Well......I’m sick again....hehehehe
The senator is right and the sense of belonging part is hard here in our ward and in all the mission for that because all the people we baptize is with love and a good friendship and then we pass them on the to members and that’s when they lose that sense of belonging, which is why many go inactive.
Yeah I don’t remember much about me saying those things was a long time ago but is true.
I’ll ask the president on Monday when I see him about you coming and when.
Never fun being sick, but I’ve never thrown up yet on the mission, so tell Heidi she will get better.
So my week has been good up to yesterday when I started getting worse.
We baptized a profet (?) last Saturday, his name is Enoque...I’m pretty sure I told you about him. (He said this man had already prayed about the Book of Mormon and got his answer that it was true, even before they started teaching him.
Today I didn’t want to leave, but my comp was wanting to go eat Burger King so we went there today and I bought me a new jersey. By the way tell Jason the shirt he wants is 80 dollars.....and if there’s any money people want to give you, you can put it in my account :)
Ok well I love you all and I’ll try n get a picture to you this week. I also shaved my head.
Brian
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Yea, We Got Mail!
Sorry I didn’t have time to email last week because email was down and couldn’t sign in.
Almost didn’t have time today to email because we had activity zone with all the missionaries and then we had marked a baptism to do this afternoon, but things happened and he won’t be baptized till next week :(
I’m just stressed right now because of all the stupid stuff that is happing with our investigators. We had a baptism last week who was excited to be baptized and the day before his baptism his grandma from a different church goes and threatens to take away his computer and all the stuff she’s given him and his dad etc.....it made him cry and made me a little upset.
The only good thing we had happen is we taught a members brother that’s living with him and the next day he said he received an answer to the Book of Mormon and wants to follow. He’s been to church many times and knows a lot of people and so we marked his baptism for this Saturday
Today’s activity was fun, we had over 30 missionaries and was at the church where we played soccer, games, had a movie put on the projector screen and ate lots of food
K well I love you all and by the way I still haven’t gotten your package yet...I was surprised it didn’t get here yet....if I don’t see it at interviews then I’m sure it got lost.
Almost didn’t have time today to email because we had activity zone with all the missionaries and then we had marked a baptism to do this afternoon, but things happened and he won’t be baptized till next week :(
I’m just stressed right now because of all the stupid stuff that is happing with our investigators. We had a baptism last week who was excited to be baptized and the day before his baptism his grandma from a different church goes and threatens to take away his computer and all the stuff she’s given him and his dad etc.....it made him cry and made me a little upset.
The only good thing we had happen is we taught a members brother that’s living with him and the next day he said he received an answer to the Book of Mormon and wants to follow. He’s been to church many times and knows a lot of people and so we marked his baptism for this Saturday
Today’s activity was fun, we had over 30 missionaries and was at the church where we played soccer, games, had a movie put on the projector screen and ate lots of food
K well I love you all and by the way I still haven’t gotten your package yet...I was surprised it didn’t get here yet....if I don’t see it at interviews then I’m sure it got lost.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Christmas in Brazil
Brian sitting in a tree over the water during a Christmas ward activity.
Elder Roberts and Elder Souza standing in the tree.
Elder Roberts by the river at the Christmas activity
Pres. and Sis. Beynon playing nose horns for our Christmas party.
Having fun with our zone during interviews with Sis. Beynon
Brian with his trainer Elder Guerra, (dad) and his comp that he is training (son) Elder Souza
Having fun with Sis. Beynon. She is a great mission mom!
The baptism of Manga 17 and his sister Camila 15yrs.
The felt Christmas tree that had notes from family and friends pinned all over it.
Bro and Sis. Hansen who are going home soon.
Brian and Elder Stembridge ( our moms are on the Missionary Moms site together)
Elder Plazier, Elder Peck and Elder Roberts
Elder Roberts and his comp Elder Souza from Sao Paulo, Brazil
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Fun in the Zone!
Zone conference lunch break. Brian has his hand togther by his face and is in the background.
The big zone. Brian is barely visable on the right hand side.
The big zone. Brian is barely visable on the right hand side.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
We Found Cool People, But They Aren't Married!
Hello,
Sounds like a fun week happening for you all.
Today we just went to the Costco store again and had marked to play soccer and eat with everyone, but that fell through and so we did nothing else.
We found many cool people, but out of all of them none of them are married....its depressing when they accept baptism, but then aren’t married...who knows let’s see what happens, maybe we baptize their kids.....
I wanted to talk a bit about what we will do when you both come down here to pick me up....what do you want to do?
One idea of something I think would be awesome would go to the temple in Reciefe and maybe see if there’s a way we can get one of the families I baptized to go with us.....anywhoo would you be willing to do that? Might have to pay for this family to go, but I’ll have to get details and find out if they can get work off etc....but we need to start planning that so I can get things in order.
Ok well good luck with the wedding stuff etc...Love Brian
Sounds like a fun week happening for you all.
Today we just went to the Costco store again and had marked to play soccer and eat with everyone, but that fell through and so we did nothing else.
We found many cool people, but out of all of them none of them are married....its depressing when they accept baptism, but then aren’t married...who knows let’s see what happens, maybe we baptize their kids.....
I wanted to talk a bit about what we will do when you both come down here to pick me up....what do you want to do?
One idea of something I think would be awesome would go to the temple in Reciefe and maybe see if there’s a way we can get one of the families I baptized to go with us.....anywhoo would you be willing to do that? Might have to pay for this family to go, but I’ll have to get details and find out if they can get work off etc....but we need to start planning that so I can get things in order.
Ok well good luck with the wedding stuff etc...Love Brian
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A Merry Christmas Week!
Yeah sorry I haven’t been able to get any photos sent and will still take a while been I promise I’ll get it done as soon as I can.
Yes I love Henry and miss him and can’t wait till we can talk just us about our experiences etc...
I always saw the differences in other missionaries and wasn’t sure how that happens but i guess it happened to me too....
My mission is nothing what I imagined it but I knew way before I left that it was were the lord wanted me to go and still have that same certeza...
So yes this last 2 Sundays and I’m sure this next one as well we had no one go to church and was lacking many members and I ended up giving the gospel principles class because the teacher didn’t come and others from other classes came and watched because they lacked professors too.
Oh was so dang funny! Lets me explain....so I don’t remember if I told you about the problems with our bishop and leadership and unorganized junk with our ward here, well me and my comp both kind a told our president in our interviews of how it was affecting our investigators and recent converts etc...So I guess from the looks of it last Sunday we had a high councilor in our ward and he was called from the stake to stay the next month in our ward. He spoke in sacrament and correct some things the bishop did wrong at the pulpit and then he did the same thing in the quorum meeting and was just burning everyone and me and my comp just kinda smiled and figured it was about time it happened.
The biggest shocker of the week was that our Leader of the mission in our ward came up to us and asked to meet with us about the work and recent converts to go teach them etc.....So last night was my first time in 3months here that we actually held a meeting with the LO and missionaries of the ward! I think someone had a word with him too about magnifying his calling....
So I’m excited to start seeing some changes here in this area and hope it gets better and stays better. If the members would do their part in teaching and helping all recent converts, none of them would go inactive!
So Christmas was a day to just relax, the real party was Christmas eve, we ate at two different members homes who invited us and then I spent the night reading conference talks while there was nothing but loud music and partying going on outside. New years will be the same thing but with a lot more fireworks. One of the members invited us to his party and we told him we couldn’t stay all night and he called president beynon to ask him if we could stay the whole party there and president Beynon told him we could...i didn’t think he would but ill call him today to confirm and find out how long he lets us stay out....either way will be fun.
Oh yeah the toys, I gave them all out on Christmas to kids who were at one of the houses that didn’t get any presents and they loved it, there are so many that get nothing for Christmas and so the kids love to get anything.
Ok well I love you all and have fun with the wedding and whatnot....Heidi is driving?
Yes I love Henry and miss him and can’t wait till we can talk just us about our experiences etc...
I always saw the differences in other missionaries and wasn’t sure how that happens but i guess it happened to me too....
My mission is nothing what I imagined it but I knew way before I left that it was were the lord wanted me to go and still have that same certeza...
So yes this last 2 Sundays and I’m sure this next one as well we had no one go to church and was lacking many members and I ended up giving the gospel principles class because the teacher didn’t come and others from other classes came and watched because they lacked professors too.
Oh was so dang funny! Lets me explain....so I don’t remember if I told you about the problems with our bishop and leadership and unorganized junk with our ward here, well me and my comp both kind a told our president in our interviews of how it was affecting our investigators and recent converts etc...So I guess from the looks of it last Sunday we had a high councilor in our ward and he was called from the stake to stay the next month in our ward. He spoke in sacrament and correct some things the bishop did wrong at the pulpit and then he did the same thing in the quorum meeting and was just burning everyone and me and my comp just kinda smiled and figured it was about time it happened.
The biggest shocker of the week was that our Leader of the mission in our ward came up to us and asked to meet with us about the work and recent converts to go teach them etc.....So last night was my first time in 3months here that we actually held a meeting with the LO and missionaries of the ward! I think someone had a word with him too about magnifying his calling....
So I’m excited to start seeing some changes here in this area and hope it gets better and stays better. If the members would do their part in teaching and helping all recent converts, none of them would go inactive!
So Christmas was a day to just relax, the real party was Christmas eve, we ate at two different members homes who invited us and then I spent the night reading conference talks while there was nothing but loud music and partying going on outside. New years will be the same thing but with a lot more fireworks. One of the members invited us to his party and we told him we couldn’t stay all night and he called president beynon to ask him if we could stay the whole party there and president Beynon told him we could...i didn’t think he would but ill call him today to confirm and find out how long he lets us stay out....either way will be fun.
Oh yeah the toys, I gave them all out on Christmas to kids who were at one of the houses that didn’t get any presents and they loved it, there are so many that get nothing for Christmas and so the kids love to get anything.
Ok well I love you all and have fun with the wedding and whatnot....Heidi is driving?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Baptism and Stake Conference
Hi, its been another good week and am a bit tired and don’t feel like writing much so I’ll try an remember what I did this last week.
Yeah 2:00 your time sounds fine....let me know next p-day for sure.
Last week at interviews I got the packages and thank you so much for them....I liked the tree and kept me from buying one....I just took off the cards and put the decorations on it....my strep throat came back and haven’t really been eating any of the candy yet and think ill just wait till Christmas to share it all with a family friend here. We also had our Christmas party last Friday and that was fun, I saw Stembridge again and told him how our moms are both crazy and chat on a mission mom site and took a picture with him ill send you. The activity was fun and every district did skits and we ate at a nice restaurant and was fun to see everyone.
We do have a baptism this week with Magno-17yrs old and maybe his sister Camila-15yrs. He is excited and real firm to be baptized but his sister is a little undecided and we hope that after she see him baptized that she will follow.
Sunday was awesome, well Saturday too because all of the stakes in the northeast brazil had stake conference together with president Eyring and Richard G. Scott and Julie beck and elder Zwick and some other area presidents.....never knew Julie beck spoke Portuguese, they all focused on the temple and on doing the small and simple things in our daily lives of reading scriptures and praying with our families and all that I think the members here in brazil are needing, they were really strong and spiritual talks and also Sunday night we watched the Christmas devotional and was almost like having general conference again.
So all is well and am happy to get to talk next week as well and will try n get those pictures to you
Yeah 2:00 your time sounds fine....let me know next p-day for sure.
Last week at interviews I got the packages and thank you so much for them....I liked the tree and kept me from buying one....I just took off the cards and put the decorations on it....my strep throat came back and haven’t really been eating any of the candy yet and think ill just wait till Christmas to share it all with a family friend here. We also had our Christmas party last Friday and that was fun, I saw Stembridge again and told him how our moms are both crazy and chat on a mission mom site and took a picture with him ill send you. The activity was fun and every district did skits and we ate at a nice restaurant and was fun to see everyone.
We do have a baptism this week with Magno-17yrs old and maybe his sister Camila-15yrs. He is excited and real firm to be baptized but his sister is a little undecided and we hope that after she see him baptized that she will follow.
Sunday was awesome, well Saturday too because all of the stakes in the northeast brazil had stake conference together with president Eyring and Richard G. Scott and Julie beck and elder Zwick and some other area presidents.....never knew Julie beck spoke Portuguese, they all focused on the temple and on doing the small and simple things in our daily lives of reading scriptures and praying with our families and all that I think the members here in brazil are needing, they were really strong and spiritual talks and also Sunday night we watched the Christmas devotional and was almost like having general conference again.
So all is well and am happy to get to talk next week as well and will try n get those pictures to you
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Christmas is Coming!
Well good news and bad news....well more bad then good, but hey I went 2 months without being sick! Monday I got fever with sore throat and my body was just weaker than ever so was hard to get work done and then just imagine the stress I had yesterday working in the hot sun visiting all the people we had with baptism dates and all of those baptisms fell! Turns out no one here like to get married, want to be baptized and go to church but marriage no. So yeah not a very great week.
I’m still a little sick, but feeling better than yesterday and will continue to work. At least it isn’t anything to do with allergies, I believe the whole allergy thing had to do with my last area and the water there.
So today we went to a pizza place called Habib’s with lots of other missionaries and passed the Burger King and the mall etc...I think next p-day I'll go to the center again and look for a nativity for you and buy a tree or something for Christmas.
Ok, well love you all and yeah Christmas is getting here. I guess I’ll be talking to you again....did you get the pictures I sent? Oh and I forgot to tell Emily not to send anymore tapes because the tape player thingy broke a long long time ago hehe.
I’m still a little sick, but feeling better than yesterday and will continue to work. At least it isn’t anything to do with allergies, I believe the whole allergy thing had to do with my last area and the water there.
So today we went to a pizza place called Habib’s with lots of other missionaries and passed the Burger King and the mall etc...I think next p-day I'll go to the center again and look for a nativity for you and buy a tree or something for Christmas.
Ok, well love you all and yeah Christmas is getting here. I guess I’ll be talking to you again....did you get the pictures I sent? Oh and I forgot to tell Emily not to send anymore tapes because the tape player thingy broke a long long time ago hehe.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Brian's New Comp and His Area of Aracaju'
Elder Roberts with his new comp, Elder Souza from Sao Paulo, Brazil
Welcome to Brian's area in Aracajú/Sergipe
A view of the city 
This is the baptism that almost didn't happen, because this young man almost forgot to come.
Craig Gets His Mission Call...
Yeah like I told Craig, New Jersey is a different world from what he’s used to, so I think he will love it and it seems like the right place for him. (Brian's younger brother Craig, got his mission call to Cherry Hill, Pennsylvania and leaves the end of February.)
Yeah the whole re-new thing is after a year you need to re-new your visa, but my name was thrown on a list among many other names and it can take a long time like it is right now. I’ve been almost 6 months illegal here in the country. If I did anything bad they would deport me.
(I asked him how often they have to renew their visas)
Shaved Sunday, Monday was transfers, Tuesday was day of transfers, and my comp didn’t get here till Wednesday and that was when I shaved. Longest I’ve gone in the mission without shaving. (He said he hadn't shaved for 3 days...so we asked how come)
My comp is 20 years old, from a family of 6, I think. He served already as a counselor to the bishop before he came, he likes Mike Jones and other rap music, and the natives stay 3 weeks in the CTM.
I always see lots of elders receive packages in boxes 4 times the size of the ones you send...so if you want to try it go ahead, I believe they travel the same way.
Lunch today I made the macaroni you sent me, but no almost everyday a different member feeds us lunch and when we make it we usually buy quetinhas which is rice n beans n meat. (I asked how often he eats with a member and how often he cooks his lunch)
Ohhh I didn’t know what you meant about the nativity thing, but I'll look next p-day to see if I find one and get it sent to you. Would have been nice to know that earlier because today I went to the center to buy me an early Christmas present. (I asked him to look for a nativity from Brazil for him and me. It's not something he needs to send home)
So yeah last week went well. Sunday kinda fell through and had this good family and well just teaching the mom and two daughters because the dad won't talk to us, but anyways she was all ready to go Sunday when I passed by to go with her and I was all excited because she was awake and looked ready to go, but then she shows me her arm that’s in pain and that she will go to the hospital to have it x-rayed and what not so yeah was fun.
Today we cleaned some more and we played soccer with the other missionaries. Oh and my comp also played on Sao Paulo’s sub 20 soccer team which is like playing AAA baseball so he has future desires to continue playing professionally and wants to train others and gain money through that. My last comp also played soccer and had been invited to play on a team like that too before he came on the mission.
And we also went to the center where I bought my hammock for my Christmas present and will send pictures of it.
Ok well I love you all and was nice to hear from you guys.
Brian
Yeah the whole re-new thing is after a year you need to re-new your visa, but my name was thrown on a list among many other names and it can take a long time like it is right now. I’ve been almost 6 months illegal here in the country. If I did anything bad they would deport me.
(I asked him how often they have to renew their visas)
Shaved Sunday, Monday was transfers, Tuesday was day of transfers, and my comp didn’t get here till Wednesday and that was when I shaved. Longest I’ve gone in the mission without shaving. (He said he hadn't shaved for 3 days...so we asked how come)
My comp is 20 years old, from a family of 6, I think. He served already as a counselor to the bishop before he came, he likes Mike Jones and other rap music, and the natives stay 3 weeks in the CTM.
I always see lots of elders receive packages in boxes 4 times the size of the ones you send...so if you want to try it go ahead, I believe they travel the same way.
Lunch today I made the macaroni you sent me, but no almost everyday a different member feeds us lunch and when we make it we usually buy quetinhas which is rice n beans n meat. (I asked how often he eats with a member and how often he cooks his lunch)
Ohhh I didn’t know what you meant about the nativity thing, but I'll look next p-day to see if I find one and get it sent to you. Would have been nice to know that earlier because today I went to the center to buy me an early Christmas present. (I asked him to look for a nativity from Brazil for him and me. It's not something he needs to send home)
So yeah last week went well. Sunday kinda fell through and had this good family and well just teaching the mom and two daughters because the dad won't talk to us, but anyways she was all ready to go Sunday when I passed by to go with her and I was all excited because she was awake and looked ready to go, but then she shows me her arm that’s in pain and that she will go to the hospital to have it x-rayed and what not so yeah was fun.
Today we cleaned some more and we played soccer with the other missionaries. Oh and my comp also played on Sao Paulo’s sub 20 soccer team which is like playing AAA baseball so he has future desires to continue playing professionally and wants to train others and gain money through that. My last comp also played soccer and had been invited to play on a team like that too before he came on the mission.
And we also went to the center where I bought my hammock for my Christmas present and will send pictures of it.
Ok well I love you all and was nice to hear from you guys.
Brian
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
I'm A Trainer!
Happy Fall to you guys too. Man that letter you wrote or maybe I should say book was interesting...hehe kidding, but sounds like a lot is happening there. (Hey it was only 3 pages...I had a lot of things to tell him about. :)
So transfers were this week and I´ll be staying and my comp left and I'm training a new guy. His name is Elder Souza and from São Paulo and just got here today, literally a few hours ago. We spent our time today cleaning our home...what a mess I left our home. It took hours to get it clean again, but is now clean and I won't let that happen again. After that I paid our water and light bills and now we are emailing. So I'm all excited to be training my son which makes me a daddy :)
I also went the past 3 days without shaving hehe. Dont get mad, but I'll send pictures for you to see. I already shaved today if you were worried still. (We never got any pictures)
So yes last week the baptism almost fell through because the kid forgot and wasn't home and no one knew where he was and we looked for an hour for him and didn't find him...then about 30 minutes later he shows up and I ended up baptizing him and all confirmations happen in sacrament meeting usually by one of the members, although I have done confirmations before. Our district baptized 30 people this last transfer and I don't think I'll ever see that many in one of my districts in a long time.
So at the moment we have no one preparing for baptism, but we will work on that tonight. Yes it's getting to summer time. Doesn't offically start until December, but is hotter than normal. There is a saying that there are only two seasons here: hot with rain, and hot without rain. You can send the mission president beef jerky, (We just found out it's illegal to send jerky to Brazil, so no more jerky for Brian until he comes home) just kidding, but a card or something is always nice.
Yeah visas etc....I've been here illegal for the past 6 months hehe. (There is a huge hold up on visas right now with the elders who are supposed to be going to Brazil. They have over 250 waiting at the Provo MTC, to go to Brazil. They may be sent stateside if they don't come soon. They are only issuing about 4 a month right now. It's a big deal) My name is on a list as well to get my papers renewed or something, but can take a while.
I just remembered and not sure if you sent it or not, but a long time ago I said you could send me a confetti cake with confetti cake frosting. (I have it, and totally forgot to put it in his package. I guess it will go in the next one I send) Ok well I love you all and will be sending some fotos.
Brian
So transfers were this week and I´ll be staying and my comp left and I'm training a new guy. His name is Elder Souza and from São Paulo and just got here today, literally a few hours ago. We spent our time today cleaning our home...what a mess I left our home. It took hours to get it clean again, but is now clean and I won't let that happen again. After that I paid our water and light bills and now we are emailing. So I'm all excited to be training my son which makes me a daddy :)
I also went the past 3 days without shaving hehe. Dont get mad, but I'll send pictures for you to see. I already shaved today if you were worried still. (We never got any pictures)
So yes last week the baptism almost fell through because the kid forgot and wasn't home and no one knew where he was and we looked for an hour for him and didn't find him...then about 30 minutes later he shows up and I ended up baptizing him and all confirmations happen in sacrament meeting usually by one of the members, although I have done confirmations before. Our district baptized 30 people this last transfer and I don't think I'll ever see that many in one of my districts in a long time.
So at the moment we have no one preparing for baptism, but we will work on that tonight. Yes it's getting to summer time. Doesn't offically start until December, but is hotter than normal. There is a saying that there are only two seasons here: hot with rain, and hot without rain. You can send the mission president beef jerky, (We just found out it's illegal to send jerky to Brazil, so no more jerky for Brian until he comes home) just kidding, but a card or something is always nice.
Yeah visas etc....I've been here illegal for the past 6 months hehe. (There is a huge hold up on visas right now with the elders who are supposed to be going to Brazil. They have over 250 waiting at the Provo MTC, to go to Brazil. They may be sent stateside if they don't come soon. They are only issuing about 4 a month right now. It's a big deal) My name is on a list as well to get my papers renewed or something, but can take a while.
I just remembered and not sure if you sent it or not, but a long time ago I said you could send me a confetti cake with confetti cake frosting. (I have it, and totally forgot to put it in his package. I guess it will go in the next one I send) Ok well I love you all and will be sending some fotos.
Brian
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Fun Happenings in Brazil
Thank you to my family and to the Smith's for the wonderful goodies I got for halloween!
These are some of the elders Brian played soccer with today.
Brian has a member who is working with old documents and he figured it woud be fun to try it out.
Brian tried his hand at making lasagna. YUM!
Joselane and Cosme are Baptized!
Yeah the week went well in that we baptized again and found another one for this week! We baptized Joselane and her brother Cosme and her mom is going to church and know she would be baptized too, but her husband is the problem and she isn’t married so....but we did have a lady who has been bringing her grandson the past two weeks and turns out he lives in our area and we will baptize him on Saturday.
Craig? Mission? Where? When?
Today for p-day we got up at 5:00 to leave at 5:30 to get to Atalia for our two zone activity thing and turned out really lame and too many buses for me to have patience to do it there again. I think the next time we will do it at the stake center.....the activity was soccer, bbq, movie, games, but we can do all that at the church building and a lot easier to do.
Sunday was like normal. A lot of good people didn’t go and same old story. The mission is going good and loving all of it. I’m going to cut it short so I can send you some pictures.
Love Brian
Craig? Mission? Where? When?
Today for p-day we got up at 5:00 to leave at 5:30 to get to Atalia for our two zone activity thing and turned out really lame and too many buses for me to have patience to do it there again. I think the next time we will do it at the stake center.....the activity was soccer, bbq, movie, games, but we can do all that at the church building and a lot easier to do.
Sunday was like normal. A lot of good people didn’t go and same old story. The mission is going good and loving all of it. I’m going to cut it short so I can send you some pictures.
Love Brian
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
My Comp's Inspiration
Hello
Sounds like everyone had a fun week and good time. My week was normal in that it starts good and then goes bad and then gets good again hehe. It’s kinda like a wave that just never stops going up and down. So my comp was inspired to work on a street we found that he’s never seen before and last week we worked the whole week on that one street and we found a lot of people that were with potential and listened and even accepted to prepare for baptism and the whole deal (we had I think over 10 people from the same street with baptism dates)...then come Sunday and satan does his work and we get no one to church on Sunday. Well 4 of them we knew wouldn’t go because they had planned something already will go Sunday and up to now are real firm and will be baptized on the 7th. The funny thing is there was one girl that we talked to on the street that said she might go, but she might go to the beach also so she wasn’t sure, but said to pass by on Sunday. So this usually means that she isn’t going to go, but we looked for her home on Sunday and didn’t find it so we thought she just lied to us...then Monday we found her again in the street and she asked us why we didn’t pass by because she waited 2 hours for us. We just laughed and this week she will go, and we found her house this time. So yeah the person least likely to go would have gone. But we started this week off again and went to that same street and marked another 4 baptisms and will work with these people and hope this Sunday they go. So that was our week.
Today for p-day we walked a long ways to the store. It’s kind of a Costco type store and bought things cheaper than normal, was fun because I almost felt like I was in a Costco and everything big etc...Didn’t do anything else today because no one organized anything yet but we will see about next week. I hope I get the package on Monday for our interviews and if that doesn’t happen then it will be a while till I get them. Lets see, things for Christmas, I know things natives like is anything NIKE-Shorts (basketball shorts)-socks-maybe a cool t shirt etc......and candy.....if I think of anything else ill let you know.....in terms of a letter I’ll do my best to remember that and get something sent to everyone with a picture or something....send a hug to everyone for me at church, all is well.
Ok well love you all, Brian
Sounds like everyone had a fun week and good time. My week was normal in that it starts good and then goes bad and then gets good again hehe. It’s kinda like a wave that just never stops going up and down. So my comp was inspired to work on a street we found that he’s never seen before and last week we worked the whole week on that one street and we found a lot of people that were with potential and listened and even accepted to prepare for baptism and the whole deal (we had I think over 10 people from the same street with baptism dates)...then come Sunday and satan does his work and we get no one to church on Sunday. Well 4 of them we knew wouldn’t go because they had planned something already will go Sunday and up to now are real firm and will be baptized on the 7th. The funny thing is there was one girl that we talked to on the street that said she might go, but she might go to the beach also so she wasn’t sure, but said to pass by on Sunday. So this usually means that she isn’t going to go, but we looked for her home on Sunday and didn’t find it so we thought she just lied to us...then Monday we found her again in the street and she asked us why we didn’t pass by because she waited 2 hours for us. We just laughed and this week she will go, and we found her house this time. So yeah the person least likely to go would have gone. But we started this week off again and went to that same street and marked another 4 baptisms and will work with these people and hope this Sunday they go. So that was our week.
Today for p-day we walked a long ways to the store. It’s kind of a Costco type store and bought things cheaper than normal, was fun because I almost felt like I was in a Costco and everything big etc...Didn’t do anything else today because no one organized anything yet but we will see about next week. I hope I get the package on Monday for our interviews and if that doesn’t happen then it will be a while till I get them. Lets see, things for Christmas, I know things natives like is anything NIKE-Shorts (basketball shorts)-socks-maybe a cool t shirt etc......and candy.....if I think of anything else ill let you know.....in terms of a letter I’ll do my best to remember that and get something sent to everyone with a picture or something....send a hug to everyone for me at church, all is well.
Ok well love you all, Brian
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Baptisms and Wildlife of Brazil
Brian's two baptisms that he had last week. He is also with is new comp Elder Morais from Sao Paulo, Brazil. These two girls, Niani and Ezabella are sisters from an inactive family they have been working with.
This is 12 yr. old Rodrigo whose brother was baptized the last transfer.
Here is some of the amazing wildlife of Brazil!
Only 8 Months Left!
Yeah thanks for all the pictures, I forgot that Halloween happens 3 times in the family. And I was excited to maybe get a package the other day but instead got nothing. But in I think 2 or three weeks we have interviews and I’ll get it then.
Yeah 8 months isn’t that long, and I believe that other missionaries had their parents come and visit them and don’t believe that would be a problem. I think it would be fun.
Anyways this last week was alright, Saturday and Sunday I was sick again....you already know why.....and today I was taking Ibuprofen, but not because of being sick, but because my whole body is sore from playing basketball. It’s a long story, but I did a division with the missionaries in Itabiana which is an interior city here and so it was just us two Americans and we were getting to know an x-president of the branch there who was inactive and turns out he’s the second Brazilian I’ve met that loves basketball and plays it every week. So he invited us to play with him and his friends that play with him every week etc....so we took the opportunity to play, It was soooo much fun and was a really competitive game, we won in the end by a last second shot by 1 point. He was happy and excited to play with us and will be going to church this week with his family and his wife marked another day to make us lunch there. So I don’t believe we wasted anytime doing that and am jealous that I won’t get to play basketball for another 8 months, but was fun and worth all the pain I’m in right now.
This morning we played soccer at the church and don’t think we will do anything else until next week. We will either go hike some mountain or visit an aquarium. We had a family were trying to get baptized, but is becoming a little hard. The wife wants to so badly be baptized and the problem is her husband’s mom is putting junk in his head and he the one in the way of it all. So we will do our best to help him and her to be baptized, but don’t think it will be this week at all.
Ok well I’m going to start sending some pictures so I love you all and have a good week!
Love Brian
Yeah 8 months isn’t that long, and I believe that other missionaries had their parents come and visit them and don’t believe that would be a problem. I think it would be fun.
Anyways this last week was alright, Saturday and Sunday I was sick again....you already know why.....and today I was taking Ibuprofen, but not because of being sick, but because my whole body is sore from playing basketball. It’s a long story, but I did a division with the missionaries in Itabiana which is an interior city here and so it was just us two Americans and we were getting to know an x-president of the branch there who was inactive and turns out he’s the second Brazilian I’ve met that loves basketball and plays it every week. So he invited us to play with him and his friends that play with him every week etc....so we took the opportunity to play, It was soooo much fun and was a really competitive game, we won in the end by a last second shot by 1 point. He was happy and excited to play with us and will be going to church this week with his family and his wife marked another day to make us lunch there. So I don’t believe we wasted anytime doing that and am jealous that I won’t get to play basketball for another 8 months, but was fun and worth all the pain I’m in right now.
This morning we played soccer at the church and don’t think we will do anything else until next week. We will either go hike some mountain or visit an aquarium. We had a family were trying to get baptized, but is becoming a little hard. The wife wants to so badly be baptized and the problem is her husband’s mom is putting junk in his head and he the one in the way of it all. So we will do our best to help him and her to be baptized, but don’t think it will be this week at all.
Ok well I’m going to start sending some pictures so I love you all and have a good week!
Love Brian
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This Last Week...Went Really Good!
Hi hello how is everyone doing?
This last week went all right. Well we baptized and had people go to church so I guess it went really good. So we got those two girls from two family inactive baptized and most of the family went to church and hopefully will help them continue to go. We also baptized Rodrigo (12yrs) whose older brother was baptized last transfer and the two girls names are Niani and Ezabella. We are working with a couple who needs to get married and having a hard time with the word of wisdom but they want to be baptized and so we are helping them with that and are passing by with them everyday to help them to not drink or smoke. They’ve done good so far and some times we have to take their drugs away from them, but they’ll make it. We also have a family that was married a few months ago and wasn’t baptized because the mother had surgery or something and so we will try n get them ready for baptism. The only problem was that her daughter is a little rebellious and the dad isn’t sure if he is ready to be baptized, so hope we can get them all in the water these next few weeks.
My comp is from São Paulo and I think he is 20. Just us two in our home and don’t know how many missionaries we have here, but it’s divided into two zones and have all the interior cities as well. The city is big though. My comp.....well I’ve had worse so...but its all cool haven’t had any problems yet. He is a good teacher, but doesn’t like to work the way I would want to and so I hope it all goes well.
The wards here are doing good in my opinion and yes there are some wards strong in Brazil and some that suffer, but that’s any place in the world. Oh and I think the ward I’m in could be strong, but suffers a bit because I think the bishop is going a little inactive and that doesn’t help the work at all or the leadership in the church and makes everything disorganized. So I hope it all goes well these next weeks and I’m still getting to know the people here and haven’t even met the bishop yet.
So yes it is hot. Today was hot, but wasn’t too bad because it was cloudy. We went to some public park/zoo and were fun, took pictures of the monkey, and lion, and cheetah etc. You’ll probley laugh cause I think my throat is getting sore and I could be getting sick again, but hope it doesn’t get worse :) Ohh yeah the first thing I bought here was microwave popcorn, not the same that we have in the states, but was good and is more expensive, but worth it. I think I should get that package on Tuesday for our zone conference so we´ll see. I have more pictures I wanted to email to you, but don’t have my pen drive with me so I’ll have to do it next week sorry.
K well love you all and until another week!
This last week went all right. Well we baptized and had people go to church so I guess it went really good. So we got those two girls from two family inactive baptized and most of the family went to church and hopefully will help them continue to go. We also baptized Rodrigo (12yrs) whose older brother was baptized last transfer and the two girls names are Niani and Ezabella. We are working with a couple who needs to get married and having a hard time with the word of wisdom but they want to be baptized and so we are helping them with that and are passing by with them everyday to help them to not drink or smoke. They’ve done good so far and some times we have to take their drugs away from them, but they’ll make it. We also have a family that was married a few months ago and wasn’t baptized because the mother had surgery or something and so we will try n get them ready for baptism. The only problem was that her daughter is a little rebellious and the dad isn’t sure if he is ready to be baptized, so hope we can get them all in the water these next few weeks.
My comp is from São Paulo and I think he is 20. Just us two in our home and don’t know how many missionaries we have here, but it’s divided into two zones and have all the interior cities as well. The city is big though. My comp.....well I’ve had worse so...but its all cool haven’t had any problems yet. He is a good teacher, but doesn’t like to work the way I would want to and so I hope it all goes well.
The wards here are doing good in my opinion and yes there are some wards strong in Brazil and some that suffer, but that’s any place in the world. Oh and I think the ward I’m in could be strong, but suffers a bit because I think the bishop is going a little inactive and that doesn’t help the work at all or the leadership in the church and makes everything disorganized. So I hope it all goes well these next weeks and I’m still getting to know the people here and haven’t even met the bishop yet.
So yes it is hot. Today was hot, but wasn’t too bad because it was cloudy. We went to some public park/zoo and were fun, took pictures of the monkey, and lion, and cheetah etc. You’ll probley laugh cause I think my throat is getting sore and I could be getting sick again, but hope it doesn’t get worse :) Ohh yeah the first thing I bought here was microwave popcorn, not the same that we have in the states, but was good and is more expensive, but worth it. I think I should get that package on Tuesday for our zone conference so we´ll see. I have more pictures I wanted to email to you, but don’t have my pen drive with me so I’ll have to do it next week sorry.
K well love you all and until another week!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Transfer, Conference and Burger King
Well let’s start with the transfer. I’m in Aracajú/Sergipe in the Centenario Ward with Elder Morais. He is from São Paulo and I’m still DL with 3 other sets of missionaries. We have a possible 3 baptisms this week from the transfer before and hope those go through and also a couple to get married.
Alright for conference that was cool. I got to watch the Saturday morning session and part of the afternoon, and the Sunday afternoon session and priesthood session. I watched them all in Portuguese except for the last one and loved them all. Had two families that were inactive that went and hope that they’ll keep going. Our investigator went to the one on Saturday and Sunday with us and was awesome and she gained her testimony of the prophet and apostles and is excited to be baptized and is too bad I’ll miss it, but that’s not what’s important.
So once things started going good there in the branch the president moves us both out to different areas and brings in two new people. Not what I had in mind but w/e. I hope the branch continues to do good.
So p-day today we went to the center and developed some pictures and I took some pictures at Burger King which is where I ate a Double Whopper with cheese and large fries/onion rings/drink. Was awesome! And then I found some good ties that I bought and now I’m here emailing you. The house we live in I think is my favorite one of all of them because we have a micro wave, decent size fridge, nicer bathroom, new looking washer, and my favorite part is that the ceiling is way up higher and I feel like I can breath better and have more space. I took pictures and have lots I want to send you, but the computers here are junk and might be a while till I get those to you.
It stinks that Robert isn’t 100% yet, but in the long run he will be better and maybe less pain in the future. I still haven’t written any letters, but maybe I’ll write one and send the same one to everyone...hehe
Well not sure what else to say, anything happens I'll let you know, think tomorrow we are going to work all day in Altalia where they will dedicate a new chapel and will do the same thing we did in São Miguel. Sounds like fun and think that it will be hot all day.
K Love you all and until another week.
Brian
Alright for conference that was cool. I got to watch the Saturday morning session and part of the afternoon, and the Sunday afternoon session and priesthood session. I watched them all in Portuguese except for the last one and loved them all. Had two families that were inactive that went and hope that they’ll keep going. Our investigator went to the one on Saturday and Sunday with us and was awesome and she gained her testimony of the prophet and apostles and is excited to be baptized and is too bad I’ll miss it, but that’s not what’s important.
So once things started going good there in the branch the president moves us both out to different areas and brings in two new people. Not what I had in mind but w/e. I hope the branch continues to do good.
So p-day today we went to the center and developed some pictures and I took some pictures at Burger King which is where I ate a Double Whopper with cheese and large fries/onion rings/drink. Was awesome! And then I found some good ties that I bought and now I’m here emailing you. The house we live in I think is my favorite one of all of them because we have a micro wave, decent size fridge, nicer bathroom, new looking washer, and my favorite part is that the ceiling is way up higher and I feel like I can breath better and have more space. I took pictures and have lots I want to send you, but the computers here are junk and might be a while till I get those to you.
It stinks that Robert isn’t 100% yet, but in the long run he will be better and maybe less pain in the future. I still haven’t written any letters, but maybe I’ll write one and send the same one to everyone...hehe
Well not sure what else to say, anything happens I'll let you know, think tomorrow we are going to work all day in Altalia where they will dedicate a new chapel and will do the same thing we did in São Miguel. Sounds like fun and think that it will be hot all day.
K Love you all and until another week.
Brian
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Work is Going Great!
So I tried writing earlier today and the power just went out every 10 minutes and I’m also feeling bad today and having the same allergy problem and have been half dead today. So the letter will be short and then I’m going to go to bed.
So last week we did baptize André and we have 3 other people we have marked and are preparing for the next transfer and things have shown a lot better these last 4 weeks in the branch and are getting close to it turning into a ward. The work we did in getting rid of the names of all the people that don’t live anymore in the area and of visiting all the members inactive, we have narrowed down the list and have gotten a frequency of 80 people for this last month which is a lot better than it was when I got here. I believe after my last interview the other day that I’ll be leaving. But I feel like we just got this area started and that it’s just going to get better so I hope the next missionaries here keep it going and baptize those other people we are working with. I also found out the other day that all my recent converts in Arapiraca are firm and going to church again! Most of them had gone inactive and visiting other church’s and made me really sad and then was a real joy to hear they are going again and Antonio the son of a lady we baptized there wants to go on a mission and is getting ready for that.
Well we don’t have satellite or cable here so we will have a bus on Sunday take everyone to the stake center in Arapiraca to watch the last session. I might go watch one of them on Saturday with an investigator that we taught Monday because she won’t be able to go Sunday so we’ll see tomorrow when we talk to her.
Yeah there is a mail strike going on and is driving my comp crazy, but I did get a box from my grandma the other day. (My first package that didn’t have anything of candy or sugar. Was really good though)
So transfers are on Monday and I believe I’ll be leaving to a new place and you´ll just have to wait and see where.
K well looks like I wrote more than I thought I would.
Love you all and take care, Brian
So last week we did baptize André and we have 3 other people we have marked and are preparing for the next transfer and things have shown a lot better these last 4 weeks in the branch and are getting close to it turning into a ward. The work we did in getting rid of the names of all the people that don’t live anymore in the area and of visiting all the members inactive, we have narrowed down the list and have gotten a frequency of 80 people for this last month which is a lot better than it was when I got here. I believe after my last interview the other day that I’ll be leaving. But I feel like we just got this area started and that it’s just going to get better so I hope the next missionaries here keep it going and baptize those other people we are working with. I also found out the other day that all my recent converts in Arapiraca are firm and going to church again! Most of them had gone inactive and visiting other church’s and made me really sad and then was a real joy to hear they are going again and Antonio the son of a lady we baptized there wants to go on a mission and is getting ready for that.
Well we don’t have satellite or cable here so we will have a bus on Sunday take everyone to the stake center in Arapiraca to watch the last session. I might go watch one of them on Saturday with an investigator that we taught Monday because she won’t be able to go Sunday so we’ll see tomorrow when we talk to her.
Yeah there is a mail strike going on and is driving my comp crazy, but I did get a box from my grandma the other day. (My first package that didn’t have anything of candy or sugar. Was really good though)
So transfers are on Monday and I believe I’ll be leaving to a new place and you´ll just have to wait and see where.
K well looks like I wrote more than I thought I would.
Love you all and take care, Brian
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