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!