelled something burning, yep the cookies were black. THEN I had an idea to take the rack things from the stovetop and put them in the oven, so we tried that, then they burnt again and by this time it was super late and gosh it was so frustrating, but also so funny. Sis Mello and I just literally laugh about everything, its better than crying. Sometimes we just have laugh attacks, including in the lessons soetimes when someone says something ridiculous. We are like best friends, I love her SO much. Shes like the type of person I’d hangout with in realy life ya know, so im so stoked and i know we’ll be friends forever <3333

Theres an elder in my district from guatamala and he made guacamole this week for our district and it was so good!

Our elect, V has quit coffee completely!! So proud of him. He is now just waiting to have more conviction that the church is true. But i have faith thta he’ll be baptized.

Other elect, Uirajá is sooooooooo elect. He was part of the assembleia for 15 yrs and has visited the church 3 times now, and he told us the other day when we were at his house that we can tell the bishop that he wants to be baptized. I admire him so much, bc everyone from that other church is being so mean to him for visiting the church of Jesus Christ and calling him antichrist and saying that he worships Joseph Smith and a bunch of ridiculous stuff like that!!! but he is staying so strong!! he has 6 kids and so we want to teach them too, but they dont seem too interested! and his wife doesnt like us very much so thats sad but all in all he is great!!

i love this mission!! Brazil is so cool and so special. The people here are so amazing!! the members have been helping us a lot. They give us rides to places and they always check to see if we need anything. one of them has a son on a mssion and she said “My son told me to take really good care of the sisters” And I was thinking how mom, you always take such good care of the missionaries and now youre being blessed because of this because the people here take such good care of me!!

I miss you guys a lot! Exciting about the Dodgers, Dad. keep me updated!! Love you guys!!
Sher

Week 35: Olá! Tudo bem?

Olá! Tudo bem?

Miss you guys so much, but the time is flying by! Well be together before we know it!

This week I found a scripture I love so much, Alma 29:1-2.
1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump ofGod, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto me

Its so true! I wish I could just tell every single person about the gospel. I get legit sad for people when they reject us because they dont even know what theyre rejecting. The gospel has become so precious to me! I had a realization a few weeks ago, I love when I can see changes in myself. When I first arrived in the mission, I saw the horrible situations of everyone and I sometimes thought, gosh i want to give them money!! They don’t have food, their daughter has lice, they have one bed for 7 people, etc. But now I Just wanna give everyone the gospel, because now I realize that its the thing most precious and most valuable. I know that the best way I can help these people is teaching them about the gospel. What a privilege it is to be a missionary! I am so happy, and I know Ill miss these feelings a lot when I get back.

So our investigator V, is progressing so much!!! Im so stoked. So on Sunday, he came to church and it was testimony meeting and he WENT UP AND BORE HIS TESTIMONY!!! I was freakng out, first of all, hoping that he wouldn’t say something against our doctrine lol but also like so happy. He just got up and explained the story about me and sister saad finding him that one day and how he thinks hes on the right path and how we are angels of light in his life ahaha I was so happy! He loved the church and everyone was super nice and welcoing to him which helps so much!! He said hell come on Sunday, and his baptism is marked for the 29th. Pray for him!!! Sis Mello and I have been fasting and praying for him. Hes quitting coffee right now, so we call everyday to follow up on that. Hes progressing so much, 2 days ago he drank 2 cups, yesterday one cup, and today 1/2 cup! Hes also reading theBOM everyday and really studying it. Im so happy. He is a person super dedicated and I see him in the church as the most dedicated member!!

J and M (2 kids) have baptism marked for this Saturday but Well see!! The parents arent helping too much, kinda flaky, but I hope everything will work out! I hope ill have good news to share next week haha.

We had the training for new missinoaries in Recife on Tuesday and it wa super cool! I love President Bigelow. He is so awesome and he speaks with so much power! He is the best mission president ever!! Im so thankful!

I just wanna give a shoutout to everyone who helped me get here on the mission.Brandon and my parents, and everyone else, thank you so much for pushing me in the right direction, but at the same time not forcing me. Im so happy that Im here and that I made this decision for myself. Id make it again and again! The lessons Im learning are priceless. I love feeling the spirit so strongly everyday. Being a missionary is so special. I love this mission! I love Pernambuco! Its the best state with the best people and these Nordestinos will always have a special place in my heart. The people are so nice to us, so loving, so giving. It is so humbling to see and they have changed my way of thinking in so many things! I want to be more like them. I love representing the Savior, because its helping me work harder to be more like him. I want to represent him in the best way possible.

I love you guys Thanks for the support. You are all so special to me. I have the best family in the whole entire world!

Com muito amor, Sister Hoffman

Week 34: still loving Olinda and loving my companion!

Hi guys! How are you doing? I miss you all!!

BDAY SHOUTOUT TO KENNEDY!!!! tomorrow. I LOVE YOU!! I remember the day you were born and you were so precious and then you were the cutest little blonde , curly haired baby and now you have grown into an amazing woman! I am so proud of who you are. You are so special to me! I hope you have a great birthday!! Next year I will be there to celebrate your 18th woohoo!

What’re Carson & Ken gonna be for Halloween? I dont think they realy do halloween here.

The closest I’ll get to Halloween is the fact that I wake up everyday with blood on my pillow because of the bugs. Its true what uncle Blake said!!! I ALWAYS wake up with blood on my pillow. A couple weeks ago it was a lot of blood and 3 days in a row. I thought my head was bleeding and got super scared, but sis saad checked and there was no blood on me, so its just my head rolling over bugs haha. So nasty!!! I always wash my sheets but then it just happens again. Looks so nasty. Happy Halloween to me;)

I love the Book of Mormon!! Thats something Im super happy about because I never really took advantage of it a lot in my life, and im so happy that HF is blessing me to really study it and love it. I was studying 1 Nephi 11 this week bc Elder Holland said its the most important chapter in the BOM. Everyone thinks the tree represents the love of God like Nephi says, but then if you go to John 3:16 it says God so loved the world that he gave his son…so the love of god = Jesus Christ and the fruit of the tree is the Atonement, that is the most delicious of all other fruits and most precious. Anyway, Ive been expounding my studies with other missinaries and we all learn together and its super cool! Super stoked on this book!!

Our elect, V, almost came to church…..but he called us at 6:30 am and said he was sick with a stomach virus or something so he didnt come:( Soooooo his baptism fell through and now has to be remarked for 2 weeks later 😦

We were supposed to have 2 baptisms this weekend but they fell through. Even though I’m used to this by now, its still super sad! The mom of the kids that were supposed to be baptized just said “they wont be baptized anymore, you can cancel everything” and she said shell explain later what happened, ugh so sad.

We did a fast with Gleice this week that her husband will let her get baptized. It was super cool. We havent talked to her since the fast so well see what happens! I have faith.

Were teaching a family that was a reference of a member, Israel, who literallly is so great!! The members help a lot, principally 2 irmaos who were baptized 3-4 years ago. They talk with everyone and get the address for us to visit. Israel is a fisherman that everyone knows in this area and he leaves with us and visits lots of people with us and helps us so much!!! Hes so cool. But anyway this family, theyre super cool and liking our visits a lot. The family consists of parents and 2 sons who are older. They are so respectful and everytime we come they pay attention perfectly. Now they just need to go to church!

My companion is so cute. Im loving every minute with her! Surprisingly, Im not even feeling overwhelmed or stressed about training. She is super great. We worked super hard this week, had almost 30 lessons which is a lot! The district leader said he wants us to talk to the district about dilligence bc we have the most lessons hahah…not to brag, but just to show that my comp is working super hard and rarely complains about blisters, the heat, etc.

IT IS SO hOT. I cant believe it. Its super miserable sometimes during the day but around 4 or 5 o clock the suns goes away and its great haha. But yeah summer has begun and im missing “winter”.

I love you guys a lot! This week on thurs we have training of new missionaries in Recife, so ill send pics of that and today were going to go to that tourist area again so we’ll take lots of pics!

Até Segunda! Amo vocês MUITO. Tchau!!!

Week 33: sis Mello and I = Bffs

HI!!!! So i am so happy because Tuesday, I got my new comp and shes the cutest thing EVER. I got the Brasilian! I had a feeling Id get put with her. So her name is Sister Mello and shes super mellow hahah shes 19 and shes from the interior of Sao Paulo, but she lived a year in Utahh with her aunt and uncle so she totally speaks english!!! We switch off speaking english and Portuguese haha. Shes literally the brasilian version of me, but with brown hair and shorter haha. but lots of people say we look alike! I think its cuz she has bluish eyes also! But i seriously love her so much. I feel like a big sister to her and im so happy to be able to help her. HF blessed me a lot this week to really feel christlike love for her. Shes been a little homesick which is understandbale and i just hug her and tell her everythings gonna be okay and then we go to work! She is so cute. I feel like Ive known her for a long time! Its the craziest thing.

I read something in a talk that I shared with her that says “The day missionaries start to care more about others than themselves, they become happy. Our lives will always be happier if we care for and love others” and its so true!!! I told her that when i think about myself and my family, sometimes I get super sad too! Its inevitable, but then I think about my investigators and how I can help them, I forget about myself, and I feel joy.

We watched conference live! The same time as you guys. But in Portuguese. It was super good!! I liked it a lot. I loved David Bednars talk. Do we really know Christ or do we just know a few facts about him and what he did? I am reflecting on this a lot. I also loved Rasbands talk and Elder Nattress’ talk also. Super good!

SHOUTOUT to jordan patchell who i saw singing in the choir at conerence and i almost yelled out loud OMG I KNOW HER!!!! and everyone was like seriously? Hhaha so cooL!!!

Whats Carson gonna do for his bday friday? he needs a haircut haha. HAPPY BDAY CARSIES I love you!!!!!! You are so cute, even if youre 13 now and youll hate that I typed this. You are the cutest thing in the whole world!!! I miss you!!!!

So the teaching pool is great, we have 2 baptisms marked for Saturday, but well see. One investigator, S has some difficulties with chastity, but were praying for him. The other is J, hes the child of 2 less actives that are returning to the church. Weve been teaching him and his little sis, M for a while, but M is the respobsiblilty of the ward because she is 8 but J is 10 so hes ours! He doesnt talk tho. Like SO shy. So im a little worried about his bapt. interview haha well see.

Gleice is so awesome and so sweet. I love her!!! She bought me earrings this week. So cute. The people here live in the most hunble conditions but they just want to give you everything!! She is so strong and wants to be baptized but her husband still wont let her. Were doing a fast this week with her so that he can open up his heart and let her get baptized.

other investigator, V, is progressing. Were helping her quit smoking. She has 5 kids and her husbands going to leave her. Its a horrible situation. Her 11 yr old son is smoking weed, which left me almost sick. We taught the word of wisodm to their family and she said “He has a problem with this.” And then he got all embarrassed and I thought “Okay, maybe its coffee or tea or something, bc hes 11” and i was like “is it coffeee? “no” “tea?” “no” and then i thought noooooo nooooooo i will cry, “alcohol?” “no” “cigarettes?” “no” NOOOO “illegal drugs?” “yes” 😦 So sad. We told him he needs to stop and he said he would but the next day he was doing it again and V wsa super sad.

I got a little sad this week when I realize how accustomed I am now to these situations. My comp was a little sad seeing things like that this week, and i just told her bascially that its normal. But then i was like gosh this is not normal! Its sad that I think this is normal. We are so blessed to have the lives we have! You guys have no idea!

Im so thankful to be here on the mission. Everyday isnt perfect, but we can still have joy even during our hardships. Its really a choice. Thats something Ive learned on my mission. The sad things wont go away, the hard rules to follow wont change (waking up at 6:30 lol) so we just have to choose that well continue doing whats right and that we’ll do it happily. Obedience is everything! And it will be after this life too, so its good that we learn to obey while were here on earth!

I love you guys!!! Special shoutout to all my grandparents. You guys are so cute! Hang in there. I love you and pray for you everyday!!!

XO

Sister Hoffman