New Mission President

Article in the LDS Church News:

Eduardo Lucio Mendes Tavares, 41, and Fatima Scarante Tavares, two children, Brazil Londrina Mission; Mangabeira Ward, Feira de Santana Brazil Kalilandia Stake. Brother Tavares is a bishop and a former stake president, counselor in a bishopric, stake Young Men president and missionary in the Brazil Sao Paulo North Mission. Institute director, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. Born in Vicosa, Mg, Brazil, to Moacir Rodrigues and Maria Ines Mendes Tavares.



Sister Tavares is the ward Young Women president and a former stake Young Women president, seminary teacher, ward Relief Society president and stake family history center director. Born in Curitiba, Brazil, to Bento Antonio Victor Scarante and Tereza Helena Tavares.

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.