Thanks for starting all the fun stuff after I leave, just kidding sounds great. When Everett comes you should get permission to call me... haha ;) . Well we had an outstanding week this week we had 12 lessons which is getting up there now and we found about 5 new investigators and finally got another lesson scheduled with an investigator and she was an August on date so that's really exciting and we got 20 hours of service in the last 2 weeks which I am also happy about.One investigator is still on date but we have a really really really really really really really really cool family  but wait for it.... they have 10 kids! So they are pretty much unbaptized Mormons so that's what i call stacking rats (stats) right there. but that's not what matters. We saw them at Wal -Mart today and they noticed us and it's been awhile since we've been there because they have been rodeoing it up for a good 2 weeks so it's officially time to go talk to them and I'm really excited so i better stay the next transfer in 1st ward which has a 50% chance of happening. We have a theory that our area is being split up next transfer which is a week from Wednesday (the 9th). All i really want is for that not to happen because both areas are starting to pick up and I am excited, hopefully it's just a theory but I doubt it.  

       So this week was really exciting and to add on to that the smoke cleared up and it got a little closer to pretty. I realized this is close to the kind of place i wanna live because everyone is really nice so i saw a little bit of why people live here.

       Yes i got to shake elder Packers hand and guess what....... he shakeded THE president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints hand... President Thomas S Monson less than 24 hours before me on his birthday... Yeah I know. Crazy?! That's what I said! I second hand shakeded Thomas S Monson's hand and it was literally second hand. so i guess if you ask nicely i'll let you 3rd hand shake his hand when i get back. So this week was fun i guess.

       My mission is so far the best thing I've done and I've only been here one transfer and can't wait to get better at being a missionary. I have learned to rely on the lord more and can't wait to use it more and more than I already have.

Elder Hoskins 

Hello!!!

       This week I have had a lot of good successful success we have a new on date sounds pretty solid so I am super stoked. We found a guy that loves speakers and stuff and so we get along. He is not too sure on anything but he asked if he could come to church so we were like ummm duh ya of course! So he could be great and he's from soap lake so that can be hard sometimes, it's in the water. All of our other investigators are about at the same spot as they were before.

        we have been working hard at finding people and inviting people to be baptized and we have found a lot of people that way. We might start having a lot more success so I am stoked for this next month. I feel A lot better and I am figuring out a lot about how to be a missionary. My faith is increasing and I have gained so much confidencce in being a servant of the lord. I've learned to love people here and there are some amazing members. sorry for the short letter ill do better next time

Elder Hoskins

p.s. I had to kick a dog for the first time it was great and it yelped but it's worth it i didn't get bitten. 

First week

My People!

        My first week was a little rough no one was around or answered us or wanted to see us, but I placed a B.O.M. which was awesome and we have another appointment with these people and they are crazy golden and know so much! On there own by studying the bible they figured that there was a pre-earth life for one thing but they know so many truths and think all the churches they've been to are corrupt and think there will be a restoration of Christs church but what they don't know is that its already here.so that's the highlight of my week. We tracted into a lot of people this week and found a lot of potential investigators. we found a family with 10 kids that do rodeo stuff and they are the coolest but they live really far but love us and seem pretty open. 

       I learned a lot this week and I feel a lot more comfortable going up to someones door and telling them about the gospel and being bold about it. I still have a giant load of learning to do with that but I at least feel useful now. I'm able to smell the roses a little now. 

       The people here do not know how to say Hoskins which is really weird to me but Wal-mart is the best job you can get in Ephrata so i guess that can tell you a lot. there's a town just out of Ephrata called soap lake there are a lot of people there that don't haev a lot of money, it actually makes it easier in ways because there's a lot of people who want joy in there lives. I've found to love the people here people here love to cook and love company so sometimes we have the problem of leaving people instead of trouble finding them.so I have had great experiences and a little culture shock but people are prepared here and I'm ready to find every single one.

~Elder Hoskins.

Ephrata

hello my people!

       Yakima is a very crazy interesting place! It is the most dangerous town/ highest crime rate west of the Mississippi river. You can tell when you get there that it could possibly be pretty scary. All the houses have big chain link fences around them with huge dogs and the gates are pad locked its pretty sketch. The mission president went out tracting with some elders one night and got stuck in the middle of a gun fight but luckily no one fired their guns but they had a huge brawl and had to call the cops so ya there's Yakima for you. The mission home is in the nice part of town and the only nice part and it crazy nice/huge! So it was a relief being sent to the nice little town of Ephrata. 

       My first day was really cool we went to the scary part of Yakima and did OYM and the first place we went we put a girl on date for baptism and made appointments for lessons which is way lucky and cool and then the next house we went to we taught a guys family and invited us in and his friend came and cried when he got in the house because apparently hes been having a tough time and he said he needs god and gave us a hug and we taught him and did the same so we knelt down and said a prayer with this guys family and that got me super motivated. They call that greeny fire. 

      Ephrata is where I am now so enough with Yakima. Ephrata is a tiny town were everyone knows you so you get yelled at just living life going where ever. The work is going crazy we have 3 on dates for baptism and we got 2 while I was its been really cool and we keep finding new investigators. We just got new ones who are now progressing, one of them volunteered to pray the first lesson which if you ask me is a huge deal. we have another investigator, but she cant get baptized yet, but she will when she can for sure she says. 

       we cover two wards and they are huge so of course we have a car because it's so spread out. I'd call the Yakima mission areas the arm pit of the world. when people welcome me here they said welcome to Ephrata the land of dirt, dead stuff, and smoke. There's smoke here a lot because its really dry and things look better burned anyway, just kidding there's just a lot of fires all there id to burn is dirt tho so idk how that works. Other than that it's a cool little town. 

         My companion is a short ginger so I always have short companions but that's cool they are just more dense with knowledge. but i can fit more..He trains a lot so its great to get an experienced trainer. I bet you can guess where hes from. Every missionary is from there. The food I've had so far has been so good, people  will just feed you like crazy and they are good cooks so far. There's a lot of fresh corn we've had. my companion  The apartment has a swamp cooler that's the best it gets around here.

       fun fact for ya: people around here say weird stuff a few= a couple 3 still= anymore (they use it in weird contexts) and i apparently live in "Wershington" now by the way, i love it. 

        I am so happy to be here in the field I have learned so much and cant wait to keep going, I've learned so much in less than a week i cant even begin to imagine two years. As long as i act with faith and a desire heavenly father will do the rest and will bless me with the power to bring others unto Christ and i cant wait to see that improve.

       ~Elder Hoskins

p.s. the members here are amazing missionaries and help so much.

HI Parentals!

       Hey thanks for all the dear elders I'm smoking the district in the amount of letters its great. thanks for the donuts they were a  huge hit! The MTC is getting less and less desirable but it's good enough i learn so much and i understand the spirit so much better now. I'm really anxious to leave, I have a TRC investigator and i'm really having a fun time teaching him and I have a Potential Investigator one to who said they'd get baptized so it's fun seeing progress even though it's fake but I'm learning. With that said i'm starting to feel really confident with teaching so i just want to do it for real now. I haven't felt home sick yet but i might start to in the field but hopefully not. 

       Answers to questions: we did service a little and we got the easiest job which was to fill the toilet paper and paper towels in the bathroom. I played basketball once but we mostly play beach volleyball. The days at first are really hard and long but with my district we laugh a lot so that really helps. My classes are pretty normal and we just learn about mind blowing things that i don't understand why we don't know these things before our missions. It was weird walking in as a missionary but great too. I was the very first missionary of the day to go in and get my tag and stuff. The shuttle ride was weird the taxi guy was like quizzing us about the BOM and knew nothing which was annoying but i met my companion on the shuttle which was cool but I didn't know he was my companion when we were on the shuttle.The food is okay. Role playing is almost your whole life here so yes ive done a lot of those. 

Im gad you liked the flowers! My plane leaves on tuesday and I have to get up at 230 to leave for it. I will be able to talk between 5 and like 10 so be ready for that and hopefully my plane wont be delayed and itll be in that time. 

Enough with the boring stuff... i saw a life changing talk on sunday it was awesome! it's really popular for those who have been to the MTC it is called the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar it's awesome and I've just learned and been blessed with so much knowledge of Christ and converting yourself to Heavenly Father and Christ and not the church and importance of hard study and desire to do the Lords work. Love you!

~Elder Hoskins

Hey! I'm a Missionary!

Hi my people!

       Hey people around here.. I mean Elders and Sisters keep calling me Elder Hoskins. It's cool though I

like it it means I'm a servant of God, it's very exciting. I'm really happy here! i got to the airport and got really happy. I've been learning a lot! I didn't know i was capable of learning so much so quick! The atmosphere here is very nice and it's the only place like it. i love my district we are all buddies and we all participate and work very hard, we get along very well. My companion is an amazing guy... *Elder we are best friends his name is Elder Leavitte. We just hang and study well together and our teachings flow really well. I wish our whole district could stay together for the whole two years. Oh and the sisters are great too. I've gained a greater testimony being here in only 3 days. Oh ya and fun fact for ya me and Elder Leavitte have matched tie color 3 days in a row... it must be meant to be. 

       I'm getting in shape too we are on the top floor of the dorm room and the top floor of the class room building i have a view of the "Y" from both windows. Each floor is the 5th floor. it's quite dandy. the MTC is very fun and peaceful but very hard work but the work is fun and sweet. speaking of sweet the donuts every day has been nice. The showers are waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy better than described so that's good they are the best part of the day. My teachers are great and I'm learning a lot from them. our district almost falls asleep every class but we are trying and learning by the spirit, it's all because of the mornings. It's full of really long but busy days today has been better than the others, it hasn't taken as long but days can be as long as they want because I'm having a great time. 

     Love, 

           Elder Hoskins