The Fourth Epistle of Elder Hobbs

This is my 4th epistle; it's organized pretty messy since I've been a bit busy with missionary work.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ffTdfUoqUfe9ysnD8

Sketchbook: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gd9QLB9Et3ck3no49

Wednesday:

I awoke with my ability to sing having been entirely restored. Then I called with my mother and then proceeded to the temple.

At the temple we were doing sealings; in essence we were sealing dead people to their dead parents so they could be with them in the afterlife.

Despite the beauty and importance of the ordinance; it was terribly boring.

After the temple, Elder Miner and I did a mock teaching thing, then we did our laundry. We thought we did quite terrible with the teaching thing, but supposedly our score was quite well.

Thursday:

Nothing memorable occurred this day

Friday:

We began some discussion of the deseret alphabet and I practiced it using a version I modified for my own use.

We also took several tests today.

Saturday:

General conference occurred and I wrote around half my notes using the deseret alphabet. The talk at the end of the first session outright spoke out against gambling, and I am certain many individuals currently find themselves at an impass.

To these individuals I say, you already knew gambling was immoral and yet you still chose to draw near to the devil.

Will you be as the false believers who draw near to Christ with only words and not their heart? Will you continue to praise God while acting in sin?

It is not too late for you. Christ understands us all dearly for he faced all our trials, sin, and temptations in the Garden of Gethsemane. Embrace Christ and abandon sin!

Sunday:

The next sessions of conference occurred and I wrote ALL of my notes for that session in the deseret alphabet. I generally only use my chart for double checking, and I can read it (even if slower than the normal latin alphabet).

I liked many messages brought up about community. Community is vital. The church was restored so the saints could have a community; man alone is nothing, but together we are strong.

Just like the great entwined roots of a forest of mangroves, together we can stand against the greatest tides and waves of the world.

Do not allow other labels to supersede your divine identity as a child of God. Satan wants to divide us using labels of gender, race, nationality, citizenship status, economic class, occupation, political affiliation, etc... Satan's one conniving devil, don't get tricked!

After conference, I took a shower and got most of my things packed. I also got gifted some ties from some of the Mandarin elders who are leaving at a similar time.

Then we listened to some music performed live by some missionaries. There was only one performance I enjoyed.

Many musical performances highlight individual achievement; they prioritize the skill of a single person over the solidarity of a collective. Even many duets these days are just a series of solos that only join together on a chorus. I am not fond of this.

On the other hand, two senior missionaries got on stage and sang primary songs without accompaniment, simply both of them singing as one with a rich and lovely sound. It was truly beautiful; it represented the true community of Christ through song. Not even mentioning that the primary songs had more solid beats than the majority of the purposeless Christian-pop written in our day.

Monday:

Did some more packing in the morning and I suffered through the last lousy breakfast of my MTC experience.

Then we had a Q&A with our morning teacher brother Gerson Giron, whom was one of our three teachers. Brother Giron was a native Spanish speaker and he went Portuguese speaking Brazil for his mission.

Prior to his mission he was a generally sinful and unfaithful individual. Over the mission through a variety of great experiences, he learned of the value of obedience, learned the importance of faith, and truly understood how the gospel improved the lives of others.

Then on Tuesday I travelled to the mission. On Wednesday, I slept in a hotel before meeting my companion.

Since Wednesday, I have been too busy to write on the daily.

I have had great and delicious meals with hispanic and white families, I have seen more of the poverty of our country than I have ever before seen in my life, and I have seen the hard-working spirits persisting through it.

Latinos are some of the most hardworking people out there. I've met some who work 10 hours, many who work 12, and a few who work 16; and most work 7 days a week. They work long days for little pay to support their beloved families.

Because of their busy lives, it can be tough to teach them though; they have some very full schedules.

A brand of alcohol called "Modelo" is also very popular among Latinos and it can make the word of wisdom stuff a bit tougher.

Also apparently Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty active around here and they've been stealing some of our friends (which is what investigators are called nowadays).

The food in the MTC was so lousy that I can eat anything out here without complaint. We got some ice cream and root beer for free so I've been having some floats.

Before the mission I was between 110 and 120lbs. Now I'm around 128lbs; I may return home obese at this rate.

I've also been reading the Book of Mormon for the past 3 weeks or so and I'm up to Alma 40. One thing I've noticed is that simply having a witness isn't enough; Laman and Lemuel had many witnesses of the power of God and they still murmured. It takes an active willingness and desire to act upon your witness and choose to endure righteously to the end.

And thus I conclude my epistle