December 13th, 2010

This Wednesday Elder Araujo, from the seventies,  is coming to the mission to speak at a conference.  I am so excited because I will be going to Marilia and staying in the house in the area Palmital.  I finally get to go back to my first area!!  Hopefully, I will get to see some of the people from there.
Things with our investigators are like good and then bad and then good again. We found out that Guilherme's drinking problem is worse than we thought.  He actually slept a day in the street this week and come home totally hammered.  It is sad because he is only 19 and has had such a hard life.  I think he really wants to change, but doesn't know how.  Our other investigator, Juliana, is really cool.  During the Plan of Salvation lesson, she just started crying.  She told us that she did not know that she would actually be able to see her parents again.  We are teaching a lady named Carol who is dating a less active member.  She came to church last week with his family, even though he didn't come.  We have taught her a couple of times, but it wasn't until yesterday that I noticed how truly interested she seems in the church.
I haven't been very good at writing letters, tell Grandma and the Lamb's thanks for the birthday packages and I will try to write a letter.
Elder Galdino said he got a Christmas package from you.  But nothing for me yet.  Haha.  I still have hope I will get mine in time.  Transfers are tomorrow and who knows what will happen.  If I am still here I am going to the Branch Presidents house for Christmas and will have you call me there.  But I could get transferred.  I'll let you know next week.
Can't wait to talk to you!  I love you all.

December 6th, 2010

Rainy Brazil

I am great here in Pres. Prud.  Everything is going good and a few of our investigators are progressing a ton.  We are still having trouble getting them to church.  Yesterday, Guiherme couldn't come because he was helping his uncle build a house and Edna didn't come because she was feeling sick.  Samara and her mom, Maria Helena came.  It was Samara's 2nd time and Maria's 1st.  Maria Helena liked Relief Society and the Gospel Principles class, but not really Sacrament Mtg because no one shouted "Glory" or "Hallelujah"!  She is a very religious lady and a tad bit crazy.  Also, this guy named Vino came.  Him and his friend, Vanderson, past by the church and asked how they could find out more about the church.  It just so happens that Vanderson's mom is a member.  It is way cool.  But it is hard to teach them because they work a lot and live far away.  We will definitely figure out a way to teach them soon.
There is, also, a less active member who has stopped coming to church when he was denied the priesthood because he is a Mason.  He is a 33rd degree Mason (which is the highest rank) and the Chief of Police.  We are going to try and help him get back into the church.
Other than that this week wasn't great.  We haven't been able to teach a lot because the weather is so crazy.  It was on average 95 degrees and everyday this week it would downpour on us.  There wasn't one day we didn't get rained on.  It doesn't help the work, because no one wants to open the gate for us.  They don;t want to get soaking wet.
Everything is going OK with Elder Alves.  We do live in the same apartment, but I don;t have to be his comp.  The thing that makes it the most difficult is he is such a hypocrite now.  Everything he argued with me about and got mad at me for, he does now.  Sometimes when I look at him I just want to hit him.  I don't like the feeling that I get at all,  hopefully it will get better.
There is one thing you could do for me, I would like some more socks.  Mine have been magically disappearing.
Love you all.

November 29th, 2010

Elder Ghormley is getting transferred!

I can't believe it has been so cold in Utah.  Mom, I would give anything right now to be able to be somewhere it is cold.  It is soooooo hot here.
Thanksgiving was really good.  We had it with Bia and Guy.  Guy is an American, so Bia made us a real Thanksgiving dinner.  Except we had chicken instead of turkey (turkey is way to expensive). But we had real mashed potatoes with gravy, something that Brazil knows nothing about. And lasagna, which was the only weird part about it.  You guys had 12 pies?  Man, i wanted some chocolate pie on thanksgiving so bad. Haha. So the other day we were listening to Christmas music, but it just doesn't not feel like Christmas season when you are sweating like none other!
This week things were a lot better.  The young man, Guilherme, is getting way interested and told us that he needs a church in his life.  It seems like he is in a rough situation and I really want to help him find a way to better it.  Also we are teaching a lady named Edna, who talks like none other.  It is very hard to teach a lesson that isn't an hour long.  But yesterday, we read 3 Nephi 11 with her and as we talked about the baptism part, she was like "I think that once I visit I will know better, but I think I want to be baptized and follow this church."  I was like WHAT?!?!?!!  It was so awesome; she is a way good person, she prays every night and is reading the Book of Mormon.  I'm not sure if I will, but I truly hope I stay here one more transfer.  Transfers end the 11th or 12th.  I don't want to leave yet, because if I do I will not see these good people get baptized.  Back to some investigators.  So, Juliana we went back to talk to her again and she actually was taught by the missionaries 13 years ago.  But now she has a lot more desire to understand.  When we taught her the Book of Mormon she couldn't wait to start reading it.  so that should be pretty good.
So, now some sad news of the week.  We are having another emergency transfer.  My new friend that I made out here, Elder Ghormley, is going to be transferred.  It really sucks, because we have become such good friends.  And his replacement does NOT make me happy.  His replacement is....Elder Alves..., I was not happy to hear that name again.  I guess we will see how that goes.  At least he is not my companion, and
Elder Van Orden and I get along really well.
I love you all so, so much.

HUMP DAY

Made it through my first year!!

Elder Ghormley and I made this shirt in honor of
all my companions.



You can't burn a shirt without a little lighter fluid.



Shirts make a way better fire than ties!

Year one officially finished!

November 14th, 2010

I can't believe that my one year mark is here on Thursday.  Today for P-day I am going to get my shirt ready for the burning.  Haha
So, this week Vera and Gildo called me and said they don't want to change their religion. But they would still like us to come over and chit chat.  That made me feel way sad and kind of mad, they both know that this is the true church but because they have been in theirs for so long, they won't make the change.  This happened with 2 others people this week as well.  Marcelo has started avoiding us again and his friend doesn't know what is going on with him.  I am feeling frustrated, annoyed and sad.  I don't know what else we can do for them.  I know I need to remember that it is our responsibility to give them a chance to hear the gospel, but it is their responsibility to accept it.
On Sunday I was asked to give a talk about the important part members play in missionary work.  I told them that we can't do everything by ourselves, we are just two Americans who don't speak the language perfectly and we need their help.  The Branch President told me it was exactly what the members needed to hear.
I can't believe what the Jazz have been doing lately!  They are just crazy!!!
Thanks for everything. I love you all.

November 7th, 2010



So funny story, this morning I went to take a shower.  Before I did, I thought to myself why is this annoying piece of paper here in the door that doesn't allow the door to shut correctly.  I think I will take it out.  I took it out and turned the handle a couple of times, everything was good.  Then I shut the door and tried to open it and well, this time it wouldn't open.  I yelled to Elder Ghormley to open it from the other side, that didn't work either.  We spent the next hour (includes taking a shower) trying to open the door.  In the end, we had to take the hinges off the door and the door off the wall.  It was an interesting experience.
I have come to hate the weather in Brazil, because it is just stupid.  One day we are dying of heat, then the next day it rains a freaking ton all day, then the next day it is super hot again and humid.  It is no fun! 
This week has been kind of difficult, a couple of days were just straight up bad.  Tuesday was some sort of holiday.  Nobody was home and if they were home, they were drunk.  We didn't teach a single person that whole day.  On Wednesday, Elder Ghormley's comp went to Londrina for a conference and so we worked in a threesome.  It is always stressful to be in a threesome.  We did work in a new area which could be really good, but it is a little bit far away.  It should be a good idea to try and work there, though.
It sounds like you had a good testimony.  Fast and testimony was good here, too.  It is funny, I think we have a couple of members that only come to church on Fast Sunday to bear their testimonies.  They are always those really interesting ones that you really don't understand.  I was the last one to bear my testimony and I truly felt something different about this one.  I felt like I gave my true testimony, not just the one everybody has and says.  It was a cool experience, several members told me it was a good one.
I sent home a pic with my new pillowcase.  Can you tell the YW thanks for me!
I love you all so, so much.

Happy Halloween



I know, I have really hairy feet.








So first off, I believe that Brazil has never heard of Halloween in its life and that is just sad.  I think this was the most I have thought about home in a long time, because I love the Halloween season.  All of the scary movies that come out, including my favorite the last SAW movie.  Which was one of the last movies I saw before I left.  But I know this is where I need to be, so I will just keep on keeping on.

This week was a pretty decent week, nothing like super amazing happened.  It was super freaking hot!! And not only that, it decide to rain on us the whole week.  I don't like HOT, HUMID, RAINY weather.  It is just not me at all.
Funny story...Remember the picture of my feet, where they were all super ugly and infected looking?  Yeah, I found out I have athlete's foot.  My the top part of my sandals that I wear in the shower would never get dried out and so the goo was making my feet infected.  Remember how I hate flip flops?  Well, I still hate them, but I had to by a pair to wear in the shower.  I have had  them about a week and my feet are getting better.  I still don't like them, but they are cool glow-in-the-dark!

This week we have taught a ton of people that all seem to have potential, but we are still struggling with getting them to come to church.  Marcelo didn't come to church yesterday and I don't know why!!  We did have one investigator, Samara, come to church yesterday.  But for some reason the branch president decided he wanted to talk to her, they had a like 25 minute talk on I have know idea what.  Now, she isn't sure what to think about the church.  We taught Vera and Gildo the WOW and they said they would totally try to follow it.  They were even going to come to church today and then there kids came from Curbito for the weekend, so they couldn't come.  Guilherme, the guy with the depressed mom, we challenged him to read the BofM.  He said he thought it was way interesting and he would keep reading it.  That would be totally sweet, but we will see how that goes.

Today is transfers and it looks like I will be staying with my comp for at least one more transfer.  I hope I stay here through Thanksgiving because I totally marked our lunch with a lady named Bia.  She lived in the US for 20 years and has an American husband, so that would be an awesome lunch I think. But, yeah, that was my exciting week.

I can't believe the Jazz lost to the Suns.  Elder Ghormley is from Arizona and he is giving me crap now.

I don't have much time left because I was kind of lazy today and now my time is running out.  But I love you all so so so much and I miss you all so much.

October 25th, 2010

Hello! Mom, thanks for the advice about not getting caught up in the numbers.  I have learned that that is really hard to do in our mission.  Elder Ghormely and I have actually stayed up many nights talking about this.  A lot of missionaries here don't care if afterwords the person goes inactive or not, they just want the number of baptisms to go higher.  I truly care about these people.  I hate seeing other people give up on them so easily.  I am trying my hardest to find a way that I can shoe these people that what they are feeling while we teach them is the Holy Ghost telling them it is the truth.  Thanks for the help, mom.
This week my comp and I just worked our butts off!!  We had quite a good week, but still can;t find someone that is like perfect.  After every first lesson, we ask the person how they feel about baptism and if they would like to set a date as a goal to work towards.  We didn't have one person that would set a goal, I think that was the annoying part about this week.  We did teach a lot of people that seem to have a lot of potential.  We taught Fabio and he said he couldn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet because he had like 20 wives.  So, we explained the situation about that and then taught him the Book of Mormon.  I think it could help him out a ton.  We also found a mother and son.  The mom has been really depressed, but she said that she felt something different from the first time we talked to her.  We are still teaching Vera and Gildo (the slipper people) they are way cool, but they work on Saturdays and Sundays and can't come to church.  Gildo's brother passed away this week.  We were able to reteach him the Plan of Salvation and that he would be able to see his brother again.  It really helped him out a ton.  We are teaching this crazy lady, Marialena, she is just wacky.  But she does everything we ask her, minus going to church.  She wants someone to go with her, hopefully next week we can work that out.
We are teaching this kid, Guilherme.  He is the best friend of the branch presidents son who is on a mission and I had met him in the CTM.  Guilherme is way cool.  He is really a thinker and isn't sure about God.  We asked him to pray about our message.  He said that he did, but he didn't really think he had asked in faith.  We taught him a good lesson and I think he understood the importance about asking with a true desire to know the truth.
At church I was super sad because none of our investigators decided to come.  But then, out of nowhere, Marcelo showed up.  I was so excited, my comp was just confused as I was trying to explain to him in half English/half Portuguese that Marcelo has shown up.  It had been about 4 weeks since the last time he came.  I was super nervous because I had to teach the Gospel Principles class and the lesson was my "favorite subject", the Law of Chastity.  A friend of Marcelo's was there and he is a returned missionary, he helped Marcelo understand,  It went really well.
The weather here is totally bipolar.  It will be super hot during the day, then all of the sudden it starts raining and then goes back to super hot.  It is just making me mad.
Me and my comp are getting along good when it comes to like being friends and stuff.  It is nice to have someone that can relate to American stuff.  I did learn that he likes to watch lil kid cartoons and he understands a lot of my random Sponge Bob quotes.  Also, he watches How I Met Your Mother, that just made things so good. Haha
I can't believe Bryson's comp won't let them eat at the members homes.  The is truly the greatest thing.  When you get to know the members you gain trust in them and they gain trust in you.  A lot of the members don't help the missionaries because they don't think they can trust them to teach people they know.  I think that is why we eat at their house's, to develop a relationship and find out if they have any friends that they would like us to visit. 
Thank you so much for everything, I love you all so, so much.

October 18th, 2010

Hello, I am doing great here in Pres Prud.  Things with our investigators are going about the same, they are all super, super flaky and I just don't know how I can change that.  It is strange to get a new comp in the middle of a transfer,  you are not quite prepared for it.  My new comp is good.  His name is Elder Van Orden, he is from St. George and seems pretty cool.  He speaks the language pretty good for his second transfer, so that is good.  this week was just rough because I had to take on a whole new list of responsibilities and well, it just wasn';t a great week.  We did a ton of walking and contacting people, but we don't have a strong area that we can go to everyday.  I worry about my comp a little. Sometimes he seems like he doesn't really care about the people, he just wants to baptize and make sure he has high numbers.  I noticed this while we were doing contacts ans talking to people.  He wasn't interested in returning to that persons house if they didn't seem like the perfect contact.  Maybe that's why he got transferred here, to learn a little more patients in this harder area.

We had interviews with Pres. Tavares on Saturday.  That went very well.  He told me that he has a lot of confidence in me and thinks that I am a great missionary.  That made me feel happy.  I also gave my first baptismal interview and I was nervous.  I didn't help that he didn't pass because of certain things that he did in his life, but yeah.

I have no idea what has happened with Marcello and Vivian, both of them have like vanished.  Elder Van Orden wants to just cut them, but I am not ready to do that.  They both have so much potential. 

I received my package.  I was so excited for the Heyward jersey, it is awesome.  The shoes are also wonderful.  I took a picture of them next to my old ones, it is really quite hilarious.

October 12th, 2010

Everything in Pres Prud is good, I am getting a new companion tomorrow.  This morning we received a phone to tell us we were having an emergency transfer today.  Elder Almeida was transferred to Foz.  My new comp is getting here tomorrow morning, his name is Elder Van Orden.  I am a little nervous because he is an American and this is his second transfer.  It looks like I may have to do most of the talking.  But I am super excited for this experience that I have been given now.
This past week was quite interesting.  We had so many strong investigators that, well, just don't want to go to church.  It is kind of nerve wracking when that happens, you don't know how much more you can do for them if they won't come to church.  That Vivian that we taught was so strong, but in the end she didn't want to come to church, so it has made things very difficult.  She even told us that she know the church was true, she knew the second we gave her a Book of Mormon.  I need to find a way to help her.  Marcello has liked disappeared.  He has always been hard to teach because he works a ton.  But now he has a girl friend and we haven't talked to him in a couple weeks.  Vera and Gildo (the slipper lady) are also having a hard time coming to church.  Things have been hard for a while and Pres. Tavares has talked about closing the area is things don't pick up.  It is hard because we have so many good contacts, who know they have been taught the truth, but they don;t want to do their part.  We really need to step up the work here.
My day with Elder Galdino was way good.  He helped me out a ton.  He did get his package from you and was really happy and excited about it.
No!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe the Braves are out of the playoffs. oh well, next year.  Now I have to root for SF and Texas.
I can't believe that I am having my 1st Halloween out of the house, but it's all good.
Big news:  My P-Day is now Monday.  Tell everyone.
I love you guys so, so much!

October 6th, 2010

This week was way amazing for me, I had so many good experiences.  First would be conference weekend.  I loved a lot of the talks.  I think the one that helped me the most was President Uchtdorf's talk about needing to slow down our lives.  It truly helped me, he said the four most important relationships in our lives are with God, our families, our fellowmen, and ourselves.  Ourselves, this one was the one that hit me.  I am one of those people that argues with myself about things, I can bring myself down by not being positive or expecting too much of myself.  This talk helped me to understand how I can help myself become better and happier.

Elder Galdino got here last night and will be here until Thursday.  I get to spend the day with him on Thursday, which should be awesome. He has been my favorite and best companion.  He is definitely one of my best friends now. 

This week was good.  We were in a trio until Saturday, which really is just annoying, because we have to work two areas.  On Monday Elder Almeida and I changed how we are going to work the area.  This area has been very difficult for a while, for that reason we have changed how we are going to work so that we can receive the blessings from our Heavenly Father.  I think that we already have.  Monday, we walked a butt load to a referral that was brought to us from a different city.  This guy named Bonatto and he asked us how did we know his name.  But, he was really accepting and friendly with us.  He loved the message we brought, he was all like come on Saturday so you can teach my wife about this too.  It was a good experience and I think it will be a blessing for us.  The other blessing we received really changed my thought process about my mission and life.  We went to a referral, Vivian, but the address did not exist.  The member who gave it to us said there most be something wrong, because Vivian was so interested in hearing about the gospel.  We went back and planned on knocking every door until we found her.  Funny part of the story, we were on the wrong street the whole time.  But, we found her house and taught her the first lesson.  Elder Almeida taught the first part and I taught about Joseph Smith.  As I was teaching the spirit was so strong, stronger than I have ever felt in my entire life.  As I explained about the first vision, she just said "Wow."  I knew in that moment that she felt the spirit, that this was something that she wants in her life. I truly know this is the true church of Jesus Christ.  That He called a 14 year old boy, Joseph Smith, to restore His gospel on the earth.  I am so thankful, really, for this opportunity I have been given.  I know for sure that this is where I should be and that I have been called of God to be here.

Haha, I can't believe BYU lost to Utah State.  Why is it that the year I'm not that there in the states is the year that BYU is totally sucking and the Utes are dominating?  But it's all good.

I love you so much.  I am so thankful for everything that was given to me in my life and for this wonderful experience that I have been living right now.

September 30th, 2010

I am doing just great.  This week was pretty good, nothing special happened.  The Mt Dew did not have as much carbonation as it normally does, but it was so good.  I have already drank all of them. Haha.
So, I guess Elder Alves has been causing a lot of problems with his companions.  He was put with Elder Franco and they only lasted four days together.
Yes, I did forget my planner again, sorry.  But I will do my best to remember what happened this week.  It finally rained in a Pres Prud.  It hadn't rained for like 4 months, so it was truly needed by the people here.  But it didn't just rained, it freakin' poured.  I don't know if I have ever seen rain like that before.
On Thursday we were able to teach our new family; Vladamir, Luciane, Bia and Clara.  They are a way awesome family and are really interested in the gospel.  Their son is a foreign exchange student in Manti, Utah and is going to church with the family he is living with.  They couldn't come to church with us because they already had an appointment, but hopefully they should be coming to conference.  Which would be sweet!!  The lady who makes the slippers is a very interesting lady.  It is hard to know if she really wants to learn about the gospel, or just wants someone to sit and talk with.  Marcelo is doing way good, but it is hard to teach him because he is super busy.  he didn't come to church this Sunday because he works at the mall and they had a huge sale on Sunday.  But after the sale was over he still wanted to come, it shows that he still wants to progress more in the gospel, which is awesome. 
The last couple of weeks we have been in a trio.  Elder Ghormley's comp had to go to a conference, so we have been stuck with him.  It is difficult working two areas.  Elder Miller got transferred last week, which sucked because I liked him a lot.  But the new kid is Elder Fernandes is in our apartment now.  He was in my first district in my first area, which is awesome.
That is cool that Bryson is in France, keep me updated on how he is doing out there.
I love you guys so, so, so much!

September 22, 2010

I think this is the first time transfer day snuck up on me.  I am staying in Pres Prud with Elder Almeida.  I forgot my planner at the house, I will do my best to remember what happened this last week.
So, we having been teaching this guy named Marcelo.  Everyone lesson we have with with is super freaking spiritual.  I think he will be baptized before the next transfer.  I hope he doesn't end up with some problems with the Law of Chastity.  That is often a problem.  We found this married couple, Gildo and Vera.  It just so happens Vera makes slippers,  she made me two awesome pairs.  They are a great family, we will see how it goes with them.  We have only taught them one time, so we don't know much about them yet.  Saturday we went out and did contacts in the street with some of the members.  We only had three people show up, not a big success.  On Sunday we had lunch at the District Pres.'s house, the 2nd counselor was there, also.  I had to give the message.  I was a bit nervous, but it was good.  Monday was the day I took everyone out to eat at a churrascaria.  It was some good stuff, except for the price at the end. Haha  It cost me about 222 reais, but it was a nice and wonderful thing to so.
It is hard to feel like a Brazilian, because everyone always reminds me I am an American.  I have started dreaming in Portuguese some of the time.

I love you all so much.

September 14th, 2010

So, I had a good week.  Minus the fact that I have to wait until next Wednesday to get my packages, but I'm hoping it's worth the wait.  I can't believe that I am 20, the funny thing is, everyone 20 was the only age they actually felt different, but for me I still feel the same. Haha  It was not only my birthday, but also Pres Prud's birthday.  I was just a big party here.
This week I don't have anything too exciting to talk about, this will be like a normal email.  Haha  The coolest thing we did this week was on Saturday.  We had a Mini-MTC with all the young-ens in our branch.  It was a really good experience.  We taught them a good way to contact people on the street and how they can talk to anyone about the gospel.  We went out to the square in the center and talked with people.  It went really well and they seemed to really like it, which was good.

The spiritual thing of the week is Marcelo.  He is one of our investigators who is just awesome.  I had to teach him the lesson on the WOW and he just accepted it like it was nothing.  It was awesome, he will definitely be baptized.
Sorry this letter is a little bit lame, I am so tired and not in the mood to be writing a letter.  This morning we went and played soccer.  All I have to say is I thought basketball had the biggest whiners, but I was wrong.  It is definitely soccer.  Today everyone was complaining about something except for the two Americans who had never played soccer in their entire lives.
But that was my week, not to exciting...but it was good.
I love you all.

September 8, 2010

This Week:

Wednesday:  Last p-day was really boring, everyone was just super tired.  After we emailed, everybody just went back home and slept. Haha  We were able to teach Antonio the other day, but he is so like not caring anymore.  I think that we are going to have to cut him.

Thursday:  Was a really awesome day.  We taught two lessons, that were both super spiritual.  The first was with Valeria, she is the daughter of a recent convert.  She was telling us about her life and how she just wants to change.  She is getting on the right path, her only problem is getting her to come to church.  Afterwords we taught Marcelo, he is a friend of a guy in the branch.  He told us his life experience and how he hasn't truly felt happy in a long time until now.  He knows he will be baptized, he just needs to feel 100% prepared.  After teaching him we went and played volleyball with the ward.  I totally dominate at volleyball I have decided.  It's awesome.

Friday:  We walked a ton this day, but it was a good day.  We taught Maria Eugena.  She is the mom of our 2nd counselor, she is way cool but a little flaky at times.  After teaching her we went back to the church.  We were suppose to have some people there to teach, but they didn't come.  So instead we just went and played soccer with everybody.  My team was suppose to be the weakest team, but we did the best.  I played goalie which made everyone laugh at first.  They didn't think an American could play goalie.  Well, all I have to say is I proved them wrong. Haha

Saturday:  This was our day that we found the perfect family!! Married 17 years, 2 kids.  Lesson goes perfect,  they say they want to be baptized and everything.  But we try to go back afterwards and they aren't home, try again another day and still aren't home.  It sucks because the spirit was so strong in the lesson with them.  I hope we find them again soon.

Sunday:  I need to talk about lunch.  We had lunch at our Branch President's house, it was super cool.  I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time.  He has a 12 year old daughter named Bia.  She was just talking, talking the whole time.  She reminded me of a girl version of Colin, haha.  I don't know how to explain exactly what she said.  But she was way funny.

Monday:  This was the day my comp got really irritated.  I'm not sure why, I think it has to do with the flakiness of our investigators.  So I am just trying to let him chillax a little.  But at night we had a FHE and I gave a lesson about baptism using strawberry juice and this stuff you use to wash clothes (don't know the name in English). But it was really cool because the clothes washer stuff makes the juice turn clear.  It explains the importance of baptism really well.

**I guess Colton was not familiar with Clorox before he got to Brazil.

Tuesday:  Yesterday all 6 missionaries worked in the same area.  I worked with Elder Ribero, who is pretty much the fastest talker in the world!!!  It was hard for me to understand him, but we went to visit some of his investigators and it went quite well.  That night we had a Brazilian BBQ, Churrasco.  We had some good beef, chicken, sausage and good old chicken hearts.  It reminded me of Tucano's with out the pineapple.

Mom, golfing is never fun unless Brian gets mad and throws a club or two.  At least he let you drive the golf cart, just don't let him push you out.

Hey, I promised all the elders in my district that on September 20th I would take them to the best barbecue place in Pres Prud.  Can you make sure I have money to cover that.  I can't believe you have sent me 10 packages since I have been in Brazil.  I feel so loved, I think you should go for the record.

I love you all so so so much.

Presidente Prudente Talent Show

Elder Miller and I doing our awesome dance!!

Download Video

**If you want to watch this video, click Download Video and it will open a new window.  Click Download FLV.

September 1, 2010

Presidente Prudente is just amazing, I really like this city and the people here.  Everyone is super friendly.  Elder Galdino doesn't have a fiance any more.  She sent him a Dear John, but at the same time it's not a Dear John, it's just weird.  But Elder Galdino made a goal with me.  Now it is his top priority that in January 2012 he is going to come to Utah and live with me.  Sweet, huh?  He is still trying to learn English, so I told him to email you,  So help him out for me.
My branch here is a big one.  There are about 90 active members, so I do not have a calling.  Last Sunday the 2nd counselor told me I was going to have to give a talk,  I was really nervous, but he was just kidding.  He is a way cool guy.  Would you send me a cool oil vile to give him for when he does blessings?  I am loving it here in Brazil and yes, I too have noticed that sometimes I word things weird in English.  But that is because my Portuguese is good.
This week:

Wednesday:  Last P-day, after we emailed we went and played volleyball for 3 hours!!!  It was way freaking fun.  I liked it a lot more than soccer that's for sure.

Friday:  So, during the day we truly did absolutely nothing, but that night was when the fun stuff came in.  Our branch had a talent show and they wanted the elders to do something.  The 6 of us were trying to think of what we could possibly do, when Elder Miller said "Let's do a dance."  We started making it up and no one would do it with us.  So me and Elder Miller did it by ourselves and it was just awesome.  Everyone told us we were the best act of the night.  I will try and send home the video.

Saturday: We went and did some service for our branch president.  We took a tree out of the ground and shoveled a ton of rocks into a dumpster.  While we were shoveling the rocks we heard a big thump and then a dog whimper.  As we looked to see what happened, we saw a dog get hit by the back tires.  The dog was dead on impact and there was blood everywhere.  It was like an oh my gosh thing and a super cool thing at the same time, haha.  I tore up my hands with the shovel, but it was good stuff.  That night we had a baptism.  Helio's wife is a member and he decided to be baptized.  It was really cool and you can just tell he will be a strong member of the church.

Sunday:  Sunday day was a normal Sunday, but a surprising thing did happen.  The young boy we have been teaching came to sacrament meeting!!  But afterwards we weren't able to find him, so we haven't been able to teach him.  He was progressing really well, hopefully we can get things worked out with him.

Monday:  Let's see, Monday I want to talk about lunch.  We had lunch with a member who lived in the states for 20 years, she moved back to be closer to her mom.  Her husband has lived here for 4 years and still doesn't speak any Portuguese and he isn't a member of the church.  The whole lunch we spoke English (the other American Elders were with us.)  At the end we gave them a message in English, it was really cool. It is hard to talk gospel stuff in English now.
Tuesday:  Yesterday was a good day.  I had two really different experiences.  The first one is kind of funny.  We were teaching this guy about the Book of Mormon.  When we went to give it to him he wanted us to slide it into his hand.  Then he had us grab it with our right hands and say a prayer for it.  It was kind of interesting.  Second thing was a more spiritual thing.  We were teaching Thays, a recent convert.  She had had a super hard day and work just went completely wrong for her.  We talked to her about adversity and as we were talking about it I remembered a scripture, D&D 121:7.  After sharing this with her, she told me it was exactly what she needed to hear and she said it helped her a ton.  It was super cool.
That was my week.
Sorry I don't have much to say about your updates, but I have something really important that I need to do to help a friend.
I love you all so, so much.

August 25, 2010

Sorry Mom, I know I am not a good person at writing letters.  Just wait until you read my journal... haha, it's exactly the same way. You know that I am not a talkative person and because of this I don't give very many details.  I know this, OK and it probably isn't going to change.  Everything here is good for me.  When I first got here, our washing machine didn't work.  (But a nice member washed my garments for me.)  Sister Tavares got us a new one and we got it this week, so I have clean clothes again.  We are in a branch here, which is different because it is very small.  The members don't feed us as often, they will usually just give us money.  We will either buy bread, turkey and cheese for sandwiches or we go to a place that for 5 reais you can get a plate of rice, beans and some type of meat.  I still don't like the milk here.  I pretty much don't drink it unless I have some chocolate powder to make chocolate milk with, then it makes it OK.  We hardly ever cook.  I think the only things I have made are macaroni and cheese and one of my comps wanted me to make him french toast.  I think right now I am losing weight again,  I am trying to stay around 175 lbs.  The shower system in our apartment is pretty good.  It pretty much just electrocutes the water to make it hot.  I haven't suffered a shock since my first area, so that is good.

I like my companion a ton.  He is cool because he acts like I am the senior, he lets me take control of the lessons when we teach.  He treats me like his equal and not like he always has to be in charge.

I, also, live with Elder Miller from Houston, TX.  He has been out 1 yr. and 6 mo., he was the secretary when I got to Brazil.  And Elder Ghormley from Mesa, AZ., He has been out 1 year.  They are both cool, sometimes elder Ghormley is a little full of himself, but it's all good.  Last Pday was super fun. for the first time on my mission I got to go bowling!! It was just a great experience.  And on Friday we played soccer with the branch.  Everyone was laughing at how bad I sucked.  But my team stayed in the longest, so I didn't care, haha.

I told you about Antonio, the 15 year old we have been teaching.  Things were going great, but since Saturday he has been avoiding us.  It is really hard for us, he was progressing way good and now we've got nothing.  I don't know what happened with him.  We are teaching two guys who are twins, Luca and Marcelo.  They have been coming to play soccer at the church for like 5 years but never came to a Sunday meeting until recently.  I taught them for the first time yesterday, it was way cool and super spiritual.  One of the investigators Elder Almieda started teaching before I got here, told us he is ready to be baptized.  So we should be having a baptism on Saturday if everything goes good.  My branch is way cool and super helpful and they love doing visits with us.  They are great.

Thank you for everything, I love you all so much!! Oh, and I heard I have two packages at the mission office!

***I love that Colton's letters sound like he is thinking in Portuguese and translating to English.

August 19th, 2010

I can't believe I'm at 9 months, everything is flying by so fast!  It is so good to be in Pres Prud, my new comp is way cool.  We are very similar in a lot of things like music and such, so it gives us something to talk about.  He is from Sao Paulo.  His whole family are members, they joined the church about 10 years ago.  But Elder Almeida says he did have a little bit of a rebellious period, he is 25 years old.  My new area is really good.  It is not very hilly, so that is good.  The only problem is that a lot of times the members just give us money for lunch, instead of having us over.  My companion says it is really easy to lose weight here.  It is about 15-20 degrees hotter here than in Londrina.  But it feels like summer in Utah because it is not as humid and rainy as other areas.  I live in a pretty big apartment, we live with two other elders who are both American.

We are teaching a few new people.  we are teaching a 15 year old kid named Antonio, he is way cool and progressing so much.  But it is just hard to get him excited to visit the church.  We also found a family of three who have been looking for a new church.  We just need to help them feel the spirit and know that this is the true church.

Wow, they are going to put Colin at tight end and linebacker.  I always thought you had to be big to play those positions.  Haha, I guess he is tall.

Mom, that is cool that you met up with your old friends.  I hope Bryson, Jacoby and my other friends are like that.

Yes, you should totally send Elder Galdino a package.  That would make him so happy!

Thank you Mom and family for everything that you do for me and for all of your support.  I truly don't think I could have made it these past 9 months if it wasn't for you guys!

August 11th, 2010

So, today I was transferred.   I am now in Presidente Prudente, my new companion is Elder Almeida.  He seems like a really cool guy and I am so happy to have a new companion.  My comp. has been in this area six months, so he knows the area and the members really well. So. that should be good.  My interview with President Taveres went really well.  I tried to explain what was going on with Elder Alves, but I didn't want to just complain about everything he was doing wrong.  I know that he was totally trashing me in his interview, but I did not want to go down to his level.  I am just happy to be in a new area, with a new companion and a chance to get back to working hard.  But I don't know anything about this area yet. 

The other day I was really missing Colin.  We were at a home and they had a little boy who was playing the PS2.  He was having a really hard time with the game he was playing.  So I was giving him some pointers to help him out.  I wasn't playing I was just talking to him about it.  Elder Alves, of course, got mad at me and told me I was breaking the rules.  I told him I wasn't playing, just helping.  He told me there wasn't a difference.  I don't know I was just trying to bond with the little boy, but oh well.

Cool mission news: Elder Galdino is the new AP.  He is so awesome,  I know he will do a great job.

Your trip sounds like a lot of fun, even if all you saw were Palaces and Cathedrals.

I got one package today.  Why did you send me a pillow?  Haha  Thanks!

I can't believe Trace is going into the MTC i week before I hit my 9 month mark.  I still think he should have gone in with me, that would have been so cool.  But at least he gets to wear a skirt! Haha

I am so excited to be in this new area.  I will tell you more about it next week and hopefully have some pictures.

Love you all so so much.

August 4th, 2010

This week we helped some members paint their house.  They have been remodeling and needed help with the painting, it was some fun stuff.  I think this was the first time I have ever painted walls.  I was pretty good at it.

Things with my companion have gotten a little better, but at the same time not really.  We aren't fighting as much,  but we do not agree on how to teach people.  For some reason he likes to teach The Law of Chastity on the second visit, sometimes the first visit.  I feel like we should start with The Plan of Salvation and The Restoration.  When they have felt the spirit and have a testimony of these things, they understand why having a family would be so important and then it is much easier for them to understand The Law of Chastity.  We have lost a lot of really good investigators because of this.  But he has his mind set on it and he will not change.  Sometimes it is very frustrating.
It has rained a lot lately.  On Monday it decided to rain a butt load.  I got poured on once before lunch and  the two more times after lunch.  It was crazy and I didn't have an umbrella, mine broke in Marilia and I haven't ever replaced it.  Haha
Tomorrow I have my first interview with President Tavares, that should be good.
Love you all.

July 28th, 2010

This week was not a very good week, I really don't think I can handle my companion much longer.  Yesterday we had a pretty good yelling match.  We had an appointment at 7:00 and I was getting ready to go and start heading to our appointment.  My companion says, "No, follow me."  I ask "Why?  We have an appt at 7."  He told me not to worry about it and just follow him.  I said I wouldn't follow him unless I knew what we were doing.  This went on for a few minutes.  So, I just stopped and told him I wasn't going any further until he told me why, we had an appt to be at.  Then he yelled, "OBEY ME OR I WILL CALL THE PRESIDENT."  I told him to go ahead and call the president.  So, he talked to President Taveres and then I did.  Things haven't really changed.  I have tried so hard to get along with him, but he pushed me to my limit.  I am really hoping one of us will be transferred.

Thank Grandpa for the newspaper articles.  I love getting them and getting updated on things even if it is a little late.

I can't believe both the Bryson's will enter the MTC today!! It is crazy.  Sometimes I wish I had waited and had a little more time to have hung out with my friends.  But I know that I wasn't suppose to do that.  I need to be here right now, because there is someone here for me to find and help.  I try my hardest everyday.  I am proud of where I am and what I have accomplished up to this point in my journey.  I know that we truly receive so many blessing form the Lord when we look for them.  The Lord will never let someone not like there choice of serving, I know this for a fact.

I love you all so much.  Thank you for everything.

July 22, 2010

Me, I am wonderful.  But at the same time I do not like my companion much.  He is super annoying and everyday he has something new to tell me that I am doing wrong.  It is irritating, but I have a good spirit and am trying not to let it bother me.  I was so happy about out baptisms.  It is such a great feeling to see the changes in these people's lives as they improve them for the better.  Yeah, Monique's baptism dress was a little bit different, and also it was see through, which was awkward for me when I baptized her.

We had an activity in our ward and everyone came dressed as their celebrity look alike.  One guy came as Obama, it was funny.  He really looked like him.

The guy the secretaries baptized did bring some people to church with him.  We started teaching his brother, but now I am not teaching him because I have my new companion, who is lame, and won't let me visit my recent converts.  But I think this guys bro will be baptized, which is good to see!  This week wasn't a really good one either.  If you can't tell my companion frustrates me, so I just leave him in peace to do his thing.  I do think it is affecting our teaching progress. I know that I am doing what I need to do, and I am not going to drop down to his level just because he wants me to. I am not getting discouraged when things don't go as planned, I just remember to keep my head up and the Lord will put someone in our path who we can help and who also can help us.  Everything is going good for me, so yeah.

President Tavares is great.  President Leal was really a numbers guy and had a lot of random rules.  The new pres. is working to get all the schedules and rules to fit with the guidelines in Preach My Gospel.  He really wants to work hard and expects us all to work hard.  He is easy to talk to and really tries to help when things aren't going correctly.

I guess my birthday day is coming up.  I don't really need anything, some different ties would be cool (I like ones that are bright solid colors), and that toothpaste that I like.  And MT DEW , Elder Carter got that for his birthday, so I would like it too.

Thanks for everything, I love you all.

July 14th, 2010

My week has been good, Last week was like super amazing, because everything went perfectly with the baptism of Nilda and Monique.  Nilda is missing the part of the bone in her thigh that connects to her hip.  So she can walk and stand a little.  Elder Villela baptized Nilda. But I stood in the water with them, just in case something went wrong and he needed help lifting her back up.  After Nilda was done, I baptized Monique and everything went perfectly!

I did finally receive my new comp, #11 if you count all of my MTC comps. His name is Elder Alves, he is OK but kind of strange and awkward to talk to and stuff, but I think that it will be pretty good.  It is good to be out of the office, what a boring job.  When I was there all I did was put baptism records into the computer and stuff Elder Carter didn't want to do.

Yesterday was a difficult day for me,  It was my first day back out in the field in several weeks.  We spent all day walking around and clapping at gates(here you don't knock on doors, you clap at the gate.)  We clapped at about 80 gates, and of those 80 about 65 answered, and of those 65 only 1 let us teach a lesson and 7 gave us info to come back another day.  It was just a long and tiring day of walking around and doing a lot of nothing.  I am hoping when we go back to those 7 people, they will be accepting of the gospel.  I guess we will just have to wait and see how that goes.

Koufos for Al Jefferson, that is a fantastic trade.  Jefferson is one of the best power forwards in the league, he was just on the wrong team.  Way to go McCann!  Always good when it is a Braves player being the hero.

I'm glad everything worked out with Bryson's call, it would be horrible if he couldn't leave until September.

It is crazy how fast the time keeps flying out here.  8 months already, only 16 more to go!  I'm sending a few more pics.  I love you all so much.

July 8th, 2010

Everything is going great.  Last week was very frustrating, I had to work with a different companion every night after spending 8 hours in the hospital.  There wasn't alot to do in the hospital, we watched a lot of soccer.  We did teach some of the nurses when they had a little extra time.  We just taught them simple stuff like the Book of Mormon, but it was pretty cool.  On Friday Elder Pumphrey went home to Ohio to have surgery.  He has 11 months left on his mission, so he is hoping he can come back.  Now I am comp-less and am just stuck with the secretaries until the pres. finds something to do with me.  I hope he does soon, because I don't really like being stuck in the office all day doing alot of dumb things.

My new president and his family (2 sons; one 16, the other 14) got here last Wednesday.  He is a great guy!  On Friday when Elder Pumphrey went home I spent the whole day with Sister Taveres, and she is awesome too.  I think it should be good, having them the rest of my mission.

This week has been pretty good since Friday.  The secretaries interviewed one of their investigators on Friday and he said that he wasn't ready to be baptized.  On Saturday he called us up and was like "Hey, I want to be baptized today.  I know it is what needs to happen, so lets do it."  That was at 7:00 at night and at 8:30 we had the font full and baptized him.  It was a cool experience and I know that he will be strong on the church.  He wants to bring 7 people with him to church next Sunday, it's awesome.  On Wednesday we had another baptism for a different investigator pf the secs, it went perfect.  And now today we are going to baptize Nilda and Monique.  It is so freakin' wonderful to see them finally baptized, I am so happy for them.

It is crazy to hear about everything happening in the NBA.  I miss baseball a ton.  Last night we had an activity at church and we played a trivia game.  One of the questions was "How many baseball players are on the field at one time?"  Not one person knew the answer, it was sad.

Thanks for everything you do.  Hey, you should tell people to write me letter.  I want letters from other people, you know. Haha

I love you so much

Preparing for a Baptism

Getting ready for a baptism is a little different in Brazil:

First we have to get all of the "uninvited guests" out of the font,

and then we have to fill the font!

July 1, 2010

This week was going really great until the weekend came.  On Saturday we were scheduled to baptize Nilda (our investigator in the wheel chair), that morning she calls us and tells us she can't want to be baptized today.  So we started freaking out and then went to her home to talk with her.  What happened was Nilda had got in an argument with her daughter, Monique, and she felt like she couldn't be baptized because of that.  We talked for a while and Nilda realized that she did want to be baptized, she had just been upset.  Everything was all set and we were ready to go, but when we got to the church the water in the baptismal font was ice cold.  Nilda has a lot of health problem, so there was no way she could get in that freezing water.  My comp and I were like, "Crap, what is this all about?"  Nilda said it was OK, we could do it tomorrow (Sunday) and it would be great.  After all of this happened, Monique (Nilda's daughter) asked us if she could be baptized on Sunday also.  We told "Yes, of course you can." Now we are happy again.  Sunday we go to church; Nilda and Monique are there, the water is warm, everything is going great.  The ward mission leader asks if he can talk to Nilda.  They go into a room to talk and Nilda leaves the room on tears and says she is never coming back to church again.  We have no idea what has happened.  After talking to Nilda we find out the ward mission leader told her that he didn't think she was ready and that she could not be baptized.  I couldn't believe it, the mission leader did not have the right to tell her this.  Nilda is so spiritual and so ready to be baptized.  So, the baptism did not happen,  There was a lot of rage and everyone was so upset.  Since then we have had the chance to talk with Nilda, she still has a testimony and wants to be baptized.  But she feels like she needs to forgive Alex (the ward mission leader) before she will be ready.  Hopefully this will all get resolved quickly. Yeah, it was just crazy, hectic and so sad.

We did have another transfer and yes, I did get a new companion.  His name is Elder Pumphrey and he is in the hospital.  He has a herniated disk and the doctors say that he definitely needs surgery.  He will most likely go home to the States to have the surgery done, I will just be with him until he leaves.  Right now I have been staying at the hospital with him until about 4 or 6, and then I go out and work with one of the other elders.  I don't know who my companion will be when he leaves for the States, it's going to be interesting.

This area is very different than Marilia.  There we worked with a lot of part member families and inactives.  The aren't any part member families in our ward here and the inactives do not like us at all, so most of our contacts are just cold calls.

I do feel very close to the Lord and my testimony keeps getting stronger and stronger.  I am so glad I chose to serve,  This is something I needed in my life to help me grow up and become the person that I want to be.

I love you all so much!!!