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!