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.