another wonderful baptism

another wonderful baptism

hard at work

hard at work

What a view!

What a view!

Baptismo!

Baptismo!

Who ordered this!?

Who ordered this!?

Bom a Bessa

Bom a Bessa

Thinking Hard

Thinking Hard

Meet my New friend ( :

Meet my New friend ( :

Friday, June 18, 2010

This last week was really good, we taught a ton, contacted lots of new people, we brought 34 new investigators to church, almost doubled the ward's numbers in people frequenting the church, and baptized two more people! Jackson and Matheus are their names, they're way legit. I'll send pictures next P-Day. Last night I went out on splits with our bishop; he's this 30 something year old, way cool Brazilian guy, who for this occasion, wore really tight jeans and a Sunday shirt and tie. But we taught a less active family and marked the baptism of their mom, it was a way spiritual lesson. It's way funny, me, a twenty year old teaching adults how to better their lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ; a little strange, but incredible!Today is transfers, so I'm in the rodoviaria (the big bus stop) waiting for the new junior assistent, Élder Kawai left for Natal, I'm going to stay here for one more transfer, I think, but I got a new companion, the new assistent, Élder R. Lima, this short, chubby, really funny Brazilian guy. I still haven't gotten much time to talk to him because of all the training we've been doing for the new missionaries, but I like him a lot. So yeah, him and I are going to baptize the whole world here in Manaíra! We've got a bunch lined up for the weeks to come. Shoot, I'm so tired, I was up till 2 in the morning these last two nights cleaning and organizing the house and maintaining order in the house with all of the missionaries leaving and coming- they're all sleeping in our house, so it's out of control! We'll now have six missionaries living in our house, it's going to be way good. We have the best house in the mission. I made chocolate cheesecake three nights ago, it was so good! Élder Kawai alone ate more than half of it. Shoot, I'm completing six months today! What in the- time is going by way fast. Does it seem like I've been gone that long?? I don't think it does, but at the same time, about the longest I can think back in my life is the MTC. Eesh, hot pot of coffee. This week is going to be fun- since we have a new assistent and junior assistent, I'm going to be the one teaching them everything about the four areas we work in, all by myself, haha. Welcome to the junior assistent life (Enter Kanye). What is new with everyone at home? How are Josh and Bradley's papers coming? Spencer sent me a letter from Uraguay the other day, he's doing way good. Mike told me about riding the new slide at Golfland, haha I already need new shoes, haha. I walk a TON. It's been raining super hard here all week and I discovered that I have holes and cracks in one pair of my shoes, and the others aren't waterproof, so my feet have literally been swimming during the day. It would be much appreciated! Um, I think that's everything... Let me know what's new! I love and miss you all a ton!! Tchau!
Yeah, the lesson was difficult in English. I'm going to sound like a straight-up idiot when I come home, so good! I'm working my butt off here, everything is fantastic! I'm just doing my part and saving as many souls as possible. We had two more baptisms this week. Shoot, my time is up. I'm going to send pictures of everything, one of a worm that was in a vegetable i bought. I LOVE YOU!
I am turning all Brazilian and dysfunctional in English. Speaking of which, I taught the first lesson in English this week! We found this huge, way white Dutch guy living in Brasil with his inactive, future wife, his name is Eric. He came out of his house to meet us shirtless, his pasty white skin reflecting the Brazilian sun back at us like he were Edward Cullen, he had blue-tinted, John Lennon glasses, and a set of reddish blonde mutton chops that would make Wolverine cry. He's so sick! So, I translated the lessons from Portuguese in my head to English, which was a joke, taught him all about everything, he agreed with everything, and will be baptized! It was such a good experience. I loved it. Yesterday, I translated all of church for him, it was neat. We're going to baptize a ton of people this week, so good. Sorry, I don't have much time left, but I'm doing great, working hard, loving it, teaching my Brazilian companion Ebonics, eating SO much food, and saving souls. I love you all so much and hope you're doing the best you can, I keep you in my prayers, please keep me in yours.
We baptized another this week! His name is Claudio, he's way legit. He had to stop smoking crack, just kidding, drinking coffee to be baptized, but he up and quit and was baptized! He's so firm in the church, super willing to do whatever he can to stay on the straight and narrow. It's amazing the amount of happiness the gospel brings into these people lives when they're willing to let it in. I'm so incredibly grateful for the gospel in my life, thank you for raising me correctly mom, I love you! Being Junior Assistent is so sick! I have a ton of work to do, paperwork, streets, references, and extra stuff, but I love the responsibility. Plus, I'm really close with Presidente, so I eat at his house about every night for dinner, soooooo good! Everyone, excluding a handful of Brazilians, is nice to me, don't worry. I'm doing perfectly fine, just working hard and blessing lives with this magnificent gospel, no worries!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

This last week has been ridiculously busy, but way good! We've been organizing our groups of investigators, finding new ones to baptize, getting to know the members, obtaining references, contacting like crazy, and baptizing! Seriously, I've sat down for about ten minutes this whole week, ridiculously busy. But it has definitely paid off, we're getting everything down and yesterday had three baptisms! (Left to right in the photo) Bruno, this 15 year old kid that is rock solid in the gospel, he had a problem with drinking coffee, but up and quit to enter into the church, Brunielle (Bruno, Bruna, and Brunielle- all in the same family, haha), this little 12 year old girl who glares at me like I'm an idiot all the time, I spilled the sacrament water all over myself this last Sunday, but we get along way well, and this kid named Daniel, he's this 13 year old little wangster, always pretending to act hard, but he's way funny and we always make fun of eachother. They're all so legit! They all live in the bayeaux São José, the favela, the other side of the street from one another. Their baptism was so good, I had the privilege of baptizing them all. Afterwards, while I was changing clothes with Bruno and Daniel in the bathroom, I asked, "was it good??" And they were like, "No... It was awesome!" and then kept asking if they can be baptized again. Haha, they loved it. This week, we have for sure three more baptisms, but we're going to find some more. We're going to baptize everyone and their mom, literally, we're working on families. So yeah, it's good. I didn't know this, but I was promoted to Junior Assistent, so I've had some extra duties to do and more responsibilities, which has been sick! I'm learning a ton. Élder Cope is still in missionary mode, we don't talk a ton about his mission ending because he needs to stay focused, but he's way happy; we have a way good time together. I work way more with Élder Kawai though, because both of our companions are assistents and almost always gone. He speaks quite a bit of English, so we talk in English when we have stuff to say about investigators or members that we don't want them to know about, nothing bad, for the most part, haha, But he also knows a ton of American songs, so we walk the streets, just singing or rapping away. He's the man! He's the huge Brazilian who's hair I'm cutting. Did you know I could cut hair? Neither did I! I think I inherited it from you, thank you mommy! But yeah, I cut everyone's hair in the house, even mine, so we're all looking beautiful like missionaries should. Our new mission president will arrive in the first days of July, I know he's from Arizona, but I'm not sure exactly where, Shoot, well, I have to go, but I love you all and wish the best. Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I cooked pancakes while I waited for everyone while I was waiting for the phones, they were way good and all gone when I finished talking, Brazilians love pancakes. Also, sorry for my horrible English, that made everything slower, but it's hard for me to think in portugês and speak English, all I think about is in português. The other day, we ran into three Brazilians that could speak English; Elder Cope and I tried talking English with them, but we were super slow and incorrect. Yes, I have a microwave in my apartment; I'm actually living in one of the best houses in the mission; It's called the Moroni House, the house that is literally right across the street from Presidente and Sister, they can see in through our windows and they sometimes yell from their porch to us. It's also the house that all the new missionaries stay in their first night in the field, so it's got about twenty mattresses and 12 beds. So yeah, it's way nice and has everything! I'm living with three other missionaries, my companion, and one other companionship. Elder Cope's português is way good, better than most of the Brazilian's here, haha. He's been out for one year and eleven months, he'll be going home after this transfer. I get an hour to email every Monday, P-Day, but need to email Presidente every time, so it's more like 45 minutes. The mosquitoes aren't bad, especially here, in the city, almost none. I'm living in a Brazilian style of New York, it's so sick! Almost all the members here are way rich, there's tons of nice apartments, expensive stores, it's way cleaner here, it's good and completely different. The winter here is basically the same thing here, hot, it just rains a little bit. I have lunch appointments with members every day besides P-Day, and here, they feed you SO MUCH. So, no need to worry about me going hungry. No, only really rich people have AC, all of the missionary homes have fans, that's it. I have lunch appointments with members every day besides P-Day, and here, they feed you SO MUCH. So, no need to worry about me going hungry. No, only really rich people have AC, all of the missionary homes have fans, that's it.
Ok, I just received my new companion, Élder Cope, he's from Michigan and finishing his mission this transfer; I just met him about an hour ago and am hanging out with him in the mission home because he's an assistent to the president. He's way legit! It's going to be weird having an American for a companion for once, but I'm way excited. My new area is Manaita in the zone of João Pessoa, it's so sick! We have a huge beach, tons of buildings, less poverty, coisas boas! So yeah, it's all good.