Come to El Salvador!

Hi Momma. Yeah, the weather is pretty nice here right now too. Ummm… I want you guys to build a house here in El Salvador, forget Belize. But in my area that I’m in right now you guys should buy/build a house...for reals.  It so cheap and they use American money here.  You guys could retire right now with just the money from your rentals.  Just learn Spanish really quick ha-ha!   Yeah it’s very rural and country like. The town is pretty small but super safe. The area next to mine is super safe too. But there are some really nice houses here that Americans have built. I really want you guys to build a vacation home here…like for reals. Yeah I love this area geographically!

Unfortunately, the work is going really slow. We did companion exchanges on Saturday and Sunday and I worked with Elder Griffin again. He’s the elder from Tempe. We had 7 investigators in their ward and we had some really good lessons.

For Christmas I want peanut butter and Nutella and more G2 pens and more ties. And maybe some money so I can buy new pants because I need another pair. Or you can send me another pair.

But yeah momma I have to go now so I’ll talk to you next week! I love you a lot and miss you! I was looking at the family pictures you sent me and all of you guys looked like strangers to me. Super weird. But yeah love you!

Elder Hoy

I love the kids!

Cute kitty!

Smile!

Listening to Conference Makes a Difference!

Happy Anniversary Momma! I did remember because yesterday was also Ty’s birthday.  Conference was really good. I loved all the talks. It’s amazing the difference paying attention makes… hahaha. I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk. It really helped me a lot.  

This week was a little better.  I’m just bummed because we have no investigators progressing even though we are working hard,  but it’s ok. Yeah,  I’m still with Elder Arizmendi. He goes home December 12. I think I’ll have changes before he goes home. I'm just really ready to get out of this area. Even my companion says that in all of his time in the mission, this is the slowest/most difficult area he’s been in. But I know that I just have to push through it.  I love you guys sooo much and miss you a lot.

This week we had some good lessons with this older guy named Victoriano. He came to conference with us too. We continue to teach Mary and Hector but they don’t have time or they don’t want to come to church. But we are still working with them. I’ll try and make this week good so I have more to tell you next week. Love you all!

Elder Hoy

Outdoor Grillin' and Feasting

Hey Momma.

The work is going, but very slowly. I’m going to be staying in this area that I’m in for another 6 weeks. I’m ready for a change but I think the Lord still has work for me to do here. We’ve been doing a lot of activities with the ward and it’s starting to become a little more unified. 

 

Lately, the people here haven't wanted to listen to us. In my little area alone, there are more than 20 different churches. Everyone goes to different ones but they don't live what they're being taught. I try not to let it bother me.

 

The family that put those pictures up on FB is so awesome! I love them so much. They are inactive members, but we are doing everything possible to reactivate them. I love you guys and I’m going to try and make this week better so I have better stuff to write about next week.                                       

 

Oh and I finally got my birthday package!!!! Everything arrived here well. I love the shorts and they fit me perfect. The photo album is awesome too! And everything else!  And also I love the music you sent too. Thanks momma! Love you!

This was 10 pounds of meat!

My companion and I...outdoor grillin'

And the feast begins...

After playing soccer...not sure what he's looking at...

Help the Missionaries!

Hola Mamasita,

 Everything is going good here. Mary is reading the Book of Mormon and thinks that its true so I know that your prayers are helping. I love some of the ties you got me, well the two that are new and the weird black one. The other two I can't use because they are way too short but I'm going to give them to some of the kids here. I like the little toys too, but those are to give away to little kids right? I hope so.  I've been eating a lot of that candy. I loved the kids letters. What did you put in the other package? I'm praying that it gets here somehow. 

We have a lady that washes our clothes, and a member that has a washing machine that we use for our personal items.  Yes mom, HELP THE MISSIONARIES! You don't even realize how important the members are in missionary work. They are almost more important than the missionaries. Give  them referrals or allow them to bring investigators to your house. HELP them. I wish I would've helped them before, because now I need their help and I'm not getting a lot of help. 

I love you guys so much and hope everything is going good with everyone. 

Elder Hoy 

We caught this frog at church

I dressed up as a Ninja one night on splits with Elder Griffin

One of the members puppies

My breakfast...so you know I'm being well fed!

Alma Chapter 7 and No Possum for Dinner

Unfortunately, no I haven’t got my package from you guys but on Thursday I got a package from the Showalters!!! It was filled with candy and toys and letters and fun stuff for my birthday. I almost started crying when I got it. I miss that family so much. I think that’s one of the first things I want to do when I get back is go visit them.

But yeah this week was good. We had some powerful lessons with this lady named Mary and her husband Hector. She didn’t want to read the Book of Mormon because it ''didn’t call her attention'' so I read her the summary of Alma 7 and asked her if that called her attention. She said yeah and committed to read that chapter and pray to know if it is true. That was yesterday and so we are going to go see her today and follow up. Please pray for her and her husband for me. I really want them to progress and get baptized.

We were eating lunch at a members house yesterday and she told me I look like I’m getting fatter  ...ha ha ha. I couldn’t believe it but I think so too. I measured myself the other day and I’m like 5'11'' now. I’m catching up to Dad fast.

Last week we caught a possum that has been coming to eat our trash a lot. Our neighbors had a trap and they loaned it to us. Supposedly they eat possums here so we wanted to eat it. But it was so small and I felt sorry for it so we let it go.

 

Yeah... that little girl in the picture from last week that I sent is like my favorite person here. I love her. She’s so crazy and funny. Hope everything is all good there! Love you guys! Elder Hoy



Possum Anyone???

Cats and Dogs

Sorry momma, still haven’t gotten the package. I’m praying that it shows up this Thursday. NOOOOOOO NOT THE FISH!!!) That’s so sad. (Our fish died)  The other day we were in a bus waiting to leave, and when the bus started moving we heard a really nasty sound and it turns out there was a dog sleeping under the bus, and yeah it died and I almost threw up/cried cuz it was so sad and gross.

On the bright side, we did  have good lessons this week. Oh and I saw a really awesome sunset! It reminded me of home! We also had a multi zone meeting with President Kevin R. Duncan, a member of the first quorum of the seventy. It was really good. Some of the quotes that I really liked from his talk (translated to English)
``The Lord doesn’t expect a lot from us, he just expects everything``
``If you want charity, pray for it. If you really want it, Practice It`` (This one is helping me a lot.) 

 Alright funny story of the week. This explains the pictures. So on Thursday night, I got woken up at like one in the morning to the sound of breaking glass or something. I always leave the light on in my bathroom, and I saw that something was moving in there. I thought someone was in our house for a second, and then a cat poked its head under the door. It went crazy and tried to escape and was running around our house for a few minutes until it went out the door that it had come in.  My companion had left it open by accident. That was the craziest thing that happened, along with the dog thing. But the work goes well, as do my studies. I love you all and hope y'all have a great week!

Love Elder Hoy

Beautiful sunset that reminded me of our Arizona sunsets

I love the children!

Our visitor in the night

I guess he needed some place to sleep

 

A Baptism and Hauling Trees

Hey mamasita! Nope still haven’t gotten the package! I’m kind of getting worried now but hopefully this Thursday it’ll be here! It might be here, but my zone leaders haven’t gone to pick up the letters and stuff!  I hope the other one gets here safely too!

Alright story time! So this week we got to have a baptism in our area, but not one of our investigators! But it was awesome! The other elders couldn’t baptize him in their area because they don’t have a chapel! So they came and I got to participate in the service with my guitar.   I played and sang with Elder Griffin, another Elder from Arizona!  He’s the one on the far right with the glasses! He’s really cool and has less time in the mission than me!

The guy that got baptized is named Francisco and he’s super awesome. He has been listening to the missionaries for years! He just never wanted to give up coffee! But he did finally and the baptism was super awesome!

OK… so after the baptism we went to visit this family and ended up doing some hardcore service! We walked with them like 20 minutes to find some tree to cut down because that is how they make their money! And of course while we were out there it started to rain really hard. We didn’t have umbrellas or anything, and the trunks were like 100 pounds or more. We had to haul them on our shoulders back to their house!

The picture of my shirt is what it looked like after that. But I felt so good after it, even though I was soaking wet and tired. Those were the craziest and BEST things that happened this last week. I love you guys and hope everyone is all good! I love you! Elder Hoy

 Francisco's Baptism

The Family We Helped

A Labor of Love

My Newest Friend