hey mom and dad
wow the second to last email of my mission! that is way crazy. that sounds like a really good sunday to me. it is really interesting to me how little kids can be such big examples to the adults. through all the hard times that little girl has had in her life she makes a choice that will benefit her for the rest of eternity. we had another baptism this week. his name is Gelison. he is 20 years old and lives all by himself here in manaus. his family lives in one of the cities close to here. it has been way cool getting to teach these younger guys and really relate to them, you know. so its crazy to think that you guys will be headed to brazil next week! i am getting everything planned for when you guys get here. i think dad will be fine driving here, and it will make life a lot easier for us. i went out close by the hotel we will stay at today with a member, and you guys are coming at the right time of the year! it is beautiful there, but i wont tell you what is out there so i don't spoil it for you. haha but i can tell you it is gonna be one of the most beautiful sights you have seen in your life. it is gonna be a really good experience for you here haha. i think the Leite family is gonna meet you guys at the airport with me. they are way excited to meet you and are very special people. you are gonna love them. i think the only thing else you could bring is just some little souvenirs for these families, just something small and cheap just something little like that. lets see, my favorite hymn would probably be "Closer My God To Thee". i love when the pearsons sing! i think i have my talk all ready now. i have like half an hour right? well i have to run mom and dad. i will talk to you guys next week for the last time before i get to talk to you face to face. i love you guys.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
hey mom and dad
i think i am gonna freeze to death haha. i cant believe that a little under a month i will be home. i am getting way excited for you two to get here. i got some suggestions from the other parents that came here . first put bug spray on with lots of deet before you get into manaus haha. bring pepto bismal, and be ready to sweat. i visited my Brazilian family today and we are getting everything planed out for you guys. i will be there to pick you up at the airport. haha that's kind of funny cuz its usually the opposite. then we will go some places. you didn't let me know if we are gonna rent a car or not. you guys can decide if you are up to driving in brazil. you don't have to worry about bringing so many suit cases, just bring me one big one. i don't have very much stuff, haha. i am gonna leave a bunch of my shirts and ties here with these two young guys we baptized. they are really cool, and it will be really nice for them to have some church clothes. some thing i was thinking about you bringing for me though is my sunglasses, those black ones that you like so much haha, my pair of levis, i don't know how to explain them. they are my boot cut ones. i think you might have got them for me, actually. cuz im not sure what the weather is gonna be like in belo horizonte. did you find my black shorts? i cant beleive its coming so fast haha.
that is way cool about grandpa's work being done. i bet i was a very special experience. i know he is really grateful to be sealed to grandma cuz of how much he loved her. not many people make it more than fifty years in marriage. he loved her a lot so just imagine how he feels, knowing first off with the different perspective that he has, and to know he is sealed to the person he loves most for time and all eternity. but i have to run mom and dad. i love you guys. o and i almost forgot elder da cunha my old companion asked if you guys could get him a cheap shirt from vegas that says welcome to vegas or what happens in vegas stays in vegas, just one of those souvenir shirts that they have there. he wears a large. talk to you next week. love you
i think i am gonna freeze to death haha. i cant believe that a little under a month i will be home. i am getting way excited for you two to get here. i got some suggestions from the other parents that came here . first put bug spray on with lots of deet before you get into manaus haha. bring pepto bismal, and be ready to sweat. i visited my Brazilian family today and we are getting everything planed out for you guys. i will be there to pick you up at the airport. haha that's kind of funny cuz its usually the opposite. then we will go some places. you didn't let me know if we are gonna rent a car or not. you guys can decide if you are up to driving in brazil. you don't have to worry about bringing so many suit cases, just bring me one big one. i don't have very much stuff, haha. i am gonna leave a bunch of my shirts and ties here with these two young guys we baptized. they are really cool, and it will be really nice for them to have some church clothes. some thing i was thinking about you bringing for me though is my sunglasses, those black ones that you like so much haha, my pair of levis, i don't know how to explain them. they are my boot cut ones. i think you might have got them for me, actually. cuz im not sure what the weather is gonna be like in belo horizonte. did you find my black shorts? i cant beleive its coming so fast haha.
that is way cool about grandpa's work being done. i bet i was a very special experience. i know he is really grateful to be sealed to grandma cuz of how much he loved her. not many people make it more than fifty years in marriage. he loved her a lot so just imagine how he feels, knowing first off with the different perspective that he has, and to know he is sealed to the person he loves most for time and all eternity. but i have to run mom and dad. i love you guys. o and i almost forgot elder da cunha my old companion asked if you guys could get him a cheap shirt from vegas that says welcome to vegas or what happens in vegas stays in vegas, just one of those souvenir shirts that they have there. he wears a large. talk to you next week. love you
Monday, October 31, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow another week gone by! time is going by so quick, it has felt like one big day since the last time i talk to you guys. sounds like you had fun in springville. did you get to see KC? and I'm sure i will like the shirts you picked out for me mom haha. about the vans i attached a picture to this email. it is the regular green ones and i need an 8 1/2 the vans run a little big. and i forgot but can you guys bring my black studded belt too if its still there haha. things are going good here just running all over the place. we have been working really hard but it is paying off. this week the zone baptized 20 people that's almost as much as the baptized all of last transfer. we are pretty excited about that and will have a bunch more this week. our baptism fell through but this week we will have two of Adonias and Jerlison. they are way cool. it has been really cool teaching them cuz they are the same age as us so we can really relate to them. it will be really good for the ward to get some younger men in there our ward is full of old people haha. i think there is like two or three men with the same age as us. so it will be a good thing for the ward. i think we will have a baptism on the saturday that you guys get here so that will be really cool for you guys to see. it will be a wedding then the baptism cuz we are helping this couple get married. there might be another couple too but we are having troubles getting their papers and stuff in. they want to be baptized so bad they cant hardly stand it. but we are working really hard for them. their papers are some where in rio de janeiro so we have been in contact with the mission there and they are chasing the papers around so we will get it. but i am doing good here. it is a weird feeling to think i wont be here next transfer. its funny when people ask me how much time i have left and i just say four weeks haha. but i have to run mom and day i will talk to you guys next week. i love you guys
wow another week gone by! time is going by so quick, it has felt like one big day since the last time i talk to you guys. sounds like you had fun in springville. did you get to see KC? and I'm sure i will like the shirts you picked out for me mom haha. about the vans i attached a picture to this email. it is the regular green ones and i need an 8 1/2 the vans run a little big. and i forgot but can you guys bring my black studded belt too if its still there haha. things are going good here just running all over the place. we have been working really hard but it is paying off. this week the zone baptized 20 people that's almost as much as the baptized all of last transfer. we are pretty excited about that and will have a bunch more this week. our baptism fell through but this week we will have two of Adonias and Jerlison. they are way cool. it has been really cool teaching them cuz they are the same age as us so we can really relate to them. it will be really good for the ward to get some younger men in there our ward is full of old people haha. i think there is like two or three men with the same age as us. so it will be a good thing for the ward. i think we will have a baptism on the saturday that you guys get here so that will be really cool for you guys to see. it will be a wedding then the baptism cuz we are helping this couple get married. there might be another couple too but we are having troubles getting their papers and stuff in. they want to be baptized so bad they cant hardly stand it. but we are working really hard for them. their papers are some where in rio de janeiro so we have been in contact with the mission there and they are chasing the papers around so we will get it. but i am doing good here. it is a weird feeling to think i wont be here next transfer. its funny when people ask me how much time i have left and i just say four weeks haha. but i have to run mom and day i will talk to you guys next week. i love you guys
Monday, October 17, 2011
survived hahaha
how is it going mom and dad? mom you can relax now i didn't drowned in the amazon river or get eaten by an anaconda when i was baptizing on the beaches of Maués. it was a great trip! the eighteen hour boat ride got a little old when it was dark but in the day time i saw all kinds of cool stuff. like kids headed to school in canoes and fresh water dolphins. it was way cool i didn't get too many pictures of the trip because there were some shady guys with their hammocks right next to ours and it wouldn't have been to smart to be wavin my camera around. but i saw some amazing stuff. i don't think i will ever forget the night that i came home on the boat. i watched the moon rise on the amazon river and it was so red and was right in the middle of the river so it gave the water a red glow with the little wakes of the boat rippling off into the distance. it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen in my life. in the city of Maués was awesome too. we baptized 4 people this time. the baptismal font couldn't fill up cuz that part of the city was without water for the day so we headed to the beach on the river. it was a lot of running around haha. we went there about nine at night cuz everyone showed up late. we got there and i was the first to have to head out into the water. the members didn't help my nerves haha they said you have to go in splashing the water with your hands a little to scare the sting rays away. at first i thought they were joking but they were serious haha. i have to admit i was a little nervous. but i didn't get stung or bit by anything so it was all good. we had a really good time there. the members are so cool and love us there. we ate lunch and dinner every night there. i think if i stayed there any longer i would get some meat back on my bones haha. i was hoping i would get transferred there this last transfer but i didn't. i am headed to the East side of Manaus. i will be a zone leader there. they have been having a rough time there this last transfer with a bunch of things so i wasn't too excited about getting transferred there to deal with the problems and the rough areas. and president knew i wasnt gonna be real thrilled about it so he sat me down and explained why he was putting me there. he said that he felt the i needed to go there and try to get the missionaries focused and needed a leader there to help get the zone baptizing again cuz the area i am going to was one of the best baptizing areas in the mission and last transfer they didn't baptize one person. so i am excited it will be a good way to finish my mission. it will be a lot of work but i will be with a good missionary and we will get things going there again. talking about the end of my mission. a member offered his apartment to us in the center of the city if we want to save a little bit of money. it would be a really good location for us too. it is right next to the Amazon Theater tourist point of the city. the member wants to talk to you guys too. he is sending a daughter on the exchange student program next year but is really worried about her going to a non-member family. he is wondering if you and dad would be interested in taking her in next school year. he wants to know what agency Bev and Pete work with too so even if you guys don't think you can he can find someone in panaca or something that is a member and is wanting an exchange student. he was talking to Gildete and she mentioned something about how our family had done the exchange student program before and he figured he would ask you guys. i got a call from him about it but i told him that would be up to you guys. so let me know what you guys think about that and what agency bev and pete are with. about the guitar i don't think you guys will be able to get it here. he said you guys don't need to worry about it. i am going to visit them tonight. haha jessica loves to collect these barbies. so your question about the family. it is mom Gildete, dad Maricio, daughter Jessica, son Pedro, and daughter Priscila. they are way excited for you guys to get here. i was talking with them last night and starting to get everything planned for when you guys get here. you guys better get ready to eat a ton there are tons of families wanting to feed you haha. i think the first thing we will do when you get here is eat lunch with some members haha. dont worry i have let them know that the have to make food that isn't real strong like that stuff i told you with intestines in it haha. you guys will eat a of of fish and bbq. we need to see with president phillips too about when i am gonna get released. if i will have to be released here in brazil or if i will wait till i get back cuz sometimes when the missionaries go to visit a different city other that the mission city they like to release them. i will ask president here and see what he thinks too. i cant believe i am entering in my last transfer! so crazy! but i better run i have to help with these last transfers wooooooooo! the office was good but these transfers kill you in the office haha. i love you guys. and will talk to you next week from my new area.
how is it going mom and dad? mom you can relax now i didn't drowned in the amazon river or get eaten by an anaconda when i was baptizing on the beaches of Maués. it was a great trip! the eighteen hour boat ride got a little old when it was dark but in the day time i saw all kinds of cool stuff. like kids headed to school in canoes and fresh water dolphins. it was way cool i didn't get too many pictures of the trip because there were some shady guys with their hammocks right next to ours and it wouldn't have been to smart to be wavin my camera around. but i saw some amazing stuff. i don't think i will ever forget the night that i came home on the boat. i watched the moon rise on the amazon river and it was so red and was right in the middle of the river so it gave the water a red glow with the little wakes of the boat rippling off into the distance. it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen in my life. in the city of Maués was awesome too. we baptized 4 people this time. the baptismal font couldn't fill up cuz that part of the city was without water for the day so we headed to the beach on the river. it was a lot of running around haha. we went there about nine at night cuz everyone showed up late. we got there and i was the first to have to head out into the water. the members didn't help my nerves haha they said you have to go in splashing the water with your hands a little to scare the sting rays away. at first i thought they were joking but they were serious haha. i have to admit i was a little nervous. but i didn't get stung or bit by anything so it was all good. we had a really good time there. the members are so cool and love us there. we ate lunch and dinner every night there. i think if i stayed there any longer i would get some meat back on my bones haha. i was hoping i would get transferred there this last transfer but i didn't. i am headed to the East side of Manaus. i will be a zone leader there. they have been having a rough time there this last transfer with a bunch of things so i wasn't too excited about getting transferred there to deal with the problems and the rough areas. and president knew i wasnt gonna be real thrilled about it so he sat me down and explained why he was putting me there. he said that he felt the i needed to go there and try to get the missionaries focused and needed a leader there to help get the zone baptizing again cuz the area i am going to was one of the best baptizing areas in the mission and last transfer they didn't baptize one person. so i am excited it will be a good way to finish my mission. it will be a lot of work but i will be with a good missionary and we will get things going there again. talking about the end of my mission. a member offered his apartment to us in the center of the city if we want to save a little bit of money. it would be a really good location for us too. it is right next to the Amazon Theater tourist point of the city. the member wants to talk to you guys too. he is sending a daughter on the exchange student program next year but is really worried about her going to a non-member family. he is wondering if you and dad would be interested in taking her in next school year. he wants to know what agency Bev and Pete work with too so even if you guys don't think you can he can find someone in panaca or something that is a member and is wanting an exchange student. he was talking to Gildete and she mentioned something about how our family had done the exchange student program before and he figured he would ask you guys. i got a call from him about it but i told him that would be up to you guys. so let me know what you guys think about that and what agency bev and pete are with. about the guitar i don't think you guys will be able to get it here. he said you guys don't need to worry about it. i am going to visit them tonight. haha jessica loves to collect these barbies. so your question about the family. it is mom Gildete, dad Maricio, daughter Jessica, son Pedro, and daughter Priscila. they are way excited for you guys to get here. i was talking with them last night and starting to get everything planned for when you guys get here. you guys better get ready to eat a ton there are tons of families wanting to feed you haha. i think the first thing we will do when you get here is eat lunch with some members haha. dont worry i have let them know that the have to make food that isn't real strong like that stuff i told you with intestines in it haha. you guys will eat a of of fish and bbq. we need to see with president phillips too about when i am gonna get released. if i will have to be released here in brazil or if i will wait till i get back cuz sometimes when the missionaries go to visit a different city other that the mission city they like to release them. i will ask president here and see what he thinks too. i cant believe i am entering in my last transfer! so crazy! but i better run i have to help with these last transfers wooooooooo! the office was good but these transfers kill you in the office haha. i love you guys. and will talk to you next week from my new area.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
hey mom and dad
this week i wont get to write you. i get on a boat in an hour headed for Maués again. i will get there tomorrow afternoon. i just wanted to let you guys know thats why you will only get this little email from me this week. we had a really good week! the family we were working with was batized it was an amazing and tiring experience! i love you guy and will talk to you next week
this week i wont get to write you. i get on a boat in an hour headed for Maués again. i will get there tomorrow afternoon. i just wanted to let you guys know thats why you will only get this little email from me this week. we had a really good week! the family we were working with was batized it was an amazing and tiring experience! i love you guy and will talk to you next week
Monday, October 3, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow another week gone by! i cant hardly believe it! i am just about to my last transfer. it is gonna go by way fast. i head back to Maués on monday for another week i am way excite about that! them i will be transferred to somewhere. President said The Lord is gonna be real good to me too so im not really sure what that means haha. i am thinking he is gonna put me as the new main traveling assistant to go to all these little towns that have never had missionaries there before but we will see here in a few weeks. that's good that you guys got your rooms reserved at the hotel it is really nice that. i had a member call me this week and said if we wanted to we could stay in an apartment they have in the center of the city if we wanted but it will be good at the hotel too. my companion is headed home here in 15 days so he is real trunkey but we are still working hard. we had a real break through with that family that i told you about. the dad went to the priesthood session of conference and watched with tears in his eyes. he loved it. we are gonna do everything we can to get them baptised this week. they are ready and needing it so bad so that Christ can take this big burden off their backs. they are gonna get there i know it. i really liked conference. it is really nice to get two days out of the office feeling the spirit so strong listening to men called of God to bring his messages to us. every time conference comes around on the mission i realized how much i took for granted having a living prophet on the earth today. today was a good day. we finally had a p-day haha. we went and had a bbq with the second counselor of the bishopric and played some fun games. i have some important news though i have officially served a mission now........ i have be bit by a dog hahahaha. i was running after a ball in this game we were playing and i guess the dog liked white meat and gave it a taste haha. but don't worry mom i will not get rabies he just got my pants haha. these pants were warriors too they lived through the fire and through 22 months of mission but lost to the mouth of a dog haha. but he was just wantin to play too. it was a lot of fun there but i am beat!!! i talked to my Brazilian family yesterday they are way excited for you guys to get here. i think Gildete wants us to hide her in our suitcase and bring her back with us haha she wants to visit the states so bad haha. he husband has already been there a bunch of time with his work and she thinks it about time for her to get to go haha. they are gonna help out a lot though. because on the monday before we head out to belo horizonte from four to eight at night i will have to be at presidents house for the last interviews and dinner. president usually invited the families to participate to but if that doesn't work out you guys can stay with Gildete and the family. it will be a pretty busy couple of days seeing everyone but they will be good. hey I'm gonna send you the information of the doll that jessica asked if you can grab and what are you guys thinking about the guitar? if there is no way don't worry about it but he would be really grateful if there was a way so just get back to me as soon as you can so we can have time to get it bought and on its way there if you guys can do it.
i love you guys and am very thankful for your support. i am very thankful for the card from aunt Valinda i can feel the great love she has for me through that little piece of paper ever week and it touched my heart to get one from aunt Bonnie in her own handwriting. give them both a great big hug for me and tell them i love them. Give Grandma a special hug for me and let her know there are prayers going out of the Amazon for her. i love you two mom and dad.
wow another week gone by! i cant hardly believe it! i am just about to my last transfer. it is gonna go by way fast. i head back to Maués on monday for another week i am way excite about that! them i will be transferred to somewhere. President said The Lord is gonna be real good to me too so im not really sure what that means haha. i am thinking he is gonna put me as the new main traveling assistant to go to all these little towns that have never had missionaries there before but we will see here in a few weeks. that's good that you guys got your rooms reserved at the hotel it is really nice that. i had a member call me this week and said if we wanted to we could stay in an apartment they have in the center of the city if we wanted but it will be good at the hotel too. my companion is headed home here in 15 days so he is real trunkey but we are still working hard. we had a real break through with that family that i told you about. the dad went to the priesthood session of conference and watched with tears in his eyes. he loved it. we are gonna do everything we can to get them baptised this week. they are ready and needing it so bad so that Christ can take this big burden off their backs. they are gonna get there i know it. i really liked conference. it is really nice to get two days out of the office feeling the spirit so strong listening to men called of God to bring his messages to us. every time conference comes around on the mission i realized how much i took for granted having a living prophet on the earth today. today was a good day. we finally had a p-day haha. we went and had a bbq with the second counselor of the bishopric and played some fun games. i have some important news though i have officially served a mission now........ i have be bit by a dog hahahaha. i was running after a ball in this game we were playing and i guess the dog liked white meat and gave it a taste haha. but don't worry mom i will not get rabies he just got my pants haha. these pants were warriors too they lived through the fire and through 22 months of mission but lost to the mouth of a dog haha. but he was just wantin to play too. it was a lot of fun there but i am beat!!! i talked to my Brazilian family yesterday they are way excited for you guys to get here. i think Gildete wants us to hide her in our suitcase and bring her back with us haha she wants to visit the states so bad haha. he husband has already been there a bunch of time with his work and she thinks it about time for her to get to go haha. they are gonna help out a lot though. because on the monday before we head out to belo horizonte from four to eight at night i will have to be at presidents house for the last interviews and dinner. president usually invited the families to participate to but if that doesn't work out you guys can stay with Gildete and the family. it will be a pretty busy couple of days seeing everyone but they will be good. hey I'm gonna send you the information of the doll that jessica asked if you can grab and what are you guys thinking about the guitar? if there is no way don't worry about it but he would be really grateful if there was a way so just get back to me as soon as you can so we can have time to get it bought and on its way there if you guys can do it.
i love you guys and am very thankful for your support. i am very thankful for the card from aunt Valinda i can feel the great love she has for me through that little piece of paper ever week and it touched my heart to get one from aunt Bonnie in her own handwriting. give them both a great big hug for me and tell them i love them. Give Grandma a special hug for me and let her know there are prayers going out of the Amazon for her. i love you two mom and dad.
Monday, September 26, 2011
hey mom and dad
I'm back!!!! it was amazing in Maués! i didn't want to leave there. we got on the plane early this morning and headed back for manaus. the little city had that small town feel to it. we worked our butts off there! i came back just about as dark as i was when i came to the office. the people there are amazing! they are very loving and very simple. we had three people to baptize but the day of the baptism they decided that they want to wait and be baptized with the rest of their family. we found two families that are wanting to be baptized but need to get married first. it is gonna be so great when they get their papers all done. the branch there is way excited. we taught almost all of the people with a member there with us. it was a great experience for my and gave me a really good feeling to be out in the field again! i loved the people of the branch too. the branch president is so awesome! he took us out to a restaurant for lunch and we ate fresh fish from there. he is so funny he is a simple man and loves everyone in Maués. he is one of those kind of guys that you cant ever imagine him mad haha. the trip there was really cool too. we went in an airplane that only holds ten people. i could only take 20 lbs with me so we each took about 15 pounds of church supplies and 5 pounds of clothes haha. lets just say my white shirts were pretty by the time i got back to manaus haha. i will probably get to go back there here in a week or so cuz i had to find a house for the missionaries for when they get back out there. i had to bring three different choices to president with all the information and he made his choice which one he wants and said i will probably go back there to close the deal before the transfers come. i will be happy if i do haha. but it was a great experience for me it was exactly what i was needing to keep me excited out here. but i have to run we have a family homevening to go to tonight. i will talk to you guys next week. i love you
I'm back!!!! it was amazing in Maués! i didn't want to leave there. we got on the plane early this morning and headed back for manaus. the little city had that small town feel to it. we worked our butts off there! i came back just about as dark as i was when i came to the office. the people there are amazing! they are very loving and very simple. we had three people to baptize but the day of the baptism they decided that they want to wait and be baptized with the rest of their family. we found two families that are wanting to be baptized but need to get married first. it is gonna be so great when they get their papers all done. the branch there is way excited. we taught almost all of the people with a member there with us. it was a great experience for my and gave me a really good feeling to be out in the field again! i loved the people of the branch too. the branch president is so awesome! he took us out to a restaurant for lunch and we ate fresh fish from there. he is so funny he is a simple man and loves everyone in Maués. he is one of those kind of guys that you cant ever imagine him mad haha. the trip there was really cool too. we went in an airplane that only holds ten people. i could only take 20 lbs with me so we each took about 15 pounds of church supplies and 5 pounds of clothes haha. lets just say my white shirts were pretty by the time i got back to manaus haha. i will probably get to go back there here in a week or so cuz i had to find a house for the missionaries for when they get back out there. i had to bring three different choices to president with all the information and he made his choice which one he wants and said i will probably go back there to close the deal before the transfers come. i will be happy if i do haha. but it was a great experience for me it was exactly what i was needing to keep me excited out here. but i have to run we have a family homevening to go to tonight. i will talk to you guys next week. i love you
Monday, September 19, 2011
hey mom and dad
well i still havent left yet haha but i will fly out wendsday morning but it will be better cuz i am going by jumper plane now so it will only take about two hours. it will be my first time in a little plane im pretty excited. im getting way anxious to go though. i cant stay still i just want to get out of the office haha. we will leave six in the morning on wednesday and come back some time next week it will be really good. they said there is tons of people there that are ready for baptism. we called there and they said that last sunday a soccer team went and was wanting to get baptised. i wish i was getting on the plane tomorrow morning haha. i dont thing i am gonna wanna come back when i get out there. but i think i will get to go back there or to another place cuz i have to find some other houses for missionaries because these little towns might open up to have full time missionaries there cuz there are tons of missionaries coming to manaus. next transfer we will get 22 more missionaries and will open up like six more areas. it will be really good. this week was a good week here too. first off Elder Godoy came to speak to us and was really good. then had a little meeting just with secretaries it was cool to get to know a seventy better. he asked us where we were from and how much time we have on our missions and my companion and i told him and so did the kids we are training and he looked at the two we are training and told them that the Lord has blessings reserved for them here in the office like things they will learn the looked at us two and said and you two the lord is preparing is preparing or has already prepared a young lady to be your wife.........!!!!!!!! pump the breaks there Elder Godoy hahaha im just a young buck. hahaha my companion and i just kind off looked at each other with eyes the size of oreo cookies. it was pretty funny we didnt really know what to say back to him haha very akward moment but it was a good one. it getting way close i dont know if i am ready for it. i am just gonna live this last little bit up and im sure when i see you guys i will be ready. but ya back to this week and away from the trunkyness haha. we baptised a girl named cleisianne. remember that fifteen year old girl i told you about she is doing all sorts of missionay work. there was a camp for all the youth a few weeks ago to get all the kids away from the city during the Independence day of brazil cuz it gets a little wild and she brought cleisianne with her on this camp out. the day they come back we get a phone call from Cleisianne and said "i have never felt anything like what i felt at that camp out when the speakers were talking to us, what day can i be baptized" so she was baptized this week on her 18th birthday it was way cool. we are still working with the big family that we found. they are passing some through some dificulties but who wouldnt it their situation. but we are gonna help them and get them all baptized. it is just being really hard cuz the dad has the tomer in his brain and is having hard times remembering things and it is scaring him so he is really protective of himself from his family right now. like he doesnt want to show that he is sick to his family and it is causing some arguments between them. but i know the Lord will help them. they love us, they all sit down together when we are there and are more together when we are there but we cant be there all the time. it is a hard situation for them to go through but when they let the savior walk them through this path that he has already walked they will all find the peace and rest from the struggle and the happiness that it brings even in the worst of the situations. but i better run mom and dad i will write you next week im not sure what day but hopefully monday if not it will be whenever i get back from Maués. love you guys
well i still havent left yet haha but i will fly out wendsday morning but it will be better cuz i am going by jumper plane now so it will only take about two hours. it will be my first time in a little plane im pretty excited. im getting way anxious to go though. i cant stay still i just want to get out of the office haha. we will leave six in the morning on wednesday and come back some time next week it will be really good. they said there is tons of people there that are ready for baptism. we called there and they said that last sunday a soccer team went and was wanting to get baptised. i wish i was getting on the plane tomorrow morning haha. i dont thing i am gonna wanna come back when i get out there. but i think i will get to go back there or to another place cuz i have to find some other houses for missionaries because these little towns might open up to have full time missionaries there cuz there are tons of missionaries coming to manaus. next transfer we will get 22 more missionaries and will open up like six more areas. it will be really good. this week was a good week here too. first off Elder Godoy came to speak to us and was really good. then had a little meeting just with secretaries it was cool to get to know a seventy better. he asked us where we were from and how much time we have on our missions and my companion and i told him and so did the kids we are training and he looked at the two we are training and told them that the Lord has blessings reserved for them here in the office like things they will learn the looked at us two and said and you two the lord is preparing is preparing or has already prepared a young lady to be your wife.........!!!!!!!! pump the breaks there Elder Godoy hahaha im just a young buck. hahaha my companion and i just kind off looked at each other with eyes the size of oreo cookies. it was pretty funny we didnt really know what to say back to him haha very akward moment but it was a good one. it getting way close i dont know if i am ready for it. i am just gonna live this last little bit up and im sure when i see you guys i will be ready. but ya back to this week and away from the trunkyness haha. we baptised a girl named cleisianne. remember that fifteen year old girl i told you about she is doing all sorts of missionay work. there was a camp for all the youth a few weeks ago to get all the kids away from the city during the Independence day of brazil cuz it gets a little wild and she brought cleisianne with her on this camp out. the day they come back we get a phone call from Cleisianne and said "i have never felt anything like what i felt at that camp out when the speakers were talking to us, what day can i be baptized" so she was baptized this week on her 18th birthday it was way cool. we are still working with the big family that we found. they are passing some through some dificulties but who wouldnt it their situation. but we are gonna help them and get them all baptized. it is just being really hard cuz the dad has the tomer in his brain and is having hard times remembering things and it is scaring him so he is really protective of himself from his family right now. like he doesnt want to show that he is sick to his family and it is causing some arguments between them. but i know the Lord will help them. they love us, they all sit down together when we are there and are more together when we are there but we cant be there all the time. it is a hard situation for them to go through but when they let the savior walk them through this path that he has already walked they will all find the peace and rest from the struggle and the happiness that it brings even in the worst of the situations. but i better run mom and dad i will write you next week im not sure what day but hopefully monday if not it will be whenever i get back from Maués. love you guys
Monday, September 5, 2011
hey mom and dad
guess what I'm doing?.......I'm finally training this transfer!!!!! i am officially not the financial secretary anymore haha. i am training Elder Crepeu. he is gonna do really good here. I'm am way excited to be training now and i will get to go to all the little cities here in the amazon to baptize the people there that are waiting for missionaries. i will be going to a few different places, if president doesn't decide to destroy our hopes and dreams haha. we are running like crazy these day though because of the transfers. so this one is gonna have to be short. but things are going really good here, just really busy. the family i told you about is doing really good. the kids are leaving today on a youth camping trip of the ward and are way excited. we have tons of people that are coming to church and are ready to be baptized. Sister missionaries are gonna work in a part of our area this transfer to help us get all these people taught and baptized. so it will be a really good month here. i am excited to be done with this office experience, but it was really good for me and i learned so much stuff here that will be way useful for after the mission. I'm am thankful that i got this calling for me to grow in the areas the Lord knew that i needed to grow in. but i have to run. i will talk to you guys later. maybe i will send you another email tonight if i can find some time. love you guys
guess what I'm doing?.......I'm finally training this transfer!!!!! i am officially not the financial secretary anymore haha. i am training Elder Crepeu. he is gonna do really good here. I'm am way excited to be training now and i will get to go to all the little cities here in the amazon to baptize the people there that are waiting for missionaries. i will be going to a few different places, if president doesn't decide to destroy our hopes and dreams haha. we are running like crazy these day though because of the transfers. so this one is gonna have to be short. but things are going really good here, just really busy. the family i told you about is doing really good. the kids are leaving today on a youth camping trip of the ward and are way excited. we have tons of people that are coming to church and are ready to be baptized. Sister missionaries are gonna work in a part of our area this transfer to help us get all these people taught and baptized. so it will be a really good month here. i am excited to be done with this office experience, but it was really good for me and i learned so much stuff here that will be way useful for after the mission. I'm am thankful that i got this calling for me to grow in the areas the Lord knew that i needed to grow in. but i have to run. i will talk to you guys later. maybe i will send you another email tonight if i can find some time. love you guys
Monday, August 29, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow! i cant believe it has been another week already. by next week i will be training a new financial secretary. it has been crazy. i don't feel like i even had time to breath haha. i am running around like crazy. the audit went pretty good, just gave me a bunch of work! but at least i didn't mess anything up too bad haha. wow, i dont even know where to start this week. we had a baptism of Paula on saturday. it was really good. she was way excited and is really liking going to church. she is a pretty tough little girl. she is 15 years old and her parents don't want anything to do with the church. she lives very far from the church, but she is there every sunday. she watches over her little sister, that is special, and works in her family's little grocery store, and is in high school right now. she is a little warrior. we are working a lot in this little area called santa cruz. it is just a little humble part of the city, and the people there are amazing! it is were we got the alligator, so everyone knows us haha. the last three baptisms are all from there. we found a golden family there yesterday. a member introduced us to this family after we ate lunch at his house. they are very special people! the member brought us there because the husband has brain cancer, and has had a surgery already, but has to have another, and is fighting the cancer. he has four kids and his wife, and they are a family that is very close. we went there and sat down with them and really connected with them. we got to know them and presented the plan of salvation to them. they had so many questions for us and were so interested in what we are saying. it really comforted them when we taught about eternal families. while we were talking with them about it they stopped us and said, "wait we don't have to be separated after death? there is a way that we can be together forever?" it was an amazing feeling to get to tell them about God's plan for them. at the end of our visit the husband told us of his life he had led. he had a very tough life. he said, "i was addicted to drugs in my youth, drank, smoked, went to jail for drugs, saw friends being killed, and have tried to get myself straight with God for the last 18 years of my life. i have got established my family, let go of all my addictions, provided a good life for my family, and now God is showing me the part that is missing with you two being here." it is these times on the mission when you really feel like an angel sent by our Heavenly Father to His children. it is an experience that is like no other. it is crazy how you can talk to a family for the first time in your life and feel a love for them so great. it is something amazing that i will never forget. i better run mom and dad. i have been on the move ever since seven this morning haha. a missionary got here early from one of the little cities here and we had to go get him haha. i just threw a shirt on and went. and we are working like crazy here, and i have to run to the north side of the city to do a bunch of stuff for missionaries, and send stuff to São Paulo haha. o i cant wait for a regular p day again haha. i love you guys. i will send another email tonight when it has calmed down here cuz i need to ask you to bring some stuff.
wow! i cant believe it has been another week already. by next week i will be training a new financial secretary. it has been crazy. i don't feel like i even had time to breath haha. i am running around like crazy. the audit went pretty good, just gave me a bunch of work! but at least i didn't mess anything up too bad haha. wow, i dont even know where to start this week. we had a baptism of Paula on saturday. it was really good. she was way excited and is really liking going to church. she is a pretty tough little girl. she is 15 years old and her parents don't want anything to do with the church. she lives very far from the church, but she is there every sunday. she watches over her little sister, that is special, and works in her family's little grocery store, and is in high school right now. she is a little warrior. we are working a lot in this little area called santa cruz. it is just a little humble part of the city, and the people there are amazing! it is were we got the alligator, so everyone knows us haha. the last three baptisms are all from there. we found a golden family there yesterday. a member introduced us to this family after we ate lunch at his house. they are very special people! the member brought us there because the husband has brain cancer, and has had a surgery already, but has to have another, and is fighting the cancer. he has four kids and his wife, and they are a family that is very close. we went there and sat down with them and really connected with them. we got to know them and presented the plan of salvation to them. they had so many questions for us and were so interested in what we are saying. it really comforted them when we taught about eternal families. while we were talking with them about it they stopped us and said, "wait we don't have to be separated after death? there is a way that we can be together forever?" it was an amazing feeling to get to tell them about God's plan for them. at the end of our visit the husband told us of his life he had led. he had a very tough life. he said, "i was addicted to drugs in my youth, drank, smoked, went to jail for drugs, saw friends being killed, and have tried to get myself straight with God for the last 18 years of my life. i have got established my family, let go of all my addictions, provided a good life for my family, and now God is showing me the part that is missing with you two being here." it is these times on the mission when you really feel like an angel sent by our Heavenly Father to His children. it is an experience that is like no other. it is crazy how you can talk to a family for the first time in your life and feel a love for them so great. it is something amazing that i will never forget. i better run mom and dad. i have been on the move ever since seven this morning haha. a missionary got here early from one of the little cities here and we had to go get him haha. i just threw a shirt on and went. and we are working like crazy here, and i have to run to the north side of the city to do a bunch of stuff for missionaries, and send stuff to São Paulo haha. o i cant wait for a regular p day again haha. i love you guys. i will send another email tonight when it has calmed down here cuz i need to ask you to bring some stuff.
Monday, August 22, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow that is a big deer! i bet he tastes a lot better than that good ole tag haha. you guys will have to let me know how much he scores when they score him. how is colton doing on finding his deer? tell him to kill one even if its small so i can have some jerky when i get back, but that wouldn't be anything different, him killin little deer ;) haha well things here are pretty good. the yearly audit is today and has been going on for the last eight hours, so you know how much fun that brings for the financial secretary. and it doesn't help that last night around three in the morning we had a crazy rain storm and the power was out until 9 this morning. i was soaked by six thirty haha. it was great. the rain was nice though. it has been about a month and a half since it rained here in the city last, so it gave us a break from the heat. saturday when we were going to lunch we went by a thermometer and it was 105. it has been way hot! guess what only two weeks and i get to pass my job to someone else here on the mission. i am pretty excited, I'm not gonna lie. i am ready to be done with the craziness of the office. i was talking to president the other day and he was asking me where i wanted to go for my last transfer, i mentioned going back to one of the areas that i have already served in, ya he shut that down haha. but he was talking about maybe sending my to one of the little cities here close to manaus so i can get to know something different. but we will see what happens. i will be fine with whatever place he puts me. i am still liking this area. we have a baptism this week and that will be really good, but i feel like i know everyone haha. i almost feel like i turned a normal member of the ward here. but for sure I'm gonna miss it when i have to leave. there are a bunch of people here that I'm gonna bring you guys to meet. one of the members said he is doing a brazilian barbecue for you guys when you get here. it is good too, trust me. i just about made my self sick on it last week cuz i ate so much haha. i think i am gonna talk to this member and see if he can take me to pick you guys up then we will just go straight to his house for lunch. but we will figure that all out here in a little bit when it is getting closer. i talked to my brasilian mom this week and she is still way excited. she was talking in english with me and everything haha. you guys better start practicing your Portuguese. you guys should send me your guyses flight plans too. are we still needing tickets to Belo Horizonte? we have members here that could help find a cheap flight if you want. just let me know. o my package got here. it was just in time cuz my shoe has a nice hole in it and was just about wearing holes in my socks. I'm not saying the new shoes are the best looking things in the world, but they are comfortable and dont have holes in them haha. but i got to run. i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
wow that is a big deer! i bet he tastes a lot better than that good ole tag haha. you guys will have to let me know how much he scores when they score him. how is colton doing on finding his deer? tell him to kill one even if its small so i can have some jerky when i get back, but that wouldn't be anything different, him killin little deer ;) haha well things here are pretty good. the yearly audit is today and has been going on for the last eight hours, so you know how much fun that brings for the financial secretary. and it doesn't help that last night around three in the morning we had a crazy rain storm and the power was out until 9 this morning. i was soaked by six thirty haha. it was great. the rain was nice though. it has been about a month and a half since it rained here in the city last, so it gave us a break from the heat. saturday when we were going to lunch we went by a thermometer and it was 105. it has been way hot! guess what only two weeks and i get to pass my job to someone else here on the mission. i am pretty excited, I'm not gonna lie. i am ready to be done with the craziness of the office. i was talking to president the other day and he was asking me where i wanted to go for my last transfer, i mentioned going back to one of the areas that i have already served in, ya he shut that down haha. but he was talking about maybe sending my to one of the little cities here close to manaus so i can get to know something different. but we will see what happens. i will be fine with whatever place he puts me. i am still liking this area. we have a baptism this week and that will be really good, but i feel like i know everyone haha. i almost feel like i turned a normal member of the ward here. but for sure I'm gonna miss it when i have to leave. there are a bunch of people here that I'm gonna bring you guys to meet. one of the members said he is doing a brazilian barbecue for you guys when you get here. it is good too, trust me. i just about made my self sick on it last week cuz i ate so much haha. i think i am gonna talk to this member and see if he can take me to pick you guys up then we will just go straight to his house for lunch. but we will figure that all out here in a little bit when it is getting closer. i talked to my brasilian mom this week and she is still way excited. she was talking in english with me and everything haha. you guys better start practicing your Portuguese. you guys should send me your guyses flight plans too. are we still needing tickets to Belo Horizonte? we have members here that could help find a cheap flight if you want. just let me know. o my package got here. it was just in time cuz my shoe has a nice hole in it and was just about wearing holes in my socks. I'm not saying the new shoes are the best looking things in the world, but they are comfortable and dont have holes in them haha. but i got to run. i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
Monday, August 15, 2011
hey mom and dad
sounds like things are going good there with the hunting and everything. man i sure do miss this season there. but i will only miss this time haha. you guys will have to bring some jerky here if any one kills anything, or a piece of the tag from what it is sounding like haha. i am excited to go to brianna's wedding. it will be good to see new york again. i can't believe how fast time is going by these days. i swear i wrote you guy yesterday haha. here before i know it you two will be here picking me up. and i cant wait till you see the river mom and all the things here, you will be amazed! you won't believe how much water there is. i'm glad kc liked those pictures. he would really like it here too. he doesn't know it but i really miss him. it doesn't help that i dont show it by writing a letter to him or even an email haha. but i really do miss him. i know we fought like cats and dog at home but i learned a lot of stuff with him, and he really gave me a good example in lots of stuff i needed to get better at. that's one of the things i have realized here on the mission. i feel like i should have been different towards him at some part in life and not have always been fighting with him. he has always meant a lot to me but i have realized that he really does mean a lot more to me than i show and i have taken that for granted. but we'll see if i can't repent and be closer to him when i get back haha. be closer to my sisters too haha. things here are good. stressful a lot of times, with the finances, but if it was easy i wouldn't be learning haha. we are going through some changes with the houses and material in the houses, so i really don't stop any more. it is getting close to transfers again so President has be asking me to indicate some missionaries to replace me. it was funny what he said to me today. he said. " we have to find some one like you, very calm at points and very angry at other points". hahaha i think he has seen the price temper come out a few times. but i am excited to get to train and put this burden on someone elses back for a while haha. he mentioned something about sending us to all the little branches here in the amazon for a few weeks as we train but we will see how that goes. it would be nice to get some 24 hour boat rides into the amazon jungle or little jumper plane rides haha. i hear the people in these little cities are amazing and treat you like a king there. i hope it works out for us to do that but we will see. i was talking to my brazilian mom the other day and she is getting all trained up on her english before you guys get here haha. she is getting really excited too. but i better run mom and dad my food just got here haha, i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
sounds like things are going good there with the hunting and everything. man i sure do miss this season there. but i will only miss this time haha. you guys will have to bring some jerky here if any one kills anything, or a piece of the tag from what it is sounding like haha. i am excited to go to brianna's wedding. it will be good to see new york again. i can't believe how fast time is going by these days. i swear i wrote you guy yesterday haha. here before i know it you two will be here picking me up. and i cant wait till you see the river mom and all the things here, you will be amazed! you won't believe how much water there is. i'm glad kc liked those pictures. he would really like it here too. he doesn't know it but i really miss him. it doesn't help that i dont show it by writing a letter to him or even an email haha. but i really do miss him. i know we fought like cats and dog at home but i learned a lot of stuff with him, and he really gave me a good example in lots of stuff i needed to get better at. that's one of the things i have realized here on the mission. i feel like i should have been different towards him at some part in life and not have always been fighting with him. he has always meant a lot to me but i have realized that he really does mean a lot more to me than i show and i have taken that for granted. but we'll see if i can't repent and be closer to him when i get back haha. be closer to my sisters too haha. things here are good. stressful a lot of times, with the finances, but if it was easy i wouldn't be learning haha. we are going through some changes with the houses and material in the houses, so i really don't stop any more. it is getting close to transfers again so President has be asking me to indicate some missionaries to replace me. it was funny what he said to me today. he said. " we have to find some one like you, very calm at points and very angry at other points". hahaha i think he has seen the price temper come out a few times. but i am excited to get to train and put this burden on someone elses back for a while haha. he mentioned something about sending us to all the little branches here in the amazon for a few weeks as we train but we will see how that goes. it would be nice to get some 24 hour boat rides into the amazon jungle or little jumper plane rides haha. i hear the people in these little cities are amazing and treat you like a king there. i hope it works out for us to do that but we will see. i was talking to my brazilian mom the other day and she is getting all trained up on her english before you guys get here haha. she is getting really excited too. but i better run mom and dad my food just got here haha, i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
happy birthday dad and kc
wow i cant believe that its dad's and kc's birthday already, july flew by! one of my friends here had his birthday today too. we went and had a little activity and i got toasted haha. its funny, we put regular clothes on to play soccer and what not and we all have these gnarly tan lines of a collared shirt. it looks pretty funny and is even funnier the next day when everyone has the top button unbuttoned on their white shirt cuz they got burn on their neck haha. but we had a lot of fun, so don't worry dad, we celebrated your birthday and had a lot of fun. but i am toasted. I'm glad you guys liked the picture of the alligator. did you like my sweet heart shirt? that's what you get when your house burns and you get all the missionaries clothes that they left behind of girlfriends that sent them dear john letters hahahaha. the worst thing is i knew this missionary really well and remember that he wore that shirt all the time and said he was gonna marry his girlfriend waiting on him at home. and i remember when he put that shirt in the "i don't want this anymore" box haha. but we are famous in that little area now with all those guys with tattoos and they like us. they always see us and say lets go get another alligator mormons hahaha. its good to have these guys as friends now, its a lot safer walking through that area. we are still working like crazy! i am convinced that this pace is gonna stay like this until i leave the office, if i leave, that is haha. but we are still managing to find new people and teach them. we are teaching Junior and he is really cool! he has been living a pretty wild life and we knew him before and taught him but he didn't want to give up the wild life. then one sunday he showed up at church and we talked with him and are getting him involved in the ward soccer and now he has a baptism date marked for the twentieth of this month. we are way excited for him and he is excited too. we just have to help him with a few things before that day, but he is gonna make it and it will be a huge step up in his life and he knows it. but i need to go mom and dad i have to go buy tickets to one of the little cities here in the amazon so two missionaries can go there and baptize a bunch of people that the branch has prepared there. i love you guy happy birthday dad and send a happy birthday to kc too.
wow i cant believe that its dad's and kc's birthday already, july flew by! one of my friends here had his birthday today too. we went and had a little activity and i got toasted haha. its funny, we put regular clothes on to play soccer and what not and we all have these gnarly tan lines of a collared shirt. it looks pretty funny and is even funnier the next day when everyone has the top button unbuttoned on their white shirt cuz they got burn on their neck haha. but we had a lot of fun, so don't worry dad, we celebrated your birthday and had a lot of fun. but i am toasted. I'm glad you guys liked the picture of the alligator. did you like my sweet heart shirt? that's what you get when your house burns and you get all the missionaries clothes that they left behind of girlfriends that sent them dear john letters hahahaha. the worst thing is i knew this missionary really well and remember that he wore that shirt all the time and said he was gonna marry his girlfriend waiting on him at home. and i remember when he put that shirt in the "i don't want this anymore" box haha. but we are famous in that little area now with all those guys with tattoos and they like us. they always see us and say lets go get another alligator mormons hahaha. its good to have these guys as friends now, its a lot safer walking through that area. we are still working like crazy! i am convinced that this pace is gonna stay like this until i leave the office, if i leave, that is haha. but we are still managing to find new people and teach them. we are teaching Junior and he is really cool! he has been living a pretty wild life and we knew him before and taught him but he didn't want to give up the wild life. then one sunday he showed up at church and we talked with him and are getting him involved in the ward soccer and now he has a baptism date marked for the twentieth of this month. we are way excited for him and he is excited too. we just have to help him with a few things before that day, but he is gonna make it and it will be a huge step up in his life and he knows it. but i need to go mom and dad i have to go buy tickets to one of the little cities here in the amazon so two missionaries can go there and baptize a bunch of people that the branch has prepared there. i love you guy happy birthday dad and send a happy birthday to kc too.
Monday, August 1, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow another week gone by! it has been pretty crazy here but i think this week things will calm down a little bit. i had a training about finances this week with a guy from são paulo. it was really good but gave me so much more work! so now i am running like crazy trying to get things all worked out. but today we had something to relax. the second counsolor of the bishopric called us and told us to come running to his house. remember the place i sent you pictures of us fishing. well they got the alligator right in that little stream haha. it was so cool! we got tons of pictures with the alligator, and i got to eat alligator. it is really good! i will send pictures but i dont think you should put them up on the blog haha. it was a lot of fun! those guys there are so crazy! when they were getting him there was a bunch of guys in the water gettin him with the net, and he swam away and dissapeared under the water and came up right between this one guys legs haha. he jumped and got the alligator with his machete hahaha. and no mom, you dont have to worry, i was no where near the water haha. it was crazy though. after that the whole neiborhood was down there grilling him up to eat him. it was a lot of fun and nice to get our minds off of office work. then on our way back we even saw monkeys crossing the road. my companion looked at me and said, "yup, now my mission is complete, alligators and monkeys all in the same day." it was a lot of fun! now we are gonna go help some elders move into a new house then do some work in the office. maybe one of these days it will slow down around here but for right now its still pretty crazy! the time goes by so fast though when its busy its hard to believe that a week has already gone by. and it in August! sounds like you guys had a good time in vegas. sorry i didn't get it all set up with my friend. i wasn't able to talk with him before he headed out. that's sad to hear about enid. the Lord must know how strong of person she is to give her all these trails, but she is passing them for a reason and for sure the Lord has a special plan for her. just let her know i love her and am praying for her. well i better run, mom and dad, i have to go help these guys move. i love you guys!
wow another week gone by! it has been pretty crazy here but i think this week things will calm down a little bit. i had a training about finances this week with a guy from são paulo. it was really good but gave me so much more work! so now i am running like crazy trying to get things all worked out. but today we had something to relax. the second counsolor of the bishopric called us and told us to come running to his house. remember the place i sent you pictures of us fishing. well they got the alligator right in that little stream haha. it was so cool! we got tons of pictures with the alligator, and i got to eat alligator. it is really good! i will send pictures but i dont think you should put them up on the blog haha. it was a lot of fun! those guys there are so crazy! when they were getting him there was a bunch of guys in the water gettin him with the net, and he swam away and dissapeared under the water and came up right between this one guys legs haha. he jumped and got the alligator with his machete hahaha. and no mom, you dont have to worry, i was no where near the water haha. it was crazy though. after that the whole neiborhood was down there grilling him up to eat him. it was a lot of fun and nice to get our minds off of office work. then on our way back we even saw monkeys crossing the road. my companion looked at me and said, "yup, now my mission is complete, alligators and monkeys all in the same day." it was a lot of fun! now we are gonna go help some elders move into a new house then do some work in the office. maybe one of these days it will slow down around here but for right now its still pretty crazy! the time goes by so fast though when its busy its hard to believe that a week has already gone by. and it in August! sounds like you guys had a good time in vegas. sorry i didn't get it all set up with my friend. i wasn't able to talk with him before he headed out. that's sad to hear about enid. the Lord must know how strong of person she is to give her all these trails, but she is passing them for a reason and for sure the Lord has a special plan for her. just let her know i love her and am praying for her. well i better run, mom and dad, i have to go help these guys move. i love you guys!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
hey mom and dad
wow another week gone by! it has been way crazy around here with transfers and areas opening we have been running around like crazy!!!! it all just seems like one big day. but transfers are done Wednesday so after that it will calm back down. i will be staying here this transfer and not training yet so i will have the one after this to train the get back in the field for another transfer. it will be good though i will be able to get everything planned and set up for when you guys get here. i got to meet elder wardles family today they came to pick him up too. they really like it here. you guys will like it a lot too but we still got a little while before you guys come haha. that's cool that all those guys are headed out on their missions. it makes me feel old haha. i cant believe chauncey and trent are about ready to come home too! so it sounds like pioneer day was fun. you think its hot there mom just wait till you come to manaus haha. it has been getting really hot the last few days here. we are lucky cuz the new house we live in has airconditioning in the bed room. its funny you do all you have to do at night then go take a shower and try to get in to the bedroom as quick as you can so you don't get soaked with sweat haha. things in the ward here are going really good. we just traded bishops. the new bishop is the man who took us out to buy something to wear after the fire haha we told him you see the blessings when you help the elders haha. but things are going good. the man we baptized last month Erivelton is doing really well! he just got his first calling in the ward and is preparing for the Melchizedek priesthood. he was way excited about his calling and this sunday was going around getting every ones names and addresses . i don't know how you call his calling in english haha i think it is the sunday schools first counselor. he is way excited though and that is always good to see. we are trying to get out in the streets more to find more people but between my stuff and elder damascenos stuff it gets really hard sometimes. but we get out still and it is really good. it takes a lot of stress off of us. we are trying to get tooned in with president but it is hard cuz he is still pretty lost but we are working with him and helping him. he is changing lots of stuff but i think it will be good for the mission. but i better run we have to take all the guys going home to the airport and they are still at presidents house haha. tonight is gonna be a long one. flights every two hours until six in the morning haha i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
wow another week gone by! it has been way crazy around here with transfers and areas opening we have been running around like crazy!!!! it all just seems like one big day. but transfers are done Wednesday so after that it will calm back down. i will be staying here this transfer and not training yet so i will have the one after this to train the get back in the field for another transfer. it will be good though i will be able to get everything planned and set up for when you guys get here. i got to meet elder wardles family today they came to pick him up too. they really like it here. you guys will like it a lot too but we still got a little while before you guys come haha. that's cool that all those guys are headed out on their missions. it makes me feel old haha. i cant believe chauncey and trent are about ready to come home too! so it sounds like pioneer day was fun. you think its hot there mom just wait till you come to manaus haha. it has been getting really hot the last few days here. we are lucky cuz the new house we live in has airconditioning in the bed room. its funny you do all you have to do at night then go take a shower and try to get in to the bedroom as quick as you can so you don't get soaked with sweat haha. things in the ward here are going really good. we just traded bishops. the new bishop is the man who took us out to buy something to wear after the fire haha we told him you see the blessings when you help the elders haha. but things are going good. the man we baptized last month Erivelton is doing really well! he just got his first calling in the ward and is preparing for the Melchizedek priesthood. he was way excited about his calling and this sunday was going around getting every ones names and addresses . i don't know how you call his calling in english haha i think it is the sunday schools first counselor. he is way excited though and that is always good to see. we are trying to get out in the streets more to find more people but between my stuff and elder damascenos stuff it gets really hard sometimes. but we get out still and it is really good. it takes a lot of stress off of us. we are trying to get tooned in with president but it is hard cuz he is still pretty lost but we are working with him and helping him. he is changing lots of stuff but i think it will be good for the mission. but i better run we have to take all the guys going home to the airport and they are still at presidents house haha. tonight is gonna be a long one. flights every two hours until six in the morning haha i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
Monday, July 18, 2011
hey mom and dad.
holy cow another week gone by! it has been going by so fast latley! i think it is because we are always running here. i got my flight plans. i was really excited to see them. it will be so good to get to see st claire too! thats cool you guy are gonna go visit him before too. they will be able to help you get on the right plane coming to here. the gonzaga family is getting excited to see you guys too! still a little over four months left but they are getting anxious haha. but anyways things are going good here. it is getting really hot!!!! today it was 104 degrees! i was melting. we had an emergency transfer this week cuz an american missionary got his visa and came early, so president moved tons of stuff! my companion went to a little city with the new missionary and i'm with elder damacseno. he is the executive secretary. he got here the same time i did in the office. we are still in my old area though. he is ending his mission this transfer, in September, or in october cuz president gave him the choice of staying another transfer cuz he needs him to train a new secretary. it has been comfirmed, i will be in here for another two transfers. so, i'm gonna break a record in the manaus mission for the longest time in the office haha. i will get out for my last transfer, hopefully, and go to a new area. i am gonna ask president if i can finish my mission in gloria cuz i won't have enough time to really get to know the ward and lots of people. so it would be cool to go back there cuz i really liked it there, and i already know the area. but we will see what happens here in three months, haha. if i get sent somewhere esle it will be fine too. transfers are next week. i'm not real excited about that haha. that just means more work for me. we will see how this fist transfer goes with president too. he is starting to get the hang of things, just needs more time. i think we are running him to death haha. he hasn't stopped since he got here. but things will calm down here in a little bit. i am just struggling with getting all the houses in the little cities reformed so the elders have a place to live next week when the areas get opened. it is tough reforming a house in a different city when you don't know any one that lives there haha. i sent a member from here there yesterday to reform three houses by next week haha. his name is Delson, he is really cool. he was in my first area too. he is the one that took us to hunt allegators haha. he helps me out a lot here. you guys will have the chance to meet him and his family when you guys get here. they are really special people. but i better run mom and dad i still have to go pick up a fridge for some elders. i love you guys talk to you next week
holy cow another week gone by! it has been going by so fast latley! i think it is because we are always running here. i got my flight plans. i was really excited to see them. it will be so good to get to see st claire too! thats cool you guy are gonna go visit him before too. they will be able to help you get on the right plane coming to here. the gonzaga family is getting excited to see you guys too! still a little over four months left but they are getting anxious haha. but anyways things are going good here. it is getting really hot!!!! today it was 104 degrees! i was melting. we had an emergency transfer this week cuz an american missionary got his visa and came early, so president moved tons of stuff! my companion went to a little city with the new missionary and i'm with elder damacseno. he is the executive secretary. he got here the same time i did in the office. we are still in my old area though. he is ending his mission this transfer, in September, or in october cuz president gave him the choice of staying another transfer cuz he needs him to train a new secretary. it has been comfirmed, i will be in here for another two transfers. so, i'm gonna break a record in the manaus mission for the longest time in the office haha. i will get out for my last transfer, hopefully, and go to a new area. i am gonna ask president if i can finish my mission in gloria cuz i won't have enough time to really get to know the ward and lots of people. so it would be cool to go back there cuz i really liked it there, and i already know the area. but we will see what happens here in three months, haha. if i get sent somewhere esle it will be fine too. transfers are next week. i'm not real excited about that haha. that just means more work for me. we will see how this fist transfer goes with president too. he is starting to get the hang of things, just needs more time. i think we are running him to death haha. he hasn't stopped since he got here. but things will calm down here in a little bit. i am just struggling with getting all the houses in the little cities reformed so the elders have a place to live next week when the areas get opened. it is tough reforming a house in a different city when you don't know any one that lives there haha. i sent a member from here there yesterday to reform three houses by next week haha. his name is Delson, he is really cool. he was in my first area too. he is the one that took us to hunt allegators haha. he helps me out a lot here. you guys will have the chance to meet him and his family when you guys get here. they are really special people. but i better run mom and dad i still have to go pick up a fridge for some elders. i love you guys talk to you next week
Friday, July 8, 2011
hey mom and dad
well your luck two times in one week getting a letter from me haha. alright so i will answer your questions first mom.
1 i can get garments from são paulo but i managed to save about 5 pair (they were out drying)
2 i had my bank card with me so i still have it.
3 i had my camera down stairs in my office so thats good.
4 yes i still have preach my gospel in Portuguese
5 i still have my scriptures in Portuguese too my english set was in the fire
6 it was a weird feeling haha i felt like a homeless person.
ya so the crazyness is starting to calm down a little bit now. we have moved to a house here close and are just trying to get things all sorted out. we were wearing some pretty sweet clothes for a few days that all the missionaries that have already went home left behind haha but monday a member in our ward was really good to us. he took us to eat in the mall then he bought each of us four white shirts and two pair of pants. he was really good to us! we are very greatfull for what he did for us. those clothes that the missionaries left behind arent the greatest looking cloths and even more trying to find the very few that fit me haha. but we are getting back in the swing of things. president is doing good he is just lost on things haha he is doing really good though he will be a great president. he is visiting the missionaries in the other states in the mission right now with his family so that gives us a little bit of time to get everything organized here in the office. it has looked like a bomb went off in here the last few days (i dont even want to mention our house haha). we went and played some soccer today on a nice field to relax a little bit and feel normal again. it was a lot of fun! i made three goals haha vanna better be practicing. we have a busy week coming up though that we are all just waiting for. we will receive a missionary from the states and it will be when president starts to change some things and get in tune with us and the work we do in the office. o that reminds me. pday will be on mondays now. they made that change yesterday so that will be interesting. they were talking about moving ours to saturday here in staff cuz monday in the busiest day for us but we will see. i thing i am about done in here though. i have three more weeks in this transfer then i will train the next financial secretary. it went by way quick! by the end of it all i will have been in here for seven and a half months crazy! we will see what president does though. o i wanted to tell you guy that you have to start reading D&C backwards starting on the 13th this month and read a section everyday cuz thats how many days i will be missing to come home. pretty crazy huh? but i better run i think we are gonna go play soccer with the ward too i am gonna be dead tonight haha. i love you guys sorry for the scare mom haha talk to you next monday.
well your luck two times in one week getting a letter from me haha. alright so i will answer your questions first mom.
1 i can get garments from são paulo but i managed to save about 5 pair (they were out drying)
2 i had my bank card with me so i still have it.
3 i had my camera down stairs in my office so thats good.
4 yes i still have preach my gospel in Portuguese
5 i still have my scriptures in Portuguese too my english set was in the fire
6 it was a weird feeling haha i felt like a homeless person.
ya so the crazyness is starting to calm down a little bit now. we have moved to a house here close and are just trying to get things all sorted out. we were wearing some pretty sweet clothes for a few days that all the missionaries that have already went home left behind haha but monday a member in our ward was really good to us. he took us to eat in the mall then he bought each of us four white shirts and two pair of pants. he was really good to us! we are very greatfull for what he did for us. those clothes that the missionaries left behind arent the greatest looking cloths and even more trying to find the very few that fit me haha. but we are getting back in the swing of things. president is doing good he is just lost on things haha he is doing really good though he will be a great president. he is visiting the missionaries in the other states in the mission right now with his family so that gives us a little bit of time to get everything organized here in the office. it has looked like a bomb went off in here the last few days (i dont even want to mention our house haha). we went and played some soccer today on a nice field to relax a little bit and feel normal again. it was a lot of fun! i made three goals haha vanna better be practicing. we have a busy week coming up though that we are all just waiting for. we will receive a missionary from the states and it will be when president starts to change some things and get in tune with us and the work we do in the office. o that reminds me. pday will be on mondays now. they made that change yesterday so that will be interesting. they were talking about moving ours to saturday here in staff cuz monday in the busiest day for us but we will see. i thing i am about done in here though. i have three more weeks in this transfer then i will train the next financial secretary. it went by way quick! by the end of it all i will have been in here for seven and a half months crazy! we will see what president does though. o i wanted to tell you guy that you have to start reading D&C backwards starting on the 13th this month and read a section everyday cuz thats how many days i will be missing to come home. pretty crazy huh? but i better run i think we are gonna go play soccer with the ward too i am gonna be dead tonight haha. i love you guys sorry for the scare mom haha talk to you next monday.
Hey mom and dad
well you guys get a suprise email this week hahaha. the new president is here and is doing very good a little lost but good. but the reason i am writing you guys is that president thought it would be good that you were imformed that our apartment here above the office had a fire. there was an electrical problem and our bedroon caught fire. everyone is fine we were out working when it happened so we were safe. but my stuff wasnt so lucky haha. everything that was in the room was burned including some of my importants stuff like my birth certificate that was locked in my suit case under my bed and ll those documents. my passport is safe it was in presidents safe. but my vacsine card all that was in that little pouch thing is gone. the only thing that was left was my drivers licence that was wraped in my temple recomend i will send you a picture its actually pretty amazing. all my cloths burned up but president came to the rescue and brought two big boxes of clothes from missionaries that had gone home and left a bunch of cloths. you guys dont need to worry about anything we are getting it handled here president just wanted you guys to be aware of what is going on so you dont here a rumer that a missionaries house caught on fire in manaus and burned down half the amazon jungle and the all the people in the city haha. but i will keep you guys up to date on everything that happens. we are living in a house close by. it is the mission house we are just tryin to get everything moved there today. imagine how it is for president get here and one the third day he has to deal with this haha. but they are helping a lot! he was with us clear until we went to the other house to sleep, helping us get beds and making sure we had cloths to sleep in and sheets and pillows. they did really good and are doing really well just had a little scare haha. i was a little sad about all my stuff but the important thing is that no one was hurt. i am using my trainers shirt today haha he left it in the box when he left. im not sure what they are gonna do about our stuff yet but we will figure it out. i will just have to look like a dround rat for a little bit cuz you know how fun it is finding clothes that fit me haha. i just wanted to let you guys know im fine, everyone is fine and let you know about the documents. i dont need any of them here to get home or anything but you guys will need to ask for a second copy (i think thats how you say it in english) of my birth certificate so we have it there. mom you dont need to worry i know how you have a tendency to do that once in a while ;) everything is gonna be ok we are gonna get it all figures out here. but i better run i need to go help clean and move our fridge and washing machine to the new house. i love you guys. if you need to know anything else about the documents and if i need to do anything from here.
well you guys get a suprise email this week hahaha. the new president is here and is doing very good a little lost but good. but the reason i am writing you guys is that president thought it would be good that you were imformed that our apartment here above the office had a fire. there was an electrical problem and our bedroon caught fire. everyone is fine we were out working when it happened so we were safe. but my stuff wasnt so lucky haha. everything that was in the room was burned including some of my importants stuff like my birth certificate that was locked in my suit case under my bed and ll those documents. my passport is safe it was in presidents safe. but my vacsine card all that was in that little pouch thing is gone. the only thing that was left was my drivers licence that was wraped in my temple recomend i will send you a picture its actually pretty amazing. all my cloths burned up but president came to the rescue and brought two big boxes of clothes from missionaries that had gone home and left a bunch of cloths. you guys dont need to worry about anything we are getting it handled here president just wanted you guys to be aware of what is going on so you dont here a rumer that a missionaries house caught on fire in manaus and burned down half the amazon jungle and the all the people in the city haha. but i will keep you guys up to date on everything that happens. we are living in a house close by. it is the mission house we are just tryin to get everything moved there today. imagine how it is for president get here and one the third day he has to deal with this haha. but they are helping a lot! he was with us clear until we went to the other house to sleep, helping us get beds and making sure we had cloths to sleep in and sheets and pillows. they did really good and are doing really well just had a little scare haha. i was a little sad about all my stuff but the important thing is that no one was hurt. i am using my trainers shirt today haha he left it in the box when he left. im not sure what they are gonna do about our stuff yet but we will figure it out. i will just have to look like a dround rat for a little bit cuz you know how fun it is finding clothes that fit me haha. i just wanted to let you guys know im fine, everyone is fine and let you know about the documents. i dont need any of them here to get home or anything but you guys will need to ask for a second copy (i think thats how you say it in english) of my birth certificate so we have it there. mom you dont need to worry i know how you have a tendency to do that once in a while ;) everything is gonna be ok we are gonna get it all figures out here. but i better run i need to go help clean and move our fridge and washing machine to the new house. i love you guys. if you need to know anything else about the documents and if i need to do anything from here.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Hey mom and dad
so you didn't like the alligator hunting huh? haha don't worry i didn't catch anything other that fish that day so you don't have to worry about parasites or things like that haha. it was a lot of fun though. this week has been pretty action packed too. we had two baptisms, of Erivelton and Mylenna, and two weddings to be at. then, on top of that, all the preparation for the new president. i think we are all ready now. it is gonna be a wild few weeks till president gets the hang of things. he gets here today, in about two hours from now, with his family. its crazy how they are changing. president jaymes plane leaves two hours after president klein gets here, so they will meet in the airport for an hour and then the assistants will take the new president and his family to their house, temple and to the office. i couldn't even imagine how crazy of a day its gonna be for them. we will help them as much as we can though, so it will be good. i'm excited to meet them. we made some going away shirts for president and sister jayme last night. we are all gonna miss them a lot, but it will be really good with the new president. the two baptisms we had were really good! the man Erivelton is awesome! i swear he is gonna be a stake president one day. he was probably the most prepared person i have taught on my mission. we would go to teach the lessons and he would pretty much teach the whole thing to us. listen what he said to us in our first lesson with him. we asked how do you feel about the church and the things that are taught? (he had been going to church for a few weeks) he said " well i was a little closed off about the church to start with. my girlfriend (a member he was dating and married to now) would always tell me about it but i never had the desire to learn. i just blew it off and always made excuses not to go. but one sunday she finally got me to go to see how it really was. i sat through the meetings and felt really good but was still a little closed off about it. that week the church and what was taught was running through my head. i couldn't stop thinking about it. so i asked God why i was thinking about it. later that week we were having lunch at work and the subject of religion came up. everyone was talking about their different religions and who was right and the big confusion in the world. then it was just like someone came and wispered it right in my ear, but with out sound, this is the church of Jesus Christ, the only true church. i felt something that i couldn't deny and i know that the church is true and i want to be baptized in the only true church, and have an eternal family." you can just imagine two missionaries with their jaws on the floor haha. it was so amazing! we got him baptised a week later, this last saturday, and as of yesterday is married to member of the church, Adriana, just waiting for the temple in manaus to get finished and the year of membership to get here so they can get sealed. it is one of the most amazing things to see, mom and dad. more amazing that an alligator in the middle of a park, or the amazon jungle, or the sun set on the black river. i can't even discribe the happiness that getting to be a small instrument in the Lord's hands and have the oportunity to see the change in peoples lives is. this is what makes the mission. but i better run, president is gonna be getting here in a little bit, and i still need to go to the bank and make deposits. i love you guys and will talk to you next week. i will see when my friend is gonna be there and the time and everything.
so you didn't like the alligator hunting huh? haha don't worry i didn't catch anything other that fish that day so you don't have to worry about parasites or things like that haha. it was a lot of fun though. this week has been pretty action packed too. we had two baptisms, of Erivelton and Mylenna, and two weddings to be at. then, on top of that, all the preparation for the new president. i think we are all ready now. it is gonna be a wild few weeks till president gets the hang of things. he gets here today, in about two hours from now, with his family. its crazy how they are changing. president jaymes plane leaves two hours after president klein gets here, so they will meet in the airport for an hour and then the assistants will take the new president and his family to their house, temple and to the office. i couldn't even imagine how crazy of a day its gonna be for them. we will help them as much as we can though, so it will be good. i'm excited to meet them. we made some going away shirts for president and sister jayme last night. we are all gonna miss them a lot, but it will be really good with the new president. the two baptisms we had were really good! the man Erivelton is awesome! i swear he is gonna be a stake president one day. he was probably the most prepared person i have taught on my mission. we would go to teach the lessons and he would pretty much teach the whole thing to us. listen what he said to us in our first lesson with him. we asked how do you feel about the church and the things that are taught? (he had been going to church for a few weeks) he said " well i was a little closed off about the church to start with. my girlfriend (a member he was dating and married to now) would always tell me about it but i never had the desire to learn. i just blew it off and always made excuses not to go. but one sunday she finally got me to go to see how it really was. i sat through the meetings and felt really good but was still a little closed off about it. that week the church and what was taught was running through my head. i couldn't stop thinking about it. so i asked God why i was thinking about it. later that week we were having lunch at work and the subject of religion came up. everyone was talking about their different religions and who was right and the big confusion in the world. then it was just like someone came and wispered it right in my ear, but with out sound, this is the church of Jesus Christ, the only true church. i felt something that i couldn't deny and i know that the church is true and i want to be baptized in the only true church, and have an eternal family." you can just imagine two missionaries with their jaws on the floor haha. it was so amazing! we got him baptised a week later, this last saturday, and as of yesterday is married to member of the church, Adriana, just waiting for the temple in manaus to get finished and the year of membership to get here so they can get sealed. it is one of the most amazing things to see, mom and dad. more amazing that an alligator in the middle of a park, or the amazon jungle, or the sun set on the black river. i can't even discribe the happiness that getting to be a small instrument in the Lord's hands and have the oportunity to see the change in peoples lives is. this is what makes the mission. but i better run, president is gonna be getting here in a little bit, and i still need to go to the bank and make deposits. i love you guys and will talk to you next week. i will see when my friend is gonna be there and the time and everything.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Can you say Elder Hansen the allegator hunter?
haha. one of our members took us to get some allegators. he got one last week and ate it, so he invited us to go this week. it was a lot of fun! we went out to his house then went upstream from there haha. don't worry mom, i still have all my fingers and all my toes. we didn't see any this week, only fish. it is crazy how you hunt them! you walk up that little stream deal, and look for them and seeing where their belly slides are, and everything. not gonna lie... it gets pretty scary walkin up that stream and seeing all these marks from allegators and you just have a machete in your hand and a fishing net haha. but the member said it was safe, and he went in front, so it was not too bad. we couldn't find any so we just fished. it was so nice to relax a little bit and get our minds of things for a little bit. it has been a rush here in the office ever since last week. we have almost got everything ready for the new president, and at the same time got two investigators ready for baptism, haha. you should have seen it yesterday, we planned the week out last week, and we always have a meeting with president on monday. so we got that all planned and got our investigators that are gonna be baptised this week all planned to visit, cuz they have a really busy schedule too. so, we planned it all for tuesday. monday comes around and president calls and says the meeting is moved to tuesday. the boat that had the moving truck on it, for international moving, broke down in the amazon river and are gonna be there at noon on monday. so when is the meeting? right when the we are supposed to teach our investigators. so we wake up tuesday, set up the church for president's going away conference with the whole mission, wrangle all the missionarys around till noon, run to eat lunch, then run to our first investigator, right by lunch, around one thirty that was marked for four, teach her untill two fifteen, run across our area to the our other investigator, that is getting baptised and married, mark to come back at four. run to the office, get there right at three and enter in the meeting. the meeting goes a little long, until four fifteen. we run to the investigaters house, teach him until four forty five, then get a taxi to go to the marriage place to enter four couples in for marriage, and are there till five thirty. then we have a problem with one of the companies we use and a lot of money was taken from the mission in a confussion. so i am at thier office, in the center of the city, till nine thirty at night haha. but we got it, almost, all straightened out haha. so it has been a wild one latley. but its good, i love it. its good when things are running all over the place. its a whole lot better than being stopped, going no where, doing nothing. i'm just trying my best to do everything right with this stuff haha. but i better run. i love you guys. i will talk to you next week.
haha. one of our members took us to get some allegators. he got one last week and ate it, so he invited us to go this week. it was a lot of fun! we went out to his house then went upstream from there haha. don't worry mom, i still have all my fingers and all my toes. we didn't see any this week, only fish. it is crazy how you hunt them! you walk up that little stream deal, and look for them and seeing where their belly slides are, and everything. not gonna lie... it gets pretty scary walkin up that stream and seeing all these marks from allegators and you just have a machete in your hand and a fishing net haha. but the member said it was safe, and he went in front, so it was not too bad. we couldn't find any so we just fished. it was so nice to relax a little bit and get our minds of things for a little bit. it has been a rush here in the office ever since last week. we have almost got everything ready for the new president, and at the same time got two investigators ready for baptism, haha. you should have seen it yesterday, we planned the week out last week, and we always have a meeting with president on monday. so we got that all planned and got our investigators that are gonna be baptised this week all planned to visit, cuz they have a really busy schedule too. so, we planned it all for tuesday. monday comes around and president calls and says the meeting is moved to tuesday. the boat that had the moving truck on it, for international moving, broke down in the amazon river and are gonna be there at noon on monday. so when is the meeting? right when the we are supposed to teach our investigators. so we wake up tuesday, set up the church for president's going away conference with the whole mission, wrangle all the missionarys around till noon, run to eat lunch, then run to our first investigator, right by lunch, around one thirty that was marked for four, teach her untill two fifteen, run across our area to the our other investigator, that is getting baptised and married, mark to come back at four. run to the office, get there right at three and enter in the meeting. the meeting goes a little long, until four fifteen. we run to the investigaters house, teach him until four forty five, then get a taxi to go to the marriage place to enter four couples in for marriage, and are there till five thirty. then we have a problem with one of the companies we use and a lot of money was taken from the mission in a confussion. so i am at thier office, in the center of the city, till nine thirty at night haha. but we got it, almost, all straightened out haha. so it has been a wild one latley. but its good, i love it. its good when things are running all over the place. its a whole lot better than being stopped, going no where, doing nothing. i'm just trying my best to do everything right with this stuff haha. but i better run. i love you guys. i will talk to you next week.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
hey mom and dad
finally getting warm there huh? it is here too!!!!! i had to put my sheets in the frezer for the first time this year haha. it has been really hot! it is hard to sleep above the office in the heat knowing down stairs has air conditioning! but i know that since we are headed into summer i will be seeing you guys at the end of it. you guys better be prepared to feel some heat haha. i think you guys will be safe though cuz it will be right into the transition to the rainy season. so that sounds like a good deal you got goin on with the travel agency, that way we could get to see st clair. o, and before i forget, there is a member from this ward that is going to be in las vegas on the 31st of july. he is wanting to meet the family and yes, he speaks english haha. i was thinking you guys could have dinner with him or uncle terry and aunt sally could. he said he likes dutch oven haha. he served in the provo mission and passed in st george for a while. he is way cool. he always takes us to this really nice resturaunt to eat lunch. he says the secret to have a good life is to treat the missionaries good haha. so if you guys can or if uncle terry can just let me know so i can send things home with him too. we just got done with the transfers now, and it was way tiring! but its good cuz i only have to do one more of them, then the next i get transfered. here in two weeks will be the change of the presidents so thats exciting and sad at the same time. i have figured out the mission is full of weird feelings like this haha. like when you leave you are excited about going and sad about leavin the family, the weird feeling of having no clue what people are saying, the feeling when a lady you are teaching trys to hug ya and you running away from it then explaining haha, now this trading presidents then going home will be a real weird feeling haha. but the mission is awesome, if you would have asked me that yesterday... when the elders that went to open a little city on the amazon river called and said there was a hole in the roof of their house, and an animal had been living in the house for the last year, and that presidet said "Elder Hansen figure it out" haha, it might have been a different story about this whole mission being cool deal haha. but i got it taken care of and they did sleep somewhere with a roof and without the "stuff" the animal left behind, so that is good. they got a bunch of members over there to help clean it all up and fix the roof today, and i got money out to them to buy new supplies. so we are set now. but i think im gonna go play some soccer with the ward so i better run. me and vanna will have to battle it out in some soccer when i get back haha. i love you guys talk to you next week
finally getting warm there huh? it is here too!!!!! i had to put my sheets in the frezer for the first time this year haha. it has been really hot! it is hard to sleep above the office in the heat knowing down stairs has air conditioning! but i know that since we are headed into summer i will be seeing you guys at the end of it. you guys better be prepared to feel some heat haha. i think you guys will be safe though cuz it will be right into the transition to the rainy season. so that sounds like a good deal you got goin on with the travel agency, that way we could get to see st clair. o, and before i forget, there is a member from this ward that is going to be in las vegas on the 31st of july. he is wanting to meet the family and yes, he speaks english haha. i was thinking you guys could have dinner with him or uncle terry and aunt sally could. he said he likes dutch oven haha. he served in the provo mission and passed in st george for a while. he is way cool. he always takes us to this really nice resturaunt to eat lunch. he says the secret to have a good life is to treat the missionaries good haha. so if you guys can or if uncle terry can just let me know so i can send things home with him too. we just got done with the transfers now, and it was way tiring! but its good cuz i only have to do one more of them, then the next i get transfered. here in two weeks will be the change of the presidents so thats exciting and sad at the same time. i have figured out the mission is full of weird feelings like this haha. like when you leave you are excited about going and sad about leavin the family, the weird feeling of having no clue what people are saying, the feeling when a lady you are teaching trys to hug ya and you running away from it then explaining haha, now this trading presidents then going home will be a real weird feeling haha. but the mission is awesome, if you would have asked me that yesterday... when the elders that went to open a little city on the amazon river called and said there was a hole in the roof of their house, and an animal had been living in the house for the last year, and that presidet said "Elder Hansen figure it out" haha, it might have been a different story about this whole mission being cool deal haha. but i got it taken care of and they did sleep somewhere with a roof and without the "stuff" the animal left behind, so that is good. they got a bunch of members over there to help clean it all up and fix the roof today, and i got money out to them to buy new supplies. so we are set now. but i think im gonna go play some soccer with the ward so i better run. me and vanna will have to battle it out in some soccer when i get back haha. i love you guys talk to you next week
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Hey mom and dad
GOOD JOB MOM!!!! wow just think you have now completed two hundred mile races while i have been on the mission thats pretty impressive! that is way cool. it sounds like you had a pretty wild time haha, black eye, flat tire, but nothin stops momma. I am gonna have to get me a bike when i get back so i dont feel lazy. thats good about KC that makes me really happy. Is he still dating the same girl? so brianna still hasn't marked a date huh? tell her to get on it haha. i'm guessin i will be home for it though. so dad you have some camp helamen this week huh? tell those boys up there to take it in up there, cuz it really helps you out here and they are gonna want to be prepared as they can get. i remember a lot of things that i learned there and use on the mission. i am doing good here. the transfer is winding down we have transfers on tuesday, but i know where i will be haha. but i only have two more transfers here, at least i hope. we change presidents on the 29th of this month so we will see what the new one thinks. it is getting kind of crazy here in staff cuz of the new president getting here. we are trying to get everything in top shape before he gets here. i think i might have to go find him a new apartment to live in, cuz he has kids still young that will be coming with him. i am gonna miss President Jayme though. he and his wife are amazing people and they have helped me a lot in my personal progression. Sister Jayme is so sweet! she made me cookies for my birthday then called me up just to wish me a happy birthday. we are helping them get ready to go too, with the international move and trying to get everything sorted out, it is gonna be interesting here the end of this month thats for sure. so my birthday was good. the night before one of the families in the word suprised me with a big chocolate cake and we hung out with them for the night. it was really fun. then on my birthday i got to eat some fejuata haha (that stuff that has intestines in it) and it didnt make me sick so that was a good present haha. then we went over with the gonzaga family and ate lazanna and made that cheese cake, that turned out really good, then they gave me a brazil soccer jersey that was really nice of them. o that reminds me mom what size of ring do you wear? get the sizes of aunt valinda, grandma, kyla, brianna, aunt val, aunt sally, aunt daniel, pretty much everyone's ring size that would want a ring from the amazon. they have these cool rings made from a nut of a fruit here that are way cool and really cheap like fifty cents a ring. yours will be a little different though a little more fancy. i think it would be something cool to get everyone that i could handle in the missionary budget that's original from the amazon haha. all the missionaries wear them. i better run though we are gonna go play some soccer with the young men of the ward. love you guys!
GOOD JOB MOM!!!! wow just think you have now completed two hundred mile races while i have been on the mission thats pretty impressive! that is way cool. it sounds like you had a pretty wild time haha, black eye, flat tire, but nothin stops momma. I am gonna have to get me a bike when i get back so i dont feel lazy. thats good about KC that makes me really happy. Is he still dating the same girl? so brianna still hasn't marked a date huh? tell her to get on it haha. i'm guessin i will be home for it though. so dad you have some camp helamen this week huh? tell those boys up there to take it in up there, cuz it really helps you out here and they are gonna want to be prepared as they can get. i remember a lot of things that i learned there and use on the mission. i am doing good here. the transfer is winding down we have transfers on tuesday, but i know where i will be haha. but i only have two more transfers here, at least i hope. we change presidents on the 29th of this month so we will see what the new one thinks. it is getting kind of crazy here in staff cuz of the new president getting here. we are trying to get everything in top shape before he gets here. i think i might have to go find him a new apartment to live in, cuz he has kids still young that will be coming with him. i am gonna miss President Jayme though. he and his wife are amazing people and they have helped me a lot in my personal progression. Sister Jayme is so sweet! she made me cookies for my birthday then called me up just to wish me a happy birthday. we are helping them get ready to go too, with the international move and trying to get everything sorted out, it is gonna be interesting here the end of this month thats for sure. so my birthday was good. the night before one of the families in the word suprised me with a big chocolate cake and we hung out with them for the night. it was really fun. then on my birthday i got to eat some fejuata haha (that stuff that has intestines in it) and it didnt make me sick so that was a good present haha. then we went over with the gonzaga family and ate lazanna and made that cheese cake, that turned out really good, then they gave me a brazil soccer jersey that was really nice of them. o that reminds me mom what size of ring do you wear? get the sizes of aunt valinda, grandma, kyla, brianna, aunt val, aunt sally, aunt daniel, pretty much everyone's ring size that would want a ring from the amazon. they have these cool rings made from a nut of a fruit here that are way cool and really cheap like fifty cents a ring. yours will be a little different though a little more fancy. i think it would be something cool to get everyone that i could handle in the missionary budget that's original from the amazon haha. all the missionaries wear them. i better run though we are gonna go play some soccer with the young men of the ward. love you guys!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
hey mom and dad
so the deal above is the new travel agents information. the old one got transfered to a different apartment, so it is a good thing that you guys waited a little bit. i think it would be cool to go see st claire and his family but if you dont think it will work out its just important that i get back to the states haha. so it is still cold there huh? well it is starting to get really hot here! it rains less and less everyday and has less and less clouds in the sky, so that means more of that direct equater sunshine haha. it is getting to the season where you just take a nice cold shower then run from there to your bed and put your face right in front of the fan and fall asleep before you get too hot. i cant beleive that taylor is graduated now! i am getting old mom! i mean, 21 here in a few days how crazy is that?! i think i am going over to the gonzaga family's house that night and we are gonna eat some cake. speaking of the gonzaga family, we got pedro baptized saturday and it was way cool! he is way excited, but pretty embarased about the jump suit he had to wear, haha. but he was way happy. so that was way good. we went and played some paintball today. that was fun! i shot my ex-companion in the neck haha. it feels so good to get out of the office for a little while. i think we are gonna play soccer tonight too. we are working really hard here! i only have two more transfers in the office, thats way crazy! i have this next transfer till the end of july and then i train the next missionary that gets so lucky to be in here haha. but i better run i love you guys. tell taylor congrats for me i sent him an email too. talk to you next week
so the deal above is the new travel agents information. the old one got transfered to a different apartment, so it is a good thing that you guys waited a little bit. i think it would be cool to go see st claire and his family but if you dont think it will work out its just important that i get back to the states haha. so it is still cold there huh? well it is starting to get really hot here! it rains less and less everyday and has less and less clouds in the sky, so that means more of that direct equater sunshine haha. it is getting to the season where you just take a nice cold shower then run from there to your bed and put your face right in front of the fan and fall asleep before you get too hot. i cant beleive that taylor is graduated now! i am getting old mom! i mean, 21 here in a few days how crazy is that?! i think i am going over to the gonzaga family's house that night and we are gonna eat some cake. speaking of the gonzaga family, we got pedro baptized saturday and it was way cool! he is way excited, but pretty embarased about the jump suit he had to wear, haha. but he was way happy. so that was way good. we went and played some paintball today. that was fun! i shot my ex-companion in the neck haha. it feels so good to get out of the office for a little while. i think we are gonna play soccer tonight too. we are working really hard here! i only have two more transfers in the office, thats way crazy! i have this next transfer till the end of july and then i train the next missionary that gets so lucky to be in here haha. but i better run i love you guys. tell taylor congrats for me i sent him an email too. talk to you next week
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
hey mom and dad,
. this week was a pretty good week. we worked like crazy both in the office and in the area. it is always good to get back out in the area. we are baptizing Pedro this saturday. he is way excited and so are we. i have known him for over a year now! him and jessica say that they are gonna be the first couple to get married in the manaus temple. that is such a cool thing for a missionary to hear! that shows that he knows what he is doing and is not just thinking of short term but his future in the church. he is gonna be a really strong member. we had a special training with Elder Godoy last week. it was really cool! it was just with the members of staff, 8 zone leaders, and the two assistants. He got to know each one of us before the meeting started. that was way cool! he told us some things really interesting and things i have never thought of before. he asked us a question about how the prophet chooses where a temple should be. he was like, rio de janeiro has so many more people than manaus why isn't it there instead of here? then he explained how we always end up looking at the numbers of members in the city and stakes and all the earthly stuff. then he explained how the prophet's view is different than ours. that the prophet doesn't just look on this side of the veil, about the people in manaus, but on both sides of the veil and how he knows exactly where the temples need to be placed in the world. i thought that was way interesting to know about the prophets, and is a testimony builder about the revalation that he recieves and the eternal perspective that he has and is passing to us in every talk that he gives. it was a really good experience. but i got to run. i think we are gonna go do a round of paintball in our area, so that should be fun. i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
. this week was a pretty good week. we worked like crazy both in the office and in the area. it is always good to get back out in the area. we are baptizing Pedro this saturday. he is way excited and so are we. i have known him for over a year now! him and jessica say that they are gonna be the first couple to get married in the manaus temple. that is such a cool thing for a missionary to hear! that shows that he knows what he is doing and is not just thinking of short term but his future in the church. he is gonna be a really strong member. we had a special training with Elder Godoy last week. it was really cool! it was just with the members of staff, 8 zone leaders, and the two assistants. He got to know each one of us before the meeting started. that was way cool! he told us some things really interesting and things i have never thought of before. he asked us a question about how the prophet chooses where a temple should be. he was like, rio de janeiro has so many more people than manaus why isn't it there instead of here? then he explained how we always end up looking at the numbers of members in the city and stakes and all the earthly stuff. then he explained how the prophet's view is different than ours. that the prophet doesn't just look on this side of the veil, about the people in manaus, but on both sides of the veil and how he knows exactly where the temples need to be placed in the world. i thought that was way interesting to know about the prophets, and is a testimony builder about the revalation that he recieves and the eternal perspective that he has and is passing to us in every talk that he gives. it was a really good experience. but i got to run. i think we are gonna go do a round of paintball in our area, so that should be fun. i love you guys and will talk to you next week.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
hey mom and dad
well looks like you two are nice and warm there. i'm sure you guys have to stay in the airconditioning a lot cuz of that hot weather you are having while i am here freezing to death hahahaha. thats so crazy that it is snowing there! it isn't supposed to be snowing in may! i bet that's real nice to ride your bikes in isn't it? haha. things here are like normal, hot and humid! today was cool, i went and spent the day at that family's house in gloria. we just relaxed, cooked food, and talked. i was talking to pedro and he is thinking about buying a fender guitar on the internet, cuz it is half the price as it is here and was wondering if he could have it sent to our house and bring it with you guys on the plane when you come, cuz the shipping would be half of what he paid for the guitar. so just let me know what you think about that. the work is going really good right now. we will be baptizing Jessica's (from the gonzaga family) boyfriend next week. he is way cool! he has been going to institute for a year now and is so ready to be baptized! we are working with some other people too. we have a man that will be baptized before the 10th of june. he is marrying a member and is pretty much a member in her ward, but he lives here and they both will be living in our ward. so that will be cool to watch them getting started. and then we have two other institute students that are almost ready for baptism too. i am liking my new companion a lot. he is good to work with and is a lot of fun too. cuz you have to work on the mission, but you have to have fun too so you dont turn into a robot haha. we are half way through this transfer now. i can't hardly believe it! it is going by so fast, then i only have two transfers left in the office. then only two more till the end of my mission thats so crazy!!! that reminds me you guy need the name and information or the travel agency. i will send you an email tonight, cuz the missionary that has the information is sleeping right now haha. i think i might do the same until seven. then i have to go show all the kids how an american plays soccer haha (which isnt very pretty). i like doin it though, it gives me a work out and i have fun with the members. i will write you again tonight with that information. i love you guys
well looks like you two are nice and warm there. i'm sure you guys have to stay in the airconditioning a lot cuz of that hot weather you are having while i am here freezing to death hahahaha. thats so crazy that it is snowing there! it isn't supposed to be snowing in may! i bet that's real nice to ride your bikes in isn't it? haha. things here are like normal, hot and humid! today was cool, i went and spent the day at that family's house in gloria. we just relaxed, cooked food, and talked. i was talking to pedro and he is thinking about buying a fender guitar on the internet, cuz it is half the price as it is here and was wondering if he could have it sent to our house and bring it with you guys on the plane when you come, cuz the shipping would be half of what he paid for the guitar. so just let me know what you think about that. the work is going really good right now. we will be baptizing Jessica's (from the gonzaga family) boyfriend next week. he is way cool! he has been going to institute for a year now and is so ready to be baptized! we are working with some other people too. we have a man that will be baptized before the 10th of june. he is marrying a member and is pretty much a member in her ward, but he lives here and they both will be living in our ward. so that will be cool to watch them getting started. and then we have two other institute students that are almost ready for baptism too. i am liking my new companion a lot. he is good to work with and is a lot of fun too. cuz you have to work on the mission, but you have to have fun too so you dont turn into a robot haha. we are half way through this transfer now. i can't hardly believe it! it is going by so fast, then i only have two transfers left in the office. then only two more till the end of my mission thats so crazy!!! that reminds me you guy need the name and information or the travel agency. i will send you an email tonight, cuz the missionary that has the information is sleeping right now haha. i think i might do the same until seven. then i have to go show all the kids how an american plays soccer haha (which isnt very pretty). i like doin it though, it gives me a work out and i have fun with the members. i will write you again tonight with that information. i love you guys
Thursday, April 28, 2011
hey mom and dad
this weekend was really good but really busy for me. i had to transmit the conference with elder christofferson to the other missionaries in the different states in the mission. it was a little frustrating at times cuz i know absolutely nothing about computers but it was a good learning experience haha. but the actual conference was way good! i will have to print you out a copy of it when we get it all typed up. elder christofferson speaks Portuguese too, did you know that? so he did half of his talk in Portuguese and half in english. most of his talk was him opening up for questions from us. it was way cool. he was talking about the apostle's relationship with Christ and how they know for a fact that he lives and that he is our savior and how they have a very special relationship with Him. then someone asked the question how can we gain this special testimony of Christ and the reality him and his atonement. it was amazing what he said. he said that we have a special opportunity that is sitting in front of all our faces or on our book shelves at home. he started talking about, if he was in a trail and was being judged to see if he was lying about knowing that Christ lives, he would do one thing. then he picked up his book of mormon and said "i would lay this book in front of the judge and say this is the evidence that he lives, and you have the opportunity to know our savior Jesus Christ with the same surety as the apostles. its not about hearing his voice or seeing our savior but feeling the cleansing power of his eternal atonement. the way you get that absolute sure feeling to be able to stand in front of thousands of people and bearing a special testimony that Christ lives is by studying the book of mormon." we use the last three paragraphs of the introduction of the book of mormon a lot, but he had all of us open our scriptures and read the last paragraph where it says that we can receive a divine testimony from the holy ghost that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. we were all blown away by how he emphasized it. so needless to say about a hundred and twenty missionaries, somewhere in the amazon jungle, have been studying the book of mormon everyday instead of the the other books in the missionary library. i had to put away jesus the christ in my studies so i can have that time to study the book of mormon better and understand better and really get to know my savior Jesus Christ. i loved the conference i didn't want to get out of that meeting cuz i felt relaxed and had a time to learn not having to worry about all the stuff in staff. so yes, the conference was very good! it sounds like easter was good there. it was good here too i went over to a really cool family's house in our ward and they gave me a giant chocolate egg haha. they love the missionaries!!!!! so tanner was feeling a little left out there huh? haha he is sixteen now right just have taylor take him on a date with one of those cute little lincoln county girls haha. that's funny though, I'm excited to see that kid when i get back he is gonna be so different. so we actually got a p day today!!!! we just got back from go carting haha. it was so fun! i lapped everyone haha. it is nice to relax a little bit. this week has been way stressful! my companion isn't doing so great, and we have had a few problems. but they are getting resolved friday when he has an interview with president. i think i might just sleep the rest of the day cuz i have been up at four thirty the past two mornings. yesterday we had to go get two families from a little city getting here by boat. they had been on that boat for three days getting here. so we got them back, let them get all showered up, and took them to buy some new church clothes, them put them on a plane at four in the after noon headed to são paulo to the temple. then today we had a zone activity at this indoor soccer field, way early, on the other side of the zone. so we went to that. but i think now I'm gonna go sleep. o, i talked to the missionary that sets up the flight and he will pass me the email and number of the lady in salt lake for you guys to set up the plane ride home from são paulo to the states for when you guys want it. and i will be able to call on mother's day whatever time. just let me know what would be a good time and i will call you then. its nice to have my own office where i make my schedule haha. love you guys. talk to you next week
this weekend was really good but really busy for me. i had to transmit the conference with elder christofferson to the other missionaries in the different states in the mission. it was a little frustrating at times cuz i know absolutely nothing about computers but it was a good learning experience haha. but the actual conference was way good! i will have to print you out a copy of it when we get it all typed up. elder christofferson speaks Portuguese too, did you know that? so he did half of his talk in Portuguese and half in english. most of his talk was him opening up for questions from us. it was way cool. he was talking about the apostle's relationship with Christ and how they know for a fact that he lives and that he is our savior and how they have a very special relationship with Him. then someone asked the question how can we gain this special testimony of Christ and the reality him and his atonement. it was amazing what he said. he said that we have a special opportunity that is sitting in front of all our faces or on our book shelves at home. he started talking about, if he was in a trail and was being judged to see if he was lying about knowing that Christ lives, he would do one thing. then he picked up his book of mormon and said "i would lay this book in front of the judge and say this is the evidence that he lives, and you have the opportunity to know our savior Jesus Christ with the same surety as the apostles. its not about hearing his voice or seeing our savior but feeling the cleansing power of his eternal atonement. the way you get that absolute sure feeling to be able to stand in front of thousands of people and bearing a special testimony that Christ lives is by studying the book of mormon." we use the last three paragraphs of the introduction of the book of mormon a lot, but he had all of us open our scriptures and read the last paragraph where it says that we can receive a divine testimony from the holy ghost that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. we were all blown away by how he emphasized it. so needless to say about a hundred and twenty missionaries, somewhere in the amazon jungle, have been studying the book of mormon everyday instead of the the other books in the missionary library. i had to put away jesus the christ in my studies so i can have that time to study the book of mormon better and understand better and really get to know my savior Jesus Christ. i loved the conference i didn't want to get out of that meeting cuz i felt relaxed and had a time to learn not having to worry about all the stuff in staff. so yes, the conference was very good! it sounds like easter was good there. it was good here too i went over to a really cool family's house in our ward and they gave me a giant chocolate egg haha. they love the missionaries!!!!! so tanner was feeling a little left out there huh? haha he is sixteen now right just have taylor take him on a date with one of those cute little lincoln county girls haha. that's funny though, I'm excited to see that kid when i get back he is gonna be so different. so we actually got a p day today!!!! we just got back from go carting haha. it was so fun! i lapped everyone haha. it is nice to relax a little bit. this week has been way stressful! my companion isn't doing so great, and we have had a few problems. but they are getting resolved friday when he has an interview with president. i think i might just sleep the rest of the day cuz i have been up at four thirty the past two mornings. yesterday we had to go get two families from a little city getting here by boat. they had been on that boat for three days getting here. so we got them back, let them get all showered up, and took them to buy some new church clothes, them put them on a plane at four in the after noon headed to são paulo to the temple. then today we had a zone activity at this indoor soccer field, way early, on the other side of the zone. so we went to that. but i think now I'm gonna go sleep. o, i talked to the missionary that sets up the flight and he will pass me the email and number of the lady in salt lake for you guys to set up the plane ride home from são paulo to the states for when you guys want it. and i will be able to call on mother's day whatever time. just let me know what would be a good time and i will call you then. its nice to have my own office where i make my schedule haha. love you guys. talk to you next week
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
hey mom and dad
so here i am without another p day haha. its good for me though, at least that's what i know you would tell me mom. so sounds like you guys have been pretty busy there. Dad you sound like you are getting some good work in haha. just imagine that for 8 stakes and four branches and thats a little of what i get to do haha. i have to go buy boat tickets to a little place called Tefé for the people that are going to the temple. they are gonna be all shocked. they have never been out of their city of Tefé on the amazon river. i like working with the branches from the little cities here in amazonas though. i get to be like their chaufer when they come to manaus. so guess what i forgot to tell you? Elder Christofferson is coming this weekend and we get to have a meeting with him!!!! its gonna be awesome i will get to shake another apostles hand. things have been crazy around here though. the chapel and the mission office were reformed this week, so it will all be like new for the apostle. so i have been trying to get all the stuff done, getting all the stake presidents and branch presidents here working, while people are moving all my cabinets around painting and cleaning haha. it has been way crazy, but it made the week go by so quick! i swear it was yesterday that i emailed you guys! the transfer is almost over too, only one more week and i will start into my third transfer here in staff. can you believe i only have like five transfers left? my mission president goes home in two transfers then we get to help the new one get used to the manaus heat haha. our new mission president is Brazilian. he sounds like a really good guy, but then again you pretty much have to be when you are a mission president haha. it will be a little different when he comes, but it will be good. i just hope he doesnt leave me in staff till the end of my mission! i want to go to one of the little cities here in amazonas. we are getting nineteen missionaries this transfer, so we are gonna get to open up a lot of areas. we are gonna open one across the river, too, so maybe i can talk president into sending me there when i am done here in the office. the office is cool and all but i want to get out in the field again. so you guys got some stuff to send to my brazilian family? they do have a cd and dvd player so you are good to go. i went and ate pizza hut with them the other night. it's way funny, pizza hut is like a really nice resturaunt here. we ate all you can eat pizza and did some work!!! we ate so much haha. my companion almost got sick from how much he ate. remember my companion elder lopes? he finishes his mission in two weeks so we are gonna all go over to that families house next wednesday and have a little going away party. but other than that things are good here. i am teaching one of my good friend's, from the ward, family. he served a mission, and the only one from his family that is a member is his brother. so we are teaching his mom and brothers and sisters. they all went to church this week, so we are gonna try to make their baptism date this week. so keep your fingers crossed. but i got to run i'm gonna go eat some lunch. i love you guys. i got a package together for you, just am getting ready to send it. but i don't know if i should wait till that guy from my ward goes to vegas and just bring it to you. maybe i will just send the cd with all my pictures from my first memory card on it so it gets to you guys way fast. talk to you next week
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
hey mom and dad.
you guys are getting old, haha, and so am i. i got a p day today!!!! i haven't been in the office at all today! we went and played soccer this morning then went to the zoo. now im just waiting for seven a clock and i am going to play soccer with all the members. haha. i felt like a caged animal freed, so what did i do, went to see other caged animals haha. it was a lot of fun and did me a lot of good! it felt to get out in the sun and run around. it took a lot of stress off of me. then my package got here today so that made it even better. thanks for all of the stuff! i'm tryin not to eat all my jerkey today haha. all the little salt water taffies turned into soup though. all the things were stuck together in there haha. but they didn't get to my new white shirt or the magazines, so that is good. it's a good thing you guys sent me that shirt. i caught one of mine on a fence last week and ripped a hole in my sleeve. i think this one will fit a lot better too. so things sound like they are going good there. is emmy still a fat little dog? she is starting to get old too now. that's way crazy about those turkeys! i bet all those guys were real confused for a little bit haha. is there still snow up in the mountains? it is just raining a lot here! it is amost over though and ready to start into summer. then i will be feeling it haha. things are going good here though. i am still working like crazy working things out, but its starting to slow down now. we hardly didn't get to leave the office last week, but the lord was seeing that we were way busy and sent us some golden investgators right to our front door! this couple shows up here and asks for someone that can show them around the church. so we are like, well you found the right people. we took them through a tour of the church and they were amazed how organized it is and how beautiful it is. then we are up stairs and they start looking at the painting of jesus getting baptized by john the baptist and were like, you know i have everything i need in my life but i have never been baptized and thats something that i feel i am missing. (as me and my companions jaws drop to the floor) we are going there tomorrow and marking their baptismal date for the first week of May. i am way excited for them. o and all of the people we baptized the other week are doing good now. they were all at church sunday and claudo got a present from one of the members, a white shirt and tie. he was way excited to get it so he could look like all the other members haha. it was like seeing the kids get their first varsity jersey in football. i saw his eyes light up that same way. so this week was a lot better than last week. but i better run mom and dad i love you guys! Happy birthday on saturday mom!!!!!!
you guys are getting old, haha, and so am i. i got a p day today!!!! i haven't been in the office at all today! we went and played soccer this morning then went to the zoo. now im just waiting for seven a clock and i am going to play soccer with all the members. haha. i felt like a caged animal freed, so what did i do, went to see other caged animals haha. it was a lot of fun and did me a lot of good! it felt to get out in the sun and run around. it took a lot of stress off of me. then my package got here today so that made it even better. thanks for all of the stuff! i'm tryin not to eat all my jerkey today haha. all the little salt water taffies turned into soup though. all the things were stuck together in there haha. but they didn't get to my new white shirt or the magazines, so that is good. it's a good thing you guys sent me that shirt. i caught one of mine on a fence last week and ripped a hole in my sleeve. i think this one will fit a lot better too. so things sound like they are going good there. is emmy still a fat little dog? she is starting to get old too now. that's way crazy about those turkeys! i bet all those guys were real confused for a little bit haha. is there still snow up in the mountains? it is just raining a lot here! it is amost over though and ready to start into summer. then i will be feeling it haha. things are going good here though. i am still working like crazy working things out, but its starting to slow down now. we hardly didn't get to leave the office last week, but the lord was seeing that we were way busy and sent us some golden investgators right to our front door! this couple shows up here and asks for someone that can show them around the church. so we are like, well you found the right people. we took them through a tour of the church and they were amazed how organized it is and how beautiful it is. then we are up stairs and they start looking at the painting of jesus getting baptized by john the baptist and were like, you know i have everything i need in my life but i have never been baptized and thats something that i feel i am missing. (as me and my companions jaws drop to the floor) we are going there tomorrow and marking their baptismal date for the first week of May. i am way excited for them. o and all of the people we baptized the other week are doing good now. they were all at church sunday and claudo got a present from one of the members, a white shirt and tie. he was way excited to get it so he could look like all the other members haha. it was like seeing the kids get their first varsity jersey in football. i saw his eyes light up that same way. so this week was a lot better than last week. but i better run mom and dad i love you guys! Happy birthday on saturday mom!!!!!!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
hey mom and dad
so, yes i got your whole email last week. i was just a little frustrated and stressed, haha, but that never happens to me right? ;) but the mission rule on going home is that i can go to bele horizonte. what it is, is that the mission usually buys the tickets to São Paulo then the church will buy my ticket to the US. so, what will happen is, we will talk to são paulo to buy the ticket for the end of the week or whenever you guys are wanting to come back. then the mission will buy my ticket to bele horizonte, then we will have to buy a ticket from there to são paulo to catch my flight back to the US. we just did that for a missionary that is going home two transfers before me. it will be nice cuz i'm in here, so i will be the one setting it all up and buying the plane tickets so it doesnt just get lost somewhere between the lines. i think we buy my tickets in july. i'm excited to see st Claire. i will get to speak portuguese with him, weird! if you want any other information just ask me. but anyways, i loved general conference. my favorite talk was either Elder Richard G. Scott about eternal families, Elder Oaks about desire or Elder Christofferson about correction in our lives. his parable of that little tree that was cut down so that it could grow and produce fruit, i really liked that one! did you hear the prophet talking about manaus? everyone went crazy here haha. he is gonna be here in january for the temple dedication, i think. i'm sad i'm gonna miss that! i really enjoyed general conference. it gave me a time where i didn't have to worry about finances and just sit and learn and feel the spirit. its really amazing what the words of our modern day prophets can do to us. i really like a scripture about what can happen if we let it in, Mosiah 5:1-2, really almost all of chapter five. i never realized before the mission how important a living prophet really is to us and what we can accomplish listening to their words and applying them to our lives. i liked the end talk of conference. elder holland gave us a good wake up call of how important these talks we hear really are and how we better be listening cuz the lord will make his voice heard. so conference was way good, but then comes monday and the rush starts all over again haha. i have not stopped since monday! i didnt get a p day today (for the third week in a row) and i have been working from morning till late at night trying to get everything done. It is just great how people wait till the last sec to need something paid, right mom, haha. i get this call from one of the little cities here in amazonas and they say, "well you guys are paying for our trip to the temple (what president Monson was talking about) and it has to be payed by ten a-clock thursday morning." but then they through the loop in it, "it is six thousand Reais!!!!" me "well, i only get a five thousand reai allotment per week, president Jayme. how am i gonna do this?" President Jayme "well that's why you are the financial secretary. figure it out." haha, o man am i learning on the mission!!!! i think i got it now though. president jayme is a college professor for sure, cuz he knows how to make you learn. he knows all of this. he is great with "buisness running" (i forgot the word for that), but he lets us figure it out on our own to teach us. it's his famous phrase here in the office "well what are you gonna do about that?" haha. maybe this is the Lord's way of whipping me into shape with my personal finances haha. i have literally been up to my eyes in work this week though. this is the first break from it i have got for the last three days. but then i will get it done and it will be slow again. haha. i'm sure you have no clue what that's like do you mom ;) o, i got a new companion too. six americans got here last night from the states, so there was a transfer in the middle of the transfer. i am now with Elder Garcia. he is cool. my other companion was so mad he was leaving the area, haha, and it wasn't just left to the area next to this but moved to a different state in the mission, haha. right about now he is probably roasting as he is standing right on the equator, haha, while i still have my air conditioning. but things are going good, just really tired!!!! we are allowed to stay up and finish our work, so i get to use my days, when its allowed, for us to catch up on our sleep the next few days to recuperate. i love you guys! o and my package hasn't got here yet.
so, yes i got your whole email last week. i was just a little frustrated and stressed, haha, but that never happens to me right? ;) but the mission rule on going home is that i can go to bele horizonte. what it is, is that the mission usually buys the tickets to São Paulo then the church will buy my ticket to the US. so, what will happen is, we will talk to são paulo to buy the ticket for the end of the week or whenever you guys are wanting to come back. then the mission will buy my ticket to bele horizonte, then we will have to buy a ticket from there to são paulo to catch my flight back to the US. we just did that for a missionary that is going home two transfers before me. it will be nice cuz i'm in here, so i will be the one setting it all up and buying the plane tickets so it doesnt just get lost somewhere between the lines. i think we buy my tickets in july. i'm excited to see st Claire. i will get to speak portuguese with him, weird! if you want any other information just ask me. but anyways, i loved general conference. my favorite talk was either Elder Richard G. Scott about eternal families, Elder Oaks about desire or Elder Christofferson about correction in our lives. his parable of that little tree that was cut down so that it could grow and produce fruit, i really liked that one! did you hear the prophet talking about manaus? everyone went crazy here haha. he is gonna be here in january for the temple dedication, i think. i'm sad i'm gonna miss that! i really enjoyed general conference. it gave me a time where i didn't have to worry about finances and just sit and learn and feel the spirit. its really amazing what the words of our modern day prophets can do to us. i really like a scripture about what can happen if we let it in, Mosiah 5:1-2, really almost all of chapter five. i never realized before the mission how important a living prophet really is to us and what we can accomplish listening to their words and applying them to our lives. i liked the end talk of conference. elder holland gave us a good wake up call of how important these talks we hear really are and how we better be listening cuz the lord will make his voice heard. so conference was way good, but then comes monday and the rush starts all over again haha. i have not stopped since monday! i didnt get a p day today (for the third week in a row) and i have been working from morning till late at night trying to get everything done. It is just great how people wait till the last sec to need something paid, right mom, haha. i get this call from one of the little cities here in amazonas and they say, "well you guys are paying for our trip to the temple (what president Monson was talking about) and it has to be payed by ten a-clock thursday morning." but then they through the loop in it, "it is six thousand Reais!!!!" me "well, i only get a five thousand reai allotment per week, president Jayme. how am i gonna do this?" President Jayme "well that's why you are the financial secretary. figure it out." haha, o man am i learning on the mission!!!! i think i got it now though. president jayme is a college professor for sure, cuz he knows how to make you learn. he knows all of this. he is great with "buisness running" (i forgot the word for that), but he lets us figure it out on our own to teach us. it's his famous phrase here in the office "well what are you gonna do about that?" haha. maybe this is the Lord's way of whipping me into shape with my personal finances haha. i have literally been up to my eyes in work this week though. this is the first break from it i have got for the last three days. but then i will get it done and it will be slow again. haha. i'm sure you have no clue what that's like do you mom ;) o, i got a new companion too. six americans got here last night from the states, so there was a transfer in the middle of the transfer. i am now with Elder Garcia. he is cool. my other companion was so mad he was leaving the area, haha, and it wasn't just left to the area next to this but moved to a different state in the mission, haha. right about now he is probably roasting as he is standing right on the equator, haha, while i still have my air conditioning. but things are going good, just really tired!!!! we are allowed to stay up and finish our work, so i get to use my days, when its allowed, for us to catch up on our sleep the next few days to recuperate. i love you guys! o and my package hasn't got here yet.
Friday, April 1, 2011
hey hermits hahaha
so sounds like things are going good there, just livin the good life, eat, work, workout, eat again then relax haha. sometimes i wish i had a day like that haha. today is supposed to be p day, but not. just like last wednsday, americans are getting their visas and they are flying in tuesday nights. so that means working for us on wednsdays. i am waiting to train the new guy that got here last night right now. i have to teach them all about their cards and how not to get robbed here, haha, its great. next week we get five more americans on tuesday night too, so that will be the third p day that i dont have haha. but its alright we are needing missionaries bad!!! we are down to about 120 in our mission, and our mission is four states big. so it will be good to start getting americans again to reopen some of the areas, like the little cities here close to manaus. these weeks here in staff have been pretty crazy! lots and lots or work. i have been running non stop for the last two weeks. its almost the start of the month again, so i have been running all over the city trying to get all the new contracts of the houses signed and all the missionaries that are moving moved. just imagine 75 house owners calling you everyday wanting to raise prices, or telling you the missionaries have to leave the house before the eleventh, or that the houses need to be reformed cuz they are destroyed haha. it is all kinds of fun. i am learning a lot though!!!!! i have been way busy though. then we are working in the feild too. we are having good sucsess here, we have three dates for baptism marked of men. we are way excited about them. our baptism from two weeks ago, claudo, is struggling right now. it is so hard to see a person that you have worked with so much just be attacked by temptation. you go visit them four times in the week to try to give them strength, but then you have to see them fall. last night we went and visited him and he was just broken down. he had been doing the wrong things again and he just asked me why? why does it have to be so hard? he just gave me a hug and begged for my help. he just wants to be back where he was when he was baptized and feel that same way. it is really hard to watch! its like getting a little glimpse of what the savior feels when we do things wrong. but you really get a testimony of the saviors atonement. it's like god is letting you feel tiny, tiny bit of the pain, compared to the savior, for when you see the people you love do something wrong and fall. it really does hurt right down to your heart. but there is a saying about how you learn on the mission, that you learn from love or from pain. but it really is hard! sometimes it gets you down and you don't want to work but then you remember those times you learned from love and it motivates you. i'm excited for general conference this week! i wish i had this work sheet thing in english, that i have to help understand general conference better, so i could send you guys. it is way cool. it will be my first time using it. it tells you how to prepare for general conference, somethings to look for during it, and what to do after. then it has places how to take notes so you aren't just writing your arm off and missing half of the talk. it is way cool! one of the other missionaries and i are doing something cool too, we are gonna write down ten questions that we have, that are gospel related, and look for them in the talks and see how many get answered. but i better go, i think we are gonna try to get out for lunch today. i think we are going to a members house that is having an activity with the other missionaries. i love you guys talk to you next week
so sounds like things are going good there, just livin the good life, eat, work, workout, eat again then relax haha. sometimes i wish i had a day like that haha. today is supposed to be p day, but not. just like last wednsday, americans are getting their visas and they are flying in tuesday nights. so that means working for us on wednsdays. i am waiting to train the new guy that got here last night right now. i have to teach them all about their cards and how not to get robbed here, haha, its great. next week we get five more americans on tuesday night too, so that will be the third p day that i dont have haha. but its alright we are needing missionaries bad!!! we are down to about 120 in our mission, and our mission is four states big. so it will be good to start getting americans again to reopen some of the areas, like the little cities here close to manaus. these weeks here in staff have been pretty crazy! lots and lots or work. i have been running non stop for the last two weeks. its almost the start of the month again, so i have been running all over the city trying to get all the new contracts of the houses signed and all the missionaries that are moving moved. just imagine 75 house owners calling you everyday wanting to raise prices, or telling you the missionaries have to leave the house before the eleventh, or that the houses need to be reformed cuz they are destroyed haha. it is all kinds of fun. i am learning a lot though!!!!! i have been way busy though. then we are working in the feild too. we are having good sucsess here, we have three dates for baptism marked of men. we are way excited about them. our baptism from two weeks ago, claudo, is struggling right now. it is so hard to see a person that you have worked with so much just be attacked by temptation. you go visit them four times in the week to try to give them strength, but then you have to see them fall. last night we went and visited him and he was just broken down. he had been doing the wrong things again and he just asked me why? why does it have to be so hard? he just gave me a hug and begged for my help. he just wants to be back where he was when he was baptized and feel that same way. it is really hard to watch! its like getting a little glimpse of what the savior feels when we do things wrong. but you really get a testimony of the saviors atonement. it's like god is letting you feel tiny, tiny bit of the pain, compared to the savior, for when you see the people you love do something wrong and fall. it really does hurt right down to your heart. but there is a saying about how you learn on the mission, that you learn from love or from pain. but it really is hard! sometimes it gets you down and you don't want to work but then you remember those times you learned from love and it motivates you. i'm excited for general conference this week! i wish i had this work sheet thing in english, that i have to help understand general conference better, so i could send you guys. it is way cool. it will be my first time using it. it tells you how to prepare for general conference, somethings to look for during it, and what to do after. then it has places how to take notes so you aren't just writing your arm off and missing half of the talk. it is way cool! one of the other missionaries and i are doing something cool too, we are gonna write down ten questions that we have, that are gospel related, and look for them in the talks and see how many get answered. but i better go, i think we are gonna try to get out for lunch today. i think we are going to a members house that is having an activity with the other missionaries. i love you guys talk to you next week
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
hey mom and dad
i love dads truck! he just needs to put some big tires on it now and it will be set. that reflection of that blue truck is lookin pretty nice too haha. thats awesome that the 350 got the hole shot last week! did you guys send motorcycle magazines in the packeage you sent me? there is a street motorcycle track right behind our house and they have races every saturday and sunday. it is killing me haha. so you guys are getting all ready for mothers day huh? me too i have the web cam now and have my account set up. elder wardle (my last companion) helped me get it all set up before he got transfered, so we are good to go. i am excited for it! it will be the last call home before you guys come here to get me. it will be a lot easier to get things set up now that i am in staff too cuz we buy the tickets home. we just did it for an elder where his mom and dad came and picked him up. it is pretty easy to do. so that is good. things in staff are going good. we had three baptisms on saturday. it was way awesome! we got together with the other missionaries in the other ward that go to the same chapel and did a big baptism together. it was way good! remember the man that i told you about that is way smart? he got baptized and right after he got out of the font he came up and gave me a big hug and told me "thanks, i'm a new man now". it was the greatest feeling! he had lots of stuff he gave up to be baptized. he was a heavy smoker and drinker at one time in his life. he let go drinking but had problems with smoking. he let it all go though. he started smoking when he was twelve and let it go. that is amazing. the other two that were baptized, Rosinilde and Amanda, were elects ( i think thats how you say it in english). they were members just needing to be baptized. they were so happy to get baptized! they have been at all the family home evenings and participating in all the activities. its great. Maybe we have another baptism this weekend, Tiago, but we are not sure cuz he works in a little city about three hours from manaus and just comes home for the weekend. but sometimes he has to stay there, but they have a church there too. and he has gone every week that he couldn't come here. so it will either be this week or the next for his baptism. things got a little stressful here during transfers cuz all the secretaries pretty much don't sleep. we run around picking up missionaries when they fly in and have to buy the new tickets and get the other ones on the planes haha. we have people flying out from noon until two or three in the morning. so it has been crazy here! last night we were beat!!!! we just got up stairs and crashed haha. i dont think i moved all night long. it is nice though cuz president allows us to sleep in after transfers to get caught up on our sleep so we dont get sick. i am feeling pretty good now but my eyes are still showing the efects of transfers haha. we do get out on p days and stuff so thats good. i think we are going to the zoo today to relax a little bit. but i will talk to you later mom and dad. i love you guys!
i love dads truck! he just needs to put some big tires on it now and it will be set. that reflection of that blue truck is lookin pretty nice too haha. thats awesome that the 350 got the hole shot last week! did you guys send motorcycle magazines in the packeage you sent me? there is a street motorcycle track right behind our house and they have races every saturday and sunday. it is killing me haha. so you guys are getting all ready for mothers day huh? me too i have the web cam now and have my account set up. elder wardle (my last companion) helped me get it all set up before he got transfered, so we are good to go. i am excited for it! it will be the last call home before you guys come here to get me. it will be a lot easier to get things set up now that i am in staff too cuz we buy the tickets home. we just did it for an elder where his mom and dad came and picked him up. it is pretty easy to do. so that is good. things in staff are going good. we had three baptisms on saturday. it was way awesome! we got together with the other missionaries in the other ward that go to the same chapel and did a big baptism together. it was way good! remember the man that i told you about that is way smart? he got baptized and right after he got out of the font he came up and gave me a big hug and told me "thanks, i'm a new man now". it was the greatest feeling! he had lots of stuff he gave up to be baptized. he was a heavy smoker and drinker at one time in his life. he let go drinking but had problems with smoking. he let it all go though. he started smoking when he was twelve and let it go. that is amazing. the other two that were baptized, Rosinilde and Amanda, were elects ( i think thats how you say it in english). they were members just needing to be baptized. they were so happy to get baptized! they have been at all the family home evenings and participating in all the activities. its great. Maybe we have another baptism this weekend, Tiago, but we are not sure cuz he works in a little city about three hours from manaus and just comes home for the weekend. but sometimes he has to stay there, but they have a church there too. and he has gone every week that he couldn't come here. so it will either be this week or the next for his baptism. things got a little stressful here during transfers cuz all the secretaries pretty much don't sleep. we run around picking up missionaries when they fly in and have to buy the new tickets and get the other ones on the planes haha. we have people flying out from noon until two or three in the morning. so it has been crazy here! last night we were beat!!!! we just got up stairs and crashed haha. i dont think i moved all night long. it is nice though cuz president allows us to sleep in after transfers to get caught up on our sleep so we dont get sick. i am feeling pretty good now but my eyes are still showing the efects of transfers haha. we do get out on p days and stuff so thats good. i think we are going to the zoo today to relax a little bit. but i will talk to you later mom and dad. i love you guys!
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