November 17, 2014

Hey!

So this week turned out a little different than I thought it would.  Elder Assis left and instead of staying in the area like I thought I would I got transferred to a different ward.  Now I'm with Elder Ramirez, he's awesome!  He is from the Dominican Republic.  I'm in the same stake, just a couple wards over.  I like the ward and area, but I was really disappointed to leave my last area.  But I don't really know what will happen now, there is only one more week until transfers and I don't think that Elder Ramirez and I will continue together, I think it is just a temporary thing, we'll see what happens, I guess!

In my new house all of the Elders are great.  There is an Elder from Acre, a state of Brazil that is like, beyond the Amazon, haha.  It's so rare to see people from there that some people say it doesn't actually exist and people are more surprised to meet him than they are when they meet foreigners!

Camilla was baptized yesterday!  It was great to see her and a bunch of other people from my last area at the stake conference! President and Sister broadbent spoke at the stake conference and so they stayed for the baptism, which was cool.  I love getting to baptize someone, it's the best feeling ever!

Here are some pictures!  Love you guys!

November 10, 2014

Hi!

This week was good, Elder Huxford got the shower working, haha!  I've never been shocked by one, and I think they're generally pretty good at not shocking, unless you're trying to fix it.  When ours broke the wires started buzzing, making sparks and then caught fire, but that was the worst experience I've had with one.  I think it was because there was a lot of steam in the bathroom and the wires were really close together, so they short circuited.

Elder Assis is leaving this week, which is sad, he has been an amazing companion and I'm really going to miss him.

It's cool to hear about everything happening back at home! I love you guys so much!

November 3, 2014

Hey!

Hope you're doing well!

This week was pretty normal again, haha.  Our water came back, but our electric showerhead shortfused while I was showering and has stopped working, so I'm still not taking the greatest showers.  But we should get it working again today or tomorrow, what a blessing!  haha!

Elder Assis and I went to 25 de março (a really big commercial center of São Paulo) with some other missionaries that are going home in a few weeks and bought some sweet ties.  Elder Assis is going home next week, so he's what the missionaries call trunky, its pretty funny!

Some members were asking a bunch of questions of what Halloween is like in America, you should send some pictures of Halloween stuff so I can show them!

Oh, for a Christmas package, could you send some new shoes?  Mine are pretty messed up, it's actually pretty funny, I'll take a picture and send it.  Also, is my Ocarina still around the house?  I was thinking it would be cool to have that!

Thanks so much! Love you!

October 27, 2014

Hey!

So this week was pretty normal. I'm getting back into the routine of being a normal missionary, which is harder than I thought it would be.  But it's awesome, I understand so much more about missionary work after being in the office and now I just have to throw myself back to work to apply it!  We had interviews with president and inspections of the house this week, which is always fun!  A good motivator to clean the house, haha!  Brazil is in a really bad drought right now, and so some places are having the water cut, and this week it hit us... We've gone 3 days now without running water, it sucks, haha.  All Brazilians have a "water box" on the roof, so we have water to wash dishes and brush our teeth and flush the toilet and such but we have to bring it in in buckets.  I think it should only last until tomorrow, at least I hope so!  I'm needing a good shower!  Davi was confirmed yesterday, he is really funny.  He has a strong testimony, and is loving bringing the gospel into his life, I think it is so incredible how the gospel is for everyone, no matter what the person is like!

Yeah, the peace symbol is pretty popular, haha, but I just choose to stick with the "joia" that is, being interpreted, the thumbs up.  hahahaha.

I love you so much!  let me know what is going on or if there is anything you want to know!

October 20, 2014

H!!!

So, I'm in a city called Diadema. It's just a little bit outside of actual São Paulo.  It's definitely the poorest city of the mission, which is a big change coming from the office and an area in the center of São Paulo which is pretty rich!  But it is really awesome because the people are really receptive, I'm really excited to be able to work a ton and have a success!  My comp is awesome, his name is elder Assis, he is going home in just 3 weeks, he has to go home a couple weeks early so he can start school on time.  He is an amazing missionary and really knows how to work well, I'm really happy to be able to be comps with him, because I'm learning a ton!  We live and share the ward with the zone leaders which is really cool too. They are Elder Huxford and Elder Guimarães.  We even had a baptism this week!  I hardly know the guy but it was really cool to see his desire to be baptized and how everything fell in place for him to be baptized this week, because originally the plans were for him to be baptized next week.  

Everyone here in my new area has been calling me an "old missionary" and that I'm going to be going home soon when they find out I have more than 13 months as a missionary.  That and the fact that my companion is going home next month, Elder Guimarães is going home next transfer and Elder Huxford is going home the transfer after that has really made me realize just how short my time here is.  I realized that I am probably in my second to last area... and I feel like I'm just now figuring out how to be a good missionary!  At first I was sad to leave the office but now I am really grateful. I think I am able to learn and develop more out here in the field teaching, (in the great favelas of Diadema, haha) than if I had spent more time in the office.  I really want to do everything possible to take advantage of this precious time I have to serve the Lord here on my mission.

I love you so much!  

October 4, 2014

Hey!

Well, I'm really excited for conference today, I can't believe this is my THIRD general conference as a missionary!!  Only one more after this!  I can't believe it.  I love general conference as a missionary, I feel that I am just so much more prepared to hear the words of the prophets and appreciate them so much more because I spend all day teaching people who don't have the truths of the gospel or the knowledge of modern prophets.  Giving them that knowledge and explaining how important and incredible it is that the Lord has called prophets and apostles in our day makes me appreciate it even more!

In Brazil the tradition is that everyone goes to the stake center to watch conference together, which I think is cool, so we are going to be there for all of the normal sessions.  But tonight president has invited us over to his house to eat dinner and watch the priesthood session with him!  That is going to be fun!

I don't think I ever told you guys about the mission baptismal goal.  President established the goal of 410 baptisms in the mission from September to the end of the year divided into goal of 75, 100, 110, and 125 per month.  It's a pretty ambitious goal, but for September we got it!  The mission baptized exactly 75 people!  It was really exciting and a great example to me of how the Lord helps us when we set goals and really work to achieve them with his help.

Some really good things are happening in our area.  We are finding a lot of new investigators with really good baptismal potential, and I am really excited for October, I really think we will have some great experiences with these people!

To update you guys of Wanderley, he's still in the hospital and it looks like he's going to be there for a good while.  He's also going to have to do a lot of physical therapy to get back to functioning normally.  It's horrible to see him like this, especially knowing that it is because he quit smoking and drinking coffee that he is in the hospital.   But I have faith he will come out of it stronger and will be blessed for his faithfulness, but if you could keep him in your prayers it would be fantastic.  

Yesterday we had a really cool experience with Adailson!  He brought a friend to our appointment and had us teach him!  It was so cool to see Adailson so excited about sharing the gospel, he was so excited and happy to share what he knew that he was basically jumping all over the place, talking about the sacrament, celestial kingdom, word of wisdom, just trying to throw everything at his friend at the same time!  I really love Adailson.  This guy can barely read, but his knowledge of the gospel and faith are growing at an incredible rate and he truly has received the Holy Ghost!

This week we had mission leadership council, with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders.  Those are always really cool, and this one was my personal favorite!  A huge chunk of it was just president teaching!  I really love President Broadbent, he is an incredible example to me and I am really glad for the chance to be in the office, so much closer to him than is otherwise possible.  I love being in the office but sometimes during meetings like these when he is training the leaders I get excited for when I can be in the field full-time and apply everything I have learned from president on a larger scale!

I love you!  Thanks so much for helping, supporting, and putting up with me for long enough to get me out on my mission!  It is literally the best!  And thanks for all the continued support and prayers!

oh, and here are some photos from the past little while!

September 20, 2014

Hey!

So looks like from now on p-day for us will be Saturday!  This way there won't be any crazy events or anything that can get in the way like during the week.  

The coming weeks should be cool for the mission. This week we have zone conference and the next week we have a p-day of the mission!  That should be fun, the whole mission is going to go to the São Paulo Botanical Garden and we're gonna eat and I don't know what else, haha!  Here's something funny, some mission president had made a rule that missionaries can't drink coca cola sometime in the past, but President thought that we shouldn't have that rule, so one of the big announcements the mission will get in the newsletter is that they can drink coke!  It's pretty ridiculous how happy that is going to make some missionaries.  What keeps me busy in the office is really just typing up convert information into the system, passing referrals, and organizing materials.  President has given me a few other miscellaneous things to do, like I send emails to parents saying that their missionaries have gotten here safely, and I'm making a 1 page summary of the 20 page missionary recommendation form for each missionary that will be of greater use to him.

I love you!

From September 15th

Things have been going pretty well here!  Here's a funny story, so we were in our Sacrament meeting and all of a suddenElder Aidukaitis walks in... haha, he is in the area presidency and spoke in the last general conference!  It was really cool!

August 27, 2014

Hi!

Tomorrow will be one year since I left on my mission!

This week was really cool, President decided last Thursday that he wanted to have a mission conference yesterday... so we had to get everything set up to do that!  But it turned out being a really incredible experience.  It was basically an all day ordeal, haha.  It started at 3 and was supposed to end at 7 but ended up going until about 8, haha.  The counselors gave talks there, which was really good, it was honestly the first time I had ever seen one of them and the first time I had seen either of them doing anything as mission counselor, but they're super spiritual, and their talks yesterday really showed the missionaries that.  I really hope President starts to do more stuff with them!  We also did some cool stuff like try to take a picture of the whole mission (but that didn't work out, lol) and we filmed the whole mission singing the mission's anthem.  

I don't think I've told you guys about the anthem yet.  São Paulo Sul is the oldest existing mission in Brazil and has a ton of history, and we found some really cool history files and stuff on the computers, including an anthem that some super awesome Elder made and got a choir of missionaries to sing!  It's actually really good and now at all of the big meetings of the mission we sing it!

The real purpose of this conference was to establish a baptismal goal for the mission, we're going to have 410 baptisms before the end of the year!  So the whole conference was about exciting and elevating the missionaries and re-establishing focus on real success in bringing people to Christ. For this conference we did some pretty sweet stuff to really excite everyone, everyone got these really cool printed and laminated cards with a photo of Christ on one side and some quotes and goals and a new motto of the mission on the other. Also, the new assistant used to work doing film editing and photo editing and 3d modeling and music production and basically anything in that realm you could imagine.  He made some really stinking cool videos to help with this conference.

I uploaded the files of some of the videos and the card on my google drive, and soon I'll put up the videos of the mission anthem and the mission singing the anthem! My favorite of the videos is the "meta da missão" (goal of the mission) which was made to announce the goal.  I think it is really well done!  There are a couple of simply miraculously timed pictures that go well with the music that is playing, check out the parts where they sing "when I am down" and then the first time they sing "you raise me up"  It literally makes me so happy, haha!  And crazy enough, Elder Hernandes says that it was totally on accident!

So this week was really busy but it all payed off because the conference was awesome!   And President and Sister said that today is mandatory pday for us!

We're about to leave to see some of the city, but I'll write more later!

August 20, 2014

Hey!

How is everything going?  This week has been good, and Adailson is going to be baptized this Saturday! His interview is tonight.  Today is also a cool training for the zone leaders, President is trying to basically rewire the brains of the leadership, because they aren't really being examples in terms of the amount of work they are doing, and the mission is baptizing much less because of it.  So that should be a cool thing for the mission, and it will be cool to see in the coming weeks if there is a big change.

Here are some cool pictures. President took us to Pizza Hut one day which was awesome, because it is American pizza, haha.  It was also cool because it is outside of the mission, haha. And nearby the office is a place that sells big tubs of açaí, so I buy it all the time, its really good, I really like açaí.

Love you!

August 14, 2014

HI!

This week has been cool!  Wanderley was baptized this Sunday.  It was incredible because this week he was advised that his work schedule would change.  He had been working everyday from like 6pm til some time in the early morning.  This made it hard for him to come to church (but he comes every week because he is awesome)  and he always had to work after church on Sundays.  But now he works from 2pm til 10pm, and has Sundays off!  It's a  much more normal schedule and will allow him to keep the Sabbath day better.  And this happened the week of his baptism!  I definitely think it's a miracle and shows how the Lord always provides a way! Wanderley is awesome because he really searched for understanding, one day in church, in the middle of a meeting he turned to me and asked "What did Enos do that he had to pray so much to receive forgiveness?"  I was super surprised, he had been reading in Enos, haha!  So I gave him a mini lesson on Enos.  It is the best thing in the world when someone really searches for truth.  I have gotten a strong testimony of the promise that "For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."  I honestly have not found one single person on my mission who really, honestly tried to find the truth and read the Book of Mormon who was not convinced that it is true. 

Another great example of this is Adailson.  I don't know if I've already told you about him but we're also teaching a man named Adailson.  He is really awesome too!  He is a construction worker, and is from the north east of Brazil, so he has very little schooling and can barely read. But despite this he is reading the Book of Mormon and has been coming to church for a while now.  He quit drinking alcohol and coffee when we taught the word of wisdom with no problems at all!  He doesn't read well but the few pages he has been able to read he really understands, and applies what he learns in his life,  Its awesome to see!

Have you all seen the Bble videos the church is making?  They're pretty much my favorite thing ever now. Whenever we have lunch in the office I just watch them, they are so cool!  It's so cool to see Christ and his teachings portrayed so realistically.  My favorite is Jesus declares: I am the light of the world, the truth shall make you free.

August 8, 2014

Hey!

I hope you all are doing well!  This week was pretty normal, but we're excited because Wanderley is going to be baptized this Sunday!  He is really awesome, super firm  and really has made a huge effort in changing his life and really committing to the gospel.  He quit smoking and drinking coffee in just a couple of weeks and comes to church every week even though he works during the night!

The office is cool, I'm getting more comfortable now, and I'm realizing that my time here is probably really good preparation for 'real life'.  Because it's more like what life after my mission will be like, having a job, and trying to balance time between working and studying and family. So I thought that was cool when I came up with it!

President was awesome in the zone conferences and leadership council recently.  He really is focused and is doing away with everything that is unnecessary.  His big focus is the number of people that are entering the temple, and then the number of people being baptized, and he says if a missionary is helping a large number of people to do these things that basically nothing else matters (like other numbers, lessons, contacts and such). This is having a good impact, because these past few months the mission has really hit the brakes on baptisms, like the smallest number of people being baptized in a month in like 3 years.

It's funny, president always tells stories of when he served here and how many people he baptized... He baptized WAY more than the mission is now, haha.  But this is giving a really good vision, I think a lot of missionaries had kind of given up on baptizing, because it's so hard, but President is teaching that it's not good enough just to teach someone, but "that if someone is willing to let you into their house and hear your message that you have to convert that person to the gospel." - having real success and really converting people.  It's cool, I'm excited to see how the mission changes as a result of all of this.

I can't believe that I've been on my mission almost a whole year!  It's almost halfway over! AAAhh!  I remember when I got here thinking about all of the people that already had a year, and how old they seemed...  I felt like it would never get here, but now time is passing really fast!  I absolutely love my mission! I am learning soo much, but more importantly I am changing, or at least trying!  Changing to really live the gospel of Jesus Christ with my whole heart, because I know for sure that it is true!

Love you all!

July 29, 2014

Hey!

It is cool to be with an old comp again, because we already know each other, and it's cool to see how his mission has affected him and how we both have improved our teaching skills since the MTC, haha!  My Portuguese took a big leap when I got to the office, because I talk more here and have gotten a bigger vocabulary.

These past few days have been kind of rushed because we have zone conference this week, which should be good.  President changed up the leadership and is changing some rules and the culture of the mission so this conference, which will be president's first, should be fun! President went tonight to speak at the MTC, he really is busy, it's pretty crazy.

We have some cool investigators, one is really preparing for baptism and should be baptized next week, if not this Sunday!  He is really dedicated and has a real hunger for the truth!  His name is Wanderley, his only problems are with smoking and drinking coffee, which he had already stopped using, but started again when he had a really tough situation at work.  So this week he is working really hard to keep the Word of Wisdom! We went to the avenida Paulista a few weeks ago, which is like the Times Square of São Paulo, it was pretty cool!  But I'm going to need to go back because I didn't take any pictures, haha!

I think it's hilarious that you guys liked the word butthurt, haha, and yes, some people are still pretty butthurt, I think that game is going to become like an old wive's tale to scare little children and soccer fans everywhere!

July 25, 2014

Hi!

Sorry its been so long since I've sent an email!  I've been pretty sick these past 2 days, it's pretty bad, but I think I should be better by tomorrow, I hope.  

Transfers were this week, Elder Batalla left the office and I got a new companion, you won't believe who: Elder Brinton!  Elder Brinton was called to be the mission Historian, a new thing here, something president thought would be cool.  Elder Brinton is basically a genius with computers so he has been able to help out a lot with stuff here in the office!  

I am the secretary of materials now, and that means that I get tons of calls from the missionaries.  The office Elders get tons of calls for every little thing.  

It was cool to be in the office during transfers, I got to hear a lot about how it is done and see a few drafts before the official transfer was finished.

President Broadbent is really awesome, I am really glad to be here in the office to get to know him better.  

Elder Brinton, in addition to being historian, will do several things that the materials and executive secretaries used to do, so my job should be significantly easier now!  It's pretty cool

Do I really have an accent? haha!

Love You!

July 11, 2014

Hi!

Its great to hear from you, sorry again that it's been so long since I have sent an email.  

Its so crazy that Julia is driving and Sammy lost a tooth!  How are they so old?! haha!  

This past week was a little bit more normalized, president goes to a different zone each day and is interviewing all of the missionaries.  Sister Broadbent is pretty good at Portuguese. She learned Spanish before, so she ends up saying a lot of things in Spanish, which is funny, but in a few months I think she will speak really well. It should be cool when Sister Broadbent is comfortable enough to talk without a translator, and I will definitely be here to see it!  

And Brazil´s horrible defeat...  woah... We watched the game, and I was in complete shock when it started to happen.  It was crazy seeing all of the fans there crying, like, little kids in the stands balling... It was rough, it pretty much devastated everyone in the whole flipping country.  It was a record breaking defeat, nobody has ever lost that badly in the semifinals of a world cup before, haha!  Everyone here is still really butthurt and upset about it.

I love you, I promise I will write more often, haha!

July 4, 2014

Hey!

I feel like its been forever since I have sent you an email!  Sorry about that, but this past week has been crazy! President and Sister Broadbent arrived!  They are incredible, I love them already. This past week they have spent a ton of time with us and the assistants.  One of the first things that happened is they had a meeting with the office elders and the assistants for literally an entire day.

It was intense, he ended up deciding several pretty big changes there that then got passed to the rest of the mission.  It was really cool to think that I was there for that, and knew about and helped decide those things before even the zone leaders.  Then there was the mini transfer of the American visa waiters, which president made us a big part of too.  He assigned my companion to give a training to the new missionaries, which was cool, and we had more meetings with president before and after that transfer, haha.  Then the next day was the leadership council for the mission, with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders.  We went and actually were part of the demonstration president did on how to do a street contact!  It was pretty cool there, president made it a really open discussion and all of the leaders got to talk and express their opinion, but it's funny because everything ended up just how it had been planned in our first meeting with president, haha!  We ended up staying at presidents house for most of that day to help him with some technology stuff and sister Broadbent made us and the assistants a snack at their house and cookie cake thing to take home!  I am really surprised, and happy, with the large amount of time we get to spend basically one on one with president.  

A couple of the things that are changing are: contacts, they used to be called conversas (conversations) and the standard was to do 70 per week, now each missionary has to do 70 individually, not as a companionship.  A few things with how the mission works with less actives changed, to make things more effective and able to be measured, to be sure the missionaries aren't wasting a lot of time.  And I think president is going to use the mission leadership a lot more and give them more responsibility, which is cool.

Yesterday we had interviews with president, he is going to go to every zone and interview everyone to get to know them.  But he basically already knew a bunch about me.  I really think he is going to be a great president, he has a really huge love for the missionaries, and I can't wait to learn more from him.  He told me in the interview that I will probably be staying in the office for a good while, haha.

I am really having a good time here in the office, I am learning a lot.  I am learning a ton and getting to interact a bunch with the leaders of the mission, which is really cool.

Brazil plays again today, we have actually been allowed to watch Brazil's games, which has been a lot of fun!  I hope Brazil wins, just because it would be cool to be here when that happens, but I'm kinda thinking this might be the end for Brazil.  Have you guys been watching?  I was kinda disappointed when the U.S. got eliminated.

I got those pictures, they are so cool!

I cant think of anything else to say off the top of my head, but whats been going on at home the past couple weeks?

Love you!

June 17, 2014

Hey!

So P-day is today because we went to the temple!  My area is right in the heart of São Paulo now so the journey to the temple wasn't all that bad this time!  I got to see some Elders I haven't seen in a long time, like Elder Paiva, my trainer!  He is a zone leader in Diadema now and seems to be doing really well.  Being in the office has been really cool, we have a meeting with President and Sister Tanner every week on Monday, which was really cool.  I'm learning a lot about how the administration of the mission works and all.  The sad part is we will only have one more meeting like that with President Tanner before President Broadbent arrives.  I really love the Tanners, Sister Tanner is incredible, she said the Broadbents are blessed to have this group of office Elders, haha, and she even made me a cake!  Brazil has another game today, so it's going to be crazy, I don't think we are even going to try doing proselyting today. 

Love you!

June 13, 2014

Hey!

So, I'm in the office now, haha!  We get to choose when our p-day will be, because we have to be in the office during the p-day of everyone else, so my emails will come on a different day each week.  

I'm really enjoying being a secretary, though it is really flipping hard.  I am materials, so we organize the distribution of the materials like Books of Mormon, pamphlets, and dvds to the missionaries, as well as organizing and digitizing baptismal records and handling referrals.  It really is a "work hard, play hard" kind of assignment, where I live and work is like a palace compared to the other places I've lived on my mission, we even have air conditioning and a drying machine, wooo!  We choose our p-day and go out to eat at nice places most days.  But it is really tough, for example, my FIRST DAY here we had to stay in the office until 11:30 to get together materials and mail for the whole mission to give to the zone leaders at a meeting the next day.  Then, the next day we got a shipment of materials, like 50 heavy boxes of pamphlets, which we had to take up the elevator to unpack.  I'm going to have to spend a large portion of my time digitizing baptismal documents (I'm using the word documents because I literally forgot the translation of "fichas", so that's kinda embarrassing). But that is just typing into the computer all the info about the people who were recently baptized.  And I'll probably be here doing this stuff for a good 6 months.

My comp is Elder Batalla, he is from Argentina, and he is super soft spoken.  He has been in the office for 4.5 months so far, and now that he is training me as materials secretary he will probably leave after this transfer. We do proselyting from 6-9 at night.  It's not all that much but it's enough to get some good work done.  We have a couple of good investigators and we are very hopeful to have baptisms this transfer!  

The world cup started yesterday!  Brazil is going crazy!  All of the missionaries had to stay home yesterday and will have to stay home during all of the games.  I need to buy some good world cup stuff to bring home!  

I'm super excited to be in the office, I think I'm going to learn a ton during my time here!

Love you! 

Yeah, I'm really excited to be in the office, especially since the president will switch this transfer, that should be a really cool experience.  Yeah, the area of the office is really nice, like half of the people on the street are dressed better than me, haha!  We don't get to drive though.  Generally it's just the 4 secretaries here in the office, but the assistants come a couple times a week and sleep in our apartment on Sundays.  President comes by pretty often too.  President has local counselors but I don't really know what they do, I met one of them once, but that was only because he lived in Mauá, the stake where I was serving.

Here are some pictures of my comp, Elder Batalla, the office, and the view from it.

Love You!

June 9, 2014

Hey!

I uploaded some photos of my area to dropbox!

This week was pretty crazy.  It started out awesome, I had my first baptismal interview!  I interviewed a 9 year old kid named Mateus.  For being so young it was really challenging...but we were able to sort it out and he was baptized on Friday!

That's when it got weird. I don't know what it was but that Friday just was not my day.  We went to the baptismal meeting and I was standing in the back of the room and didn't hear very well the program that was announced. So, another Elder turns to me and asks, "Are you going to say the opening prayer?"  I said, "I don't think so, nobody told me I would."  Then he said "No,no, but the guy said that Elder Johnson would say the prayer,"  I didn't think anything of it, and after the hymn I went and said the prayer...  it turns out, I wasn't supposed to say the prayer...  It was probably the most embarrassing thing ever...

We had Stake Conference this week, which was sweet.  It was a broadcast from Salt Lake, with 2 apostles, the area presidency, and the second counselor in the Relief Society speaking!  I've never seen a Stake Conference like that before, but I guess it happens pretty often here.  They broadcasted to like 100 stakes here in Brazil.  It was cool because Elder Scott speaks Portuguese and gave his talk without a translator!

I like to play the hymn, "If you could hie to Kolob", and I recently have found a love for How Firm a Foundation. I think the verses of that one that aren't written with the music are beautiful, especially the last one.  I have learned I basically like any hymn that has extra verses written after the ones in the music! haha!

Our investigators have kinda crapped out this week, it was really disappointing.  Maria Fatima (who has gone to church for like 2 months, and was almost baptized like 4 times) didn't understand that being baptized would mean she would be a member of the church, and she told us that she wants to die Catholic...  That was pretty rough, but we haven't given up. I still think she'll be baptized someday.  I'm learning that "the trials are the blessings"!

Today is transfers, but we still haven't gotten the call yet, I'll let you guys know what happens!

Love you!

Hey, so my time is up, I'll answer your questions next week, but I just had to send an email to say,

I got transferred, I'm going to be a secretary of the mission!!!

whooooo!

June 2, 2014

Hi!

This week was pretty normal, but there were some cool things going on.  Maria Fatima should be baptized this week!  The other Elders of the ward baptized a man and President Tanner came to the baptism. That was cool.  

We had the last zone conference with President and Sister Tanner this week, it was really good. They are incredible people, I am really glad I have had the opportunity to meet and learn from them. The new president will be President Broadbent, He and his wife made a video and sent it to President Tanner and we watched it at the zone conference, I think they are going to be good.

The World Cup is getting really big here!  Everyone is painting the streets and their houses with the Brazilian flag and stuff, and hanging up streamers in the telephone lines!  By the time the Cup starts the whole city is going to be covered in decorations!  I'll take some pictures this week to show you!  Unfortunately we won't be able to watch the games at all.  We actually will have to stay home while the games are going on and if there are parties and stuff in the streets (which it seems like there definitely will be)  we aren't supposed to go outside.  This next month will be pretty crazy!

That's awesome that the stake did a fast. I have also really gained a testimony of fasting, and recently me and my comp have been fasting weekly.  I think it's so incredible and it really strengthens me that so many people support the great work of spreading the gospel.

Thanks so much for the prayers!  I love you!

May 26, 2014

Hi!

This week was kinda a bummer.  I was super excited for the visit from Neil L Anderson, but the day he was going to come there were a ton of protests and strikes that cropped up all over São Paulo! Apparently everyone that ran the buses and all of the police went on strike...  All of the missionaries had to stay at home that day. That was going to be a pretty unique opportunity.

But this week we had a really good experience with Maria Fatima and her cousin Natalia! Maria Fatima had a dream that I was baptizing her in the church!  And Natalia decided she wants to be baptized too!  So both of them are going to be baptized this coming Sunday,  It's awesome to see when someone really receives an answer about the church!

This week when we got to church the bishop came up to me and my comp and said, "can you two be the first and second talks today in Sacrament meeting?"  Haha, so I had to prepare a talk during the first 2 classes and give it yesterday.  It was actually pretty good, I talked about true conversion and being an example.  I don't know if I mentioned it but I also gave a talk on Easter day about the life and atonement of Jesus Christ, and that day I was the third speaker!  I had never been the third speaker before, I had to talk for 25 minutes, haha!

There is a simplified hymn book in the apartment and I can play the melody of all of them without problem, I just need to work on adding in the left hand.  We only attend our one ward, and it has 4 missionaries and most of the time there is a pianist, but it would be cool to be able to play in Sacrament meeting sometime! If I could go and tell my younger self to do something it would definitely be to keep doing piano and hapkido!

I love you!

May 19, 2014

Hi!

Those pictures of Jared and Ryan are awesome!  And I loved the email from Sammy, and it's cool that they like tennis!

Tell Julia I love her and Happy Birthday!

This week was kinda rough.  I have been pretty sick the past few days, the first time I've really been sick on my mission.  It stinks but I'm feeling better now and I should be back to normal by tomorrow.  

I think I forgot to tell you all before, Neil L. Anderson is coming to talk to the São Paulo missions this week!  I'm really excited and I'm sure it will be a great experience!  

Oh, also this is pretty cool.  In the house I'm living in now we have a keyboard, so I practice the piano pretty often and I am getting better, haha!

Maybe when I leave this area I'll be able to play some hymns in Sacrament meeting!

I love you!

May 12, 2014

Hey!

It was so awesome to be able to see everyone yesterday!  My English was failing me...!

I was really happy to see you all and the house, because I feel like everything is pretty much the same, I was kind of afraid that everyone and everything would be totally different!

I was glad to see the guys, they're awesome and seem like they're doing good stuff with their lives!  I really miss them and all of you, it was awesome to see everyone together!

That mousse recipe you found sounds like the same thing I do, and the passion fruit could be substituted for any other fruit. I really like making it!  It's easy and cheap, perfect for a missionary dessert!

The conditions are pretty humble, but it really is a good place with lots of good people!

Love you!

May 5, 2014

Hi!

I didn't get the package yet but this week was still pretty cool!  I gave my first training as a district leader and got my new companion, my third trainee, haha!

My district is all sisters, which is cool, I don't really know why they would put all the sisters into my district but I like it, they are all great missionaries.

My new comp is named Elder Calazans, he's from Brasilia.  He is 24 years old, is the only member in his family and joined the church just a year and 4 months ago. he has this powerful love of people and he can talk to and get along with anyone on the street, which is great.

Here are some pictures from when we went to Paranapiacaba, a historical town out in the middle of the forest.

Maria Fatima is going to be baptized this week!  We are really excited for Fatima, she has been obviously prepared to receive the gospel!

That is something I have realized, as a missionary all of the people that accept the gospel are those that have already been prepared and living its precepts.  I feel like my job is really to just find these people and show them the way and not try to convert the whole world.

For Mothers day, we will be able to skype, but I'm not really sure what time yet.  It will probably be after lunch, like after 3.  I cant wait!

Love you!

April 28, 2014

Hey!

Transfers!  I'm actually gonna be District Leader this time!  This transfer is pretty crazy!  Elder Meline is going to the other half of our area and will also be DL.  There are going to be 3 district leaders now.  I'm also going to train, again!  I'm starting to think I'm just gonna train forever.  I'm super excited!  I think this is gonna be a really good transfer!

I'm really happy about Elder Meline.  He's district leader after just 1 transfer here.  He might struggle a little with Portuguese still but he has tons of leadership experience already from his time in the States and he really knows what he's doing.

We are supposed to do 70 street conversas each week.  The other numbers we have to report are baptisms, confirmations, investigators with baptismal date, investigators in Sacrament meeting, lessons with members, other lessons, progressing investigators, references received and contacted, new investigators, and lessons with recent converts and less actives.

Love you!

April 21, 2014

Hey!

Yeah, this week was less exciting, haha!  We didn't really do much for Easter, but here in Brazil Easter means EVERY SINGLE CHURCH (there's one like every few feet) is open and shouting at the same time... except The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, haha!

Last week at district meeting a sister put together an Easter egg hunt, that was a lot of fun!

As far as investigators, this area has been really hard, we kinda don't have people to teach.  The area was divided and the other Elders have the part with all the people they were teaching before, and we were left to kinda start from scratch and find a new teaching pool but it's going really slowly.  We have one family that we have been teaching and has come to church the past two weeks. We are hoping they get baptized soon.  It's a grandma, her daughter, and her son. They're really great people and like to learn. They're very humble. 

Love you!

April 14, 2014

Hey!

So this week was easily the most messed up of my mission... I got my new companion, Elder Meline, who I am training!  Kind of.  He has been waiting for his Visa, serving in the States for a year!  Haha, I'm training a missionary with more time on his mission than me!  Unfortunately we had a really bad experience his first week. We got attacked and chased by a man with a big rod of wood and Elder Meline got hit 3 times, one of which was in the head and he had to get 5 stitches...

We were trying to visit a woman with a member who lives on the street and were at her door when a big shirtless man with a stick appears out of nowhere and asks what we're doing.  He was talking to me, because I was standing at the door, and Elder Meline was a few feet away.  The guy starts saying all sorts of crazy stuff about the church and Elder Meline starts walking in our direction to see what's going on. Then the guy just starts swinging at him... he got hit 3 times, twice he blocked with his arm, bruising it pretty badly and once right on his forehead which began to bleed immediately.  We just ran.  We went to the house of the member who we were with and she called an ambulance and the cops.  The event made a big stir on the street and now pretty much all of the women on the street don't like this guy, and they are going to testify against him in court and try to get him forced to move.  We went to the hospital and got a member to drive us home.  We spent the last few days just letting Elder Meline rest at home. He's really strong; President asked if he wanted to get out of the area but he doesn't want to, he wanted to go out and continue proselyting the very next day!

It was absolute insanity but I think it was a testimony builder for everyone!  And it will make one heck of a story!

Here are some pictures of the Elders I live with, The group ones are when I was with Elder Martineau for 2 weeks, us with Guaraná Jesus which is really popular in Maranhão where one of the Elders is from and me with Elder Meline.

Let me know if I missed any questions, haha

Love you!

The Elders I live with are awesome, we play ninja a lot at home, haha!

Some details about the Guaraná Jesus, its pink and tastes like bubble gum (tutti frutti) haha!