January 12, 2015

Hey Family!

This week was HOT, everyone was saying that it was getting up to 40 degrees celsius!  It's been really hot, so hot that I've even been using sunblock, haha!  We had a service project this week with a member, helping him add on a new floor to his house.  It was fun, we had to make and mix concrete and shovel it into buckets and take it up the house human ladder style!  It was great, the only thing is that because I always have a tie I never have to put sunblock on my lower neck, but in this project we had normal clothes and my neck got totally fried...  It sucks because now I have to use a tie right over where I'm burned,  I walk around like a robot, not twisting my neck so it won't rub against my collar!  But it's getting better.

This week Tomé is going to be baptized!  He stopped drinking coffee last week and isn't having any more headaches!  He was kind of an eternal investigator, so we asked him how long he has been taught by the missionaries... He said it has been 10 years!  I don't think he was taught continuously, but it has been a long time that the missionaries have been teaching him and he never wanted or never was able to give up coffee, but now he has!  We're super excited for him, and if you guys could continue praying for him that would be great, I really believe that is what made the difference!

I love you, thanks for the prayers!

January 5, 2015

Hey!

Happy New Year!

This week flew by pretty quick!  I got a package!  Thanks so much for sending all that!  It's awesome to have some stuff from home, and now I can practice the ocarina!  And I love the cd, it's really good!

I didn't get transferred, and my companion stayed too! So that's cool, but the other two Elders who were in our house both left, which is really sad, I really liked them and enjoyed living with them.  I'm starting to feel old here in the mission, there are a lot of people I know leaving this transfer and a lot more leaving the next one too, and probably the one after that too! haha!  We saw an elder in our chapel yesterday that I have known since almost the beginning of my mission and he said he thought I had already finished my mission, haha, and that I am "eternal" that was kinda funny!

It's kind of back to work for us here, the past while we've had a lot of celebrations and stuff and haven't been able to do a whole ton of work, but now we're gonna have to really put it into gear.  We're teaching some good people, including Matheus, a great young guys who will be baptized soon, Tomé, an older man who stays at home because he had a stroke years ago and is retired,who should be baptized in a couple weeks.

Thank you so much for the prayers, I pray for everyone up there too!

December 29, 2014

Hey!

It was so great to talk to everyone on Christmas!  How have things been since then?  This week was a little slow, which is normal, most people are traveling or with family, so there aren't all that many that want to talk to us on the street or anything.  And this week is the New Year! which is even worse than Christmas here in Brazil, so there's going to be even more partying and traveling and mess in the city, haha.  We're going to have a good barbecue with some members on New Year's Eve, so that should be cool.  I hit 1 year 4 months yesterday, the time is still accelerating really fast.

Anything new happen at home?

Love you!

December 25, 2014

Hey!

So I'm here in the house of the family where were going to have lunch and Skype!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I think I will call in a couple of hours!

December 23, 2014

Hey!

Sorry I couldn't email yesterday, we had the mission party and it went from 9am to 9pm, haha so there wasn't time to email.  But yesterday was one of the greatest days ever!  The mission has a little habit of saying that this is the best mission in the world, and yesterday we proved it!  So we had a great lunch and a super awesome talent show, the mission has lots of incredible talent!  And then President revealed that he had a little present for us.  He got a special screening copy of Meet the Mormons, dubbed in Portuguese!  We were literally the first screening of Meet the Mormons in all of Brazil!!!!!  It was so cool!!!  

I'll admit, being on my mission at Christmas time can be a little sad, Christmas just isn't quite the same here and being away from the family is tough, but yesterday I honestly felt a lot of the Christmas spirit.  My mission really is the best mission in the world!  We watched a couple of other videos too, if you guys haven't seen them yet, check these out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nomxXk6Q1rk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg

I think they're incredible!

I have learned a lot about my Savior and the Atonement recently and yesterday seemed to be a culmination of that learning and appreciation.  
I think it is amazing how the Lord works, by small and simple means.  I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father, all they they have done for all of us as well as me specifically!

President Broadbent's daughter is visiting and we got to meet her yesterday, I had a funny thought.  I've realized that most leaders of the church seem to be taller than normal people, haha.  That goes for President and Sister Broadbent too, and when I saw their daughter she had the same effect, looking larger than a normal person. They aren't even that tall, just a little taller than me, but something about them calls attention, makes them look larger in terms of standing out more than standing literally up.  Maybe that's a spiritual thing, I'll see if I can develop or study that, haha! And my first thought was how the leaders in World of Warcraft like Thrall or the King Wryn guy are like way bigger than a normal character, haha, just a weird thought I had that I thought you might find funny, dad!

Love you, Merry Christmas!

December 15, 2014

Hi!

I hope everything is great with you!  This week was good, we were able to do some good work and Elder Mazzagardi visited the mission.  He was incredible!  the meeting with him was literally just 4 uninterupted hours of him teaching pure doctrine and opening the scriptures unto us!  It seems to me that he literally has all of the standard works memorized, he would be talking about a subject, say a scripture for us to open to and then start reciting it perfectly and explaining it without even touching his scriptures!  I want to have knowledge like that someday, haha!  It really was awesome, because a lot of it wasnt stuff that he wanted us to teach to investigators, it was deeper stuff that was really meant for us to learn personally!

I'm excited for Christmas!  We're going to have lunch with a great family, probably go to another house to Skype, and then another family invited us for dinner!  That will be fun!  

Love you!

December 8, 2014

Hey family!

This week was a little tough. It's getting hard to find people to teach and the people that we find seem to all magically disappear when we visit their houses, haha!  I think it's just because of the Christmas season, more people are traveling and partying and such.  But other than that things are going well, Elder Tanner is great and Elder Mazzagardi will visit our mission this week, so that should be fun!

What is going on with you all? Getting ready for Christmas yet?  I've been thinking about you all a lot!

Love you!

December 1, 2014

Hey!

So I am back in Vila Paulina, where I was before, and now my companion is Elder Tanner!  He is a descendant of John Tanner (super flippin cool) and he is Canadian, which surprises everyone, it's pretty funny!  The work was a little tough this week, because I had been out of the area, it's almost like we were opening the area again, so we had to do a LOT of walking and talking with people to try and build up a nice teaching pool again.  There was actually a day this week where I didn't sit down from the time we left lunch to the time we got home at 9 o'clock, that was a first!  

I hit 15 months this week, it seems like the months are passing like days now...  And so now I have less than 8 months until I go home.  It's passing really fast, haha.  But there is still plenty of work to be done!

One thing I've noticed on my mission is that I am not picky anymore, haha!  Since I have been on my mission I have literally loved any and all food placed before me, I think it's a blessing the Lord gives to missionaries so they don't go hungry, but I'm loving it.  I like lots of things I didn't before, especially fruits, I really like fruits now, like we had peaches with condensed milk yesterday for dessert and I loved it, even though I had always disliked peaches before my mission.  Just something I thought you would find funny, haha!

I missed you all on Thanksgiving, I hope you had a great time!  And I am excited to talk to you all on Christmas!  This month should be pretty exciting, tomorrow we are going to the temple, next week Elder Mazzagardi, from the area presidency is touring the mission, the ward is doing a big Christmas party, then the mission is doing an even bigger Christmas party, then Christmas and New Years!  This season makes finding people to teach a little tougher because lots of people travel and those that don't travel drink and party, haha but it is going to be fun.  I cant believe that a year ago I was with my first companion in my first area.

Love you, let me know how everyone is and whats going on!

November 24, 2014

Hi!

So, transfers are tomorrow, and I am being transferred... kind of.  I am returning to the area I was in with Elder Assis, Vila Paulina!  I am excited, I really love that ward and was hoping I would be able to return.  Elder Ramirez got transferred too.  It was really cool being his comp, even though it was just for a week and a half.  I learned a lot from the way he teaches, in lessons he is super inspired and makes a bunch of inspired questions.  Sometimes it seems like he literally reads the investigator's mind!  I'm going to use a lot of techniques I learned from him!

That would be great if you could get an ocarina sent to me, that would be fun!  And about my shoes, I have others that are in much better shape, I will be fine until they arrive, haha.  And I've heard of those shoes from that website, they're pretty popular in the mission!  In this area there is a store called the Salvation Army, they have tons of stuff and its all super cheap.  I bought some worn leather shoes for 6 reais, that's like $2.50, haha!

Wow, it's almost Thanksgiving, haha It's weird how I don't even remember these things.  But I am excited for Christmas, getting to talk to you all will be great!  and President Broadbent is going to do a mission party thing!

I can't really think of anything else specific I need, just send some stuff you think I would like, I guess!

And 19 degrees?  That's kind of scary for me, haha, I don't think it has ever gotten below 50 where I'm at, haha!  And those pictures are funny huh? the office was a fun time!

I love you!