December 19th, 2016

     HEYYY sooooo this week was super great! I bet you´re all dying to know who my new companion is!! His name is Elder Araújo and he rocks. We are just really trying to kill it from day one so everyday talking with everyone and teaching in every opportunity! It was definitely a super great week and I am excited to see what´s gonna happen in this area!

      We had the ward Christmas party this week which is more like our ward fourth of July party. It was like 80 degrees and we grilled steaks and ate potato salad. The best ward Christmas party ever! I´m kinda loving this whole Christmas in July thing.

      As always, we had a couple huge thunder storms this week but these were crazier than ever. So yesterday we were just walking in the street, sharing the good news of the gospel when it just started to pourrrrrrr. We were drenched in seconds but at this point not really much you can do so we just kept walking. Lightening is striking everywhere and super close when the thunder and lightening come in the same second. All of the sudden there was a huge lightening strike that struck way close to us (probably not that close) but was super bright and loud and scared the living daylight out of me. But no need to fear, someone saw us in the street getting drenched and screamed "enter! enter!" so we ran over to his house and this guy let us in and we talked about who we are and taught him about the plan of salvation and it was super cool! Funny how often we are put in the perfect place at the right time every day!

      I can´t believe that its almost Christmas but also that here in a little I will have 5 months here in the mission! What happened to the time! That´s crazy!!! It is passing soooooo fast! Cherishing every day here and just loving the work. I love this ward! I love this city and I love Brazil! Hope you all have a super awesome Christmas! 

Pic: Our new filhos. Elder Araújo and Elder Quaresma!!

December 12th, 2016

     HEY sooooo I bet you all have a whole seat but you´re only using the edge of it because you´re all so anxious to know what happened this transfer! SO here it is: I have no idea yet! haha sorry but the whole transfer hasn´t been released yet. The only thing I know is that I am going to train a new missionary. A group of new missionaries will arrive here tomorrow and I´ll find my new companion! Definitely a little sad cause my buds Elder Rafael and Elder Pinheiro were transferred to the other side of the mission. It´ll definitely be weird not having them in the house because I have been with them since I arrived here! I think the idea is I will stay in Vila Aurora but don´t know for sure yet. My companion Elder J. Santos is going to train as well so we are headed to the mission home later today to find out about what´s going to happen! Also love Elder J. Santos but I think we will stay in the same house so it´s not too big of a change there.

     

      BUT anyways this week was jam packed! First and foremost we had the baptism of Roberto! Now that I think of it I am not sure if I ever mentioned Roberto in an email. We met him 2 weeks ago and last p-day the baptism wasn´t 100% yet so I think I forgot to mention him but anyways he´s 27 years old, super happy and now a member! I´ll include some photos of him. The baptism was super good and he asked to share his testimony at his own baptism. It was super cool and he is progressing super well! We finished off the transfer with a bang!

      Teaching a whole ton and reactivating some less-actives that I have been working with since I arrived here which is so awesome to see them enjoying the blessings of the gospel! This Sunday we had a transmission of Elder Holland for all of Brazil! We heard from some members of the seventy and other leaders of the church! It was super legit and last night there was a Christmas activity in the stake and it was super cool cause woo Christmas spirit! 

     

Funny story of the week: So The other day I was on splits with another Elder, Elder Araujo. We were knocking doors and such and we knocked this one door that had a gate half way open and there is this dog super super mad there. This dog was not just barking angrily, this dog wanted to kill us but all is well cause the dog is chained to the house. Jokes on us! We took one step to leave cause nobody showed up and this dog is just going mad. All of a sudden the chain BREAKS and this dog just starts sprinting after us. I tried to close the gate but it was broken so we just started sprinting down the street and this dog running after this. Luckily there are a lot of dogs in the street so this dog started fighting with other dogs and forgot about us. We made it out alive but just barely! 

Anyways this week was awesome and filled with lots of laughs! Hope you all had an awesome week!

Pics: Elder Rafael´s dinner  (just bread, he didn´t eat the peanut butter) 

Before and after pics with Roberto 

December 5th, 2016

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a spectacular week and learned something new every day and are remembering to always wear a seat belt!
      Anyways I am gonna be super sincere and say that this week was definitely one of those weeks in the second half of the sentence they talk about when people say "sometimes you´ll have good weeks and sometimes you'll have bad weeks". People just weren´t jumping after the good news of the gospel like they usually do this week but not just that. This was a week with helping and dealing with lots of struggles which is always great and such but after a week of hearing sad stories and lots of mishaps, it starts to get a a little tough.
       But hey lets start with the highlights of the week cause its December 5th which means only 20 days till Christmas!!! Woooo yay santa!!! So the Christmas life is starting to pick up a little around here but a lot of people don´t celebrate and those that do don´t decorate much plus it's really hot so the Christmas spirit  is having a tough time breaking out this year. I think I could really get used to this whole 80 degrees on Christmas deal! The time is passing so crazy fast.  It's already almost 2017 so that's crazy!
      I don't really have anything crazy exciting or new to say. Sorry these emails are super boring. We are doing a lot of teaching and the weather is crazy as usual. The transfer ends this Sunday so who knows where I´ll be next week but I am super excited for whatever is gonna happen! I am loving the time and work here! The church is true and I hope you all shared the Christmas video on facebook, insta, twitter, snapchat, myspace, and whatever other social media people use! The gospel is true and I have absolutely no doubt about it!!!! Love you all!!! 

Monday November 28th, 2016

     Oops I forgot last week that Thanksgiving was this week, but hey better late than never. Hope you all ate a ton!  This week was super super super HOT. and also an amazing week!!!! I can´t believe December starts this week. What happened to November and the last 4 months here?? It is passing faster than I ever would have imagined.

     We are finding new people every day here and all of them are so ready to hear the good news of the gospel! It is really incredible how the Lord places so many amazing miracles in our paths. I know he has a perfect plan for each and everyone of us. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here, meeting new people everyday and hearing so many stories. It really was a truly humbling week. I know the Lord gives us difficulties because he loves us. It´s the cliché what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but hey it's true! Oh hey!! Everyone stop reading this email really quick, go to mormon.org and watch the new Christmas video: Be the Light of the World!!! and then open facebook or any form of social media and post it!!! ok?! 

Did you like the video? 

Ok now that you did that and are reading this email again, this week was pretty cool. We have 4 dates for baptism and they are all progressing really well. I love them all! Unfortunately, the transfer is ending here in 2 weeks so I don´t know for sure if I will stay here in this area but the Lord provides!! Thanksgiving was super legit (see pics to see how legit)  Other than that this week was a lot of talking and Portuguese! 

The usuaaaall! You all rock! 

November 21st, 2016

     I think the hardest part of the week is thinking of a subject for this email. This week was absolutely super duper incredible!!!! I am not even entirely sure why but life is just really really great right now.

      So yeah we found a lot of new people to teach this week and knocked doors for eternity. I´ll be honest, knocking doors wasn´t always fun and it still isn´t always fun but it is actually pretty neat. I love to talk to people and nothing quite matches the feeling of asking someone a question, them not understanding me and we just both stare waiting for the other to respond. It´s great! Ok but sincerely it is really cool and fun to get to know a little about tons of people.

     Nothing too exicting happened this week. We marked two baptismal dates with these two awesome guys that are loving the gospel! The weather is still really crazy so every day we leave with short sleeve shirts, winter coats, and umbrellas just in case. Kidding but we definitely should because it's cold, hot, and rains every day! Sorry this email isn´t very exciting! You all rock! 

Pics: We learned how to cook this week (sorta)

November 14th, 2016

     WOWEE this week was by far the best week of the mission so far! This work is incredible and I am so happy to be here in this ward in Brazil teaching and learning from these people!!!! 
     Ok so first we had a ward family night in the chapel It was one family´s missionaries homecoming and I was asked to give the message. No big deal right? Yeah well turns out this missionary is a pretty popular dude and there were so many people here. The American that doesn't really speak the same language as everyone else in the room was a little nervous. But the Lord provides and it went really well. ANYWAYS, after the message, this family came up to me and started speaking English and I was way confused and thought maybe I was fluent in Portuguese because I was finally hearing words that made 100% sense in my head! Turns out that wasn´t the case and it really was English but the crazy thing is this family is from Connecticut! What are the odds!? They aren´t members but they used to live here in Curitiba and are visiting here now! Crazy!
      This week was incredible! We found so many new and awesome people this week. We were (almost) never rejected! We found 7 new investigators that are all just really really awesome and have such big desires to learn more and yeah it was super good. We were a little down at the start of this week because one of our baptismal dates fell through and we were having trouble finding people but the Lord really showed us miracles after we showed our faith!
      We had the primary program this Sunday which is always the best! The primary in this ward is super funny and super cool! In other news, there was another hugeeee accident right outside of our house again making that accident number 5 right outside our house.
      The weather is still absolutely crazy. The beginning of the week was about 90-100 degrees and then completely out of nowhere, we got absolutely drenched by rain. You might wonder why we never bring umbrellas with us, and to be quite honest, I wonder the same thing...
      Anyways this week was supppperrrr dupppperrr good and I am way excited for this next week to see how our new investigators progress! You all rock! 

     Funny story of the week: So yesterday I was asked to say a prayer in English. Ok I can do this, only the language that I speak every day of my life. Yeah well turns out I don't know how to speak English or Portuguese now! I started off well and didn´t realize I was speaking in half Portuguese and once I realized I didn´t have it in me to finish in English. Way embarrassing but way funny too.

What the sky usually looks like at 3 pm

 Zone Meeting woo                            

November 7th, 2016

     HEY whats up everyone this week was pretty uneventful soooo this email is going to be among the more boring of emails sorrryyy.

      ANYWAYS this was the first week with my new companion, Elder J. Santos. He rocks and we are teaching the gospel to anyone that wants to hear it and more! We knocked a lot of doors this week, well actually that´s a lie, every house here has fences so you clap and the dogs start barking and the person hears their dog and comes out. It´s like a rube goldberg machine doorbell. So we clapped a lot of doors this week and found a lot of great people.

      We are teaching two families of 4 and they are lovin it! They are progressing super well and I hope that it continues because teaching families rocks! A new group of missionaries arrived here on Tuesday so that´s pretty neat, excited to meet them.

      So our ward building is the stake center and this weekend they had a play about hope and life after death and all that good stuff just your typical ward activity. BUT NO this was not your normal ward activity! We were walking to the chapel and the streets were just packed with cars and people and it was a zoo inside! There were so many members (and non-members too!) and the play was way good and professional status. This ward rocks and I love all the people here. They rock!

      Other than that this week was pretty chilllll. We found a lizard in our house last night cause its hot during the day but cold at night so all the insects and animals like to join us at night lol Everyday is crazy and hilarious and awesome!

     

Love you all! Keep rockin in the U S of A!

Pic: Our new friend

Attachments area

October 31st, 2016

     One more time! One more time! WOW this week was amazing!! So much happened so I am gonna give a little summary of the week first and then I will explain the good stuff a little more.
      But first, Elder França was called as assistant to the president so I am now with Elder J. Santos! Transfers were today so this is our first day as companions, but we are super excited! 
      Ok now the week, So first it only rained on us once this week which is a way big improvement, thank you mother nature. We had the baptism of Thiago which was a super cool experience and he is super happy! 
      We had a zone conference with President Costa who is the the area 70 president in Brazil. We picked up 5 AWESOME new investigators that all accepted baptism on the first lesson so I hope that those will stand strong!      A member brought us to this super super good restaurant and we stuffed our faces. AND to top it all off, the van at the end of our street was selling sausages 2 for 10 reals! ($3) If that doesn´t sound like a good week then I don't know what to tell ya!
      Ok so cool things this week were that we were really struggling to find people to teach. We decided to start contacting people on the side of our area that we hadn´t worked much because it is really far from where we usually work and where all of our recent converts and less actives are. Anyways, we were having a little better success. We found one lady that said she has been praying for help from God to help her stop smoking and such so we taught the Word of Wisdom and she has already cut down a ton on smoking and said we were an answer to her prayers! After that we taught a man who was super excited about the message of the restoration and ´said he wanted to be baptized! AND THEN as we were walking back, it was way hot and we were really thirsty and tired and such but we decided to knock one more door. This house that we passed many times, pretty much every other day, without knocking but decided to this time. It was a family of 4 that were soooo receptive to our message. They scheduled the day for us to come back and are such amazing people. The cool thing is that the dad works every day except for the 4 hour period  that we decided to knock. If we would have passed by any other day nobody would have answered so yeah real life miracles happening every day here! The work is amazing and time is flying! You all rock! 

Baptism of Thiago

Guiherme and Leonardo, two awesome members preparing for missions

The legend: Shampoo 

My favorite tree

October 19th and 24th

 BOOM CRASH!!!!!!    Did I get your attention? But actually the subject means something because this week it did not stop thunder-storming. If I had a dollar for every time it started POURING rain while we were knocking doors this week I would have like 4 or 5 dollars. When it rains it pours here! The other night while walking home but way far away, it started raining really hard but this week has also been super hot and blue skies during the afternoon because summer just started here so naturally we didn't have our umbrellas or any sort of rain prep. We were soaked head to toe in 2 minutes and continued walking for another 15 or so. It is super awesome though because the stories are fun to have.     

      Some guy told me that lightning strikes more in Brazil than any other place on earth. Now I have absolutely no idea if thats true or not but that guy probably isn´t far off! The lightning here is insane! It strikes like every 5 seconds during a storm! Anyways that's the weather woo.

      Other fun things that happened this week are dia dos crianças which is kid day and basically the whole city has the day off work and it's just a huge barbecue and party. The streets we usually proselyte on were closed and filled with trampolines for all the kids.

      We have had some awesome experiences this week with people! So we teach a recent convert in our ward a 16 year old boy named Shampoo. He is super awesome and the other day we showed up to a lesson at his house and he had a friend there so we talked to him about the gospel and such and he said he loves the church and wants to be baptized! We marked a baptism for the end of this month and he is super excited. We are seeing a lot of really cool little miracles every day! Today we went to the temple here in Curitiba and it was awesome! It is a super pretty temple and the tropical plants and such are super cool!

      Other than that I don´t have a bunch to say this week! The church is true! The food is amazing! Life rocks! 

3 Attachments

     HEY! Time is flying here because I feel like the last time I emailed was earlier today! Every day we wake up, talk to people for what feels like 20 minutes and then its already 9pm! It's only been 4 days since I emailed last this email isn´t going to be very long or exciting. The good news of the gospel just wasn´t selling like hot cakes this week. A week full of rejection after rejection after rejection and not much progress with the people we are teaching.

      We have (hopefully) two baptisms this week for two awesome investigators. Thiago (15 year old boy) is super excited about the church and last Sunday when we set our clocks back an hour for summer here. He woke up all his friends 2 hours before church started cause he forgot to set his clock back! We thought it was pretty funny but I don´t think his friends did lol He´s awesome!

      The coolest story of this week was on Saturday. Our ward had an activity at 4 pm and we were knocking doors and having no success all day. At around  3:50 we decided to go check out the chapel to see if there were any possible missionary opportunities. Right as we turned and started walking, a woman came running and screaming "I want a Book of Mormon!!!" We talked to her and it turns out she was baptized about 15 years ago and has just been too nervous to return but wants to start. We were like woah when does that happen BUT WAIT!  As we finished talking to her, a man pulled over in a truck and honked at us and said "I want to talk to you guys!" He was super interested in the church and came to the activity with us. He apparently had a bunch of Mormon friends growing up! Those are the things that makes the work worth it!

     

Another cool story of the week is we found a place that sells ice cream this week right by our house! First, understand that ice cream is really expensive for a missionary budget here so finding any at all for way cheap made for happy missionaries. Life is good here! The days are flying! It is really hot and sometimes really cold and also usually raining so everyday is a surprise! You all rock! 

October 10th, 2016

      This week was absolutely wild and next week is going to be too!
      So I think I found the only place where the weather changes more frequently than it does in New England. This week started off in my winter coat. Freezing and super windy all day but we were sweating the next day in short sleeve shirts. AND THEN we had the biggest rain storm I have ever seen in my lifeeeeee. It was nuts. So the houses here are all cement walls and share a wall so our little driveway had about 4 inches of water in like 30 minutes of rain. We were at lunch and it was sunny but we were absolutely soaked on the way home/all day. It was hailing like no other too! Just outside of where we were they got like 3 inches of hail so basically snow. Everyone was showing us pictures of the madness cause they never get snow or anything this crazy so it was a huge deal. 

     Anyways this week was amazing! We got rejected more times than I could keep count! Awesome right? YES it actually was because every night ended in crazy miracles that made everything ok and we definitely saw the hands of the Lord in our work everyday. After 4 appointments that fell through that NEVER fall through we were walking, wondering what to do when we randomly ran into a recent convert on the sidewalk. He invited us in and we got to have an awesome lesson with his family who are not members and now have frequent lessons with them! THEN the next night the same exact thing happened with a different recent convert. It was awesome! THEN the coolest story of the week. We were doing our thing; walking, knocking, talking. The usual. We found this one family where the mom was suppper sick and and could hardly walk. She was super struggling but allowed us to come in. She talked about some difficulties and we had an awesome lesson and ended in giving her a priesthood blessing. We set up an appointment for the next day. We returned the next day and nobody was home so we were a little sad and started to walk away when suddenly she comes running down the street from the market with hands full of groceries! She who could hardly walk less than 24 hours before. Priesthood power is real!!!!

      Ok and the funny story of the week happened like 10 minutes ago. Today we had a zone activity and played lots of games, basketball, fun things wooo. So first, the buses here are craziness. Always packed and the roads are filled with potholes but, the buses just fly, and everyone inside just bounce all over the place. It's the best cause it's so funny. But anyways I just so happened to be the last one on the bus this time and I kid you not there was no room for me on this bus anywhere but I had to be on it cause all the other missionaries were. I was half way on and the door closes and the bus just peels out. Meanwhile I am like halfway out of the bus with the doors trying to close on me and I have a bunch of things in my hands from zone conference. I am trying to push on the bus but there is literally no where I could fit. I am just dying of laughter cause when does this happen? I finally got in and am just smashed up against the wall. We get to our stop, the doors open and this bus is spring-loaded and just shot me out lol man the funniest things happen here everyday! I love Curitiba! I love being here and hope life in the states was as good for all of you as this week was for me! Life is crazy but it rocks! You all rock! wooo go everyone!!!! BYE (oh next week i will email on Wednesday cause we are going to the temple!) 

 After the giant rain storm!

ZONE PARTY wooooo

October 3rd, 2016

      Another awesome week here in Curitiba! This week flew by! I feel like I emailed yesterday!

      I don´t even know where to start so I guess I will start with the most interesting story because my english teachers always told me that´s how you hook in the reader. It was cold and foggy and Elder França and I were at our usual 4 way stop with speed bumps for stop signs. We crossed the street and the second we stepped on the other side there was a huge noise behind us and we turned around to a 3 car wreck. We caught a little bit of it, but I am still not really sure what happened. Two of the cars were off the road and drilled the gate of a house and looked like the two cars were totaled. It was pretty nuts and the loudest noise I have ever heard.

       Now that you are all on the edge of your seats, this week was like everything in one week

     . Burning hot, freezing cold, long, fast, happy, sad; you know, the usual. Earlier in the week was way hot out and we were dying of heat walking, but now it feels like winter and I am in my winter coat with wool socks woooo. feels just like home.

      We found two amazing people to teach this week that are both super excited and prepared to hear the good news of the gospel. The first man was super excited to see us and him and his wife have been super engaged and reading the Book of Mormon all on their own terms and such and we hope that they keep progressing! The other was this super nice, humble woman who we taught this week and she was having some troubles but we were able to help her out and she is super happy and came to church for general conference on Sunday which was super awesome!

      I am loving the work here and every day is just filled with so many things that I could write forever about. Another cool story is that last night around 7 after conference we had 4 appointments and every single one fell through and we were pretty discouraged because usually every single one is home and we only had time for 2 anyways but all of these people were strangely not home. We decided to try one more person and as we were walking we came upon the house of a family that is baptized.

They haven't  been participating much in church activities recently so we decided to knock and they were all home which was awesome! After talking they said they were excited to see us because they have a desire to return to church and we set up further appointments with them! It was definitely the hand of God in our path because if we had visited others we never would have gone to visit them and Sunday night is the only time that their entire family is together so the only time we could have taught!

      In other news the food here still rocks. We had this coconut chocolate cake with some coconut cream on top and it was probably the best thing I have ever had in my life.  The pizza here is wacky but way good!  About an hour ago at a members house I picked, peeled, and pressed all these oranges for orange juice which was divine! This week rocked and I hope you are all doing well! Watch some football for me please cause I definitely miss that but life is rich! 

September 26th, 2016

     WOW so this week was crazy but it flew by! I am finally in Curitiba! I feel like I am in a different country than the MTC. Everything is so different. I haven´t seen an American in like 6 days lol. It is awesome though! So I will tell little stories and this email will probably be really scattered.
     Sorry. sooo we flew in from São Paulo on Tuesday and we had to wake up really early to get to the airport so I was pretty dead. The plane was so tiny and had literally no leg room BUT the flight attendent saw that I was like a foot taller than everyone on the plane and moved me to the exit row with tons of leg room and I just zonked out the whole flight. It was grand. Anyways we show up and president picks us up and we drive to the mission home where we sat around for a couple hours while each missionary did personal get to know you interviews with president. He is such an awesome guy and I am super excited to work with and get to know him over the next two years. He is a pretty knew president so I will have him for the whole mission. We ate an amazing lunch at presidents home. The food here is amazing. The only bummer is in Brazil lunch is like the main meal so every one pigs out at like noon and then naps till like 3 lol and we eat dinner when we get back at 9:30. Trying to find someone to talk to during lunch tho is impossible.
      Anyways, That night we did a little orientation thing and then got our new companions. My companion is Elder França and our area is called Novo Mundo. It is just outside the city and has everything from way nice houses to super poor areas. The houses here are really pretty though. The first couple days were definitely tough cause I live in  a house with 3 Brazillians (that are way cool) but I can´t ever speak english which is hard. After meeting the ward and such it feels a lot more like home now. The ward is super established and strong. It is really cool! I love the people! They are all super happy and excited to hear the gospel. 
     There are literally so many dogs here. They are just all over the streets and I have yet to find a house that doesn´t have at least 2 dogs. I can hardly speak/understand the language but throw in two barking dogs and it gets a whole lot harder.
      Our area is brand new. A ward split and this Sunday was the first meeting of the new ward so we are starting fresh with a lot of things which is perfect cause I am new. I was asked to give a little talk on sunday and it went well. People say they understand everything I say but I dont know if I believe it.
     

Ok so one highlight of the week was they have this store that is like a cereal warehouse. You have to understand first that cereal here is so expensive. A small box of like frosted flakes is like $7 but at this warehouse you can get a kilogram aka a giant bag of cereal for like $4 so that was way sick. I bought a bunch and that has been breakfast and dinner every day this week. Another thing, in the morning the other day we were reading scriptures and stuff and then randomly there was a huge crash and we walk outside and this car just plowed through a stop sign basically right in our front yard lol. Its only been a week but it has been awesome and I am super excited to keep learning and teaching! Hope all is well back in the states! Speak english and eat pizza for me! I´ll attach photos below of MTC and random stuff!

September 16, 2016

    WOO hey everyone! Hope you all had super awesome weeks! I cannot believe how fast time is flying here! I feel like I was on yesterday andon monday I fly out of here to Curitiba! I am way beyond stoked to go. The CTM has been great and I have learned a ton about the gospel and language which was definitely necessary lol but I am ready to start working and have some awesome experiences. So this week was like the rest. Lots of sitting at a desk and learning all day but I do have the funny story of the week.

      So on  monday Elder Nydegger woke up sick and we went to see the doctor and he had a high fever and had to stay in the room all day. Around dinner time, Elder Herlin and I were bringing dinner to the room for him. We were in the elevator, the door opens and we step out. Almost right as we get out the power goes out. Like a minute earlier and we would´ve been trapped in the elevator. My family knows how much I love elevators.(They were my childhood fear) Anyways the entire building is pitch black and it's way hot here so the building just started getting wicked hot cause no a/c. Because it's so warm all the time here, the entire CTM is an open air building. We were not really sure what was going on but we had basketball time so we changed and went out to play. By the time we got out to the court the lights were back on. We get to the court and there are literally billions of these little moth fly things everywhere. You couldn't even see the lamp posts because there were so many of them around it. IT was nasty, but we thought no big deal. This was before we tried playing. These bugs were literally everywhere. It was like a plague jklol. They wouldn´t let you run on the track because you just inhale them. They were also like super fragile so you would just be standing there, they would fly into you and just drop dead and their wings fall off. Super duper strange. Then like 10 minutes later the court just clears up and theres like literally not a bug in sight. It was really really weird. We finish playing and head back inside to find that because the power went out and the dorms are all like way hot now that all these bugs went inside because they are tropical and attracted to heat. So all the milllion bugs were in our rooms and bathroom and halls. Super funny just cause it was way crazy. Then like a snap again they all dissappeared leaving a bunch of wings and dead moths all over the floor. Quite the experience!

     

This week we also got to sing the national anthem with all the American missionaries on 9/11 which was really special. Proscelyting this week was super good and super cool! We had a lot of great conversations. We were talking to this one guy at a bus stop and this lady comes running down the street screaming "MISSIONARIES!!! I WANT A BOOK OF MORMON! TELL ME YOUR MESSAGE!" Apparently she has been searching for missionaries for a while and wants to start reading the Book of Mormon. It was super cool but I know it won't always be that easy! That is about all I have for this week! You all rock! I don't know when I will email next because my whole schedule will change but probably next monday so a little over a week! Go Team God! 

September 9th, 2016

     Tudo bem amigos?! Can´t believe it has already been another week here in Brazil. The time really is flying and next week I fly to Curitiba! I am way beyond excited to get out of the MTC. It has been fun and helped a ton obviously but, oh boy I am way excited to get out in the field and start meeting people.

     Alright so highlight of the week was definitely the visit from Neil L. Anderson! He gave a really good talk and definitely inspired people here like crazy. BUT the cooler part of this story is that my companion Elder Nydegger apparently is family friends with him so before the devotional he requested to take pictures and talk to him and his companions (aka me). There are a ton of missionaries here and obviously, everyone would want a picture with him so they don´t allow it cause it would take all day. So we were the only missionaries that got to talk to him and take a picture with him and it was way cool!

     Also this week was independence day here and the meals were wayyyyyy good. They had a huge ice cream bar (I know it doesn´t sound that exciting but when the only thing they have after dinner is jello, ice cream becomes a highlight of your week) It was way awesome! Parties all over in the streets right now because of independence day. Seems more like independence week.

      It is absolutely crazy that I only have one week left here! I am so excited and I feel pretty prepared to go. We get a ton of practice to speak and listen to full-speed Portuguese so I don´t think I will have too big of a surprise but it will definitely still be a huge adjustment! I am ready! All the friends I have made here are leaving and it feels super weird here in the MTC now being the oldest and not having the same people but there are still a ton of cool elders here that leave after us so all is well!

      We go proselytizing in São Paulo tomorrow morning for about 3 hours which will be fun and I can´t wait! This week is packed with tons of practice opportunities so I am sure it will just fly by! It will definitely be sad changing districts and companions cause we have grown super super tight and have built great friendships but we are all going to the same mission so I am sure some of us will cross paths again on the mish! Alright, that's really all I have for this week! You all rock! I love hearing from you! Cião! 

September 2nd 2016

     Hi, everyone! Life is rich here in Brazil! This week has been a lot of the same old stuff though so this email won´t be that exciting.
     Highlight of the week was probably proselytising out in the streets last Saturday. They brought a big group of us and dropped us in the times square of São Paulo. It was pretty cool and definitely a humbling experience. The good news is I was actually able to communicate with people and understand most of what everyone was saying. Still shocked that we have learned the language so fast here! The teachers are incredible which makes it really fun and effective. My instructor is a big blink 182 fan which is super funny. Makes me miss home!
      I bought these super cool highlighters in the streets last week and who know something could make a person so happy! Everyone is super jealous of them and I am known as the highlighter kid to the new missionaries here.      It's crazy that we are already starting week 5 this Monday! I feel like I just got here but also feel like I have been here an eternity! The days are so slow but the weeks fly by which doesn´t make sense but it´s true. I have made a bunch of super good friends here so it has been hard to say goodbye every week to some really cool people. We are the veterans here now which is super crazy as well.
      In other news Neil A. Anderson is coming to the MTC here Wednesday and everyone is super stoked for it! It will definitely be an experience you remember for the rest of your life.
      We went to the temple this morning which was cool and super pretty. It is super small and in the middle of a super busy part of town but all of São Paulo is busy!
      That is really all the good stuff this week! We have a really packed schedule of classes so my emails should spice up a little more in about 2 weeks! You all rock! Fill me in on life in America 

 Eat some  real pizza for me! Cião!

Life is Rich part 1

     What's up!? Week three is coming to a close here in Brazil. Life is crazy but right now in the MTC we don't have a whole ton of interesting things going on. I have no idea what's going on with the Olympics but I assume Brazil won soccer last Saturday because that night the entire city of São Paulo just went nuts! We were looking out our window and every car was honking, massive fireworks were just going off in the middle of the streets, people running around screaming! it was crazy! These people love soccer!

      Alright so a couple experiences this week: Everyday we have member investigators that we teach lessons to for practice and we also do this thing called TRC where locals come in and we just practice talking to them. We were talking to one and it was tough and a little awkward because I am definitely not fluent yet and communicating is tough, so I asked the lady if she had any advice on life for us, or at least I thought I did. Turns out the word for advice is pretty similar to the word spoon in Portuguese so I actually asked her if she had any spoons for us. Needless to say she was super confused. Other than that the Portuguese is great! It is crazy how fast you pick it up when surrounded by natives and you speak it all day. We can do all the basic lessons in portuguese pretty easily and can understand all of what most people say, besides those that speak super fast.

      Yesterday we had the general president of the church in Brazil come talk to us and that was super cool. He is pretty new so our portuguese is about the same level. He said something that I really liked: Gods opportunity is mans extremity. Work hard. It is the last door you knock on or talking to one more person. That is when the miracles happen!

      The crazy food of the week was pizza! Woo! You would think that pizza would excite a bunch of Americans. Brazillian pizza is a tad different. The two options were a mixed meat pizza with who knows what kind of meat and a ton of cinnamon fruit pizza! The food is super good here! Always some sort of meat, rolls, rice, and beans! I definitely already miss american snacks a lot! We found some mentos and frosted flakes and that was definitely a highlight this week! Always fun to try the different food and every day is an adventure even in the MTC.

      Today we went to the São Paulo Temple and it was super cool! It is really small but really pretty. Starting week 4 so not too long until I am out of here and in the field! I can't wait! You all rock! Life is rich! Talk to you next week! 

MTC!

Oi! What´s up everybody? Wow this week has been full of pushing on doors that say pull, saying thanks to people that ask me my name and a bunch of craziness. I feel like I already have so much to say and it hasn't even been that long.  os the first couple days I was the only one here because all the missionaries flights got cancelled due to the Delta systems going down. My companions showed up a little later. I am in a trio so i have two other companions: Elder Nydegger and Elder Herlin. They are both super awesome and we are all best buds which makes the days a lot easier. Every day consists of breakfast at 7 am which is some sort of fried milk thing and paninis as well as every type of juice you could imagine. We get time to study the language by ourselves and then we are in class all day. The teachers are super cool. My district, which is 7 missionaries is who I spend all day with. The classes are in all portuguese so it was pretty tough for a while to get anything out of it. It is tough but the teaching style is super effective. You are speaking in the language 24/7 and it is crazy how much you learn. I already talk 75% of the day in portuguese and say all prayers and such in the language. It has been super crazy but the days are just flying by! Every lunch and dinner is some random meat that I couldn´t name and rice and beans for daysssss. I haven´t gone a meal without rice and beans. I have two brazillian roommates that are super cool and it really helps you learn the language to be able to communicate with them. They are both super nice and super funny. We all have a really good time together. All the water fountains have a natural and cold water feature. Natural is like hot mineral water which is interesting. The toilets have a tendency to reverse flush so that´s the funny story of the week. One of my first days we walked into the bathroom and the toilets are just overflowing all over the floor and there is like an inch of standing water in the bathroom! This morning we got to go to the temple which was super cool. Its beautiful. The são paulo temple is closed for cleaning so we went to the campinas. Every night we play basketball but all the balls are basically cubes and it is super funny. They bounce more like footballs. We can't send pictures in the MTC because the computers aren't great so expect a lot of pictures in a couple weeks! I can´t believe I am already entering the third week here! I don`t have a lot of time to email now so they will be short for the first couple weeks but I am loving life! OH and cutest couple award goes out to my parents this week who had their anniversary! Love you all!