If it is True...It Needs to be Said

Dearest Family!

Hello! This week was great! I always have so much to say, and I don’t know where to start. I really enjoyed hearing about the missionary work in the Seminary class! That is the sweetest thing! Sounds like the Seminary class is incredibly united, and that you guys are having a blast! That is so awesome! 

Some great things are happening here as well. We are visiting this investigator named Wedja. We found her sitting outside her house talking with her neighbors, so we showed up and talked with all of them, but Wedja was the most interested. She would like us to visit every day if we could, which we have been. We are working a lot with her. I asked her why she wanted us to keep coming back? She said she just feels good when we are there. We testified of the Holy Ghost, that the good feelings she feels is the Holy Ghost. She told us she prays, but doesn’t get an answer, so we told her that a lot of times the answer comes, but we just don’t notice. That’s when we started asking about why she keeps inviting us back. So, we basically helped her realize that she already has been feeling the Spirit---that she will feel it when we visit, when she reads the Book of Mormon, and when she goes to Church, that all of these things are confirmations, and she will feel the Spirit during these times. So, she went to Church with us yesterday as well, Stake Conference, and it was an hour away on the bus. And then we visited with her yesterday, and she said she definitely believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the only true Church. She said she was thinking about it and praying, and she realized that none of the other churches here talk about how they started, except ours. And she realized that if he weren’t a prophet, we wouldn’t have the Book of Mormon. So, she is going to be baptized! I am super excited for this. So I realized, all we need to do is have the Spirit, and the person will feel it and understand, then we help them realize they are feeling it, and help them feel it more!

Also this week, I learned something sweet. I have been a lot bolder in saying that our Church is the only true Church on the face of the earth. I decided---if it is true, it needs to be said. I really like when Elder Holland gave his name to the world as a witness, and he said it as clearly as possible that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. I decided my role as a missionary is to say what is true to the point where people can’t misunderstand. I say I know it is the only true Church, but I don’t say this just because I am a member of it, but because it is the truth. When people say things that aren’t true, I stop them and say, actually no. I do it in a nice way though, but the people actually listen way better when we do this. I realized it is the only way to teach really. You can’t agree with what they’re saying, and then say what you want to say, which contradicts what they said, without them noticing. They will notice. I am realizing more and more the power of the restoration and its purpose, and staying stronger with commitments. I have also been bolder with commitments. Sometimes people give a bunch of excuses to not do something, and in the past I kind of weakened, and had sympathy, and agreed---yeah, it would be too hard for you to go to Church or to keep the commandment. But this week was different---you can’t leave people feeling comfortable in breaking the commandments. So in summary, I was used to always leaving people feeling comfortable and agreeing, but I realized how important it is to leave people with an understanding of the truth.

I love you guys and I am super excited to talk to you on Christmas. It is supposed to get hotter here, I can’t imagine how, but I will embrace it. Have a great week! Happy Christmas! Feliz Natal!

Com amor,
Élder Hoyt

What are the Chances?

Dearest Family,

Hi! I am still doing well. I loved what you said in your email, mom, about really trying to help your Seminary kids build their testimonies, rather than cover the material. I know that is when the Spirit works too. I really miss the Seminary class, and that is so cool how you compared their earthly lives to going off to college. That is really what is most important. The Assistants said, even if you just teach one principle the whole time, it is better that they understand the one principle and feel the Spirit, rather than understand nothing. So, that’s what I am working on too. It’s something that is kind of challenging. It’s funny too because sometimes the gospel has words that people have never heard, for example, atonement. So, we have to teach the words, because it isn’t a common word. So we ask, do you know what that means?

Also, this week we had some miracles. We were eating lunch in this restaurant, and the lady working there said she always used to visit our Church. As we got talking a bit more, she said she had read the Book of Mormon a lot too, but had never talked with missionaries. So, what are the chances? We will meet with her this week. Also, this week we were finding less-actives on this list, but all the roads and numbers on the houses were wrong. A house can have the number 2, and the house right next to it can be 45, and the next house would be 103. It gets kind of challenging. So, we stopped in front of this house on the sidewalk, just to pause and look at the list, and I heard the people in the house stop talking, and I felt like they noticed us. So, I asked them the name of the road, and the guy helped us out a little bit, but then, this lady came outside and greeted us saying, "oi Elder"---usually no one says Elder. And then she said she is a member from Recife visiting her cousins. Then we talked a little, and it turns out, she was leaving right that minute, so we were there at the right place at the right time, and the family invited us in after she left, and we got to know them a bit more. They are married, which was sweet, and they don’t have a definite church. We taught them the restoration, but we will return this week and talk more.

Anyways, we just have these small experiences, but then afterwards we just think of all the small things that Heavenly Father did to make that little meeting work out. Maybe the family wouldn’t have received us if that member from Recife weren’t there? So that was a cool experience.

I am grateful to be here serving a mission. I know this gospel is true, and I am in the perfect place. I love my family. I have never loved you guys so much in my life, as much as I love you right now. I know that this is the true restored gospel, the only true and living Church. I know Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. I know that only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the power of the priesthood, the power of God, and because of that, we can be sealed together forever. There is no other Church, no other priesthood; it is here, now, never to be taken again. I love our family. Thank you guys for writing me. I miss you guys. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Nathan Hoyt

Very Sweet Experience

Hello!

Transfers were this week, but I stayed in Goiana! Woohoo! This week was especially exciting, we had a division with the Assistants..."we better get this place cleaned up!" Hahaha! (Quote from The Best Two Years) But really they came and did a trio division, so one stayed in Goiana 2 and the other stayed with Elder Jara and me. They helped us out with our teaching, so it was really cool. They taught us how to teach people to their understanding, and that you don’t have to teach a whole lesson. If a person is having a hard time understanding something, don’t move on. It was something I really needed, because sometimes it is hard to know what a person understands because usually they don’t understand very well. I mean they have an American and a Chilean teaching them something they have never heard of before, with a whole new vocabulary...no one knows gospel words. So, we are getting a better feel for things, and it is feeling good.

Just yesterday we had a sweet experience, very sweet experience. I will tell you about this woman named Marilede. It was one of those times that I know for a fact that her faith actually grew, and that she felt the Spirit. She was feeling a little iffy about baptism, and going to Church and everything, but she really likes us, and believes all we say, she feels the Spirit with us. She said we are messengers from God. But yesterday she went to Church and loved it! It was testimony meeting, as you know, and everyone said they know the Church is true, and shared great testimonies. When we visited Marilede yesterday, she said she loved Church, and now she knows it is true. She said she knows because the people express from their hearts, and that is what is most important. Also, her husband and her mom both died this past year, so it has been really hard for her. We taught her about Heavenly Father’s Plan a while ago, but yesterday she told us this experience she had. It reminded me of a passage in Preach My Gospel about listening, and how important it is to listen. It is very hot in her house, and she talks really quiet and slow and a lot, but we endured in listening, and it was very important because she talked to us about the time we told her how people who die don’t forget their life on earth. She said she was about to sleep, and she was just thinking about that. She said it gave her so much comfort. That she felt so peaceful in this thought, and knew that it was true. Then she told us how her faith is growing, that we planted a seed, and she felt it has grown so much. It is just really awesome teaching her. She is like perfect. She says she wants to be baptized, but wants to do it slowly, because she likes doing things slowly, and thinking through them. I can understand that, but it will be awesome.

Also this week, I have been reading "The Fourth Missionary," a talk given by a mission president. I will send it to you. It talks about the difference between giving all your will, or giving it grudgingly. It is really cool. He says you cannot receive the blessings and be changed, if you want to be doing something else the whole day. Maybe it is hard to do these things, but all we need to do is make a decision to give all we have, because it is a lot easier than battling in our minds against the will of the Lord, and our own will all the time. It is something that I have been thinking about. You can read it though, and let me know what you think.

But I am still doing well, and Elder Jara really liked the baptism. He is speaking really well. He said a prayer in Spanish the other day, and I understood every word just about. So I got really excited that I can understand Spanish, now that I know Portuguese. It is pretty funny because it sounds just like Portuguese, but a really weird accent. I hope all you guys are doing well. I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Com amor,

Eder Hoyt

The stress was thick, but the Spirit was thicker!

Hello again my family!

So this week we had the baptism of Vinicius. He is 11, and we have been working with him a couple weeks now. He has already been going to Church for a while. His aunt is a member, and it was sweet because his whole family came to the baptism. It was crazy though what happened. The other missionaries in the other Branch scheduled a baptism also, and it was going to be the same meeting as our baptism. So, Saturday night they cleaned the font, and I thought they would fill it as well, but they didn’t. So halfway through Sacrament meeting, Elder Cuevas called me and said the font is empty. The baptism was planned for after Sacrament meeting. So all of a sudden things got really stressful hahahaha! So the font was filling pretty well, and we thought it would be filled in time, but then the water ran out because we were getting buckets and using the sinks to fill the font, so neither the sinks nor the font had water. At this point I just wanted to die! So the story does end happily. We postponed the baptism until 3 o’clock, and the Church regained water in time, and everything went fine. There were just not as many people at the baptism as would have been. Elder Jara baptized Vinicius, the first person he baptized on the mission. He said he felt a huge peace when he walked into the font, despite all of the stress. So, the stress was thick, but the Spirit was thicker. I am just glad everything turned out all right.

Also, the Zone Leaders did a division with us this week. I went to their area and stayed with Elder Perreira for two days, and the other Zone Leader did a division with Goiana 1 the first day, and Goiana 2 the second day. The area where the Zone Leaders work is called Paratibe. I met this perfect couple that will be baptized next week. The wife had already been going to Church when she was young, but her parents didn’t let her get baptized. So, when we invited them to be baptized she said, I really really want to. She already had a testimony of the Church and wants an eternal family. So it was a sweet experience. It was the first time at Church for her husband, but he seemed really on top of things, he accepted to be baptized as well. So, it was just really cool that the wife had already been prepared.

I am still doing well here! Still loving Goiana! My “Chilean son” (that’s what missionaries call those they train---“my son”) is doing well also. I am hoping to improve a lot of things this week, and I will let you guys know how it goes. I love you all so much. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Hoyt

I Love Goiana

Hello family!

I am doing so well here in Goiana. Our Ward Mission Leader went with us to Condado again to introduce us to his family. Last week we visited the sister of a member who lives there already. The member and our Ward Mission Leader introduced us, and she just loved us, but she travels a bunch and lives in Condado, so it’s hard to visit. Even though it will be hard to visit her again, I guess our visit had a bigger impact than we thought because she spoke with the wife of the member, Silvana, and told her how much she loved our visit. As a result of this, we now have an appointment with Silvana. She is the spouse of the member. We were able to mark a visit with her for this next week. She already has a lot of questions about the Church, and it’s going to be really good.

Also, yesterday while we were in Condado, we missed the bus, but the members were with us, and called another member for a ride...only a couple members have cars. Although missing the bus seemed like a problem, it turned out to be sweet. There was this guy next to us who missed the bus too, and the member offered him to ride with us. On the way, the member talked to him about who we are and everything. The guy was getting excited and started asking for us to visit him in Condado as well. He has a band and works a music shop in Goiana. The Lord really is directing us, and all these things have purpose.

The training is going well with Elder Jara. He is a great missionary, speaking very good Portuguese. Some of the hardest times are when people say they understand him better than they understand me hahahaha. So he is speaking very well, he learned really fast because Spanish is similar to Portuguese.

But I really love Goiana. I love all the members here. I think I could stay here for the rest of my mission! The members are great. They are helping us a ton. I am still super excited to be a missionary. I am really trying my best to fulfill the purposes of the Lord. I am grateful for you guys and your support. I love the emails. I love you all, and hope you have a grand week. I love Goiana...we will visit here in the future.

Love,

Elder Hoyt

WOOHOO!

Hello!

The time here is just flying. I feel like I was just here writing last week! Very weird! This week was splendid. We found a bunch of new investigators, and our Ward Mission Leader went with us to Condado on Saturday to meet all of his family, students of his English class, and a referral of another member. So it was sweet! We are really trying to get down there and get things going. I am super excited! 

This last week we had our first English class that I taught. I just kind of did the first one free style because I don’t have a book or anything. We only had one student though, and he is now a new investigator. He is 21 and his name is Diego. He knows a lot of the members already, and went to Church this last Sunday, and everyone welcomed him. He was asking me the name of the Prophet, and it all went great. We are going to teach him later this week, so we are excited. Church is really important for these people to see what it’s like. 

We have a young couple we are teaching, and they are part of another religion, separate religions actually, one is Catholic and the other is Evangelical. The first visit after we taught, they were trying to prove the Restoration wrong, not too aggressive, but just skeptical, but it happens sometimes. So I was thinking of how we can teach to the point where they can't help but pray and ask, and have a strong desire to know it’s true, and I thought---we just need to present it how it is. How glorious it would be if God called another prophet and restored all the truths that were lost. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this did happen? Well it did. So last visit we felt inspired to talk about eternal families. We said how we don't want more members in our Church so we can be the biggest church, and have the glory of men, but we are really here to bring messages of joy, that your family can be eternal, that through the restored priesthood that can be possible. They didn’t seem to have any objections, and I felt like that was what was right, what we did there.

Also Mom, I loved that you told your Seminary class about how you and Dad raised our family. It is exactly how Heavenly Father wants it. I want to raise my family how you raised ours. I really have such strong feelings for every single member of our family. I bear my testimony about our family all the time, and how it is through the Gospel and our Heavenly Father’s plan we can have the greatest joy in this life. Edna visited a family in our ward this week to help them move, they invited her to help. They just moved a couple streets over, but Edna said how she wants her family to be like that, all praying together and loving and everything. When she said that, I felt like I just wanted to stand up and yell---Let’s do it! We are here! We are showing you how!---I just got so excited, but it is hard because she doesn’t have a lot of support from her husband. They aren’t married yet, and she still needs to quit smoking. But we are going to go there and set goals with them, and talk about the family, and get them to do family prayer every night. It will be great. 

We also had a reactivation this week of a young woman. So, the Young Women's is still growing! I love Goiana. I could stay here my whole mission I think. I love the Branch and all the members. Everyone is so nice. I am best friends with all the members now. 

Thank you all for the emails. I love you all so much. I haven’t forgotten anyone. You guys are always in my prayers. And Edna prays for you guys too :) She says please bless the family of Elder Hoyt. I love you all!!!! Have a beautiful week, filled with uplifting experiences, and a positive attitude, and everything will go right.

Com Amor,
Elder Hoyt

Life is Great!

Hello my family!

So, this past week was the first week of being a trainer, and it was pretty crazy. I was a little stressed, but now everything is sweet. My companion is already speaking great Portuguese, because Spanish is really close to Portuguese. I really know that I am receiving divine help and strength from the Lord.

This week we had the baptism of Rayssa. She is ten, and has been going to Church for a while now. Her brother is a member also, and he is 17. She will be confirmed next week. Also, we are having much success with the investigators. We have this investigator we've taught twice named Marilede. I love her because she really has faith in God, and she is just so humble, and really has a lot of respect for us. She said she knows we are angels sent from God, and that we really are His servants. It just makes me happy when people have been prepared to receive us. She has had experiences in the past with prayer to the point where she has so much faith in the power of prayer, and she is going to pray about the Book of Mormon. We invited her to be baptized, and she is a little hesitant because she doesn’t like doing it alone, and she wants her cousin to become a member too, whom we have been talking to as well! It’s crazy because the street where she lives has all her family, her brother lives next door, cousin above, and many more. They will all be baptized in the future! I think all we have to do is bring a member with us to help teach, and everything will go right. She will be baptized eventually.

Also, the members are working with us a lot. Our Ward Mission meeting is on Sunday, and all we do is go out with the members and visit all the less-actives. There are a lot of them. I am just super excited because the less-actives usually just need an invite. They always know it’s true, they just need a little help, and they always have family members to bring who are non-members as well. Also, we are starting an English class this Saturday in the Chapel. We found a non-member, friend of a member, who really wants to learn English. So that will bring in more people! Also, we began visiting another city that’s part of our area, called Condado. Everyone says there are a lot of people over there that the other missionaries were working with, and if we find at least five people to be baptized, there will be a new Branch over there. 

So, this last week I really learned the importance of faith and trust in the Lord. The Lord has given me more faith through prayer. I have faith that the Lord can help us start a branch in Condado. It sounds crazy, but you need to have the vision that anything is possible. Non-believing just brings discouragement and kills the desire to try, but I am just so excited to do everything possible to move the work forward. I love this Gospel! It is the truth! There is nothing more pure or that can bring so much happiness and peace. I love you all. I have been missing you all. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Hoyt