2 Months and Going Fast!

Well this week was good. I can’t believe it either that it’s just these two months and is going by too fast. Easter here is buy chocolate for people and I think the bigger thing is their good Friday or holy week of eating just fish and partying and drinking etc....I’ll see if I can remember to color an egg or something.

There are people that do the leather thing but not here, they live somewhere else and you email to them what you want and they send it to you, in the north they do it in leopard skin o something. Cool but I don’t want anything just a new scripture in Portuguese because mine is molding like crazy and also I want one in Spanish because in two months I’ll start reading the book of Mormon in Spanish. I’m very excited to learn Spanish and plan on taking classes and working with Mexicans and eating Mexican food.

Congrats to John Hoopes? I think my uncle served there. (John got called to the Paris, France mission)

So remember that lady we gave a blessing to? Well an hour later she went to the hospital and 2 hours later the baby came and went all normal and they are both doing fine. They were both in risk of dying and they said that they would have to perform surgery to get the baby out, but went well and they thanked us a lot for the blessing and said if it wasn’t for it that things might of turned out differently. So we are teaching them the lessons but they aren’t married :( I hope we can get them married and baptized, but my problem is time and I don’t think we can get that all done before the end of this transfer and I think I’ll be in a different area next transfer. But I know if not now someday they will be married and baptized in the church.

Yeah, for the 3 couple going to the temple with us, I want to give them a picture framed of the Salt Lake temple, because Recife they can get at the temple or maybe we can buy them another one at the temple when we go, but Robbie does a good job framing I thought it would be nice. Also M&M´s, chocolate, for each of them and gummy bears. If i think of anything else ill let you know and I’m sure there are things ill want you to buy for me to take home with us.

Ok well love you and until another week
Brian

Working Through Some of the Struggles of a Missionary

Well my companion here I’ve been babysitting, the work this transfer has been sad in that many people accepting baptism and then problems happen within the families and no one ending up baptized. We had a baptism this week, but again more problems and she ended up moving to another area and hope she lets the other elders there baptize her. She said she would so let's see if that goes well.

Sunday we had 3 people to church. The first one is a lady pregnant not married and has been many times and wasn’t really receptive to us. The next one was a man that lives an hour away and he can't be visited until this next Sunday so let's see if he goes to church again this week. The other is Bruno who we’ve been working with for the past month and finally was able to go, he knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized etc, but his mom took away his Book of Mormon and doesn’t like that we are teaching him etc....but maybe we can get his parents to let him make the decision. If not then he’ll have to wait till he is 18. So like I said my companion is special, in the beginning we had baptisms marked for every week this transfer and watched them all fall threw, and I’m excited to get it all started up again :)

So the teaching goes good, but we’ve recently have had a ton of people rejecting the Book of Mormon and has been bugging me like crazy, but I always share a strong testimony with all of them and leave them with no excuses.

For p-day I read, then we made rice mixed with hot dog and ham and then we slept and now we are emailing.

Happy birthday to everyone :)

Thinking about the trip just gives me a headache.......

Let’s see if this works:

Tuesday: Arapiraca-lunch at Labareda, visit members, return to Maceio and eat dinner (tapioca)
Wed: Palmiera dos Indios lunch at Master, visits, return to Maceio and eat dinner (members)
Thurs: 6:00am bus to Sergipe, lunch (member), visits, Dinner (member) sleep here and return by bus on Friday with a couple I invited to go with us to the temple (Claudivan + Gabriella)
Friday: Go to Recife with Claudivan+Gabriella, not sure about Carlos+Christianie or Simone + Germano who live in Maceio, but I will figure out if they want to drive there in their car or go with us by bus but either way we all make it to Recife noonish
Saturday: Spend all day doing temple work! Say goodbyes that afternoon and make sure everyone’s gets home all right
Sunday: Return home in the morning to get home Monday morning

Any doubts or concerns let me know.......there is a shopping mall we can go to here in Sergipe and also in Maceio and also have places that sell souvenir junk if you’re wanting to buy things for the family or yourselves.

Doggy Heaven!

Brian is in doggy heaven. He loves dogs, so we know he is having the time of his life. We are not sure where this is, but we know he is having fun! All he said was her name is Shakira.

Working Towards Baptisms

Well thanks for the pictures, Jeff and his wife whose name I just forgot but they look happy and she seems like a very nice girl and congratulations Heidi on being able to jump higher than me

It will be hard to visit all my areas because we will need to stay the night here in Sergipe and we would have to come on Thursday morning and leave Friday morning to go to Recife leaving only 2 days in Maceio where I want to visit Arapiraca and Palmeira dos Indios and the areas in Maceio so it’s a lot to do in only 2 days and remember the world cup will be getting closer which starts the 15th I believe......so keep thinking about it all and let me know what you guys think, what will you want to do for travel? Bus? Van taxi thing?

Hi Elizabeth sorry I forgot your name :)

Yeah I don’t miss mowing the lawn in the hot sun at all :)

So this week has been good, I can’t believe how many people haven’t been baptized yet this transfer but I know they had the desire and one day will be baptized. We did mark another baptism yesterday of a mother of an inactive girl in the church and maybe it will be her time to be baptized. Yesterday was interviews with the Beynon’s and was fun as always, Sister Beynon always makes cookies and get to see everyone. Today we cleaned and make lunch which we made rice mixed with hotdog and ham.....it’s our normal thing we make when we are hungry and really cheap. And just got up right now from an afternoon nap to email you.

Thanks for the prayers and everything and let me know how Craig is doing, I told him to email me and if you get pictures send them please, will he stay 2 months or 3 weeks?

Love you all hugs etc... Brian

Eduardo Gomes...Brian's New Area

Baptism of Leticia who was baptized by her uncle Aldo. They are also teaching her mom who cried at the baptism.

Having fun with a little girl.

Elder Roberts and his comp Elder Fraga with their chimarrao`
Brian said their house was a huge mess and he spent a lot of time all week cleaning it, so they could trade Sis. Beynon their frowny face for a smiley face. You have to have a clean house to get one.

Nice Shower!
The hammock Brian bought.
Work area.
Brian's big bed.... aaahhhh!

Time Is Going So Fast!

Today went by too fast and I almost didn’t write you again ;) I emailed this morning, but didn’t receive your email and planned to write after our little trip to my last area where we ate lunch with a family friend that might go to the temple with us in June and when it was time for us to leave they bought a cake for us and so we kind of had to stay there longer and didn’t end up getting back home until now, so I’m emailing a little later than usual today.

Well the baptism could be a very long story......she is 15 yrs old and yes there was a lot of people there for her baptism and we have another one for this Saturday his name is Lucas and is 15yrs old. So at the baptisms and confirmations let’s just say there was confusion and a little apostasy with trying to baptize with the left hand and confirmation by someone who has only the Aaronic priesthood etc......

In our home it’s just the two of us and yes my first week we have had roaches, rats, millipedes, mosquitoes etc.......but the home is clean and will stay that way.

Trip: so yes Maceio is close enough to my areas to visit within those days except for the areas I’m passing in right now in sergipe, my opinion is that its just best to stay in Maceio and visit the areas I’ve past in Alagoas but if you want to see sergipe we would have to stay the night. I like the idea of ending the trip at the temple and so let’s plan it that way if possible and if we end up in Maceio then there’s a ward we can visit there. Shopping wise I don’t know but I know of places in Maceio that we can go to buy things and I was wanting to know if you can put money in my account so that if I’m transferred from Sergipe back to Maceio then I can buy some things I saw here that I would like to take home with me. (Also do you have any news about selling my truck? that could be money put into my account)

Wow Wally got home already. I guess it means there will be a home coming practically every month in our ward, 3 months is going to pass by really fast!

Well love you all and until another week!
Brian

It's Been a Fun Week

It has been a fun week and went by fast.

So I’ve gotten hold of everyone that I want to go with us to Reciefe. My family that I baptized just emailed me today and said they were going to come visit me this month and that next month they are going to be sealed and would love to go with us in June! So up to now we have 4 people for sure that will be going with us and maybe 2 more of which I invited and I am waiting for response.

I’m not sure on the cost, but I would guess about 100-150 per person on traveling there...but that’s if we do buses...maybe we rent a van to take us everywhere.....need to plan that still. I think its better to stay 1 night and return the next day and I believe that the church owns some hotel type thing near the temple, might want to look into that, I have the number to the temple there that I’ll send to you next week. So it would be us and then 4-6 people.

So Eduardo Gomes is going good, I’m getting to know the area a lot better and know it better than my comp already. I don’t understand how he’s had 6 weeks here and doesn’t know where anything is or how to get anywhere. So we had 3 investigators at church and are preparing the three of them to be baptized and are looking for more to teach and be baptized. Was funny the other night I talked to a lady way Catholic and I asked her if she believed in the prophets and she said of course. It was them that prophesied the birth of Christ and then I explained that they also prophesied that the church would fall into apostasy and be restored through a prophet and she tried to explain that the church will be restored at the second coming of Christ...well it was funny for us because she was crazy, but anywhoo you had to be there to see the humor.

The house we live in is nicer than my last one. It’s big for just two people, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, kitchen, back space, front space, another room, living type room etc...

The ward is I think smaller, but we are getting references and the members are helping a lot more and am excited to work with them.

So yeah carnival was crazy. You can compare it all to Satan and we didn’t work that much the last 4-5 days and stayed home because all the people throwing eggs and flour, drinking, etc.....but its all over now and we are starting the work up.

Yeah I told Craig I think our cousin is serving in Pennsylvania so maybe he’ll see him.

Of course I remember the Hoops. Connor was in the troop and a great kid and tell them all hi and hugs from me and I appreciate their love and support for me here.

So hugs for rest of you and until another week!
Brian

An New Area...Eduardo Gomes

Hello

Ok well I'm trying to organize still the trip to the temple, but it is a little difficult being in another state, but I will get it done. So I feel bad inviting lots of people to go to the temple knowing that it won't be cheap...how do you guys feel about it...if you want I'm willing to help pay for it. I've invited 3 married couples and 1 of them would bring two little kids that would be sealed to them, the other 2 couples have kids too, but would leave them behind and are already members and are really really good friends of mine. So I havnt received any for sure answer from any of them whether they will go, but my vision is that this will be our group going to visit the temple in Reciefe. So when I receive updates etc I'll be sure to fill you all in.

So I've been trasferred to a new area; Eduardo Gomes and it seems like I'm back to jungle land again, but it's part of the city here in Aracaju and not too far from my last area. My comp is Elder Fraga from Rio Grande Do Sul and he has a very strong accent and it can be hard to understand him and seems like everyone else doesn't understand him either, but a great guy and hope all goes well.

I spent today cleaning our house and haven't finished cleaning yet, but will get it done. we ate lunch at a girls house who will be getting baptized next week and she made all of us lazania.

Ohh yeah I got your package and we made cake and everything, but I forgot to copy the pictures and I'll have to get hold of them some how, but it was awsome and enjoyed the dried apple slices and macaroni etc. Thanks again for it all and remember I don't need anymore packages or anything because before you know it you'll be here...by the way how is the passport thing going for you and Robert?

So a new area I'm excited and am still just getting to know the people and streets and members etc....

I love you all and until another week!
Brian

Stake Conference Committment

I’m feeling better and eating lots of fruits...I do forget or get too lazy to spend money on healthy things, but I will try better to keep it up. I ate a whole watermelon last week and bought a big bag of oranges that will last me another week and bananas etc......

I believe the large fruit is called jaca and comes from trees believe it or not, we got it from a lady we baptized that lives in a city called Pilar and she has those trees that grow that fruit and I took lots of pictures of the guy she paid to climb up the giant tree and get the fruit. (I asked Brian what the name of the fruit was in a photo he has sent us a while back)

Burning the trash thing was a service project we did in Palmeira Dos Indios (Another picture I asked about)

Jatiuca is were the beach is and yes when I called home (Another question)

Last Sunday was stake conference and a young man brought two friends that we will work with. The talks were good and the stake president was like or I think it was the councilor and he said its been like 10 years he’s been in the stake and how he has seen others stakes that have grown so much that they have to rent out places to have stake conference and talked about how he hasn’t seen much change in our stake. They were all good talks and hope things change here.

The ward is still the same and hasn’t changed much, but maybe change will just take a long time.

P-day we went to the mall so my comp could by a shirt he wanted and then we made some frozen pizza for lunch!

Yes it will be raining everyday when you come so be prepared; an umbrella should be fine. I talked with president and my release date is June 8th and he said it is okay for you guys to get here on June 8th to pick me up and I have to leave the country by June 18th. So I think 5-6 days should be enough time. I did get sister Beynon’s email and phone number for you but I forgot to bring it with me right now....so I’ll email it later to you...so I will get you her email and you can ask her any questions you have.

HAPPY BDAY!!! Parabéns prá Você neste dia querida, muitos dias felizes muitos anos tambén (happy birthday song)

I love you and time is gooooing and movin

Brian

Batismo do Enoque

Enoque's baptism. Notice Brian's short hair. He said last week that he shaved his head.

Happy Enoque before getting baptized.

Enoque's Baptism

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

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.

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

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.

No Mail Due to Computer Problems

No Email this week.

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

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?

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

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.

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.