I Finally Met A Jonas!

Cara Família!

So my week was sweet this time. Crazy story...starts off with this guy, his name is Jonas! I finally met a Jonas! So, we wanted to teach him after meeting him, while he was street vending fruit. He is actually friends with a couple members who sell nearby him. So, we were going to go teach him at his house, but his house was kind of far and hard to find, his phone was out of minutes, so he couldn't give us directions, and we aren't allowed to ride on the back of his motorcycle (which he wanted us to do). So, he led us to this bus type thing, more like an oversized van, with a ton of people and really crammed. We rode that while he rode his motorcycle, and then he met us near the bus stop, and took us to his house...very humble house made from brick, and the back half he made himself with mud and wood. We taught him a little, and then he wanted us to meet his family who lived next door with the same type of situation. So, it was hilarious because we were teaching his brother, and then all the rest of the family started coming in too, like his other sister, his grandparents and their neighbors, so we kept on re-introducing ourselves haha. It was awesome though.

Then we had a sweet experience yesterday. I lost the key ring that had keys to the house, the Church and everything...I usually don't lose anything, but it was raining, and I was in a hurry to change clothes for the baptism and everything, so they must have fallen from my pocket. I don't even know where I lost them, but I was pretty sure I lost them in the Church. So, we were searching and then I said a prayer for us, and minutes later we saw them sitting in the Bishop's office...he had found them earlier. I know it was an answer to prayer because I was sincerely humbled and sincerely needed help. I felt so bad for losing the keys, but it was a tender mercy.

I have definetely experienced the love of Heavenly Father. These past couples nights I have been listening to Conference Talks from the General Authorities. Hearing their powerful testimonies keeps me going and gives me strength. They truly are Apostles of Jesus Christ. I love them. They are like my angels that help me. President Holmes (Mission President in Michigan) gave me the Conference Talks on a CD, so that's what I use.

Yesterday at Church, we were bringing our family to Church and it was raining so hard. We borrowed two other umbrellas from members, and went back to get them. We brought two of them, and went back for the other two. The funny thing was the umbrellas were rainbow and pink polkadots, but we got them there semi-dry. My shoes were also soaked as of yesterday. All the people we have baptized are from this same family. This week we also baptized the sister. So, first was Eliton, then Edja, then yesterday was Edla.

The roads here are cobblestone mostly, main roads are asphalt. A lot of roads are just dirt, or the cobblestone is so dirty it is basically dirt. Most people sell things it seems, a couple people teach English in schools, mostly everyone works in little shops selling glasses and watches and things like that. 

My stomach has been fine now. When we are fed, it is always super nice and well prepared...some of the best lunches ever. The members always make us eat a lot. I am loving the food though, and the juice is my favorite.

The language is still improving I think! Pernambuco accent is really hard to understand. Thank you for writing me and praying for me, I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Com amor,

Elder Hoyt

View from my apartment

Getting Settled In

Oi Minha Família,

Things are going well! I am getting settled in. Wow, Mom you understand me so well, even though you are so far away! That is exactly what is going on! My companion doesn’t realize that I don’t understand anything, but I have made drastic improvement on understanding people from last week. I think last week I understood about 10%, and now I understand like 60%-70%, depending on whose speaking. So, I am getting there.  

So, we baptized another girl...the kid’s sister from last week. She chose me to baptize her. We teach their whole family of like eight people. The names are all close, and they are hard to remember because I have never heard them before, but that is getting better too. I don’t say a whole ton in the lessons, but I bear my testimony. I taught some other people the whole Restoration lesson, and I just hope they understood me. Some people are too nice to stop me, or act like they don’t understand. Other people laugh and that’s the worst, but whatever haha. So, pretty soon I will be able to say whatever I want, and understand everyone! That will be sweet.  

But this last week was crazy! So, we are opening this area, and in the first week we already had three exchanges or divisãos. One with Elder M from Goiana 2 who is American and been out for four months, and the other with the Zone Leader Elder M, and another with the other Elder in Goiana 2. So two of them were in my area, and I was taking these Elders around my area, not knowing what’s going on or where anyone lives or anything. It was a blast, but I felt bad because I wasn’t much help. The Zone Leader, Elder M, was crazy though, he is American and been out a year and a while, he was asking people how to get places, answering all the phone calls, basically doing everything. I was trying my best. He was awesome though!

So, my companion is really spontaneous and sometimes during almoçco (lunch) with the members, he just says, Elder Hoyt has a message to share, without telling me anything prior. And I don’t want to act like I’m not prepared, so I just act like it was planned and everything. The family told me my Portuguese was good, and that they understood everything! So that was sweet. I read a scripture from Alma 32 about the seed that grows and swells, and bore my testimony to them. So things are going sweet!

So, we get lunch with the members every day! And it is always rice and beans, just like everyone said! That is the one thing I was prepared for haha. They always have spaghetti as well, or pasta and some type of meat. The lunches are awesome with the members. My favorite is the juice and the desserts. The desserts are like puddings of different things like coconut, or limes. They are so good, and the juice is fresh and homemade of fruits I have never heard of, but taste awesome!

We do walk everywhere, and use taxis or buses when we need to leave our area for meetings and things like that. The buses are pretty nice, better than the Detroit buses haha. And the taxi drivers are kind of crazy, they get you there really quick. There are no lanes on the roads, so you pretty much just go wherever there is space, and everyone has motorcycles, so they can just go wherever they want. There are always people on the street just sitting there as we walk by or people walking. It is sweet here.

There is a member in the ward who is the Seminary teacher (coincidence), she is like my mom here. She helps me to learn the language and helps me have faith to learn and everything. We always seem to run into her when things are rough, so I know that I am being looked out for. So I was sick last Saturday for half the day, and I had some stomach issues, and felt all achy and stuff, but I took Advil, and I eventually got better. I think it might’ve been something I ate, but not sure. I am fine now though.

It is a great challenge to learn the language, but it is sweet. When I struggled when I was sick, I said my prayer at night, and I wrote it down in my notebook. So, as I was saying it, I wrote it down. It was very cool...I want everyone to try it. It organizes your thoughts very well, and makes you really think deeply as to what you want to say.  

So, I have been missing everyone! I pray for you all every night and morning! The family truly is where we have the most joy. I love all you guys and love thinking back to those times of family vacation where we had our own family testimony meetings. Those were so awesome! Seriously, those effected my life greatly, and I will remember that forever. We talk a lot, but very rarely do we get to share the true feelings of the heart because they need to be done in reverent settings. But thank you Mom and Dad for doing those. I will do them one day when I have a family.  

Being on my mission has also changed my perspective of callings. I now know how important it is to fulfill callings and serve in the Church. Missionary service doesn’t end with the mission! You can serve your whole life. I want to fulfill all my callings 100% my whole life. I know you all do too. But my understanding of how the Church works is growing, and it is so perfectly organized and inspired by Heavenly Father for the strengthening and blessing of His children, even here in Brazil! And even in Russia...here it is pronounced “hoosia”, so that’s fun. And my name is pronounced Hoych. I love you all, and will talk to you next week! Tell Lorenzo Happy Birthday! Tell him sorry I was sick for it! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hoyt

First Letter From Brazil!

Mom! and Family!

I am in Brazil! I arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning, and when we got off the plane they didn't check my immunizations or anything. So I got those for nothing...hahaha just kidding.

Well, coming here has pretty much changed my life already. I am with Elder D. Sousa. He is Brazilian from Brasilia, and he only speaks Portuguese, so it's kinda fun. Another sweet thing, we are opening this area while he is training me, and he is also District Leader. Our area is called Goiana 1. I think it is a couple hours north of Recife, so it's like a smaller town. So, when we got here, we found this kid who had gone to Church once, and we baptized him on Sunday, his name is Eliton. I had the opportunity to baptize him, and everything went well. We confirmed him yesterday during Sacrament, and I also bore my testimony. All the people said it was good...they said I didn't talk really slow like the Americans usually do. They said I have good Portuguese, but I just can't understand what people say to me haha. They talk very fast so I will learn to understand eventually.

The living conditions are different here also. And just EVERYTHING is completely different, so it's crazy haha. I can see myself improving though, and I can understand more of what people say. Not knowing the language of the country you are living in is really humbling though. My companion does everything, and tells me what to do like always. I feel like a little child. It's really interesting. I can't wait till I can understand people and actually teach and everything.

The members feed us well, and it is always rice and beans and spaghetti, and then they always have coconut dessert. I love the food here! I feel like a deer in the headlights when people talk to me, and I don't understand. I think that is what I look like too haha. Hey Mom, I am glad the rats metaphor inspired you. It inspired me as well. I think it is from C. S. Lewis.

This is a huge challenge for me though. So much has happened, and my mind is so boggled, I am not sure if I'm making sense haha, so I am sorry. I will be more on my feet next week, I hope. I have been praying for the gift of tongues! 

I love you all so much! Sounds like everything is going well there, and it is good to hear. I miss you guys and think about you often. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Hoyt

Arrived in BRAZIL!!!

 Hello Dear Families!

We just want to inform that your missionaries arrived safely in the Brazil Recife Mission!

They are such great missionaries and we are excited to see their work.

Rats in the Basement

Hello!

So, my interview with the President went well! He didn't say anything about the Visa, and I asked his wife, and she said that three people have gotten their Visas, but it wasn't my District or me, so we will have to see. I'm really on a roller coaster here with the Visa thing. It's like being in limbo. But I asked him about teaching with the Spirit, and he shared with me some awesome experiences about it, and I realized that I need more humility. So, I have been working on that, and being more thankful, and seeing the good in people. It is really a challenge to change what is on the inside, you know? Like when you open the door to the basement and the rats run and hide. The rats are there and you can hide them, but the real goal is to get the rats out completely. It’s the same thing with our lives. So when you get impatient and react to something, you say---well, if that didn't happen, I would not have acted like that. But that is like saying---if they didn't open the basement door so fast, then the rats would have had time to hide. It is our true character that we have to work on.

I really liked your thoughts on the Sacrament and the relationship between the Savior and us. That is a great insight. It makes me happy to hear about your thoughts, and how you pondered on that. It really gives me strength to hear your testimonies.

This last week was really good. We had a member go with us to a couple lessons, and he is a really good member-missionary. He bore a powerful testimony, and taught so well that the investigator said he needed to come to Church. So he was there yesterday! He loved it, and he noticed how simple the Church building is. He said since there are no decorations or distractions, he is able to think about the Savior and God a lot easier. He is great! We are going to see him again this week. 

So, the best miracle we had last week was pretty crazy. We hadn't had too many lessons to start out the week, and then on Thursday, we were doing "bike for baptism," so everyone in the mission bikes, and tries to find new investigators and talk to everyone. So, even though that day we had the most appointments we have ever had scheduled for one day, we biked! So we were going everywhere, and it was so hot and super humid. And I think all of the appointments we had weren't home, BUT we found other people and taught them instead! So, in the end we taught more people than we had planned for, even though we had planned for a lot! Then we biked again the next day, and again and again, hoping it would happen again. But I just thought it was very cool because we could have said---well, we have too many appointments, and we didn't know we would have to use bikes, or it’s way too hot and our appointments are spread too far apart---but we did it anyway!

I wanted to give you my testimony...I know that prayer is two-way communication with Heavenly Father. The more we pray with real intent, and all the energy of heart, the closer we will feel to Heavenly Father. Prayer is the only way we can receive knowledge of spiritual truths. Prayer is how we receive revelation. I know that God leads The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through His servants. I love you all, thank you for all the support.

Love,

Elder Hoyt

A Miracle Everyday!

Dearest Family,

There is a cool scripture in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 that says, “...our gospel came not by word only, but by power.” It really emphasizes how real the Spirit is, that we don't learn just from reading the words and piecing the information together, but we learn by the Spirit that touches our hearts. That’s why we need to teach with the Spirit, so that it can touch the hearts of the people and teach them the truth. I have realized there is great opposition in this world to righteousness. People feel that it doesn't matter what they do, so the main thing is getting people to care. 

This last week we had instruction from the Zone Leaders about there being many things we can't control, and we have no need to worry over those things, or let them effect us in a negative way. The things we can't control are our companions, people we teach, ward members. Things we can control are how we react. The key is to act and not be acted upon (2 Nephi 2). We always have our freedom to choose, and even when we decide not to choose, we are making a decision. So that is something I have been thinking about. Like I said, we are definitely up against opposition, but really it gives us an opportunity! Sometimes it helps me to look at it that way. It is an opportunity to show faith in the Lord, to ask for strength to overcome the challenges that arise. Sometimes you feel in a bad mood and forget to call on the Lord, you lose hope and just say, this day is done, nothing good will happen. 

We went to this referral's house we got this last week, and this guy with oxygen tubes in his nose answered the door. He said go away, I don't want to buy anything. I said (with a big smile), "Oh, we aren't selling you anything! We actually came"...then he interrupts and starts yelling, and says to get off the porch, and won't listen to anything we say. I asked, "Is Catherine there?" (name of referral). He won't listen because he is yelling, and I try to tell him we were actually requested to come here! So eventually, we just had to leave, but that type of thing never leaves you feeling good. Maybe later we will try again, and hope the person we were looking for answers the door. But in times like those, you really need to pray, and we didn't, and I really wish we did. But we need to pray always, and remember who is behind us. 

So, we have had a couple experiences like that, of people saying we preach false doctrine and stuff, but it has really strengthened me. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16)." I used to hate when people yell at me, now I love it!! Just kidding, I still hate it, but I have learned to take it. And I don't mean I take it and stare at the floor, I listen to what they are saying, but I am still working on it not affecting me. I think feelings of discouragement and temptation goes back to one thing, to get us to forget who we are. We are really just tempted to forget we are sons and daughters of Heavenly Father, but if we can remember that, not just the words, but remember what it means, then we don't need to be discouraged. We can be given peace in times of trial, not as the world gives it, but as the Son of God gives it (John 14:27).

I know we are sons and daughters of God, and He loves us much more than we can understand. We can begin to understand and know the mysteries of God through obedience and diligence, service, patience, and as we strive to live the Gospel. As we learn what He has prepared for us, how much God has entrusted us with, we can be strengthened in our faith and love towards Him. I know that is true. I always think of when Jesus asked Peter, "do you love me?" (John 21:17). I picture Jesus asking me the same thing.

I love being here. We have a miracle everyday! Yesterday an investigator that missed the first lesson with us two weeks ago was home! So we have tried her a bunch of times, and her grandparents answer and say she will call us. So that rarely happens, but we had no way of getting a hold of her. Then yesterday she answered the door! She said she didn't have our number! But she said she wants to learn something new each time we come over. We were like, that's great! That’s perfect! You are awesome! So, she said yesterday during the lesson that she was thinking the same question Joseph Smith had, that she didn't know which church was true. She doesn't like the churches where people shake and things like that, but she wants to go to a church. So, she said she was wondering that for a while, then we walk up to her car while she was cleaning it. She was like, yeah it was pretty crazy that you guys showed up! She is 19 years old and has a lot of ambition for college and everything. We are excited to teach her again today!

So, things are going well! I really enjoy receiving letters from you all. It is a huge strength to me for the rest of my week. It definitely encourages me to know that my family is supporting me and loves me. Some people don't have that, and I realize it is a huge strength and blessing. I love you all so much. I am so thankful for your examples. I think about you all often! I really am grateful for the packages too, I am excited to get them!

Love,

Elder Hoyt

More Than Just A Religion

On the Fourth of July we did missionary work like normal! And then we baked a cake for Elder D's birthday. Definitely, I have experienced some great times, and some hard times this week, but I have learned so much!

I wanted to share with you something President Holmes taught me about the Fall, because we are all born innocent without sin, and we each have our own individual fall. There is a scripture in Moses 6:55 that talks about Adam’s children, “when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.” And so we all become fallen and carnal, and that’s why we need Jesus Christ. There is a quote that says, “the more someone understands the Fall, the more they understand why we need Christ.” I have understood more about the Fall this last week from 2 Nephi 2 in the Book of Mormon. I have read it so many times, but this time, I came to a greater understanding! There would be no progression without opposition, men are free and can choose liberty and eternal life, or death and misery, but what gives us the ability to even make a choice? The Atoning Sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ, He makes it possible for us to choose liberty and eternal life. Without Him, there would be no choice, except death and the power of the devil. I now understand the Fall deeper in my heart.

We were so glad to have dinner at a member’s home yesterday! A very loving and welcoming family! I just felt right at home, and when we left we were so uplifted! The wife was telling us about her missionary experiences, and it was just so refreshing! We were then able to go teach this new investigator about the Restoration, and she loved it! She really recognized us as servants of the Lord. It was funny though, she said she felt like my eyes could see through her into her soul. It was a great lesson, and she already has a strong testimony of prayer, which she bore to us! We read with her Moroni 10:2-5 and asked her what it meant, and she wanted to mark it to show it to someone. She said she is so excited to read the Book of Mormon. It was so great! I know that she is a true follower of Jesus Christ and a seeker of truth. I hope we can strengthen her testimony!

Bianca is also still awesome and progressing! Before we left last time, she said wait, when are you guys coming back? So she beat us to it! She is like the most golden investigator though, so it’s completely different going to her house.

It is awesome to be able to tell people I am headed to Brazil, they are really impressed, and I just say, yeah we take this seriously. Then I tell them my sister is serving a mission for the Church in Siberia, Russia right now, and then their jaw drops. They ask all these questions, and then they realize that it is more than just a religion. This is the work of the Lord! We don’t just walk around and give out cards, we bring people the Spirit of God, and we are commissioned to do that. It really makes a difference when you say, "yeah we are just missionaries and stuff, and we teach people and share the gospel," as opposed to, "We are missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are full time servants of the Lord." That is really what we are, and we take our calling seriously. So it is great to be here!

After teaching that family last night, I don’t want to leave now, so that’s good! So, I'll work on wanting to leave Michigan once I get to Brazil! That’s another lesson I have learned, to love where you are. 

I know the Gospel has been restored to the earth, and we are led by a modern day prophet, I know the Spirit speaks to peoples’ hearts, I know the Spirit can be our constant companion, and can tell us what we need to do to become closer to the Lord. Just think, what can I do to be a better disciple of Christ? You will have a thought come to you, choose whether to act on it or not. That’s what we did in our mission, to become more consecrated servants. It is so awesome! I know it’s true, I have received so many blessings! I have received more faith. I love you all so much! Thanks for thinking about me!

Love,
Elder Hoyt

 Downtown Detroit

 Detroit River

General Motors Building