3-21-11 Baptism of Jailson, Staying in Ponte with Elder Halvorsen, English class, District Leader

21 March 2011

This last week was a good one. We were able to have the baptism of Jailson and everything went really well. It was perfect, he just showed up at church 2 weeks ago, we started teaching him, he went last week and met everyone, kept teaching without really having any obstacles to overcome, and now he’s baptized and confirmed. He’s a cool guy, 20 years old, and has been very well received in the ward.  I was able to baptize him and it was a really nice experience.  I made brownies again for his baptism and everyone was asking me for the recipe! I think I wrote it for like 5 people that night.

Today is transfers, but I stayed in Ponte Dos Carvalhos with Elder Halvorsen. I will be his last companion (he goes home after this transfer). I got a phone call just now and found out that I am our new district leader... Just our companionship, the companionship in Escada which is now Elder Mesquita and a new Elder he will train, and the LZs (Elder Cabreira and Labrum, Elder Wells was transferred).

The English class is going really well. We called the president and told him about it and about the area and that is probably why he didn’t transfer either of us. Last week we had several random people show up at the English class. I really like teaching English. The majority of the people here have already learned at least a little, but they usually pronounce everything very wrong. Even the teachers in school here teach English wrong- I’ve seen some assignments and stuff and the teachers don’t even know how to speak English (very basic mistakes). So it is nice for them to be taught by someone who speaks the language. We had about 12-15 people in the class on Friday, and separated into two classes (I taught the new people and Elder Halvorsen taught those who have been going or know more).

Last night we were starving and normally we buy snacks for dinner on the street but it was Sunday, so we got home and looked at the ingredients we had. I threw sugar, flour, a little bit of hot cocoa mix, and oil in a pan and cooked it. It was like really gross brownies, so we went over to the member lady who lives behind us and she made us delicious cuzcuz with sausage and vegetables. It was cool because we thought we were gonna be going hungry but she told us never to go to bed hungry, so we took her up on it.

We are doing family nights with lots of people in the ward. We have 3 planned for this week, and we did 2 last week. They are fun because Elder Halvorsen and I always make an interesting message and after play a game and eat cake or something.

Well, you’ll have to ask me questions if you want more information, I don’t know what to say!! [Jon didn't receive my email again, but I caught him while he was still at the computer and told him I'd resend it...]

Love
Elder Hooke

3-14-11 Investigator update, English class, PHOTO

HELLO MOM- YES ALL IS GOING WELL HERE. CARNAVAL ENDED WEDNESDAY AND WE STILL HAD A PRETTY GOOD WEEK, TAUGHT ALMOST THE SAME AMOUNT AS NORMAL, ETC.  I DID GET A LOT OF GOOD STUDY IN AS WELL. 

I'M READING O MILAGRE DE PERDÂO [The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball] RIGHT NOW AND IT IS VERY INTERESTING. ITS PRETTY IMPORTANT, IT WOULD BE A GOOD BOOK FOR EVERY MEMBER TO READ.

ANANDA IS DOING GOOD SHE FINALLY WENT TO CHURCH YESTERDAY.  

MARINALDO-NOTHING NEW TO REPORT.

JAILSON IS DOING VERY WELL! WE MARKED HIS BAPTISM FOR NEXT SUNDAY AND AT CHURCH YESTERDAY HE MET LOTS OF PEOPLE AND REALLY LIKED IT. HE TOOK HIS LITTLE NEPHEW TO CHURCH AS WELL, WHO ALSO LOVED IT. HES AN 11 YEAR OLD, EMERSON, AND HE REALLY WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED BUT HIS MOM WONT LET HIM FOR A WHILE. BUT YEAH JAILSON IS DOING VERY WELL, AND WE ARE VISITING HIM/TEACHING HIM ALMOST EVERY DAY. SO AT LEAST WE SHOULD BE HAVING THAT ONE GOOD BAPTISM ON THE LAST DAY OF THE TRANSFER (THIS IS A 5 WEEK TRANSFER).

ELDER HALVORSEN AND I ALL FASTED SATURDAY AND SUNDAY TO HELP CLAUDIO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION ABOUT WHETHER HE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY OR NOT. AT CHURCH YESTERDAY HE SAID HE STILL IS NOT SURE. HE IS A VERY LOGICAL GUY, AND WOULD STILL HAVE TO CHANGE MANY THINGS TO LIVE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GOSPEL. SO WE'RE PRAYING FOR HIM A LOT.

THE ENGLISH CLASS IS GOING WELL. EVERY CLASS WE HAVE HAD MORE PEOPLE THAN THE PREVIOUS, AND TOMORROW WE ARE EXPECTING ABOUT TEN. IT IS A LITTLE TOUGH BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE KNOW MORE THAN OTHERS AND TO KEEP EVERYBODY LEARNING TOGETHER IS HARD. I THINK WE WILL SPLIT INTO GROUPS TOMORROW, ONE OF US TEACHING PEOPLE WHO KNOW MORE. BUT EVERYONE IS LIKING THE CLASS AND I ENJOY TEACHING IT. WE DO HAVE A SPIRITUAL MESSAGE AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH CLASS, AND INVITE THE INVESTIGATORS TO SAY THE OPENING AND CLOSING PRAYERS.

[I mentioned driving through a blizzard in Idaho while I was there...]  A BLIZZARD WOULD BE NICE HERE- FOR A FEW SECONDS AT LEAST. GLAD TO HEAR YOUR TOES AINT FROZE.

                                                                    Recife Temple

                                             [Sorry, I can't figure out how to straighten it up...]

YEAH WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE IN RECIFE. IT WENT WELL, I WAS ABLE TO SEE THE FAMILY FROM SAN MARTIN WHOSE HOUSE WE WERE ALWAYS AT TO TEACH ADLAN AND SOME OTHER INVESTIGATORS.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, LOVE YOU TOO,
ELDER HOOKE

3-7-11 Carnaval...

WELL IT'S CARNAVAL! NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE PURPOSE IS, SO I DECIDED IT IS A CELEBRATION OF SIN. ITS NOT SPECIFICALLY BAD IN PONTE, BUT THE STREETS ARE CROWDED AND THERE'S ALWAYS DRUNK PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, AND LOUD LOUD MUSIC BLASTING. AND HALF THE WARD WENT TO THE CHURCH SPONSORED CAMP TO KEEP MORMONS AWAY FROM CARNAVAL. IT STARTED SATURDAY, AND ALL 5 OF THE LESSONS THAT WE HAD MARKED FOR SATURDAY FELL. THEN YESTERDAY THERE WERE NOT MANY MEMBERS AT CHURCH. MARINALDO WAS THERE, NOT MUCH TO REPORT ABOUT HIM. WE HAD A FUN FHE AT HIS HOUSE LAST WEEK, WE MADE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES TOO. PEOPLE HERE ARE AMAZED WITH THEM.

 IT WAS COOL AT CHURCH CUZ A RANDOM GUY JAILSON CAME UP TO US AT CHURCH. IT WAS HIS FIRST TIME, AND HE SAID HE WANTED TO START COMING EVERY WEEK. WE TALKED TO HIS MORMON FRIEND FROM A DIFFERENT WARD ON HIS PHONE AND SHE TOLD US ABOUT HOW WE CAN HELP HIM, SO WE'LL BE TEACHING HIM TONIGHT (IF WE CAN FIND HIS HOUSE). STREETS/HOUSE NUMBERS HERE ARE A DISASTER. THEY MAKE NO SENSE, THEY'RE USUALLY NOT EVEN IN NUMERICAL ORDER.

ALSO CLAUDIO AND HIS FRIEND ERICSON WENT TO CHURCH. CLAUDIO IS UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR MESSAGE AND WE ARE TEACHING HIM OFTEN NOW. HE AND HIS FRIEND WERE ALSO THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO SHOWED UP TO THE ENGLISH CLASS THAT ELDER HALVORSEN AND I STARTED ON FRIDAY. THE CLASS WENT WELL, AND I ENJOYED TEACHING ABOUT CONJUGATING ENGLISH VERBS. IN THE PRESENT TENSE. WE ARE EXPECTING A FEW MORE PEOPLE AT THE CLASS THIS WEEK.

ELDER HALVORSEN WAS SICK YESTERDAY AND BARELY HANDLED CHURCH, AND WE STAYED AT HOME THE REST OF THE DAY. WE PROBABLY DIDN'T MISS MUCH PRODUCTIVE WORK THOUGH BECAUSE SUNDAY IN CARNAVAL IS ESPECIALLY PARTY DAY. I LEARNED HOW TO SOLVE THE RUBIKS CUBE THOUGH, SO THAT WAS NICE. AND WE PLAYED UNO WITH THE NEIGHBOR BOYS.

I HAVE TO FIND SOMEONE TO SELL MY GUITAR TO NOW BECAUSE THE PRES. SENT AN EMAIL THAT NOW GUITARS ARE AGAINST THE RULES. TOO BAD, CUZ I JUST ASKED HIM AND HE GAVE ME PERMISSION TO BUY ONE 2 MONTHS AGO. BUT WHATEVER.

I ASKED ELDER HALVORSEN RIGHT NOW IF ANYTHING ELSE NOTEWORTHY HAPPENED THIS WEEK AND HE SAID "NOTHING." SO THAT IS MY WEEK.

THANK YOU ALL AND I LOVE YOU TOO!
LOVE

ELDER HOOKE