I've shared a document with you called "Elder Joel Hovey 15 day Fast for a Miracle":http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rpvhP5i30Wf5W8nR4XJHEvw&inv=aubrieh25@yahoo.comIt's not an attachment -- it's stored online at Google Docs. To open this document, just click the link above.Friends & Family:


Elder Joel Hovey is having extreme health issues and is scheduled to return home July 14, 2009 from his mission in SantiagoChile. His desire is to be able to continue his mission in Chile. Wewould like to invite you to participate in a Family &friends-continuous 15 day fast. We are expecting a miracle. What themiracle is, we are not sure, but will put our faith along with yours,for the benefit of ElderJoel Hovey and those working with him to keep him in the Mission Field,(hopefully Santiago Chile East Mission). To add your name to thedocument, decide what hours you are able to fast. Then double click inthe space under 'Name" correlating with the hours you will be fasting.After you have typed inyour name hit 'enter' and your name will be saved on the document forall others viewing. More than one person can participate during thesame hour(s). You can add your name to the hour by double clicking onthe name already listed, make sure your cursor is at the end of thename already listed. Type your name and hit enter. You will have toenter your name on each line for each hour you fast. If you make amistake, you can use the 'undo' or 'redo' tab. or call Marianne801-636-4668 and I will correct it. We love & appreciate all of you andall you have done to support Elder Hovey. Thank you for participatingand serving the Hovey family & Elder Joel Hovey.

---Note: You'll need to sign into Google with this email address. To use a different email address, just reply to this message and ask me to invite your other one.

This is Aubrie not Joel writing, I just wanted to apologize for being such a slacker on
Elder Hovey's blog. I was WAY behind but hopefully now I am all caught up and hopefully I can stay caught up.

Enjoy all 6 or so letters that Elder Hovey has written oh and there are a couple of pictures.

Aubrie

Ok, my comps name is elder Aguirre. I don't know his first name to be honest I forget people have first names here, and every now and then i hear someone call out Joel or something that sounds like Joel and I get all weird ed out. But, ya he is from Honduras, Tegucigalpa. Its actually my second companion from Honduras. I have come to realize that people from Honduras have really strong tempers. You think dad´s temper or my temper are bad, than you should see Hondurans tempers. haha no but really I love my comp. remind me to tell you a story on Sunday about me and my comp getting angry. and my new area is called puente alto 1. the ward is huge. to walk from one side of the boundaries to the other is more than 2 hours walking so we get in plenty of walking, and its helping me get more organized cuz we have to schedule all of the appointments somewhat close or we will never get to them on time. and honestly its really hard to find new investigators here that will come to church and progress cuz its so far away, but that's no excuse. we have been working a ton with less active members and families that have problems to help strengthen them and were capacitating them to help us find new people to teach at the same time. most people think that it is the responsibility of the missionaries to find new people to teach but really its the members responsibility, and the missionary´s responsibility to teach them. so you need to do your part, send the missionaries to make them work with our family and then take them to people you know that could use the Gospel. seriously without the members help in missionary work it is nearly impossible to find people to teach. so do your part and ¨lift where you stand¨ as elder Ukdorf said last year in gen conference. and do whatever you can to help Jemima Dustin and Colt, I know its hard but i worry so much about them, really about everyone but especially them. I have a lot of work to do when i get back on our family.
so ya I was reading the ward newsletter thing and it said Emily Peterson got married?? What the??? Isn't she like 19 years old?? ha-ha and she has a missionary out who is a friend of mine, man I have no chance of seeing Branda in a year and half ha ha. no there is a slight chance she will still be there when i get back. but whatever happens happens. so that's kinda weird to think that your going to have strangers move in the apartment instead of Janet living there. who are they? are they members? if not you better get them baptized!! ha ha but really what better opportunity to share the gospel than that.
did you say the missionaries spoke in church on Sunday?? we have missionaries in our ward?? I don't ever remember them speaking in our ward or let alone ever seeing them. oh which reminds me i kinda feel bad now for all the times i avoided the missionaries when they wanted me to go on splits with them, now i know what it feels like. so here is something you need to write down so when i get back you can pull this out and make sure i do it...... when i get back i am going to go on splits all the time with the missionaries and take such good care of them.
ok and mothers day.... so here´s the deal. You are going to need to call me again if you could and here is the number 569-8902-3738.
and i need you to call me at 8:10 CHILEAN TIME. ha ha. once more that is at 8:10 CHILLEAN TIME Sunday night. and ya if you could contact Branda that would be nice. and tell whoever is not there that I will have God send down some lightening bolts to strike them. So if they don't want to get hit with the wrath of God by his lightening bolt send with love from Elder Hovey then they better be there.
I cant really think of anything I need this week but I know there is something I need but I'm sure I'll be ok until then. Oh but you could go tell Dave at Mr mac that those pants that he sold me are terrible, all three pairs have holes in them. and the gloves I bought from Missionary Mall have a hole in them and I have only used them twice, ha ha.

Well I gotta run but I'll talk to you on Sunday at 8:10 my time.

love you!!!!

-Elder hovey

hey mom hey dad!!! so I'm glad you had a good time down in mesquite. what were you doing down there?? did Dustin have a softball tournament or something? oh and before i forget, did you send the office my insurance information. and what is the insurance company wanting now? are they trying to make a claim??
but hey my comp is awesome!! he helps me a ton with my Spanish and I'm trying to teach him English a little too, but its hard cuz i still have so much to learn about Spanish. well......... i mean Chilean, because honestly the Spanish they speak here is terrible!!! there is Spanish, then there is castellan(which is another form of Spanish) and then there is Chilean(which is a mix of all 3, and you double the speed that they talk and mumble all your words together and poof you get the Chilean language). but no my Spanish is getting better and better everyday but its frustrating cuz I'm a perfectionist and hearing my comp who is from Honduras speak perfect Spanish and then hearing an imperfect Spanish come out of my mouth is frustrating. but i know got is helping me.
he has had a very tough life and it makes me really thank full for all the countless blessings i have and have had my entire life.
so you wanna hear a funny story?? ya i was walking down the street the other day talking with my comp while on our way to an appointment and there was this guy just inside his fence washing potatoes..... so the funny thing is that the mashed potatoes that we eat here(which is not very often) are amazing!!! i don't know what they do but they are really good(and just in case this gets to my mom they aren't as good as her mashed potatoes). so ya i love mashed potatoes here and this guy that was washing them wasn't really washing them like most people do..... he had them in this little Chilean rigged pool like thing and he rolled up his dirty Chilean pants and washed the potatoes with his dirty Chilean feet hahahhaha. i started laughing so hard when i saw it and pointed it out to my comp and he died. its pretty much been what has cheered us up this last week when we get shot down, we just say papas which means potatoes and we are magically laughing and happy again.
so anyways this sector is HUGE!!! and there are also 4 missionaries in this ward, but we need it cuz there's no way 4 missionaries can cover this much territory. but we don't have many investigators to be honest. the missionaries here last change i don't know what they were doing. we have one lady named Silvia who has been to church twice on her own and she hadn't even talked to the missionaries and we have been teaching her this last week and things are going good. only she is very catholic and likes do drink so we've got our work set out for us but she is going to get baptized its just a matter of time. ill let you know next week a little more about my investigators, i just don't know them that well up till this point and we haven't found many new investigators this week. well i take that back we found 3 newbies this last week but none of them came to church and none of them really understood anything we taught them. not because we struggled to teach them right, but because they really just couldn't grasp a simple concept or maybe cuz generally they just weren't that interested. but there is still hope they will progress you never know. so pray your guts out for them and me if you would.
so i don't have Kata´s email or her address or anything right here on me but ya you should totally send it to me and ill make sure she gets it. that would be awesome thanks mom!! and i don't have the Padilla´s email on me either, i have it written in my agenda from last change so ill send it to you next week. but hey i gotta run i love you all so much thanks for all your support and prayers. i really can feel the lord blessing me as a result of them.

-Elder Hovey

Hey mom hey dad!! i here your in mesquite?? whats going on down there?? and dad I'm glad your healing so fast, but don't hate me if i sound like a parent but what would you say if i had just got done with surgery and i was running around like you are right now??? ya I'm pretty sure you would say Joel you need to take it easy, and probably get a little frustrated. Ive learned now how much of a beating my body has taken my whole life and wish i could have taken it a little bit easier now. But moral of the story is you need to slow down or in 2 years your gonna be right back in the surgery room, or in a wheel chair.
so how are the jazz doing?? any other sports news? its hard not getting to see any sports here and the one sport that the people really like here is soccer. Don't get me wrong i like soccer but its not basketball or football. so this computer I'm on is so slow I'm gonna kill it. and I'm trying to figure out how i can upload my pictures from the baptism but its not letting me so maybe next week if your lucky. So i had changes today and i got moved..... only it wasn't what they told me it was going to be. I didn't get moved into that sector i was telling you about with the gringo that has less time with me, but i didn't get moved to a new zone, and a whole new sector. My new companions name is Elder Aguirre, and he is from Honduras like my second companion. He also doesn't speak a lick of English so I'm gonna improve a lot of my Spanish this change, I'm excited. But leaving my last sector was so hard. Last night we had a family night and we made waffles(thanks mom) and had a short lesson, but we said by to a bunch of my favorite people here and it was really hard to say bye. I wont lie i got kinda emotional. Especially when i had to say bye to Kata( the girl who i baptized last Sunday) and Erick. I was so close to them and i have to settle for a handshake when saying bye to them when i care about them so much. man that rule is hard sometimes about not hugging converts. so anyways I'm in a sector called punte alto 1 which means tall bridge, but i haven't seen a single bridge here so i don't know why its called that. but I'm right next to the mountains and I'm way excited to maybe go up in the mountains. I guess our sector is huge and there are 4 missionaries in this sector just like my last one. Elder Frost stayed in my old sector so I'm at least glad he is going to stay there and keep an eye on our converts and the families we were working with. We found this family this last week that is awesome!! the dad smokes and is trying so hard to stop and the rest of the family was soooooo excited when i explained the book of Mormon to them. They wanted to read it right then and there. I'm positive they are going to get baptized in a few weeks. I'm so excited. and we found another girl who is getting baptized the 3rd for sure. she knows what she wants and she is working so hard to get to the baptism. I was teaching her about Joseph smith and i looked down for a second and when i looked back up at her she had tears streaming down her face. It was so cool the spirit was so power full. She is really easy to teach cuz she is so receptive to the spirit. We actually re-activated her boyfriend too so this last change was awesome. I feel like i left my last sector with so much left to do. Its really hard to leave all these people you are worrying about and praying for all day everyday in the hands of other missionaries, i mean i know there gonna do really good job with them but still its just hard not being able to talk or see them progressing.
well hey mom if you could send me some of that face wash in the next package you send my way i would very much appreciate it! no hurry.
oh and sorry i cant send any pictures this week i cant figure out this computer its not working right. but hey i love you all and ill talk to you next Monday!

Love

-Elder Hovey

Hey everyone!!! this week has been an awesome week!! we found 7 new investigators this week, had 24 lessons and overall it was a really good week. dad I'm glad to hear your doing so much better!! you ll have to use my camera and take some pictures of Jesse and Tate playing baseball and send them to me. Oh and speaking of tithing....... have you talked to Jemima and Nate, and Aubrie about that??

INTERUPTION FROM AUBRIE...I just want to make it clear that Tom and I ARE full tithe payers as for the rest, I don't know so that is all I have to say about that so on with the letter...

So i have some really good news. i had a long interview with my president and i was explaining to him the situation oh Kata our investigator and Erick. And we got everything worked out and SHE GOT BAPTIZED THIS LAST SUNDAY!!!!!! I was walking with her and Erick and i was talking to her about all sorts of stuff and she stopped and said hey when do i have to decide who is going to baptize me? so i said whenever you want to. and then she said she already knew who she wanted to baptize her but she didn't want to hurt the other persons feelings.... so i said to her that it doesn't matter who baptizes her just the fact that she is getting baptized is the coolest thing in the world. So she finally worked up the courage to say well i want you to do it. As much as i want to say i didn't care who baptized her, i would be lying if i didn't say i wanted to baptize her so bad!! she was my first convert and i had worked so much and so hard to get her to change some things. We had a total fight this last week to get her baptized but it all worked out in the end. She ended up having to have and interview with the president of the mission to get approved to be baptized cuz she has had some really serious sins in the past. but she was honest about all of them and she has truly repented and that's the coolest part of the atonement, she is totally forgiven from all the dumb choices she has made. I love this gospel so much, and even more importantly i love Jesus Christ for the love he showed to all mankind in giving EVERYTHING he had, not just half, or a part...... but EVERYTHING he had so we could be saved and our sins could be forgiven. But I'm sending you some pictures of the baptism and everything, and the coolest part is that Kata and ERICK are most likely going to get married in the future and they are really seriously thinking about moving to Utah. so we are all going to hang out after my mission. Erick is 20 and Kata is 18. but seriously the way she has changed is unbelievable. Erick got up at her baptism and bore his testimony which is something on its own(he has piercings everywhere and all sorts of tattoos, but he was dressed in a suit and a tie). but when he bore his testimony he started crying and so did Kata and it was honestly sooooo amazing!!! I'm so happy for them its not even funny.
So Easter was most definitely the best Easter i have ever had in my life!!!! we remembered Christ, renewed our covenants with him, brought someone unto him, served him the entire day and then we topped it off with some good chocolate at the end of the day. not to mention we had 130 people show up to church this week. and normal amount of people in the church every Sunday is about 100 in this ward. we have been working our butts off and its finally starting to pay off. Changes are coming up this next Monday(a week from today) so I'm most likely leaving this ward but i feel good about saying that i have left this ward better than what i found it. This change is been a ton of fun, but we have been working really hard to. Believe it or not i have to turn to elder frost alot that we need to focus more on the work. And coming from me that's kinda surprising cuz I'm king of screwing around and as they call it her in Chile ¨painting monkeys¨or screwing around. But ya I'm kind of a fun hater now and I'm really serious now, and i never joke around.........ok so maybe I'm lying but really elder frost loves talk about everything and believe it or not I'm kinda mature sometimes and direct our focus back to the mission. So I'm getting a new companion next Monday to and I'm really nervous, i have had really good luck with companions this whole time, i haven't had a companion i wanted to kill, or maybe my patience has really grown, but i have a feeling that I'm going to get a companion that is really going to try my patience, so if you hear I'm coming home in about a week or 2 its probably because i have killed my companion. haha no jk i promise i wont do that.
We ate dinner on Sunday with the family Padilla who are pretty much my family away from home and i said the closing prayer and they know I'm most likely leaving next week and the mom of the family started crying and had to walk out of the room when the prayer was over, i guess I'm just really good at saying prayers or something...... but for real she was really sad cuz I'm leaving and it hit me so hard that in this ward there are so many people i don't want to leave. i have been with them for almost 4 months now and i love them to death and its gonna be really hard to leave and get put in a different ward. but its ok wherever I'm called i know its from the lord and I'm gonna be happy wherever He puts me.
but hey i need to go. I'm out of time but thanks for the support and everything you do for me.
i know i was gonna ask you to send me something but now i cant remember what it was. next week i hope i remember. haha love you all bye!!


ohhh and mom!!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! You are honestly the best mom ever and it sucks that it takes me being out here away from you to realize how much i really do love you but thanks for everything. i couldn't ask for anything more than what you are and i can only hope and pray that i can take some of the amazing characteristics and qualities you have. i love you so much!!! and i hope you had the best birthday ever!!

Hey Family!! how are things going at home?? things are about the same with me. this whole week was crazy, we didn't really have hardly any time to work in our own sector this week which was hard cuz we had a couple investigators that we didn't get to stop by and visit this week. I went with the assistants to the president to their sector and did divisions to learn the sector up there and the president told me to learn the sector fast and do whatever it took to learn it, so he pretty much told me that's where I'm going next change without actually saying "Elder Hovey you are going to San Luis." my investigators are doing good, Kata is probably getting baptized this week or the next.......but we had a little set back with her so well see. but hows your hip dad?? oh and mom are you still getting knee surgery?? thanks for the package Easter candy. i just listened to Sam Strong's talk while i made myself lunch. I'm so excited for him. He seems like he has already matured a lot!! general conference was so awesome!! man i cant believe all the times i slept through conference....... i was dumb. but hey i gotta run. i love you all and I'm sorry it was super short this week. talk to you next week

-Elder Hovey

So me and my comp elder frost do talk alot about stuff from home, cuz after all we do know a lot about each other from before the mish. but to be honest we are working our butts off. this last week we found 9 new investigators and we have a baptism scheduled for the 29th of this month and a few for the next week. which is GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! freak ya!! haha i know I'm a loser and probably sound like a such a nerd but i never once in my life realized the real life importance of having a living prophet today. there real live men today that speak with god and he tells them what we as sounds and daughters of god need in our lives and they then turn around and teach us. how sweet is that!!! i wish so bad i could go back and listen more attentively, and more importantly listen with the spirit. listen with the intention to learn something and then put in practice, and act upon what GOD is communicating to us THROUGH his servant the prophet. ya back to my investigators haha, man you just had half of lesson 1 of the missionary lessons haha. I'm such a good missionary I'm teaching through email.
so it seems like I'm always giving you a report on my health haha. but ya it was nothing serious, i took the drugs and I'm all better now. and I'm really sorry if my English sucks now but I'm really thinking in Spanish now, well for the most part. and my mind went from at the first of my mission, from thinking in English trying to translate to Spanish and now its almost the other way around., to where I'm having to translate to English. this last change really helped me having a comp that didn't speak a word of English besides the few words i taught him, like jinks(when you say the same thing at the same time), and psyche and a few other pointless words. haha. but ya so i am pretty much the luckiest missionary ever, I'm living a dream of my whole life by getting to serve with one of my best friends from home. and I'm having a blast while sharing the gospel with the people here in Chile. i honestly think this is going to be my best change(6 weeks) on my mish. so i have no more time to write I'm sorry. Well hey about the ring if there is an Internet site i can just go too, to just send me the Internet site or the pamphlet thing and ill just give it to the person that needs the ring.
tell Jesse congratulations and happy birthday for me. i love you jess!!! that's so cool that he has the priesthood of god already!! i cant believe you are 12 years old bud, it seems like 2 years ago you were barely walking around with your big head making you tip over as you tried to run or walk haha. Jesse you better serve a mission, its so much fun and its honestly the best thing you could ever do in your life. so start getting ready now and you will be the best missionary ever.
so mom that's awesome you found a diet your loving huh?? whats it called??' this lady here started talking to me about how she wants to lose weight she wants to know. oh and PS i got the memory card. thanks so much!! man i gotta run sorry, man my hour on here flies by every single time and i don't get to write all the people i want to. but sorry i gotta obey the rules so i gotta go and ill talk to you next week.

Hey everyone!!! I bought a lama jacket today made of real lama fur and it’s sweet. Me and Elder Frost had to go to this place called Santa Lucia today about 40 min away from our sector to get him a pair of glasses and we got permission from President to go and look around there while we were waiting for his glasses to get put together. I found a ton of cool stuff. I think I spent like 50 bucks. Ha-ha I’m gonna be so poor when I get back home. Oh well that’s what money is for right......it doesn’t do a whole lot of good if you leave it in the bank account all your life.
Dad, good luck with your surgery, I hope all goes well for you. and I know your going to be on your butt all day so I want to challenge you to study your scriptures while you have all that extra time. I have seriously grown to love the scriptures here and I treasure my study time I have in the morning. I learn so much in that little time I have to study each day. Oh and my journal.... ya I’m trying to write in it but honestly we have very little time. If I try to write in it every night I go to bed after the hour I’m supposed to and when I’m trying so hard to obey the rules its nearly impossible. But I’ll try and do better, not that you can read my hand writing anyways. Oh and ya I would love it if you sent me some vitamins. I might need some face wash if you could, but it’s not a huge deal. Ya, I did get your CD’s thanks mom, you’re the best!!!! I listen to them every day.
Its still hot as ever hear and I don’t think its going to cool off for about a month or 2 longer. But hopefully it will come soon I’m dying of heat ha-ha.
So I was thinking the other day about how never realized how much every little action really affects our salvation. That’s why its so important that we involve the lord in everything and every decision we have to make. I had a lesson this week about prayer, and we talked about how prayer in the morning is directly connected to prayer at night. They aren’t supposed to be the same but they are a continuation of what we presented to the lord when we started our day. If you read in Moses about the creation of the world, God created everything spiritually first then he created it physically. Our prayers are supposed to be done the same way. As we start our day off, we start it with a prayer, presenting our plans to the lord and pray for his help to fulfill all of our plans during the day (or in other words we create it spiritually). During the day we have a prayer in our hearts and we are out in the actual world trying to fulfill our plans and create what we presented to God to start off the day. And when we end our day (with a prayer) we present our day to him again and thank him for EVERYTHING because everything comes from him. You need to read the talk by Elder Bednar from last general conference about prayer. I think it’s called PRAY ALWAYS, I can’t remember exactly but it’s really good. The other awesome part about prayer is that prayer is not just a one way thing. It is really is a 2 way thing we just need to talk to him and live righteously and listen for an answer and prayer becomes a conversation.
So this week we have an investigator named Kata that is ready to get baptized, she knows its true and knows she wants to get baptized, but the problem is that she is living with a friend of hers that is a boy and he is a member, they say they are living the law of chastity but they still cant live together unless they are married. So were trying to help her find somewhere else to live and find her a job and when that happens she is going to be baptized.
Well I gotta run but I love you all. Thanks for your prayers. You are always in mine.
Talk to you soon.

Elder Hovey

hey mom and dad, no i didn't get your email last week. but ya sounds like you had a blast 4wheeling. this week was much better!!
my investigators.......i found an old investigator that i taught that moved and she is getting baptized in a different mission really soon!! ahh it was so awesome to see her!!!! ohhh i really could not stop smiling no matter what i did after i talked to her. and we found a mom and her son this week named Elizabeth and Felipe who are very interested. I'm actually going to teach them as soon as I'm done writing. wish me luck. we also found Arturo again and he is doing not so good, he fell back into drinking and smoking and the problem is we cant help him really cuz he is here for like 2 days and then leaves town for 20 days to work, and we set up appointments to teach him and he didn't show up to one and then he said he was going to come to church and he didn't show up so its sad but i don't know what we can do for him. changes are coming up this next Monday so i might get moved to a whole new area. well see. but ya we haven't had a whole lot of luck finding new investigators this week but we have been working a ton with families that are inactive trying to get them back to church and to get their priorities pointed back towards god. its incredible how strong some of the inactive´s testimonies are, the problem is they just forgot that they have testimonies. and most of the time they just need a reminder or a spark to start the fire again.
oh and your so right about serving, we have been doing a lot of service lately. we actually painted almost the entire house of this family the other day. haha i knew i working for Gabe would come in handy. but on top of that i have found that if I'm not getting along with my comp the best, i just serve him and then ya i literally forget about the differences we have. its amazing, but you think about it all Christ did was serve. at times i think we need to be preaching all the time and serving the community is a waste of time but i know Christ would be serving people in every way possible, the difference is he would teach who he is serving while he was providing the service.
thanks for the packages again but hey i don't know what happened with my memory card.......so if you could let me know asap what to do cuz i might just buy a new one if it comes down to it. i don't want to wait 3 or 4 weeks to get it, that's pretty much an entire change of memories and photos i wont have. but hey love you all thanks for everything, especially the prayers, tell everyone i say hi.

This week has been tough I wont lie. We had a lot of investigators stop investigating for one reason or another and we had a tough week trying to find new investigators. It wasn't all bad news though, we had 3 different non active families show up to church this week that we have been visiting. Its awesome to know that we had a part in the re-activation of a family. Lots of people get baptized or sealed in the Temple even and then they stop going to church and its sad cuz they think that they are good people and they don't need to go to church. Its awesome if you are a good person but they forget that they made a promise with God, that they were going to do all these different things and going to church may seem like a small thing but it isn't. Its where we get a chance to take the sacrament, and get a chance to re-baptize ourselves in a way and become clean of our daily and weekly sins. When you get a chance you should go and read the sacrament prayer, its so powerful. The end part says that we can have the spirit to be with us. If you want the spirit to be with you..... the sacrament is key. But ya sorry that was my preachy moment where I just went off on a tangent.
We need bikes here but we don't have bikes cuz our areas are very small and if we did have bikes we wouldn't be able to talk to as many people and on top of that the people here love to steal. Haha but no bikes are one of the easiest things to steal so its to much of a hassle.
My feet suck!!! I have a spot on the back of my foot now that has 4 blisters on it and all 4 of the blisters are in the same spot.... if that makes any sense. To clarify a little bit, there is one blister and then another blister formed on that one and then a another one formed on that blister and then one more formed on that blister. But honestly its not slowing me down that much. We're still out working everyday all day. So with this week being really hard I'm a little down... but whats awesome is that when your down your odds are way better that your life is going to change for the better soon. Besides there is a promise in D&C 84:30-33 about how God will renew your strength and your body, its awesome. But hey its supers short this week I'm short in time but I love you all, thanks so much for the package with all the stuff in it to help me. I love the pedometer, haha your awesome!!! But hey still don't know where my memory card is...hope it didn't get stolen in the mail cuz it wasn't in the package. If you can check on the ctr ring for me I think the size is 10 or something like that. But love you so much thanks for everything.

-Elder Hovey

Hey mom hey dad!!! ya i got both your packages thanks so much!!! you are the best!!! haha seriously the other missionaries probably think I'm a polygamist or something because i was getting new packages every week. and sometimes 2 packages at a time. haha they probably were thinking hes got to have more than one mom...... but nope i just have 1 awesome mom. and it does help when Branda is sending me packages too. so ya its good to hear everyone is doing better. i was getting a little worried there for a min but I've been praying my guts out and i know god is taking care of all of you. so what was the sickness called that Steven got?? i was trying to explain it to my companion and i couldn't figure out how to explain it, mainly cuz i don't really know what it is.
so this week has been good. i still hurt.......everywhere haha, but i worked pretty much a normal amount. we didn't have a TON of success but honestly it was a good week. we lost a few investigators, but we found 4 new ones this week too. 2 of them have baptismal dates and by the end of the week we have another investigator who is most likely going to have one too. I'm excited. hopefully they keep progressing and growing and they can uphold their baptismal dates.
so my companion still doesn't speak any English, he understands a little bit but my Spanish is coming along really good. I've been teaching him a few English words too, its really cool. only i have pretty much been teaching him words that don't matter that much like yikes.... or jinks(for when we say the same thing and the same time). So I'm gonna send you a picture of this thing called a completo. they are Chilean hot dogs and they are huge. they put guacamole, tomatoes, cheese, a ton of mayo and whatever else you can think of. they are sooooooooo good!!!! oh man i had 2 just before i wrote this email.
they just changed the schedule for us on our p days and we get up an hour earlier cuz we have a class with our zone every Monday morning at 8 am. it was hard getting up this morning i wont lie. but today has been great, i bought a pair of shoes for 24 bucks that would normally cost at least 50 there in the us. how are things with the new president?? haha i walk down the street here and every yells go home jankee(Yankee), or they yell como esta obama(hows Obama). its really funny. i just laugh it off when people yell things at me. i´m starting to realize how corrupt and wicked our word is, things i used to think were no big deal are now clear in my mind that they are not good at all. but that doesn't take away from the fact that their are still some very loving and good people in the world. and I'm trying to find those who the lord has prepared for me. its hard at times but I'm so glad I'm here. I'M so jealous!! i have been craving going out 4 wheeling!!! well don't have too much fun. and take lots of pictures!! has my camera came back yet?? you guys better put it to good use!! and send me some pictures, i don't know if you know how but have Nate or someone show you how if your not sure, or someone in our ward. oh speaking of which i met and old couple who was baptised forever ago, so i thought hey brother haggard served here forever ago........ maybe they know him. so i asked them if they knew brother haggard.....well elder haggard and they said hold on. they went into the back room and pulled out a stack of like 100 pictures of elders that were here in chili a long long long time ago haha, and i started sorting through them. each picture has the name of the elder on the back with a short note to the couple. sorry i forgot their names........i know big surprise i forgot something, but ya i sorted through the stack of pictures and to make a long story short.........i didn't find brother haggard. haha lame ending huh??? ya i know but i thought i would tell you anyways. but ya i love you all thanks again for all your support.
talk to you next week.

-Elder Hovey

That's cool that your sending these letters to people. I hope they help someone.
I really hope every one's illnesses go away!! You are all in my prayers!!!
Quick update on my status:
So this week has been good... but at the same time not so good. We haven't been able to leave the pension (apartment) much cuz of my feet. I got an infection in it and it got all swollen and it kind of really, really hurts haha. I went to the Dr again today and he said to stay in my pension and soak it 2 times a day in salt water. I have to put cream on it twice a day too. My blisters still remain ALL over my foot, but I found out its cuz I have screwed up feet. I went to an orthopedic place to get some soles for my shoes. They took an imprint of my food and said my feet are really messed up that's why I get so many blisters. So I ordered some really nice insoles for my shoes and hopefully it will help. My thumb.......it still hurts like crazy, I don't think it has really improved at all to be honest. But all the same I'm doing fine. A few physical problems aren’t going to stop me. I'm not supposed to go out and work really this week but we’re gonna go and work about half days I'm thinking. Otherwise I'll feel completely worthless, haha. But on a serious note I know the Lord is challenging me to make me grow more. He knows what’s best for me and I fully trust in him and will keep working hard, as hard as I possibly can, because I know without a doubt this Gospel is true. The same Church that Christ established 2000 years ago is today restored thanks to the prophet of God, Joseph Smith. I have come to know and love him for the sacrifices he made for all of us and above all that my Savior Jesus Christ...... I can’t even begin to explain my gratitude for Him. We would all be worthless beings were it not for Him, and Him giving, not just his life for us, but he gave us everything he had, his life, his love, his soul, and more!!! I love you all and I love this Gospel thanks for your prayers and stay strong through anything and everything.

Sorry its so short this week I have very little time today I'll write you more next week. I love you all thanks for your prayers.

Elder Hovey

hey its elder hovey!!

Good news!!! i heard we're getting a wall mart here in about a month or 2. so I'm crossing my fingers that we do cuz then i can buy all the American products i want. im nervous to find out who my next comp is gonna be. and my comp right now is going home this next Monday, he is so sad..... i feel bad for him cuz we personally didn't get any baptisms. but we do have a lot of promising investigators. that arturo guy, he is doing really well. he found a job, and we gave him a blessing on his leg and he doesn't even limp now. his leg is doing SOOOOOO much better its amazing how fast the priesthood heals people. but ya I'm doing really good. my blisters got better about a week ago, then i had blisters form in random spots that weren't there before and my feet started hurting way bad but the last few days they have been feeling way better. most of my blisters are going away and just about gone. sorry my English sucks i am forgetting how to talk in English haha. but that's a good thing. my Spanish is coming along pretty well but, i still cant freakin understand tons of what the people say here. they speak such a different form of Spanish and speak so fast its unbelievable. but arturo (my investigator) found a job, and is doing really good. he came to church this Sunday again and bore his testimony in the classes after sacrament meeting. he got up and left during sacrament cuz he said he didn't feel worthy to be there, and he knew some people that were there that also don't live the way they are supposed to, and he was mad that they were there. so we followed him out and explained that not everyone is perfect. if everyone had to be perfect to enter into the lords house.... it would be completely empty. everyone has a bad thought, or bad feelings in church, but the important thing is that as soon as those thoughts, or feelings enter our minds you kick them out and fill your head with the things worthy to be in your head. and the church is a perfect place to do that. he insisted in still going home, so we told him that there are 2 people who are fighting for him right now(god, and Satan), we asked him who he thought wanted him in church and who he thought wants him to go home. he knew the answer and decided to return and it was a whole different experience after that for him. We always need to realize that people are always watching. everyday, every hour every minute and every second there can and is most likely someone watching us, we need to be(in every moment) a disciple of Christ and an example. More importantly God is always watching. so don't forget your actions don't just always affect you, they affect the people around you too.

well whats the latest news?? are all the nephews and nieces talking yet?? we had a musical fireside last night and it was so powerful!! we had about 200 people there and wow it was amazing. i gave a talk and we had a bunch of special Musial presentations to go along with each talk and it was awesome!! well i gotta run. let me know how things are going. love you all. bye

-Elder Hovey

I'm feeling a little better. my rash went away but the itchiness is still there. i never did find out what it was. my blisters are slowly getting a little better, they hurt like crazy but ill be fine, i know god is blessing me for fighting it out. we found two awesome investigators and they are going to be baptized on the 19th, that is if they keep up on everything they are supposed to do. but i think it will work out. the work is tough, we get shut down and ignored alot but its all worth it when someone really listens. I gave a talk in church on Sunday along with the 3 other missionaries in i live with, and it was awesome. We really got the members attention and i really think we got them motivated to help us out. The best way for missionary work to go forward and best way to get people baptized is through the members so were really working on trying to get them motivated and to go out and do part of the lords work. if you see a pedometer you should send me one. i want to know how many miles i actually walk a day. and i could keep track throughout my mission.
my apartment is small, nice and full of ants haha. its really not bad at all, were really blessed to have such a nice apartment. and my companion is awesome, same with the 2 other elders i live with. we get along great and i love em. i miss 4 wheeling!!! being out here makes me really how truly blessed we are. especially people from the states. the poor people in the states would be very well off here. so don't forget to get on your knees and thank the lord for every blessing you can think of. I wanna challenge you to every night for a week in your prayers to not repeat yourself once with the things your thank full for and you will really start to see how many endless blessings god has given us. thanks for everything dad. tell everyone i love them and miss them. if i get a min after i finish writing my president a letter ill try and write a little more. but for now i love you and ill tty soon.

1st letter, sorry I am a bit behind

Hey everyone!! the mtc still awesome!! so i gotta get straight to business! NAte and bri im gonna leave the camera at the front desk so you can come pick it up or have someone pick it up. thanks so much for letting me use it, you saved my butt. i guess you dont have to buy me xmas present this year. thanks for the cookies they were soo good!! way better than the nasty cookies they have here at the mtc. the food isnt bad, only it gives me the WORST gas ever!! only it somehow doesnt smell bad. i think its because of those cleanse pills mom gave me before i left. hahahaanyways when you get my camera back i was thinking you could send it to me in chile. You should buy a thick book, thicker than my camera, and just cut out the pages so my camera will fit inside the book and tape the book shut and sned it to me in a package. That way they wont steal it.

So this last sunday i watched the testament and i forgot how good it was. I remember going up with the family forever ago when i was like 12 and i rememmber bawling my eyes out. And ill be honest i cried even harder this time. The spirit seriously hit me so hard. and i know that doesnt sound like a good description but really it did. Every hair on my body stood up on it's end. Not that i didnt know that Christ died for us before but now my testimony of that is far stronger than it was. uhhh this gospel is soooo amazing i love it!!! Sorry i dont write a lot but my district leader is a nazi about writing on any days other than p days. and we barely get any time to write on pdays so.... dont hate me. So i did see brad and he looks good. he seems to be having a good time and we took a few pictures the other day at the temple. speaking of which..... i will be on the temple grounds on sunday at 2 till around 4 if you feel like comeing and visiting me hahaha. jk but really i will be there. How are things at home?? My spanish is getting better. im still gonna struggle a little out there but ill be ok.oh and the primary sent me a big picture of an xmas tree they drew and signed. tell them thanks so much and it will be hanging on my wall in chile for sure.

These are a few pictures that Elder Hovey has sent to us from when he was in the MTC. He has written funny little comments on back of each picture. If anyone knows Joel, I mean Elder Hovey so it is hard to get used to saying or in this case typing but if anyone knows him you know that he is almost NEVER serious so one day a sister missionary said to Joel "Do you not realize that some things are sacred? Are you ever serious?" I think that she was a little perturbed but after getting to know him she must have realized he is a total jokester but does know that there are certain things that are sacred. We love him no matter how goofey he is and we appreciate his jokes, not always but most of the time.

We tried to escape...but they caught us.

Elder Hovey, Elder Ortiz, and Elder Uceda (his comp)

Elder Uceda, A random Kid, and Elder Hovey

This is district 48B Modeling Company

There wasn't enough room so I decided to point from the ground.

All the Elders in his district

The evolution of a Missionary

Elder Hovey and Elder Gleave

(they are cousins in case you didn't know)