This last Sunday was one of my best Sundays I've had yet. We had 18 investigators at church and was just nutz. We´ve been marking many baptisims and some have fallen and some haven't, but we have 5 baptisims that will happen this Friday and Saturday for sure and next week we have at least one more planned. Then we still have a lot more that we are going to mark for the next 3 weeks. So the ones that fell was a guy named Silvan. His mom said she won't let him be baptized because he was already baptized in the catholic church and we explained to her clearly why etc... but she has a very hard heart so he won't be baptized this week and not sure if ever. Then there's another guy João Paulo and the same story with his dad, but have yet to talk with him so we will see if that falls through as well. This week we will baptize the family that came, the mom of the boy we baptized a while ago, and a little girl that's been to church many times and just came again last Sunday. So we are working with her for this Saturday. Oh yeah the baptism last week fell through, but it was because she was having woman problems so I just left it at that and we will baptize her this week. So we have lots of people we are currently working with and many things to do and it's all in the last week of the transfer so it's a little crazy and tough when all your baptisms fall on the same and last week.
So next Monday will be transfers and that's when I find out if I stay or go. Something to point out is that all 5 of are baptisms this week are not people that we found or knocked on their doors. They came to church on their own and one was from a recent convert, so yeah we worked really hard this past 6 weeks and the Lord has really blessed us.
Today we helped the lady that owns our home move some stuff and also practiced singing some hyms in english that we and some others will sing at the baptism. I also spent awhile copying photos and buying stuff to send home to you guys and will send that out on Monday when I get the money to send it.
About the photos I asked for, just pictures of the home, city, outside etc.. they like to see what it is like where i used to live, and then if you can find my picture of when I was baptized and send that too. I think it would be funny to show that to investigators that will be baptised to get a visual of their baptisim. That picture is in a black binder in one of the tubes of all my stuff. I think it's easier to just scan and email the pictures.
Cardinals, I want them to win, but I am betting money that they will lose, but who knows maybe the second coming will be on Sunday. Happy birthday Craig, Mom, John, and anyone else.
Things here are going well. I forgot to mention that Elder Cook came to our mission and spoke to the wards here and had a conference with the missionaries last Sunday. So I got to shake his hand and hear from him and his wife. It was awesome and the man has a powerful testimony of the Savior like they all do and was really sincere and just good to hear from him. I think my first time hearing a conference from someone that only speaks english since I've been in Brazil, in the ctm and here they've all been in Portuguese.
Ok, well have a fun week with the superbowl an everything and we'll see how things go this next week. Pray for the people to be baptized as well.
Thanks, Brian
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Cardinals are going to the Superbowl and I'm in Brazil!
Hey family,
Sorry for the short letter last week. Like I had said before there just wasn't time to write much. I've stopped arguing with my companion. I've decided instead of arguing with him I just mark in my planner every time he complains about something and blames it on me. So far the results are good and I just get a laugh out of it.
So this last week we met a lot of really good people to bring to church and come Sunday 0 of them came, but the Lord blessed us and when we got there at church there was a family of 4 and 2 other guys that came. The family was wanting to visit our church and found it on the internet and came alone and the other 2 guys came with a friend of theirs. So we taught the two boys and one of them wants to be baptized and then we taught the family last night and marked a baptism date for them as well. Tomorrow we'll see how their reading the Book of Mormon went and am sure we will baptize them too. Also last week 2 of our other baptisms we had marked, fell through, but hey we made up for it and marked more. This week on Friday we will baptize Olivan. She is the mother of the kid we baptized named Anderson. She has been good to work with and next week we should have more batisms.
Today for p-day we went to the bank in central and then to Mc donalds! My first time setting foot in McDonalds and guess what, the power went out and they couldn't do anything so we left. We then walked to another place called Bob´s Hamburgers which is the same as McDonalds just a little cheaper. I ate a double cheese burger with fries and a chocolate milk shake. Was awsome to get to eat somthing similar to home.
Things are going good: the language is good, we have picked up the work a lot more now, but I fear that it will fall again with their Carnival season coming up in a week which means it will be hard to teach and find people during those two weeks just like Christmas and New Years. The Cardinals are going to the superbowl and I'm in Brazil....but they will probably lose and remain cursed.
We had zone conference with the president the other day and he was not happy at all, he burned all the missionaries about a lot of things, but one thing was the last phone bill for the mission and that was 12,000 reais and the maximum that the mission has for phone bill is 2,000 reais, so he yelled at us and said every missionary will pay 75 reais next month to help pay for it and went over a lot of other rules in the mission. Sound like a lot of missionaries are abusing the rules. I cleaned my bathroom last night :)
I think Craig's birthday is soon so happy birthday Craig! And yours and Johns should be coming up next month so happy birthday if I forget. So things are over all good. Transfer ends next week! I can't think of much else to write so I think I'll end it here, love you all and thanks for everything
Brian
Sorry for the short letter last week. Like I had said before there just wasn't time to write much. I've stopped arguing with my companion. I've decided instead of arguing with him I just mark in my planner every time he complains about something and blames it on me. So far the results are good and I just get a laugh out of it.
So this last week we met a lot of really good people to bring to church and come Sunday 0 of them came, but the Lord blessed us and when we got there at church there was a family of 4 and 2 other guys that came. The family was wanting to visit our church and found it on the internet and came alone and the other 2 guys came with a friend of theirs. So we taught the two boys and one of them wants to be baptized and then we taught the family last night and marked a baptism date for them as well. Tomorrow we'll see how their reading the Book of Mormon went and am sure we will baptize them too. Also last week 2 of our other baptisms we had marked, fell through, but hey we made up for it and marked more. This week on Friday we will baptize Olivan. She is the mother of the kid we baptized named Anderson. She has been good to work with and next week we should have more batisms.
Today for p-day we went to the bank in central and then to Mc donalds! My first time setting foot in McDonalds and guess what, the power went out and they couldn't do anything so we left. We then walked to another place called Bob´s Hamburgers which is the same as McDonalds just a little cheaper. I ate a double cheese burger with fries and a chocolate milk shake. Was awsome to get to eat somthing similar to home.
Things are going good: the language is good, we have picked up the work a lot more now, but I fear that it will fall again with their Carnival season coming up in a week which means it will be hard to teach and find people during those two weeks just like Christmas and New Years. The Cardinals are going to the superbowl and I'm in Brazil....but they will probably lose and remain cursed.
We had zone conference with the president the other day and he was not happy at all, he burned all the missionaries about a lot of things, but one thing was the last phone bill for the mission and that was 12,000 reais and the maximum that the mission has for phone bill is 2,000 reais, so he yelled at us and said every missionary will pay 75 reais next month to help pay for it and went over a lot of other rules in the mission. Sound like a lot of missionaries are abusing the rules. I cleaned my bathroom last night :)
I think Craig's birthday is soon so happy birthday Craig! And yours and Johns should be coming up next month so happy birthday if I forget. So things are over all good. Transfer ends next week! I can't think of much else to write so I think I'll end it here, love you all and thanks for everything
Brian
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
No Time Today
Ummm no time today. We had a zone activity and played soccer and football all day and don't have time to email. Things are going good. We marked two baptisms last week and hopefully all 3 of ours will go through before the end of this transferr. I'll just do my part in the work and hope for the best.
K well love ya and talk next week.
Brian
K well love ya and talk next week.
Brian
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New Years 2009
Yea New Years was fun. I got a great video of it, but can't send it through email. It's too much space, but I need to copy all my fotos and videos and send them home to you along with a tape and w/e else I throw into it. I'm just lazy and haven't done any of that yet and still need to make cds for all are recent converts.
Yeah little different, opposite here (he's referring to what Tate is dealing with in Honduras as far as American missionaries being negative in their attitudes), the brazilians don't care for the rules and last Monday president changed our zone conference to interviews and talked to us for an hour about specific rules and pretty much burned us all and yeah was because of certain groups of missionaries that broke those rules and now all the Americans are getting moved up and lots of the Brasilians got moved down. A lot of missionaries that are just wanting the baptisim number and don't really help the people. Anyways enough of that.
This week was fun. Today we went to a churrascaria for lunch with several zones. It's for 20 reais you eat all you want, was fun. New Years we had a bar-b-q and like I said I recorded some of the fireworks etc and will send that later. We got no work done last two weeks because everyone here left on vacations. So no one was home and no one wanted to go to church and lots of people were drunk, but hope this week ends up better. We´ve marked two baptism dates already and hope those will go through. We have another we will try to mark with this lady, but it's a little hard because she wants to be baptised but can't stop smoking and drinking coffee. We have some other people we'll see if we get them to church this week before we mark a baptism for them. The way I work with my companion this transfer is we go to a street and he takes one side and i take the other and just knock every door. It's really helped me with talking to people and been picking up the language even more.
I was talking to my comp in the CTM last night and how we're in the worst mission in Brazil and how we just want to die. It was funny, but we really are in the most dangerous city in all Brazil, Maceio was ranked number 1 above Rio de Janeiro, so I don't know if you and Robert still want to visit this place. Three Americans is just asking to get robbed and shot at, hehe. The people here aren't the brightest of the flock but w/e we work with what you got I guess. Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you, in one of my tubs of all my stuff at home, I have a binder with all my fotos of my life. If you can please find that and scan the picture of me and my baptisim and email it to me that would be a fun picture to have to show people. If you see any other funny looking ones go ahead an scan them too. People like to see what my home looks like so any pictures of the home, yard, city, etc would be good pictures to have. So over all, things are going good. The Cardinals are doing good. So that's it for today.
Talk next week, Brian
Yeah little different, opposite here (he's referring to what Tate is dealing with in Honduras as far as American missionaries being negative in their attitudes), the brazilians don't care for the rules and last Monday president changed our zone conference to interviews and talked to us for an hour about specific rules and pretty much burned us all and yeah was because of certain groups of missionaries that broke those rules and now all the Americans are getting moved up and lots of the Brasilians got moved down. A lot of missionaries that are just wanting the baptisim number and don't really help the people. Anyways enough of that.
This week was fun. Today we went to a churrascaria for lunch with several zones. It's for 20 reais you eat all you want, was fun. New Years we had a bar-b-q and like I said I recorded some of the fireworks etc and will send that later. We got no work done last two weeks because everyone here left on vacations. So no one was home and no one wanted to go to church and lots of people were drunk, but hope this week ends up better. We´ve marked two baptism dates already and hope those will go through. We have another we will try to mark with this lady, but it's a little hard because she wants to be baptised but can't stop smoking and drinking coffee. We have some other people we'll see if we get them to church this week before we mark a baptism for them. The way I work with my companion this transfer is we go to a street and he takes one side and i take the other and just knock every door. It's really helped me with talking to people and been picking up the language even more.
I was talking to my comp in the CTM last night and how we're in the worst mission in Brazil and how we just want to die. It was funny, but we really are in the most dangerous city in all Brazil, Maceio was ranked number 1 above Rio de Janeiro, so I don't know if you and Robert still want to visit this place. Three Americans is just asking to get robbed and shot at, hehe. The people here aren't the brightest of the flock but w/e we work with what you got I guess. Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you, in one of my tubs of all my stuff at home, I have a binder with all my fotos of my life. If you can please find that and scan the picture of me and my baptisim and email it to me that would be a fun picture to have to show people. If you see any other funny looking ones go ahead an scan them too. People like to see what my home looks like so any pictures of the home, yard, city, etc would be good pictures to have. So over all, things are going good. The Cardinals are doing good. So that's it for today.
Talk next week, Brian
Friday, January 2, 2009
Merry Christmas From Maceio
Brian showing off the cute little Christmas tree and decorations he bought for their apartment.
Brian with his old comp, Elder Souza
Brian's new companion, Elder Compos. They get along really well. Brian said he is so skinny he could break him in half.
He didn't say what this picture is of, but we're assuming it's after a baptism.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
Yeah, I didn't get to talk as I wanted but w/e. I'll have it better figured out for the next time, the stupid phone had only a 15 minute battery and then she didn't tell me she had a cell phone that could do international calls untill later but w/e it was good talking. After I talked to you I talked to my mom and then it was about 10pm and the lady there made us stay and eat dinner with her family(yeah 10pm) pretty late, but she wouldn't let us leave without eating again. So we ate and then got home 10:40ish, but it was a good Christmas day.
Right now there is going to be a big party near my home and will go all night and will be lots of drunks everywhere, but we are having our own party at my district leader´s home and will spend the night there playing games etc... tomorrow will be bad and I don't think we will even work. I don't know why the president didn't change our p-day to tomorrow but w/e. I tried to make appointments with people for tomorrow, but everyone is leaving or will be drunk and asleep all day so like I said we have nothing for tomorrow.
All the homes I've seen and been in, have a special shower thing that has only two options very hot or very cold. (I told him Tate misses hot water more than anything, and has none) I personally like the hot better than the cold, but that's just me and my last home actually only had cold water and at times zero water. I got Stacie's package and it was perfect! I loved the office note book thingy. I will use it always at conferences and stuff for note-taking and I'm sure all the Americans will understand the humor in it, at least I do and the cereal was great too. THANKYOU!
New years: they party, music, drinking, probably shooting, I think somone will die....so you have 17 months to think about if you still want to visit this place. The way I see it is 3 americans walking around asking to get robbed. So church last Sunday was good, not too many people came because of all the parties and will be the same this week too. My new comp likes to do things a bit different when we work. We´ll go to a street and I'll knock the doors on one side and he´ll do the other side. I actualy like it a little because it gives me more practice of talking to people by myself and has gone well so far. We'll see how this Sunday goes. K well I'll try and get some photos n videos sent to you this week.
Love you all and feliz ano novo!
Right now there is going to be a big party near my home and will go all night and will be lots of drunks everywhere, but we are having our own party at my district leader´s home and will spend the night there playing games etc... tomorrow will be bad and I don't think we will even work. I don't know why the president didn't change our p-day to tomorrow but w/e. I tried to make appointments with people for tomorrow, but everyone is leaving or will be drunk and asleep all day so like I said we have nothing for tomorrow.
All the homes I've seen and been in, have a special shower thing that has only two options very hot or very cold. (I told him Tate misses hot water more than anything, and has none) I personally like the hot better than the cold, but that's just me and my last home actually only had cold water and at times zero water. I got Stacie's package and it was perfect! I loved the office note book thingy. I will use it always at conferences and stuff for note-taking and I'm sure all the Americans will understand the humor in it, at least I do and the cereal was great too. THANKYOU!
New years: they party, music, drinking, probably shooting, I think somone will die....so you have 17 months to think about if you still want to visit this place. The way I see it is 3 americans walking around asking to get robbed. So church last Sunday was good, not too many people came because of all the parties and will be the same this week too. My new comp likes to do things a bit different when we work. We´ll go to a street and I'll knock the doors on one side and he´ll do the other side. I actualy like it a little because it gives me more practice of talking to people by myself and has gone well so far. We'll see how this Sunday goes. K well I'll try and get some photos n videos sent to you this week.
Love you all and feliz ano novo!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Brian's Christmas Day Email
Umm Feliz Natal,
Yeah I'll just talk to you on the phone, but I'm in the same area, new comp, E. De Campos. He's a black looking African guy that's like a little stick I could break, but a cool guy and a lot more fun than my last comp. Today will call from a member's cell phone and then you should be able to call me back. Don't you have caller id? Well I'll try to get the number for Brazil just in case you dont. My comps going to talk for 3 hours and so dont worry about time. Ummmmmmm so yeah, thanks for the gifts. It was fun to have stuff to open and I just gave the things I had double of to my comp.
K well talk to you later
Brian
Yeah I'll just talk to you on the phone, but I'm in the same area, new comp, E. De Campos. He's a black looking African guy that's like a little stick I could break, but a cool guy and a lot more fun than my last comp. Today will call from a member's cell phone and then you should be able to call me back. Don't you have caller id? Well I'll try to get the number for Brazil just in case you dont. My comps going to talk for 3 hours and so dont worry about time. Ummmmmmm so yeah, thanks for the gifts. It was fun to have stuff to open and I just gave the things I had double of to my comp.
K well talk to you later
Brian
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Excited to Call!
Ok well I think 2:00pm sounds good and is more convienent for others so if that's ok with you let everyone know that wants to talk to me. Julie can call the people in my family. I think I'll just call my dad and mom before that time so you don't need to worry about them. Some of my friends might come too like Mark n Jason n Henry...So I will call you from a member's phone here and then just call me back...that's the easier I think. And as far as time, no worries we'll play it as it goes...give everyone a chance to talk....I'll also let some of the other people here talk to you guys as well if you want...so 2:00pm I'll call.
So today we just got back from a zone activity. We rented a soccer place out and had a bbq and played soccer and american football. It was lots of fun and I got more tanned. Last Sunday we baptized a girl 14 yrs Mariana. This week we will baptize a boy of 14 yrs Gabriel, and next Monday we will have transferrs and on Tuesday I should have a new comp. Who knows maybe
I'll be transfered but I'm sure I'll stay here. I took photos and videos, but won't get them sent to you for a while. By the way have you put money in my account yet? I have 10 letters I wrote 2 months ago and still need to send and I would love to send 4 packages to different people, but it's 50 reais minimum for the smallest boxes just to send and more with buying the stuff to send because I send the good expensive candy...so pretty much for 4 boxs looking at 250-300 reais....so if you want to give me money to do this that would be awsome because I want to send Jared, his family, you, and my sisters stuff....and I want to buy me a Maceio jeresy, but that can wait I guess.
So that's awesome way to go Robert, you are the man! Grande Abraço para você! Sounds like things are going good and will be fun to talk next week. I might email in the morning to check and make sure you guys are all set on times etc so if you want to email me anything go ahead and Ill check it early. Next week is pretty much going to be a slack off do w/e you want kind of week with it being transferrs and Christmas so should be fun.
k need to go, love you all
So today we just got back from a zone activity. We rented a soccer place out and had a bbq and played soccer and american football. It was lots of fun and I got more tanned. Last Sunday we baptized a girl 14 yrs Mariana. This week we will baptize a boy of 14 yrs Gabriel, and next Monday we will have transferrs and on Tuesday I should have a new comp. Who knows maybe
I'll be transfered but I'm sure I'll stay here. I took photos and videos, but won't get them sent to you for a while. By the way have you put money in my account yet? I have 10 letters I wrote 2 months ago and still need to send and I would love to send 4 packages to different people, but it's 50 reais minimum for the smallest boxes just to send and more with buying the stuff to send because I send the good expensive candy...so pretty much for 4 boxs looking at 250-300 reais....so if you want to give me money to do this that would be awsome because I want to send Jared, his family, you, and my sisters stuff....and I want to buy me a Maceio jeresy, but that can wait I guess.
So that's awesome way to go Robert, you are the man! Grande Abraço para você! Sounds like things are going good and will be fun to talk next week. I might email in the morning to check and make sure you guys are all set on times etc so if you want to email me anything go ahead and Ill check it early. Next week is pretty much going to be a slack off do w/e you want kind of week with it being transferrs and Christmas so should be fun.
k need to go, love you all
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Brian Got a Christmas Tree!
Other package? I got a box with all the gifts and then a smaller one with beef jerkey etc....and I got one from Jared and his family and will open that on Christmas too...oh and I opened the calender you sent me so thx for that...when I looked at it I saw 1 year of my mission, many many days...Christmas....I think an hour should be good enough time. I'm pretty sure I'll be here in the same place for Christmas and you'll hear from my new comp and some of the members if you want...For email it depends on our day, like today we have nothing more to do right now so we are emailing for 2 hours, but on other days when we have other things to do we usually spend an hour. Last week, well we baptised 2 girls, Jessica e Tamires, both cousins. They live in the same home and the two hardest people I have ever worked with and hardest to baptize for me and my comp. We were so releaved after their baptism, we have been working with them for over a month and was a miracle they were baptised. I'll explain about them later on the phone but was a good week and have another girl we will baptise this week. We had stake conference and President n Sister Beynon spoke and had an area 70 there too. Was hard to get people to church but wasnt too bad. Today we ate at a family's home who we baptized and are going to baptize their grandma. They love us and wanted to feed us lunch before my comp leaves next transfer and so we could do it only on pday so that was today. They fed us fish, shrimp, chicken, rice, beans, noodles, coka-cola, was good and her son really likes me. He is 6 years old and said he wants me to baptize him and he held onto my arm the whole time and called me his dad and said he liked me better than his mom and grandma. Was funny so I guess I have a son now. We also went to centrol which takes 1hour1/2 to get there by bus and buses here are always crammed with people and I hate it. But we went there and I bought a Christmas tree and decorations just for you, so should be fun to set up. I haven't heard from Jared yet, but I did get his package. I need to send him one but I don't know his mission address or his parent's, but I think he's in Australia by now preaching the gospel doing an awesome job.
The weather I will explain....it's hot in the morning, afternoon is hotter, then evening it cools off and that's prime working time. The nights are pretty good but feels like there is less air flow at night so that's why I love having a fan. Lately it rained a little but not too much. It's also humid, but I'm used to it and don't feel it as much as I did the first few weeks here. But 80 degrees isn't too bad at all. Summer starts in a few weeks and I'll try and find out how hot it gets here to let you know. I have like 10 cards to send to people that I wrote almost 2 months ago, but w/e they'll get it when they get it. So I'll just call at a time when everyone is at home so remember I'm 4 hours ahead of you. Not sure what Tates timing is, and not sure how you want to do this because you guys will spend time opening gifts etc and other things and will be pretty crazy so just try and figure somthing out. I'll try and get more photos sent again of our baptisms etc and will decorate our home. I've given away some of the toys you sent me to some of the kids here and they just love them.
K well I love you and will talk soon.
Brian
The weather I will explain....it's hot in the morning, afternoon is hotter, then evening it cools off and that's prime working time. The nights are pretty good but feels like there is less air flow at night so that's why I love having a fan. Lately it rained a little but not too much. It's also humid, but I'm used to it and don't feel it as much as I did the first few weeks here. But 80 degrees isn't too bad at all. Summer starts in a few weeks and I'll try and find out how hot it gets here to let you know. I have like 10 cards to send to people that I wrote almost 2 months ago, but w/e they'll get it when they get it. So I'll just call at a time when everyone is at home so remember I'm 4 hours ahead of you. Not sure what Tates timing is, and not sure how you want to do this because you guys will spend time opening gifts etc and other things and will be pretty crazy so just try and figure somthing out. I'll try and get more photos sent again of our baptisms etc and will decorate our home. I've given away some of the toys you sent me to some of the kids here and they just love them.
K well I love you and will talk soon.
Brian
Monday, December 1, 2008
Primary Presentation
Primary children smiling with Elder Souza and Elder Roberts
This one looks more realistic. Kind of like true Primary kids in the back.
Baptism's of Marleide, Cicero, and Anderson
Brian, Marleide (25), Cicero (12), Elder Souza, and Anderson (10) at their baptism
Looks like they had a little too much fun with the frosting from the cake.
I bet he loves wearing sandals when he can.
Busy with Baptisms
Brian's email is nice and long today, because when he started writing, he hadn't got my email. It made him write more. I should do that every week. Haha
Ok well today we had interviews with the president and I got a package and a smaller one with that and it said you sent them on Nov 15 and 19th, so are these the ones you want me to wait to open? Try to let me know before I open them....and I can’t believe they got here so fast, the last one you sent took over a month to get here so I guess you just never know how long it will take.
Well this past week we baptized Marleide (25yrs), Anderson (10), Cicero (12yrs), and I think Jessica sent you the photos of those baptisms right? This week we are baptizing Jessica (17yrs) and her sister or cousin Tamires (16yrs). My companion returned and he is doing better. His family still has a lot of problems and he’s taking things pretty good so far. The cool thing I don’t know if I told you in the last letter is that his mom was baptized during his mission about 6 or 7 months ago and that was before the whole cancer thing etc...but we know were she is now and she stayed firm the church to the end. So yeah this last week we got little work done because it was just me and another elder that doesn’t know the area and I had only been here for 2 weeks and so I knew little but we still pulled our baptisms through and got two more marked and ready for this week. So it was a good week and will have to really pick it up this week which will be hard because this week is stake conference and it’s hard to get people to a different church far away so well see how it goes. Yeah I guess Christmas is coming up....have any plans? ummm I don’t know what time to call you all but I think if I use a members cell phone and call you then you call me back and it should charge your phone...idk but let me know Tate’s plans and well work out times. Ummm....I almost threw up for the first time. My companion said it was because I ate too much but I think it was what I ate that did it, but it never came up so I just sat in my bed for a while until I feel asleep. All is well now though and so still haven’t thrown up yet. Oh yeah I invited my friends to talk with me on Christmas is that ok? Henry, Jason, Mark etc...Ok well let me know how things go, how is Granny? Happy birthday Granny! Happy Birthday to everyone else, new baby yet? Ok good bye love ya all hugs n kisses etc....Brian
Brian just got my email, so he is now responding to that.
K well to be fast, I don’t like to take pics of the areas because if a person see a camera he will steal it and so yeah..but for you I will try and sneak some pics but like I said it isn’t good to carry a camera around with you, when I take it to our baptisms I always carry it in my scripture case...but yeah I already took pics of the house just didn’t send them. (Can you tell I asked him if he could take pics of his area so we can see what it looks like.) Well I don’t think I’ll have a Christmas tree but we do have a Christmas fiesta on the 18th of this month so well see if they give us one or whatever we do I’m sure it will be fun....yeah Thanksgiving for me this year was just a normal day here.
Bruno is the 10 yr old we baptized, Luana is the 10 yr old girl we baptized two weeks ago. idk if you got the other pics yet of last Saturdays baptism but yeah I explained those people already.
So I'll go open the Christmas stuff but save the others for Christmas, don’t worry I don’t expect a lot for Christmas. I really just look forward to talking to you. That stinks that you were all sick...get better. Yeah I’ll have a new comp when I call home on Christmas but I'll be in the same area. I know this because in my interview with the president he said my comp has been here for a long time and asked me if I’m learning the area good and so that pretty much means I’m staying and he is leaving...but I’m excited. Only 2 more weeks of the transfer and then Christmas. The last week of the transfer we have one of the area presidencies in Brazil coming to visit our mission and the president said to be on best behavior, haircuts, suit coasts, etc...so will be a fun week. Sister Beynon is awesome. She made us smoothies today and it's always fun to talk to her...well love you all and need to go so thanks for everything and try and let me know when is best for me to call and when Tate is calling.
thx-Brian
Ok well today we had interviews with the president and I got a package and a smaller one with that and it said you sent them on Nov 15 and 19th, so are these the ones you want me to wait to open? Try to let me know before I open them....and I can’t believe they got here so fast, the last one you sent took over a month to get here so I guess you just never know how long it will take.
Well this past week we baptized Marleide (25yrs), Anderson (10), Cicero (12yrs), and I think Jessica sent you the photos of those baptisms right? This week we are baptizing Jessica (17yrs) and her sister or cousin Tamires (16yrs). My companion returned and he is doing better. His family still has a lot of problems and he’s taking things pretty good so far. The cool thing I don’t know if I told you in the last letter is that his mom was baptized during his mission about 6 or 7 months ago and that was before the whole cancer thing etc...but we know were she is now and she stayed firm the church to the end. So yeah this last week we got little work done because it was just me and another elder that doesn’t know the area and I had only been here for 2 weeks and so I knew little but we still pulled our baptisms through and got two more marked and ready for this week. So it was a good week and will have to really pick it up this week which will be hard because this week is stake conference and it’s hard to get people to a different church far away so well see how it goes. Yeah I guess Christmas is coming up....have any plans? ummm I don’t know what time to call you all but I think if I use a members cell phone and call you then you call me back and it should charge your phone...idk but let me know Tate’s plans and well work out times. Ummm....I almost threw up for the first time. My companion said it was because I ate too much but I think it was what I ate that did it, but it never came up so I just sat in my bed for a while until I feel asleep. All is well now though and so still haven’t thrown up yet. Oh yeah I invited my friends to talk with me on Christmas is that ok? Henry, Jason, Mark etc...Ok well let me know how things go, how is Granny? Happy birthday Granny! Happy Birthday to everyone else, new baby yet? Ok good bye love ya all hugs n kisses etc....Brian
Brian just got my email, so he is now responding to that.
K well to be fast, I don’t like to take pics of the areas because if a person see a camera he will steal it and so yeah..but for you I will try and sneak some pics but like I said it isn’t good to carry a camera around with you, when I take it to our baptisms I always carry it in my scripture case...but yeah I already took pics of the house just didn’t send them. (Can you tell I asked him if he could take pics of his area so we can see what it looks like.) Well I don’t think I’ll have a Christmas tree but we do have a Christmas fiesta on the 18th of this month so well see if they give us one or whatever we do I’m sure it will be fun....yeah Thanksgiving for me this year was just a normal day here.
Bruno is the 10 yr old we baptized, Luana is the 10 yr old girl we baptized two weeks ago. idk if you got the other pics yet of last Saturdays baptism but yeah I explained those people already.
So I'll go open the Christmas stuff but save the others for Christmas, don’t worry I don’t expect a lot for Christmas. I really just look forward to talking to you. That stinks that you were all sick...get better. Yeah I’ll have a new comp when I call home on Christmas but I'll be in the same area. I know this because in my interview with the president he said my comp has been here for a long time and asked me if I’m learning the area good and so that pretty much means I’m staying and he is leaving...but I’m excited. Only 2 more weeks of the transfer and then Christmas. The last week of the transfer we have one of the area presidencies in Brazil coming to visit our mission and the president said to be on best behavior, haircuts, suit coasts, etc...so will be a fun week. Sister Beynon is awesome. She made us smoothies today and it's always fun to talk to her...well love you all and need to go so thanks for everything and try and let me know when is best for me to call and when Tate is calling.
thx-Brian
New Photos from Maceio
We are excited to see Brian's smiling face. There is no explanation as to who these people are. Enjoy the pictures.
Brian and his companion, Elder Souza in their apartment.
Look it's the goose boy.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Elder Souza Leaves to Attend Mother's Funeral
Umm this last week was a little crazy, I found out last week after emailing that my comps mother has cancer and that he has been calling home every week the last 2 transfers to talk to his family and theres been alot of problems at home etc...and just monday his mom died and dont need to go into details but he ended up going home and in the mission i think the rule is you have 3 days to do what you need to do at home and then you have to return, so I think and hope he returns tomorrow night but we´ll see. Right now I'm with Elder Araujo and my old comp from the ctm and having a good time with them. We still worked in my area yesterday because we have three more baptisms this week on Saturday and maybe two more as well this week. Last week we did baptise Luana and Bruno and will have a member I know send you pictures of everything, so you'll get that later this week.
Today for P-day we went to the central part of the city to get money. That takes more than an hour by bus to get there so 3 hours about total there and back. It stinks but the only way to get money and we also visited the mission office to get mail etc...I saw President and Sister Beynon there. She gave us cake to eat and now I'm back in benedito bentes emailing you. My comp should be back tomorrow night my president said so I hope he'll be able to focus on the work and people we need to baptise, but he is taking it really hard right now so well see how things go. Thanks giving, when is it? dont think I'll eat anything for that occasion but we have a mission fiesta December 18 with everyone, so that should be fun. The language is doing ok. I understand a lot more and talking better, but could always be better. Yeah the president gave me money to buy two fans. That was 130 reais for both but well worth it and is alot more better now when I sleep.
Yeah I went to Baha Sao Miguel my last transfer with my district and was fun at the beach and thats were I burned my feet really bad and had to work with blisters etc...was fun. Tell everyone happy holidays etc...ask them for money:) hehe kidding but give them all hungs for me.
Love you all and you should get photos this week of our baptisms.
Brian
Today for P-day we went to the central part of the city to get money. That takes more than an hour by bus to get there so 3 hours about total there and back. It stinks but the only way to get money and we also visited the mission office to get mail etc...I saw President and Sister Beynon there. She gave us cake to eat and now I'm back in benedito bentes emailing you. My comp should be back tomorrow night my president said so I hope he'll be able to focus on the work and people we need to baptise, but he is taking it really hard right now so well see how things go. Thanks giving, when is it? dont think I'll eat anything for that occasion but we have a mission fiesta December 18 with everyone, so that should be fun. The language is doing ok. I understand a lot more and talking better, but could always be better. Yeah the president gave me money to buy two fans. That was 130 reais for both but well worth it and is alot more better now when I sleep.
Yeah I went to Baha Sao Miguel my last transfer with my district and was fun at the beach and thats were I burned my feet really bad and had to work with blisters etc...was fun. Tell everyone happy holidays etc...ask them for money:) hehe kidding but give them all hungs for me.
Love you all and you should get photos this week of our baptisms.
Brian
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Transfer to Hot Maceio
Ok well I need to be fast before my time ends...it wasn't the web site that lost everything, it was the computer place. After your time runs out you usually have all your info still there and you can just ask them for more time, but at this place it shuts everything down and even if you copy paste etc you lose it all so yeah and right now dont have much time to write because we have stuff to do today...So I am in Maceio, Benedito Bentes 1, Trabaleiro zona. My comp is Elder F. Souza. He speaks only Portuguese so I should learn a lot more of the languange from him. We have a 2-3 baptisims this week and a lot more we're working on in the next 3 weeks. It's really hot here and summer doesn't start for another month. My home is really hot too because we don't have fans and it's really hard to sleep at night with the heat and all the mosquitos buzzing around my face. I wake up every morning with my bed drenched in sweat and so I'm going to ask the president for money to buy fans because there's no air ventilation in my room. Umm I got your pakage and thanks for everything. Ummm I already bought the same razor you sent me and cost me like 50 reais, but thanks for it. Don't worry about sending a shaver it will do fine even though I hate using it. In my last area the baptism I was supposed to do was done last week by the other elders there now and they're working with the family and other man we were working with to be baptized. Yeah I really hate these computers here and need to find a better place to email...K well if you have anymore things you want to know, ask me and sorry for this short letter, but need to go do other things today.
Love Brian
Love Brian
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Lost His Email
Yeah I just wrote a big letter and had attached 2 pictures and during the last attachment my time on the computer ran out and so I lost it all, so I'm pretty upset about it.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Teeny Tiny Email
Ok I wont open it till christmas, no dont need a tree, cant think of anything else really just money cause im going to buy a new bible and a 8gig usb mem and a battery charger with rechargable batteries and more ties etc...so yeah if you want to help me buy these that would help. Transfer is next monday and thats when we find out where we go, but i think im leaving so well see. We had a baptisim last saturday and have another this saturday. Things are going good, thx for the photos and ill send some more to you today, whats grannys adress? They dont celebrate halloween here but they had their own holiday the day before celebrating when they were their own indepent state, i guess arapiraca was its own state at a time.
K well love you all -Brian-
K well love you all -Brian-
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Photos from Maceio and Arapiraca
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Getting ready to land in Maceio, after leaving the CTM
I have no idea what this is. Does anyone know?
This must be the new mode of transportation for Brazil. Haha! I'm not sure about the "date" setting on Brian's camera. I don't think he has figured that out yet.
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