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!!!

June 23, 2010

I am FANTASTIC. Everything for me is truly wonderful, it is going way good.  I have noticed that lately I have been having full on conversations with people and they are like real conversations, not just me trying to listen and figure out what they are saying.  Which is way cool!!  Londrina is a really big city, the part we work is in the downtown area.  It is hard to get references because when we contact people in the street they don't live in the area.  They just work downtown, or are there shopping or something.  It kind of sucks, because we have made some good contacts but then have to refer them the missionaries in the area which they live. It is hard to teach here because no one is home until after 5.  So we walk a lot and talk to lots of different people.  There is one street in our area that has a lot of hookers and stuff, so we try to avoid that street.

The members are getting a lot nicer, but they don't try as hard to make friends with the missionaries.  We don't feel like we can just stop and visit them to see how everything is going like we could in Marilia, but it's all good.

We are going to have another transfer this week and then the new pres. comes on the 30th.  So I could get another new companion, haha that would be funny.  I have had so many.  We had our last zone conference with Pres. Leal, he taught us about the atonement.  It was really good.  It will be sad to see him and his wife leave, but I am excited for the new president.

I can't believe Colin is 11 already, I still think that he is 8 for some reason.  Tell him FELIZ ANIVERSARIO for me!!  I am happy to hear he is doing so well in baseball and swimming, keep it up Colin.  I miss watching baseball a ton, but I miss playing even more.

I love you all so much and miss you!!
(Only 17 more months, haha)

Zone Conference

This past week was really good.  We had our last zone conference with President Leal.  It seems so weird that he is leaving next week.  He taught us about the atonement and it was a great conference.  And I got to see some of my favorite missionaries.

Elder Yuma

Elder C. Santos

Elder Franco

Elder De Souza

and Sister Hall.

June 15, 2010

Everything truly is wonderful. I don't have the flu anymore, the tamiflu must have worked. The other two elders I live with are: Elder Carter, an American and Elder Villela, a Brazilian. They are nice, but they are way strict. They don't like to just have fun in the house, they are kind of party poopers. We have been able to watch the World Cup, we have watched Brazil and the USA. During the Brazil games everything closes down and everyone watches the game, so there is no way we could teach. No one would even let us in their house.

Thank you for the package. My weight has stayed pretty steady since I have been in the field. Except when I get a package that is full of sweets and stuff that makes me want to snack. Thanks for the Peanut Butter, there is a lady that uses it to make us Bom Bom. It tastes like homemade Reese's, they are way good. I don't know if I can make the cake because we don't have a pan or measuring cups, but we will try to figure out a way.

The language is actually quite good. My comp doesn't speak any English, just a few phrases people have taught him. He tells me that I speak very well, he thinks I will be a trainer next transfer. I would like to be a trainer, but I am not sure I am ready for that yet. I still am not totally confident in the language. We have found anyone new to teach, but we are working on it.

But this week has been good. Nilda and Monique will be baptized on June 26th. We are so happy they have finally made this decision. They are so great. It will be an interesting baptism, because the mom is missing part of the bone on her leg and she is in a wheelchair. So I think my comp and I will both have to be in the water during the baptism. But it will be good, I know it!!

Way to go Colin, that's the way to hit the ball!!! Just remember to keep that confidence in yourself, keep up the good work and stay strong. Oh yeah, that reminds, will you send me a baseball? I really want to have one with me. THANKS!!

I love you all so much.

June 9th, 2010

Everything here in Brazil is OK. I think I am coming down with the flu, I have had a sore throat, headache, body aches. I found some Tamiflu in my suitcase and started taking it, hopefully it will work quickly. All I feel like doing right now is going home and going back to bed.

I am still living in the same place as I was before, Elder Franco and I live with the two secretaries. It is nice because they bring my mail to me, so I get it the same day. It is kind of hard because they used to just have the secretaries here, so there wasn't as much work proselyting. The members here are trying to get used to feeding us, when it was just the secretaries they would normally just give them money for lunch. Sometimes it is really good, but sometimes they forget about us. After lunch we give the family a lesson. I use a lot of the scriptures you have emailed in my lessons. Londrina is a really nice city, very modern for Brazil. It is nice because we have access to everything we need and everything is easy to find. But it is a bad area because the people here don't really need anything and they are kind of prideful, so it is hard to teach lessons.

We are still teaching Nilda and Monique, they are way cool. Nilda told us that she is going to decide on a day to be baptized and she would tell us today, so I am very excited. We think Monique will decide to be baptized the same day as her mom, so that makes us happy!! We are teaching a couple, Fernando and Bia. We are trying to help them get married and then be baptized. But Fernando smokes and he is having a hard time giving that up. We are really trying to work with them. I can't believe how many people I have already met who want to be baptized but can't quit smoking. I don't think I ever realized how addictive smoking really is.

Mom, I guess what I am still buying, even in Brazil? CD's! They are Brazilian artists, it's pretty sweet. I can't listen to them, but I have heard some of the music in homes and places we are at. so I am going to have a lot of music to add to my Ipod when I get home.

YEAH Braves!!!! I hope they continue to be good, that is awesome.

Tell Colin to keep working hard at baseball and swimming, the harder he works the better he will get. I miss Tulo a ton. That is cool that he loves the water, Pebbles hated it. Everyone here has a dog and I am always playing with them

Thank you all for the continued love and support, It really means a whole lot to me!

June 2nd, 2010

Everything in Londrina is wonderful. I got my new comp today, Elder Franco, he is way cool. He has been in the office with the secretaries because of an injury in his calf. Nut now he is with me and we are living in the same house he has been living in. Elder Franco is from Manaus. He only has 5 months left in the mission, so he is a lil bit trunky. But his is way cool and things should be good with him.

The ward here is pretty good. The lady that reminds me of Sister Ockey has a daughter that just returned from a mission in Utah. She actually served for a while in the St. George Temple, so that was cool. it will be exciting to get a new mission president in a few weeks, it will be interesting to see how the whole switch will work out. But I hear that he is a really great guy and everyone who knows him loves him. So this is good.

The weather is just perfect for me, it is about 65 degrees everyday and I love it! It is not very humid right now either, but I know it will be again in the summer. I have been lucky, My cities have been really nice compared to others. elder Flake (my Provo MTC comp) is in Foz do Igacu, it is so rural there. He is right next to the waterfalls, but he can't go visit them.

This area is different that Marilia. it is harder to find people to teach. So sorry not a lot this week, we didn't do to much but walk and walk.

Love you lots

May 25, 2010

Everything in Brazil is fantastic!! Thank you for the updates on everything, I love hearing them. I can't believe the bass player of Slipknot died, what is this?!?

That is cool that cool got his webelos badge. Mom, you love scouts, I know it. are you going to get your second Eagle with Colin too? Haha

My new area is way cool, but it is really difficult because there are a lot of apartment buildings and stuff. My comp and I have been working in the field, I got transferred to this area because they want one dupla (companionship) to work in the office and the other will be in the streets all day. I am in the second one. On my first day here Pres. Leal said that he had a challenge for me. Because of the new mission pres. coming in July, we are having an emergency transfer on June 1st. President Leal told me my comp. is definitely going to be transferred because he has been in this area 10 months. President Leal told me I had until June 1st to learn the area. Very challenging! My comp is OK, he is a super nerd and really hard to talk to. We have nothing in common, but we are only together another week. My new home is a really nice apartment, I am living in style right now. Haha. Our house is about a 10 minute walk from the office, that is so nice because I can get my mail the day it arrives. The ward here is OK. It is a really rich area and the ward members are a little stuck up. On Sunday none of them really talked to me and if they did it was after my comp said, "Why don't you ask him?" But it should get better. There is one lady who is super nice, she reminds me a lot of Sister Ockey.

We are teaching this mom (Nilda) and daughter (Monique), who are way cool. Nilda is in a wheelchair, she is really spiritual and knows that everything is true but isn't ready to be baptized yet. So we are just waiting for her to tell us she is ready, she comes to church every Sunday and does everything she is suppose to do. But we will just have to wait and see. We also taught Jose'. He is a UFC fighter and could've easily killed us. He came to church last Sunday and loved it. The only problem is that today he is leaving for the city of Bele'm and won't return for at least 3 months. We are hoping he can find the missionaries there and get baptized. That is what he told us he wants to do. Also, I went on a split with one of the secretaries who is an American, we taught this guy, Ricardo. He lived in London for 6 years and speaks fluent English. He asked us to teach him in English. We did, but it was to hard to go back to English.

We found this church here called "Jesus Christ Man." It is a church where the leader thinks he is the resurrected Jesus and everybody was saved after he died on the cross, so it doesn't matter what you do here on earth because you have already been saved. It was way dumb. They use the number 666, they say it is the number of wisdom. Haha

What can I do to protect my head and hair? I need to know this stuff.

I love you all so much, I hope this letter was long enough for you.

May 19, 2010

I can't believe I have hit my six month mark, it really does go by fast. If it is true what they say about the first 6 months being slow and then it starts going fast, it should be really, really crazy. This week has been really good. We have still been teaching Natalia and Elder Galdino and I found two new families that are great. One is a family of four and the other a family of six. They are awesome and it has been really cool teaching them. But then yesterday came and I found out I was being transferred. President Leal was here on Friday and he told us there were only two people in our area being transferred. I just happen to be one of those two. I kind of expected it because I had been here 3 transfers. I am now in Londrina, downtown Londrina and it is way cool. The city is very beautiful. But I have to spend a lot of time in the mission office because my new companion, Elder Cavalheiro, is the ex-secretary and he has to help the secretary until he is good to go. I could have another new companion in two weeks when they do emergency transfers, but it's all good. I miss my comp and roomies, they were great and they loved the music on my ipod, but hopefully everything will keep going well.

Funny story: Last Thursday we had an activity at the church called Titanic, and it was sweet! We gave everyone fake money and they could buy popcorn, cake and soda or they could use their money for life jackets, whistles and life boats. The idea was to show if you are ready for life's trials. We played "My Heart Will Go On" while everyone was shopping. Then all the lights went out and the music turned off and Elder Galdino yelled, "Iceberg!" We decided to add an extra touch and we threw water balloons. I was way funny, the bishop was mad for a minute. But then he told us it was a nice effect and he was happy.

Hopefully next week we will be out of the office and teaching.

I love you all so much, ate' proximo semana!