Happy New Year!

Hey momma we are writing today instead of tomorrow!!! It’s because we only have 3 computers at the church and there are over 30 missionaries in our zone so it takes forever if we all write on Friday. I can’t believe it’s 2014! The people here are crazy on New Year’s Eve. We had a hard time getting to sleep because of all the fireworks and stuff. We stayed up and watched "The Best Two Years" and then went to sleep at like 12:30. Yeah, almost all the candy is gone and I’m trying to ration the peanut butter and Nutella:-) and I love that you are still the health conscious mom and got me the low sugar peanut butter. ..But NOT really ‘cuz it’s not as good as real peanut butter. 

We had a baptism this week! Big Bertha got baptized! It has been so crazy to see how she has changed! Before she didn’t want her granddaughter Monica to get baptized, but finally let her and now she got baptized! It was honestly a miracle! There is a picture of that. The other picture is of one of my friends, Elder Shumway. He is 6'6''! 

The weather down here is hot, as always. I have to keep a handkerchief in my pocket to wipe the sweat off my face every couple of minutes. It feels like I’m back home during the summer!  But yeah everything is going good here. We have a lot of potential people to  baptize in January and February. Me and Elder Salmons will probably only have a month more together. We get along well, but sometimes I want to do things one way and him another way. But we get over things quick which is good.  

I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon a lot in Spanish which is helping me to learn more of the language. I really love speaking Spanish and now want to learn other languages like  Italian and Portuguese. But that’ll be for after my mission. I’m sad I’m going to miss the Gilbert Temple open house. I love you guys soooooo much and am so soooo grateful for all of you and all of your prayers!!
Elder Today (Hoy)

Big Bertha's Baptism

Elder Shumway and I

Monica's Baptism

At the San Salvador Temple

Giving Service Missionary Style

Feliz Año Nuevo!

I know this won’t be as good as Skyping ha-ha.

OK... so this week has honestly been one of the most fun weeks of my mission so far.  Monday was pretty uneventful, but Tuesday and Wednesday were soooo awesome! Tuesday was Christmas Eve and the people here celebrate more on the night of the 24th. We ate dinner like 4 times and I was so full. Here the people stay up till midnight and light off fireworks (more like we celebrate New Year’s).   And the 25th was even better! Talking to you guys was sooooo good. I really needed that. I just feel recharged and ready to go.

Yesterday we had the Christmas Activity for the mission. It was a lot of fun. We played some games and watched the movie Arthur's Christmas. It came out when I was working at Harkins but I never saw it. It was really good. Afterward, in the spiritual part, I did a special musical number with a Hermana from Panama. We sang “Joy to the World”. I played the guitar and sang and everyone liked it and complimented me. Today is P Day and tomorrow we will have the baptism of the little old lady Bertha. 

Yeah, we are staying really busy. We have a lot of potential baptisms in January. I think we will have 3 or 4. Well I love everyone and hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas. Hope y’all have a Happy New Years as well. I’m going to have to look for some Martinellis Sparkling Cider here to celebrate with my companion.

Thanks momma! I love you so much! Can’t wait till May on Mothers Day when we can Skype again!  I love being your son! Tell Dad thanks for giving me the Hoy musical talent.    

 Feliz Año Nuevo!

Skype 2013 Christmas Day

Baptism and a New Identity

We’ve been really busy. This week we went to go visit this guy that we’ve been teaching. His name is Juan Antonio. The former elders were teaching him before I got here. He's been a pastor for 30 years. He talked with a drunken inactive member one time and decided to go to our church. He has gone around 15 times to church and has a super strong testimony. He already finished the Book of Mormon and is reading the Doctrine and Covenants. But he hasn’t been able to get baptized because according to the government, he doesn’t exist which means he can’t get married. His ''wife'' is a less active member. He has been waiting for over 3 months for his lawyer to find his information and create for him a new identity basically. Finally... his papers will be ready the 15th or the 20th so he will be getting baptized this month! We are super excited for him! 

Thank you for paying for my braces. I see so many people down here with their teeth falling out and I am just so grateful that I was born into our family! I love you guys sooooo much! OK Momma I love you lots and can’t wait to see you! But my time is up! Start learning Spanish so we can come here on vacation after I get home! Love you!

A Family that we are Teaching

Kids, Kids Everywhere!

Smiles

Me and the Kids!

Thanks for my Braces!

Mixed Blessings

Well this last week was alright! Monday I got super sick! I didn’t like it at all!  I think it was only food poisoning because it passed in one day! So Monday I slept all day with a fever. Tuesday I still felt bad, so I went to the doctor to do some exams but they didn’t come up with anything. We spent half the day in the house until we got the all clear from the mission nurse. I was glad though because I got to read a couple of the books from the missionary library. One of them is called "Our Legacy" and it’s all about the history of the church and all of the prophets. I learned a lot! It was so sad reading about all of the trials that the early saints of the church faced, but also inspiring to read about the amazing faith that they had.

I also started another book called "Our Search for Happiness"  by M Russell Ballard. It just explains a lot about the doctrine and beliefs of the church. It’s almost written for nonmembers so that they can understand more about the church. I’ve taken a break from reading "Jesus the Christ" because it’s a little harder to understand.

It actually has been pretty cold down here too. Well not cold but I had to buy a long sleeve shirt to sleep in at night! But I like it! It beats the heat for sure! I can’t believe it is already December! I’m almost a third done with my mission! Can you believe that?? I can’t!

Yeah... sorry I kind of peeked at everything in my Christmas box. I love the new ties! And as far as talking to you on Christmas day, it’s like whenever I want... I think. What hour would be the best for you guys when everyone can be in the house?  I don’t know about Facetime because not that many people have Macs here, but we can do Skype! I’ll start talking to some members to plan everything! Here's a picture of me and a cute little baby boy! I love you guys a lot! I’ll see you in a couple weeks!

Beanie Baby!

Super Excited to go to the Temple

I’m writing today and my time is short because tomorrow we're going to the temple in San Salvador. I’m super excited! We get to go 3 times a year and it’s a little over an hour away from where I am now.

My new companion Elder Salmon is good! He’s only been out 3 months! We get along great. The mission president is in my ward now but I haven't seen him yet at our meetings. He will be released next June.

My new area where we live is a lot nicer than my old area. It’s a pretty affluent area. But we work in a different place that’s a lot poorer. It  may be even poorer than my other area, at least in some parts. We are a lot busier here. We are going to have a baptism on Saturday for a young girl named Monica! I'm really happy about that. I’ll send pictures next week!

So to explain the photos, three of them were saying goodbye to the people in my last area, first to the familiar Valenzuela, (one of my favorite families), to Harlen and Jaime and their kids, and to Julio and Walter. It was hard saying goodbye to all of them but I really like my new area. The other photos are  with Elder Salmons my companion, and with Elder Griffin, my friend from Tempe.

My time is up. I love you all. Elder Hoy

 

The Valenzuela Family

Harlen , Jaime and their kids

My First Baptism, Julio,  and Walter

My New Companion Elder Salmon

 

My Tempe Friend Elder Griffin

 

 

My First Transfer!

Hey mom! I had changes and now my P-DAY is Friday! Ok, here’s the update from the last 3 days! I had changes on Wednesday! I finally left Las Colinas! My new area is called El Trebol 2, in Zone Modelo. We are right in Santa Ana which is cool. My area is a lot wealthier than my other one. There is a huge shopping mall called The Metro Centro. It is just out of my zone. Everything is a lot nicer than before.

My new companion is awesome. His name is Elder Salmons, and he is from Alexandria Virginia, which is the town where the movie "Remember the Titans" happened. It’s really close to Washington D.C. It’s really nice having my first gringo companion. We can speak English and stuff and relate to each other a lot more.

This morning I got to play basketball with my Mission President. He is soooo good. It’s cool getting to know him a little more. His house in in my area, so we will see him a lot. This last transfer, only 4 missionaries went home and 28 new missionaries came in. That was really crazy. We have some good positive investigators right now, and one of them has a date for baptism.

I’m really excited to be in this new place. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Well, I love you guys a lot and I won’t write you until next Friday. Love Elder Hoy

Champions

Adios to my First Ward in El Salvador

42 People at Church...a New High!

This week was pretty awesome! We had the highest attendance in church in all my time here! We had a whopping 42 people! We had 5 investigators which was really great. Also Jaime and Harlen and their family came to church again! I was so happy.

I’m almost positive I’ll be leaving this area. I’m going to miss it a lot, but I’m also excited to get to know a new companion and area and everything. If I stay this transfer I’ll be here until February which will be a long time in this area.

El Salvador is beautiful, especially the area that I’m in. I love it! Here are some photos from the week! We took a hike this week with Jaime and some others that was so fun but really hard. If I do get transferred, I’ll miss Jaime and his family soooo much! Well other than that,  nothing super special or extraordinary happened this week. I love you and hope y’all have a great week! I’ll have more to write about next week if I have changes! Love you! Elder Hoy    

A Real Fixer-Upper

Machete Man

Almost to the Top!

Group Photo Shoot