Still Pre-Carnaval

Oi! Tudo Bom! Thank you for all the emails this week! I love reading them all!! I like to hear about even the little things that you all probably think aren´t important. Sorry if I don´t respond to each individual one, but know that I LOVE to read and learn about how everything is going.

I´m doing well. Yesterday was transfers, but nothing happened to me or anyone in our district. Im still in Goiana, and I´m still Loving it. I would like to stay here for at least one or two more transfers, and I probably will. Our focus right now is to find more people who the lord has prepared to be taught. This Sunday, Kelly is scheduled( I´ve already learned not to count my eggs before theýve hatched, its never certain) to be baptized. She loved Church yesterday and is ready. Shes also given us about 3 or 4 good references of other people that may be interested, which is a lot for an investigator. So we are basically focusing on teaching her and Azimom for this week.

Sorry I forgot my camera.... I had like 12 awesome pictures this week of some food here, the countryside, and even some more news about Jake... but I guess youll have to wait until next week. Everyone seems to love Jake and Tina hahaha. But I´ve only seen Jake about 3 times in the past 6 weeks, he only comes out at about 9pm, and I see tina everyday.

So I labeled the last email ``Pre Carnaval`` but forgot to write about it, oops haha. but basically, Carnaval will start officially on the 28th, and end on the 6th of March. We´ve been instructed to return home at 5pm during this time period. I think people start partying at 6pm, but I like to use the metaphor of halloween. Your not supposed to start trick or treating until like 6 o clock, but there´s always a few kids who start a 5pm. Well here in Brazil, theres also those few people who are already drunk at 5pm.... or 11am, but whats the difference?

The reason I call it pre carnaval is because everyone already has their decorations up, and some cool little games already started. I´ll try my best to explain, for example:

3 teenagers will be walking down a street, 2 of them play a steady beat on snare drums, and the other one will be dressed up in a funny costume, ( one time it was a bear, kinda like a mascot for a football game) he just follows them. When little kids hear the drums they all run outside and stand about 15 feet away from the drummers. When a good crowd of kids is outside the drummers play faster, and faster, and faster, until its just a drum roll. Then they suddenly stop in unison and the 3rd person chases after all the kids and tries to catch them!

Even though Carnaval doesn´t start until this friday, Everyone was partying last night. There´s a highway near our house that was just covered with people in crowds dancing to music and drinking. Just imagine Julian Rd. in Salisbury covered with people on either side partying, from the church to the intersection at Jake Alexander. We returned home an hour early last night since we didnt feel to safe, or that a lot of work could get done. But I did tuck a `` Palavra De Sabedoria `` (Word Of wisedom)  pamphlet under a a guy that was passed out on the street hahahaha. maybe it will help him.

Some quick experiences/ awkward moments during my mission so far:

I´ve had some interaction with a drunk person at least once a week during my stay in Brazil so far. Even on my first night in Brazil, before I even knew who my trainer would be, a drunk man was angry and followed us yelling at us for about 5 min. He later told us he loved us and tried to give us hugs haha. Another time,  A drunk guy shook my hand, then tried to kiss it, but I was too smooth and pulled my hand out in time so he only kissed his own hand. He looked at me in shock, like I just performed an amazing magictrick.

-Once, There was an old man sitting near us on a bus playing the song ``Girls just want to have fun`` on his phone super loud and dancing in his seat.

-My first week in brazil I lost my name tag on a bus. I had to use the magnetic kind for 3 weeks, which is annoying on a short sleeve shirt. I have hope that one day it will come back to me, especially since it has my name on it, and the churches name on it. one day....

-there have been Countless awkward moments when people talk to me and I can´t understand them, but my companion is busy with someone else so he can´t help. I just act like I understand and nod my head. I hope it was never anything too important haha

- Every week, at least one kid will say ``Fale Ingles!!!`` (Speak english!!). Now I just respond by saying ``Ingles``( English.) 

-Another time we were walking home with a member from the house of an investigator. He kept looking at me, pointing at the ground and saying ``Diht``. Eventually I realized what he was saying and said `` oh! DiRt`` He replied `` yeah, my house is dirt``  He´s hilarious. I still laugh about that today.

-Temos um rato que mora em a parede perto de minha cama. ele é legal.

I´ll share some more stuff about my experiences in brasil next week too.

So another thing I learned from Elder Bednar is that every scripture, every word in the book of mormon has significance. When Mormon was compiling all the plates and records of his people, he didnt just think `` oh!, I guess this would be cool to include too, or maybe this is important`` He was a prophet. He was inspired in his work. A great example is 1 nephi 2: 15 ``And my Father dwelt in a tent.`` Why is this important? who cares if Lehi dwelt in a tent? Elder Bednar explained that this has a lot of significance. Lehi had land, and a lot of riches that he left behind to follow the counsel of the lord. What an amazing example of obedience. I think his sons, Laman and Lemuel reminded him very often about how they had left all of their luxury and worldy things and were now dwelling in tents in a desert.

Elder Bednar also explained the scriptures where the brother of Jared saw the finger of God in so much detail, he explained the significance of why a period ``.`` was placed where it was. I´ve been trying to analyze and break down the scriptures in my studies more as well. I´ve had amazing results.

For example, I´ve read Alma 32 tons of times, but the last time I actually studied it and learned a lot. A portion of what I learned is that there are generally 4 things a person needs to accept the gospel. 

1. Humility. The zoramites that were thrown out of the very synagogues they built were the only ones who accepted the gospel. Their afflictions were really a blessing because it compelled them to be humble. Which allowed them to learn wisdom, repent, and persever until the end to gain salvation.

2. Faith, or at least a desire to have faith. We cannot accept the gospel unless we apply a particle of faith, or have a desire to belief that it is true.

3.Diligence in nurturing the ´´seed´´ or the gospel within us. with time the seed will grow and we will know it is good. we will eventually be able to partake of the fruit of our tree, which is eternal life.

4. All of these steps require a great deal of patience. I feel it is safe to assume that the very first day the poor zoramites were tossed out of their synagogues, Alma and his sons didnt show up and began to teach them. It may have been years that they were afflicted and enduring this trial before Alma began to teach them.

Right now im studying the laws of  justice and mercy as it applies to us. As well as grace. The talks Im studying are in the September 2013 ensign, but I dont remember what they´re called, maybe you can look them up too, i´ve learned a lot from them.

Jackie I have two favors, Could you try and find a talk called ``the Fourth missionary`` by Lawrence E Corbridge 6/22/02, and send it to me? its really good, and i suppose everyone could read it, Its most applicable to missonaries, but in a sense i think this life is also like a mission.

The other, One of our investigators has a daughter who is a member of the church. her name is Edla, and she´s 15 years old. She said she maybe wants to serve a mission. I told her that you served a mission in Curitiba, and that maybe you could write her a little about it in portuguese. Maybe you could write why you served, some cool experiences, or what you learned, how it helped you. If you have time for all this, i know she would love to read it. Thank you for everything you do!!!

Thank you everyone for all the support, Im doing pretty good. I love serving the Lord, and I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the ture church upon the Earth. I Testify that it is the same organization and Gospel that Christ him self established when he walked on the earth.

I love You all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eu Amo Vocês!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Hodgson

Hey everyone! I hope you´re all doing well. I hope all the school, work and other parts of life are going smooth! Let me know if anything interesting happens or if anything worth mentioning is going on. thank you for the emails. I like to hear about whats going on.

This week was pretty good. We have been focusing on teaching about 5 specific people that have demonstrated the most desire and potential to grow. 

The first is Azimom. He has 3 sons, the oldest is 10, and his wife is an inactive member. It´s been amazing to see Azimom grow. Elder Jara told me that before I was here, he was never interested in the church and didn´t want anything to do with it. It´s been amazing to see the fire that has grown within him, the immense desire he has to know more and help his family. Its amazing that he has been coming to church and keeping commitments, even though his wife doesn´t support it. We intend to work with her more too and find out why she stopped going to church, why she lost the fire that Azimom now has.

We also have Ana, who is about 25yrs old. She was progressing immensly and has always kept every commitment. She is ready to be baptized, but uncertainty and a feeling of unreadiness is stopping her. We work with her almost every day.

Then we have Sandra, She is a single mother with 6 kids. All live with her except for the oldest who lives in João Pessoa, just north of here. Sandra only has problems with money, because feeding 5 kids is difficult. She also accepts everything and is growing a lot. Her main difficulty has been coming to church, because she sometimes has to work on sundays for extra money.

We also have kelly, who is a single mom. She´s 19 yrs old and loves to learn and study scriptures. She loved learning about the plan of salvation, especially when we explained it only using scriptures from the bible. We explained that these truths were lost, and doctrines were changed during the apostacy, and are more clearly explained in the book of mormon. This is also why prophets are so important. Without someone who has Authority from God, we cannot know which way is certain.

As for the Language, I´ve been trying to figure out what speaking fluently really means. Right now I understand most people if they dont talk super fast, and most people understand me aswell. But there are still plenty of words and conjugations I don´t know. like staircase. I dont know how to say staircase.....just the first example that came to mind haha.  The more portuguese I learn the more I understand that English is actually really difficult. There are so many exceptions to rules and words that are pronounced wierd. We have a silent ´´w´´ on the word ´´who´´. what a weird word.

So today, we ran out of running water. I showered using a bucket and a pot that I used to cook pasta yesterday. I was pretty happy about it too, because now I can say that     I´ve showered using a bucket. I don´t know why I feel so special about something so insignficant, but I showered using a bucket! Maybe I can put that on my resume´´february 17, 2014. showered using a bucket´´ hahaha. It made me think of jackson serving in the marshall islands. He probably showers with a bucket every day, or even better in the ocean itself. Its funny that you wrote about him today too mom. Im glad he´s having a lot of interesting experiences. It would be cool to serve in the marshall islands for two years haha. And mikey in Nicaragua. He probably showered with a bucket at least a few times. The food is good too. I havent eaten anything strange yet, like scorpions. Rice and Beans still taste good to me. I love it.  Sometimes I miss the snow, and I cant see those pictures mom. Its always super hot here. I´ve never drank so much water, sweat so much, and peed so little. its crazy.

So this is what I learned from studying purity/charity: there are plenty of scriptures included to explain in better detail.

Why do we need to be pure in heart?

Moroni 7:48 says that charity is the PURE love of christ, and unless we have charity we are nothing. All things will fail except charity.

How can we develop charity, or purify our hearts?

Phillipians 4:8 by dwelling on good things in our thoughts. 

Acts 15:8-9, and 3rd Nephi 19:28-29 says that God can purify people according to their faith.

Mosiah 4:2 we can also repent and apply the atonement in our lives to purify our hearts.

James 4:8 We can ´´draw nigh unto god´´, but how? 

Helamen 3:35 through fasting, praying, humility, faith, and (what i think is most important) yeilding our hearts to god. Our agency is the only thing that truly belongs to us. Everything else we have is really God´s. I think one of the greatest gifts we can give to god is our agency; through obedience to his commandments and yeilding our hearts to him

Some examples of the consequences of lacking charity/not being pure in heart:

D&C 84:19-26. The children of Isreal did not receive the higher preisthood/ higher law because they were not prepared for it, were not pure in heart/ sanctified in heart.

1 Kings 11:9-11 the  Lord was angry with Solomon for turning his heart from the lord.

The blessings of being pure in heart:

Matthew 5:8,D&C 88:68, 97:15-16 the pure in heart shall see god. I really dont understand how literal this is or exactly what it means, and want to study more.

D&C 76: 113-118. The mysteries of God are revealed to those who love God and purify themselves before him.

1 John 3:2-3, D&C 35:21, D&C 101:18 the pure in heart shall be purified like God during the 2nd coming.

1 Peter 1:22. 1 Timothy 1:5, 4:12, Isaiah 52:11 its a commandment to be pure in heart as well.

During Elder Bednar´s talk in the MTC, someone asked: why do we still feel shame for sins, even after having repented? Elder Bednar explained its to help you not make the same mistake again, and also that we do not have the power to choose the consequences of our actions. The consequences serve as reminders to help us improve, and may remain even after repentence. He also explained that our mind is like a jar full of sand, with a small hole big enough for 1 grain to enter or leave at a time. All our sins, bad actions in the past, are represented by black grains of sand. We can slowly replace each black grain of sand with a white one  when we sincerely pray daily, go to church, read our scriptures, and serve others. Through these things over time, we will erase the feelings of shame that may remain after repentence.

Im doing well right now, and dont really need anything. Thank you for all the support Eu amo Vocês!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Hodgson

**Picture will be added soon**

Our District: Elder Jorgenson, Elder Jara (my trainer, from Chile), Elder Pacheco ( the district leader, From Peru) and me. I met Elder Jorgenson in the airport in TX, he served in California for 5 months waiting on a visa. He was trained in english, then was moved to spanish speaking, and now he´s here. He still sometimes mixes up spanish and portuguese words. Its funny because he´s an american speaking portuguese with a mexican accent! haha He´s an awesome missionary!!!!

A picture of me. Proof Im alive. Im wearing Mikey´s favorite tie today!! tell him to write me!!!

First week in Brazil

Hey Everyone, I made it to Brazil! Sorry I couldn´t call everyone like I thought. I didn´t have enough time. I arrived on Tuesday. 

All the new missionaries, the President´s assistants and I went to the Mission President´s house and ate lunch with him. He lives right in Recife, we could see the temple from his house, it´s really pretty. Then we went to some nearby missionaries apartment and had the rest of the day off to relax from traveling all day Monday.

 On Wednesday we were assigned our trainers and went to our areas to begin working. My trainer is Elder Jara, he is from Chile and only speaks Spanish and is barely fluent in Portuguese. He finished his training just before I got here. It is hard to communicate with him because our only common language is Portuguese, which I know very little of. We are serving in Goiana, which is a small city 2 hours north of Recife. Goiana is new to the gospel. There is one church building where two branches meet, but the members are very faithful. They give the missionaries food for lunch every day, or money to buy lunch. They also have a lot of respect for missionaries. Its always hot here!! The Sun is already up at about 5am. and sets at about6pm. It only begins to cool off at about 5pm, so tracting before then is a workout. We have a lot of work to do here and people will generally at least listen to our message. About 1 out of 10 contacts will be really intersted enough to hear more. Goiana is interesting. most of the streets are cobblestone, and there are motorcycles everywhere. There seems to be very little traffic laws out here, basically just dont hit anyone else. I´ve also seen 4 different people riding on horses haha. There are no fast food places, and most of the markets are outdoors. life is just so different here. My district only has 4 elders total. One from Peru, who has only been here 3 months, one from chile who has only been here 3 months, one from Utah who arrived with me, and I. The one from Utah served in California for 5 months waiting for his visa. I´m glad there is another american to speak english with occasionally way out here. Our Zone is called Paulista and has about 16 elders total. I think most of the Sisters serve closer to the city but Im really not sure. Recife is alot like New York or Boston, but the ratio of taxis to buses is switched. There are so. many. buses.

The language is more difficult than I had thought. I try to imitate the accent of the people here when I speak, but I´ve already noticed that different people will pronounce the same words at least 4 different ways. Usually I get the idea of what people are talking about, but not the specifics. It is hard to adjust my ears to it, but I´ve already made improvements since I´ve been here. There is a man from Curitiba( far south in Brazil, where Jackie served her mission) that we teach, and I can understand very little of what he says becuase of his accent. It can be discouraging because I will feel useless. I will feel like I can´t help this person if I cant understand what they need, or any of their questions. But, I know it will get better. The first weeks being anywhere new are always the hardest, especially if you don´t understand the language. I was feeling discouraged but I started to read the christ-like attributes section in Preach My Gospel. Under hope, it says:

When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement.

That helped me alot. When I first arrived, I talked to Elder Hoyt for a bit. He reminded me a lot of Grant because of his personality. He just became the Financial secretary, but he trained my trainer and served in Goiana for 6 months before I was here. When I mentioned my discouragement he said thats how it is for all american missionaries here. After 12 weeks, you will be able to comunicate just fine, and teach according to the peoples needs. He also said to just have fun when problems come up. Dont get discouraged if you cant understand people. When are you ever going to be walking around in Brazil with a Chilean teaching about Christ again? Just have a good time when things are out of your control. Don´t get discouraged.

Anyways, sorry I dont have pictures, I forgot my camera at our house. I wish I had more time to write. Stay in Touch everyone. My mailing address: 

Elder Hodgson

Rua das Ninfas, 30

Boa Vista

50070-050

Recife, PE

Brazil

Eu Amo Vocês!!!!!!!!

-Elder Hodgson

From the Mission President

Olá Famílias!

Gostaríamos de lhes informar que seus missionários chegaram muito bem aqui na Missão Brasil Recife, eles são ótimos missionários e estão muito animados para trabalhar na obra missionária.

Aproveitamos para lembra-los de que a Missão Brasil Recife utiliza do mesmo endereço para receber tanto cartas quanto pacotes:

Rua das Ninfas, 30

Boa Vista

50070-050

Recife, PE

Brasil

Hello Dear Families!

We just want to inform that your missionaries arrived safely in the Brazil Recife Mission!

They are such great missionaries and we are excited to see their work.

We also want to remember you that the Recife Brazil Mission uses the same address for both letters and packages:

Rua das Ninfas, 30

Boa Vista

50070-050

Recife, PE

Brazil

Sincerely,

Atenciosamente,

_______________________

Elder Peixoto

Secretário Executivo

Missão Brasil Recife

(81) 3223-9262

(81) 9186-6321

Getting Ready for Brazil

Oi!!! how is everyone? I've been good lately. Everyone is stir crazy and is ready to leave the MTC. I'm pretty anxious and excited as well. It's been pretty stressful trying to pack and make sure I don't forget anything important, or pack something that I won't need in Brazil. Also our whole schedule for this last week was changed last minute, and my P-day was moved to today instead of yesterday. Jackie, I'm sending you a package full of some stuff I don't need, or just couldn't fit in my bag. I think the MTC will call you to come pick it up soon. they charge $2 if you take too long, but they also said I could come pick it up 5 years from now and it would still just cost $2 haha. I'm really excited to leave and enter the field. While I'm at the airport I'm allowed to call home, so stay near a phone all day Monday if you can. That includes the Messisco's too, except I only remember Emily and Anna's number but I don't whose number is whose haha. I got a package from the Messiscos. Thank you for all the goodies! There is no way I can eat it all though, so I've been sharing with my district. I'm going 'to smuggle' some of it to Brazil and share with my companion as a sort of peace offering hahaha. I also got Jackie's package yesterday. The pants fit good, and thank you for the power converter, it came just in time!!

I'm still learning a lot. This week in language has been focused on subjunctives, conditionals, and just trying to get more vocab. I feel like I have all the regular conjugations memorized, but I just mix them up because they are pretty similar to me right now, I'll get better with time though. Our teachers say our class is really good at speaking already, and guesses that we'll be fluent within 2 months of living in Brazil. Tonight is our last class time here, so I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures of everyone tonight, I guess you will get them next week along with plenty of pictures of Brazil.

For your talk about member missionary work: One of our teachers living in Utah explained how he met a nonmember on a plane. The nonmember knew plenty about the church because they lived in Utah as well and are surrounded by members, but had never been to church simply because no one ever invited him. That's how simple it is. I know that all you have to do is open your mouth, and missionary work will begin. Even though you are not a "full-time missionary" you are still a disciple of Christ. Because of your knowledge of him, it's part of your identity. Simply by speaking to strangers there is a part of you that has been influenced by the Gospel that will come to mind, all you have to do is share it, and testify of it. Even as a missionary, my only role in missionary work, is inviting and a little bit of teaching. The holy ghost does everything else, it Testifies when I teach, It provides all the feeling and places the desire for the gospel in others when they hear about it. That is true for you as well. We know that in the scriptures when God says something 3 times, it is extremely important, Like when he warns people to repent of iniquity he may say "wo, wo, wo."  Well, God says the phrase " For the fields are white and ready to harvest" 51 times in the scriptures. People are ready to hear the gospel. God is pouring out his spirit upon the Earth, and people are seeking for truth. Don't be shy of sharing the gospel either. That is one of my regrets from before my mission. I should have put more effort into sharing what I know. Next time you second guess whether or not to share it remember what is on the line: Someone's opportunity not only for a happier life on Earth, but for Eternal life after death. Also, don't think about what you will say too much before sharing the gospel. Remember, the gospel is a part of you, you have developed Christ-like attributes, (at least to some degree) through repentance. Just be sure to ACT upon your faith, and open your mouth. I promise you will see miracles if you will look for them. They are everywhere.

 I bought a shoulder bag at the MTC so I don't need anything this week. I will talk to everyone on Monday. Keep a phone close by. Eu Amo Voces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hodgson

Picture: Our messy room. I sleep on the top left bed, we had some other elders from our zone with us too. Elder Lee is sitting on the bed, Elder Ballard is writing in his journal, Elder Moss and Elder Hargrove are messing with a toy gun, and Elder Walbrecht is On top of the dresser putting stuff in our room's "Narnia hole" Its a hole were missionaries but goodies for the next missionaries who move into their room. We found a set of cards for "Angry-Birds Uno" Thanks previous inhabitants of 6M- 313!!!!!!

Visa came in!

Hey!!!! I just found out my Visa came in today!!! I'm so excited!!! Its been kind of stressful wondering when I would get it, especially since some missionaries serve 6 months in the States waiting for it to come in. This means I'll be going straight to Brasil on Jan. 13th!!!! I'm flying from SLC to Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX: 12:35pm to 4:15pm. Then from TX to Miami FL, 6:35pm to 10:15.pm then from FL to Recife, Brazil 11:00pm to 8:55am. They will let me call people while I'm at the airport so try and stay available between the first flight times if you can. Also send me your mailing address in UT, and everyone's phone numbers. Love you!!!

Elder Hodgson

Happy New Year!

Oi! Tudo Bem! How is every one doing? I miss you all and hope you all had a good New Year. Can you post all of these emails to the blog? and only post the link to my blog on facebook like once a month? This week was pretty normal haha, but apparently some elders snuck out of their residence hall on New Years Eve and started screaming "HAPPY NEW YEARS!!" I guess I'm a deep sleeper because I didn't hear a thing. So we are officially the oldest District in our zone now, along with our twin district ( they came in on the same day as us) Elder Hodges and Elder Pennington are the new zone leaders, they're doing a really good job. You can check them out in the pictures I sent. You got them right? The only difference is Elder Hodges is on crutches now since he sprained his ankle a few weeks ago. The Temple is supposed to be opening on the 6th, so I should be able to go next Friday. This next week is our last full week in the MTC. It's so crazy how fast everything is going by. I'm already a month into my mission!! I'll be in the field in 10 days!! And even so, I've learned a lot in the past month, It's probably been one of the most productive months of my life in terms of how much I've learned. I've learned tons of Portuguese, to the point that I can understand 90% of what my teachers say, and 2 of them are native speakers from Brasil (They are brothers, and they are hilarious. they pull little pranks on each other by asking us to call the other one names in Portuguese: like Bicudo, and Gordinho. maybe Jackie will get it haha) . I can even watch a video in Spanish, and understand most of what they say. But, I've also learned so much about doctrine and how to explain things in simple terms. I'm a better teacher now than I ever have been before in my life.

I'm not sure what else to talk about. Life is pretty simple right now. A lot of studying with 3 hour blocks of classroom instruction about 10 times a week. 3 all you can eat meals a day. An hour of Gym time 4 days a week, I usually just play basketball. Church meetings every Sunday in Portuguese. A devotional talk from either an apostle or member of the quorum of the 70 every Sunday and Tuesday ( which is always my favorite part of the week). The days seem to fly by, I having a hard time believing it's already Friday again, It feels like I just got here last week.

On Tuesday, one of the sisters in our district asked for a blessing, because she was having a hard time with adjusting to the mission, and her grandfather was having some health problems. It was pretty incredible, because normally when I speak in conversation, I'm thinking of what to say next, so that it just flows right out. When I gave the blessing, I had to stop and ponder what needed to be said, and then the phrase would pop into my mind. Then I had to do this again for the next phrase, and so on. The spirit was really strong and it felt like there was a fire in my chest. I hope I am explaining this in a way that makes sense, because it was so different then how normal conversations happen, and It was so different compared to how I normally form thoughts. It was a really good experience for me, and I wasn't even the one receiving the blessing.

This week I've been spending a little bit of time thinking about the immensity of God's love for us. In the just the visible part of the universe, There are about 10 suns to every grain of sand on Earth. They were all created by God. In Mosiah chapters 1-5, King Benjamin does a good job of reminding us to be humble. Everything we are is from God. Because of the atonement, we are permanently in debt to God. This is why King Benjamin says we are unprofitable servants. We are very insignificant when you begin to understand the innumerable amount of God's creations. But despite all of this, " the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." I feel like God has a love for us that I could never understand, because it is too deep, too massive and too complex. This is just something I have discovered for myself with the help of others in the past week and wanted to share, so maybe everyone else could catch a glimpse of understanding about God's love for all his Children. Here is a video that helps explain it as well, I hope the link works: http://youtu.be/JR8qIrJcJh4

I don't think I need anything right now. Mom mentioned a letter and food she sent. I haven't gotten anything except throughdearelder.com and the package from Jackie on Christmas. Dearelder.com was also shut down for most of the holidays. I didn't receive letters that were from Dec.23 until about Dec 27th.  Also My branch presidency is still wondering if Mom knew The Ventura family or the Lara family from church in Barcelona. Anyways, I hope you all have a great week. Happy 2014. Happy Birthday Jackie, my big little sister! I love you!

Eu amo voces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hodgson